2020年经济学人 进化意外造就的杀手(2)

From this predator¹'s point of view the requirement to evolve resistance to a venom², particularly one that is not lethal³, is therefore low.

从这种捕食者的角度来看，对进化出毒液抵抗力（尤其是非致命毒液）的要求因而很低。

The spider's interests, too, may be served by the evolution of non-lethal venom.

非致命毒液的进化可能也符合蜘蛛的利益。

A live predator that has learnt not to attack may be better than a dead one,

一只学会不攻击的捕食者可能比一只已死捕食者更好，

which might then be replaced by a conspecific which has not learned that lesson.

因为后者可能会被一个没有学会这一教训的同种掠食者所取代。

This is particularly true when the venom is directed towards animals that teach their young,

尤其是当动物们拿毒液来教育它们的幼崽，

as many mammals do, about what is and is not dangerous in the world.

就像哺乳动物一样，教会它们世界上的危险与安全。

Get stung by a bee and you will surely advise your children to give bees a wide berth⁴, even though bees are not predators⁵.

被蜜蜂蛰了，你肯定会建议你的孩子离蜜蜂远点，即使蜜蜂不是捕食者。

To pursue this idea, Dr Fry and his colleagues looked at the genetic⁶ sequences describing 22 types of delta-hexatoxin,

为了证实这个想法，Fry博士和他的同时观察了22种类型的delta-hexatoxin基因序列，

extracted from ten species of funnel-webs. This let them analyse the peptides' evolutionary⁷ histories.

提取自十种漏斗网蜘蛛。这让他们能够分析出多肽的进化历史。

Funnel-web spiders are an ancient group, believed to have emerged about 150m years ago, near the end of the Jurassic period.

漏斗网蜘蛛是一个古老的种群，据信出现于1.5亿年前，接近侏罗纪末期。

Dr Fry's analysis suggested that, around that time, delta-hexatoxin peptides were evolving rapidly, but have subsequently barely changed.

Fry博士的分析表明，在那时候，delta-hexatoxin多肽进化迅速，但之后几乎没有改变。

This is consistent with the idea that they were evolving into something which would discourage, but not kill,

这与一种观点是一致的，即它们进化成了一种能够阻止，但不会杀死

vertebrate predators such as mammals—a group that also appeared in the late Jurassic.

哺乳动物等脊椎动物捕食者的生物——这个种群也出现在侏罗纪晚期。

Which is all well and good, but does not explain why funnel-web delta-hexatoxins are so deadly to people.

这一切都很好，但并不能解释为什么漏斗网delta-hexatoxins对人类如此致命。

The answer to this, Dr Fry suspects, is that until the arrival in Australia 65,000 years ago of human beings,

Fry博士认为这是因为，直到65000年前人类到达澳大利亚，

funnel-web spiders had never encountered primates⁹ (of which that continent has no wild representatives)

漏斗网蜘蛛还从未遇到过灵长类动物（该大陆没有这种动物的野生代表），

and so had had no chance to co-evolve with them. In one sense, then, the fact funnel-web delta-hexatoxins are lethal to humans

因此没有机会与它们共同进化。在某种意义上，漏斗网delta-hexatoxins对人类致命这一事实

is indeed an unlucky accident caused by some quirk¹⁰ of primate⁸ biochemistry not shared with other groups of mammals.

确实是一个不幸的意外，是由灵长类动物生物化学中与其他哺乳动物不同的某些怪癖引起的。

But if such co-evolution had taken place, it would have been in the interests of both sides for this lethality¹¹, too, to have been whittled¹² away.

但如果发生这种共同进化，削弱其致命性也符合双方的利益。

1 predator   

n.捕食其它动物的动物；捕食者

参考例句：

• The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分简要总结了食肉动物。
• Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龙是目前存在的最大蜥蜴，它是一种令人恐惧的捕食性动物。

2 venom   

n.毒液，恶毒，痛恨

参考例句：

• The snake injects the venom immediately after biting its prey.毒蛇咬住猎物之后马上注入毒液。
• In fact,some components of the venom may benefit human health.事实上，毒液的某些成分可能有益于人类健康。

3 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

4 berth   

n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊

参考例句：

• She booked a berth on the train from London to Aberdeen.她订了一张由伦敦开往阿伯丁的火车卧铺票。
• They took up a berth near the harbor.他们在港口附近找了个位置下锚。

5 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

7 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

8 primate   

n.灵长类（目）动物，首席主教；adj.首要的

参考例句：

• 14 percent of primate species are highly endangered.14%的灵长类物种处于高度濒危状态。
• The woolly spider monkey is the largest primate in the Americas.绒毛蛛猴是美洲最大的灵长类动物。

9 primates   

primate的复数

参考例句：

• Primates are alert, inquisitive animals. 灵长目动物是机灵、好奇的动物。
• Consciousness or cerebration has been said to have emerged in the evolution of higher primates. 据说意识或思考在较高级灵长类的进化中已出现。

10 quirk   

n.奇事，巧合；古怪的举动

参考例句：

• He had a strange quirk of addressing his wife as Mrs Smith.他很怪，把自己的妻子称作史密斯夫人。
• The most annoying quirk of his is wearing a cap all the time.他最令人感到厌恶的怪癖就是无论何时都戴著帽子。

11 lethality   

n.致命性，毁坏性

参考例句：

• Modern weapons have greater range, accuracy, speed, and lethality than anything ever dreamed of before. 现代的武器比从前所梦想的任何武器射得更远，射得更准，速度更快，而且更具有杀伤力。 来自辞典例句
• The Mk 46 provides long-range lethality while engaging small, high-speed, surface targets. 该系统在舰船遭遇小型高速水面目标时将提供远距离的致命杀伤力。 来自互联网

12 whittled   

v.切，削（木头），使逐渐变小( whittle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He whittled a simple toy from the piece of wood. 他把那块木头削成了一个简易的玩具。
• The government's majority has been whittled down to eight. 政府多数票减少到了八票。