万物简史 第485期:多灾多难的生命进程(5)

 　　For all the trouble they take to assemble and preserve themselves, species crumple¹ and die remarkably² routinely. 尽管物种们费了九牛二虎之力聚集起来保存自己，但它们经常崩溃和死亡。

　　And the more complex they get, the more quickly they appear to go extinct. 它们变得越复杂，好像灭绝得越快。

　　Which is perhaps one reason why so much of life isn't terribly ambitious. 为什么那么多生命没有雄心壮志，这也许是一个原因。

　　So anytime life does something bold it is quite an event, 因此，只要生命干出勇敢的事，都是一件大事。

　　and few occasions were more eventful than when life moved on to the next stage in our narrative³ and came out of the sea. 我们将要讲到，生命向前迈入另一阶段，离开了海洋。这就是极少的大事之一。

　　Land was a formidable environment: hot, dry, bathed in intense ultraviolet radiation, lacking the buoyancy that makes movement in water comparatively effortless. 陆地是个可怕的环境：炎热、干燥，笼罩在强烈的紫外线辐射之中，没有在水中移动的那种相对轻松的浮力。

　　To live on land, creatures had to undergo wholesale⁴ revisions of their anatomies⁵. 在陆地上生活，动物们不得不彻底修正它们的结构。

　　Hold a fish at each end and it sags⁶ in the middle, its backbone⁷ too weak to support it. 要是你用手拿住一条鱼的两端，它的中部就会弯下去，因为它的脊骨不结实，无法支撑自己。

　　To survive out of water, marine⁸ creatures needed to come up with new load-bearing internal architecture—not the sort of adjustment that happens overnight. 为了在离开水以后生存下去，海生动物需要有个新的能够负重的内部架构——这不是一夜之间能调整过来的。

　　Above all and most obviously, any land creature would have to develop a way to take its oxygen directly from the air rather than filter it from water. 尤其重要的，也是最明显的是，任何陆生动物必须学会直接从空气里摄取氧气。而不是从水里过滤氧气。

　　These were not trivial challenges to overcome. 这一些都不是微不足道的困难。都需要克服。

　　On the other hand, there was a powerful incentive⁹ to leave the water: it was getting dangerous down there. 另一方面，动物们对于离开水有着强大的动力：水底下的环境正变得越来越危险。

　　The slow fusion¹⁰ of the continents into a single landmass, Pangaea, 大陆渐渐合并成一个陆块：泛古陆，

　　meant there was much, much less coastline than formerly¹¹ and thus much less coastal¹² habitat. 这意味着海岸线比以前少多了，因而沿海的栖息地也少了。

1 crumple   

v.把...弄皱，满是皱痕，压碎，崩溃

参考例句：

• Take care not to crumple your dress by packing it carelessly.当心不要因收放粗心压纵你的衣服。
• The wall was likely to crumple up at any time.墙随时可能坍掉。

2 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

3 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

4 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

5 anatomies   

n.解剖( anatomy的名词复数 )；（详细的）分析；（生物体的）解剖结构；人体

参考例句：

• Man and ape have comparable anatomies. 人类与人猿有类似的构造。 来自互联网

6 sags   

向下凹或中间下陷( sag的第三人称单数 )； 松弛或不整齐地悬着

参考例句：

• The bed sags in the middle, and is uncomfortable. 床的中间往下塌，很不舒服。
• He sags his pants; doo rags and a stockin cap. 他穿着松弛的裤子。抹布一样的帽子。

7 backbone   

n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气

参考例句：

• The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
• The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。

8 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

9 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

10 fusion   

n.溶化；熔解；熔化状态，熔和；熔接

参考例句：

• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc. 黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
• This alloy is formed by the fusion of two types of metal.这种合金是用两种金属熔合而成的。

11 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

12 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。