万物简史 第468期:生命在前进(10)

 　　With his supervisor¹, Harry² Whittington, and fellow graduate student Derek Briggs, Conway Morris spent the next several years making a systematic³ revision of the entire collection, and cranking out one exciting monograph⁴ after another as discovery piled upon discovery. Many of the creatures employed body plans that were not simply unlike anything seen before or since, but were bizarrely different. One, Opabinia, had five eyes and a nozzle-like snout with claws on the end. Another, a disc-shaped being called Peytoia, looked almost comically like a pineapple slice. A third had evidently tottered⁵ about on rows of stilt-like legs, and was so odd that they named it Hallucigenia. There was so much unrecognized novelty in the collection that at one point upon opening a new drawer Conway Morris famously was heard to mutter, "Oh fuck, not another phylum."

　　在随后的几年里，康韦·莫里斯与他的导师哈里，惠廷顿和同学德里克·布里格斯一起，对全部收藏品重新进行了系统的分类。他们注意到一个又一个新的发现，发出一阵又一阵惊叹声。许多生物的横剖面是以前和之后完全没有见过的，简直是奇形怪状的。比如，Opabinia长着五只眼睛和一个鼻子似的喙，末端还有爪子。又如，有个名叫Peytoia的家伙呈盘形，样子滑稽得像一片环形的菠萝。再如，有一个显然曾经用一排排高跷似的腿走过路，样子如此古怪，他们把它命名为致幻虫。这些收藏品中有许许多多不曾认识的新东西，以至于有一次打开另一个抽屉的时候，有人听见莫里斯竟然在说：“哦，真该死，这里面没有一个新的门呀！”

　　The English team's revisions showed that the Cambrian had been a time of unparalleled innovation and experimentation⁶ in body designs. For almost four billion years life had dawdled⁷ along without any detectable⁸ ambitions in the direction of complexity⁹, and then suddenly, in the space of just five or ten million years, it had created all the basic body designs still in use today. Name a creature, from a nematode worm to Cameron Diaz, and they all use architecture first created in the Cambrian party.

　　这个英国小组的重新分类表明，寒武纪在动物体形方面是个无与伦比的创新和实验的时代。在差不多40亿年的时间里，生命一直是慢腾腾的，看不出有任何朝着复杂方向前进的雄心壮志；接着，在仅仅500万一l000万年的一段时间里，它创造了所有今天在用的基本体形。你可以点出任何一种动物，从线虫到卡梅伦·迪亚斯，它们使用的都是在寒武纪派对上首创的架构。

1 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

2 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

3 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。

4 monograph   

n.专题文章，专题著作

参考例句：

• This monograph belongs to the category of serious popular books.这本专著是一本较高深的普及读物。
• It's a monograph you wrote six years ago.这是你六年前写的的专论。

5 tottered   

v.走得或动得不稳( totter的过去式和过去分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠

参考例句：

• The pile of books tottered then fell. 这堆书晃了几下，然后就倒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wounded soldier tottered to his feet. 伤员摇摇晃晃地站了起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 experimentation   

n.实验，试验，实验法

参考例句：

• Many people object to experimentation on animals.许多人反对用动物做实验。
• Study and analysis are likely to be far cheaper than experimentation.研究和分析的费用可能要比实验少得多。

7 dawdled   

v.混（时间）( dawdle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Billy dawdled behind her all morning. 比利整个上午都跟在她后面闲混。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He dawdled away his time. 他在混日子。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 detectable   

adj.可发觉的；可查明的

参考例句：

• The noise is barely detectable by the human ear.人的耳朵几乎是察觉不到这种噪音的。
• The inflection point at this PH is barely detectable.在此PH值下，拐点不易发现。

9 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。