万物简史 第462期:生命在前进(4)

 As with all extinct creatures, there is a natural temptation to regard them as failures, but in fact they were among the most successful animals ever to live. Their reign¹ ran for 300 million years—twice the span of dinosaurs², which were themselves one of history's great survivors³. Humans, Fortey points out, have survived so far for one-half of 1 percent as long.

与别的灭绝的生物一样，人们很自然会认为它们是失败者。其实它们是生活过的最成功的动物之一。它们统治了3亿年——是恐龙存在时间的两倍，而恐龙本身也是历史上存在时间最长的动物之一。福泰指出，迄今为止，人类的存在时间只有其千分之五长。

With so much time at their disposal, the trilobites proliferated⁴ prodigiously⁵. Most remained small, about the size of modern beetles⁶, but some grew to be as big as platters. Altogether they formed at least five thousand genera and sixty thousand species—though more turn up all the time. Fortey had recently been at a conference in South America where he was approached by an academic from a small provincial⁷ university in Argentina.

三叶虫有那么漫长的支配时间，因此数量激剧增加。太多数个儿始终很小，大约是现代甲虫的大小，但有的大得像盘子。它们总共至少有5000属，60000种——虽然新的品种不断出现。福泰最近出席了在南美召开的一次会议，一位来自阿根廷某个地方大学的学者同他取得了联系。

"She had a box that was full of interesting things—trilobites that had never been seen before in South America, or indeed anywhere, and a great deal else. She had no research facilities to study them and no funds to look for more. Huge parts of the world are still unexplored."

“她有个盒子，里面装满了有意思的东西——在南美从未见过的、实际上在哪儿也没有见过的三时虫以及许多别的东西。她没有必要的设备来研究三叶虫，也没有资金来寻找更多的三叶虫。世界的很大部分地区还没有考察过。”

In terms of trilobites?

“你是指三叶虫？”

No, in terms of everything.

“不，指一切。”

Throughout the nineteenth century, trilobites were almost the only known forms of early complex life, and for that reason were assiduously collected and studied. The big mystery about them was their sudden appearance.

在整个19世纪，三叶虫几乎是惟一已知的早期复杂生命形式，因而受到大力的采集和研究。三叶虫的最大之谜是它们出现得很突然。

1 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

2 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

4 proliferated   

激增( proliferate的过去式和过去分词 )； （迅速）繁殖； 增生； 扩散

参考例句：

• Books and articles on the subject have proliferated over the last year. 过去一年以来，论及这一问题的书和文章大量涌现。
• Influenza proliferated throughout the country. 流感在全国蔓延。

5 prodigiously   

adv.异常地，惊人地，巨大地

参考例句：

• Such remarks, though, hardly begin to explain that prodigiously gifted author Henry James. 然而这样的说法，一点也不能解释这个得天独厚的作家亨利·詹姆斯的情况。 来自辞典例句
• The prices of farms rose prodigiously. 农场的价格飞快上涨。 来自互联网

6 beetles   

n.甲虫( beetle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Beetles bury pellets of dung and lay their eggs within them. 甲壳虫把粪粒埋起来，然后在里面产卵。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This kind of beetles have hard shell. 这类甲虫有坚硬的外壳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。