万物简史 第479期:生命在前进(21)

 　　Once again it was trilobites that provided the clue, 又是三叶虫提供了线索，

　　in particular that seemingly mystifying appearance of different types of trilobite in widely scattered¹ locations around the globe, all at more or less the same time. 尤其是，不同种类的三叶虫似乎神秘地散布在全球的广大地区，而且差不多在同一时期出现。

　　On the face of it, the sudden appearance of lots of fully² formed but varied³ creatures would seem to enhance the miraculousness⁴ of the Cambrian outburst, 表面看来，大量完全成形而又多种多样的动物的突然出现，似乎能增加寒武纪大爆发的奇妙程度，

　　but in fact it did the opposite. 实际上恰恰相反。

　　It is one thing to have one well-formed creature like a trilobite burst forth⁵ in isolation—that really is a wonder, 一种完全成形的动物，比如三叶虫，突然孤立地出现是一回事——这确实是个奇迹，

　　but to have many of them, all distinct but clearly related, turning up simultaneously⁶ in the fossil record in places as far apart as China and New York 但许多动物在相隔万里的中国和美国纽约的化石记录中同时出现，

　　clearly suggests that we are missing a big part of their history. 显然表明我们缺少它们的一大部分历史。

　　There could be no stronger evidence that they simply had to have a forebear—some grandfather species that started the line in a much earlier past. 这是最强有力的证明，表明它们必定有个祖先——某个老祖宗物种，它在早得多的过去开创了那个家系。

　　And the reason we haven't found these earlier species, it is now thought, is that they were too tiny to be preserved. 现在认为，我们之所以没有发现那些早先的物种，是因为它们太小，无法保存下来。

　　Says Fortey: "It isn't necessary to be big to be a perfectly⁷ functioning, complex organism. 福泰说：“机能俱全的复杂动物不一定个儿很大。

　　The sea swarms⁸ with tiny arthropods today that have left no fossil record." 今天，海洋里充满着微小的节肢动物，它们没有留下化石记录。”

　　He cites the little copepod, which numbers in the trillions in modern seas and clusters in shoals large enough to turn vast areas of the ocean black, 他以小小的桡足动物为例，在现代海洋里数以万亿计，群集在浅滩上，它们多得足以使大片海域变黑，

　　and yet our total knowledge of its ancestry⁹ is a single specimen¹⁰ found in the body of an ancient fossilized fish. 而我们对其祖先的全部了解只有一个标本，那是在一条古老的变成了化石的鱼肚子里找到的。

1 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

2 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

3 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

4 miraculousness   

神”

参考例句：

5 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

6 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

7 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

8 swarms   

蜂群，一大群( swarm的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They came to town in swarms. 他们蜂拥来到城里。
• On June the first there were swarms of children playing in the park. 6月1日那一天，这个公园里有一群群的孩子玩耍。

9 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

10 specimen   

n.样本，标本

参考例句：

• You'll need tweezers to hold up the specimen.你要用镊子来夹这标本。
• This specimen is richly variegated in colour.这件标本上有很多颜色。