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Shale is a kind of rock that started as fine mud on the floor of a sea or lake. Over a very long time the mud was pressed into stone.
Shale頁岩 is是 a kind of rock一種岩石 that started as fine mud on the floor of a sea or lake一開始是海底或湖底細緻的泥。Over a very long time經過非常長的時間，the mud這些泥 was pressed into stone被壓成了石頭。
Because it was laid down in thin layers, it often breaks into smooth, flat pieces you can almost peel apart — like pages. It feels softer than granite; it can in your hand.
Because it was laid down in thin layers因為它是一層一層薄薄堆積下來的，it它 often breaks into常常會裂成 smooth, flat pieces光滑、扁平的碎片 you can almost peel apart幾乎可以剝開——like pages像書頁一樣。It它 feels softer than摸起來比...軟 granite花崗岩；it它 can crumble in your hand用手就可以把它捏碎。
People now talk a lot about shale gas: gas trapped inside this rock, which companies drill for.
People現在大家 now talk a lot about常常在談 shale gasshale gas（頁岩氣）：gas trapped inside this rock困在這種岩石裡的天然氣，which companies drill for公司會鑽井去開採它。
Though actually, shale is not slate. Slate is what shale can become if the earth cooks and squeezes it harder; slate is the one used for roofs and old school . Shale itself is the softer rock that splits.
Though actually不過其實，shale is notshale不是 slateslate（板岩）。Slateslate is what shale can become如果地底把它加熱、擠壓得更厲害，shale就會變成slate if the earth cooks and squeezes it harder，slateslate is the one used for roofs and old school blackboards是用在屋頂和以前學校黑板上的那種。Shale itselfshale本身 is是 the softer rock that splits比較軟、會裂開的那種岩石。
It is also not shell, even though its old English name sat next to words for husks and thin flakes.
It它 is also not也不是 shellshell（貝殼），even though儘管 its old English name它的古英文名字 sat next to words for husks and thin flakes跟表示外殼、薄片的字很接近。
組成From Middle English schale (“shell, husk; scale”), from Old English sċealu (“shell, husk, pod”), from a Germanic word, from an older root meaning “to split or cut.” That fits: the rock splits into thin pieces.
同家族的字
- scalethe thin flake on a fish or on skin — same old “husk / shell” word, not the machine for weighing
原始詞典資料4 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
shalenoun/ʃeɪl/
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A shell, scale or husk; a cod or pod.
- the green shales of a bean
- Mr. Lyell next visited the red and green shales of Cabotville, north of Springfield in Massachusetts, where some of the best Ornithichnites have been procured, chiefly in the green shale.
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geographygeologynatural-sciencesA fine-grained sedimentary rock of a thin, laminated, and often friable, structure.
- As on all large green roofs, the soil is not dirt exactly but a gravel-like growing medium of granulated pumice, shales, clays and other minerals.
- Five years in, ARPA–E’s priorities have shifted, too, for the same reason. The cheap natural gas freed from shale by horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) has helped kill off bleeding-edge programs like Electrofuels, a bid to use microbes to turn cheap electricity into liquid fuels, […]
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The shale oil and shale gas segment of the oil and gas industry.
- American shale’s placid responses to energy whirlwinds are becoming an enduring feature of the U.S. oil industry. In recent years, public drillers under investor pressure to be profitable have treated spiking oil prices as an opportunity to return more cash to shareholders—and lock in prices for futures sales. A wave of consolidation has swept out the privately held operators that were quick to add new barrels when prices screened higher. The upshot is that companies aren’t likely to add new rigs unless oil prices hit between $75 and $85 a barrel and stay there for several months, analysts and executives say. […] So far, U.S. shale’s temperance has been a boon to Trump. A steady increase in U.S. production has helped soften spikes in crude prices after his campaigns against Venezuela and now Iran—both major oil producers. The Energy Information Administration expects the national oil output to have hit about 13.7 million barrels a day in February, up nearly 600,000 barrels from when Trump took office. But these gains have been the fruit of technical prowess in the field, not the pursuit of growth. Shale companies have become proficient at drilling fewer but much longer horizontal wells, which allows them to trim costs and still extract more crude. They routinely frack multiple wells at the same time and do so virtually around the clock, which also saves on costs.
shaleverb/ʃeɪl/
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To take off the shell or coat of.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。