TED演讲:信息就是食物(3)

I started doing some research then, and this was the 25-year journey, and started finding out that actually

我从那时起开始从事相关的研究，到现在已经二十五年了我最早的发现就是

human beings as primates² have far smaller stomachs than should be the size for our body weight and far larger brains.

若以体重为标准，身为灵长类动物的人类胃很小，大脑却很大。

And as I went to research that even further, I got to a point where I discovered something called the expensive tissue hypothesis.

深入研究之后我发现了一种名为昂贵组织的假说。

That actually for a given body mass of a primate¹ the metabolic³ rate was static. What changed was the balance of the tissues available.

这种假说认为：对于一定体重的灵长类动物来说新陈代谢率是一定的。不同的是体内各种组织的平衡。

And two of the most expensive tissues in our human body are nervous tissue and digestive tissue.

而人体内两种最为昂贵的组织是神经组织和消化组织。

And what transpired⁴ was that people had put forward a hypothesis that was apparently⁵ coming up with some fabulous⁶ results by about 1995.

因此人们提出了一个假设，1995年的时候这个假设衍生出了不少精彩的成果。

It's a lady named Leslie Aiello. And the paper then suggested that you traded one for the other.

这些成果背后的功臣是一位名叫LeslieAiello的女士。

If you wanted your brain for a particular body mass to be large, you had to live with a smaller gut⁷.

相关的论文显示，胃和大脑，不可兼得。在体重一定的情况下，如果你希望拥有更大的大脑的话，就只能拥有一个比较小的胃。

That then set me off completely to say, Okay, these two are connected.

这种观点让我确信食物和信息一定有关联。

So I looked at the cultivation⁸ of information as if it were food and said,

因此我把信息当成食物，研究了它的生产过程我的结论是，

So we were hunter-gathers of information. We moved from that to becoming farmers and cultivators of information.

我们都是信息的捕猎者和采集者。后来我们逐渐成为培育信息的农民和生产者。

1 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。

2 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。

3 metabolic   

adj.新陈代谢的

参考例句：

• Impressive metabolic alternations have been undergone during embryogenesis.在胚胎发生期间经历了深刻的代谢变化。
• A number of intoxicants are associated with metabolic acidosis.许多毒性物质可引起代谢性酸中毒。

4 transpired   

（事实，秘密等）被人知道( transpire的过去式和过去分词 )； 泄露； 显露； 发生

参考例句：

• It transpired that the gang had had a contact inside the bank. 据报这伙歹徒在银行里有内应。
• It later transpired that he hadn't been telling the truth. 他当时没说真话，这在后来显露出来了。

5 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

6 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

7 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

8 cultivation   

n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成

参考例句：

• The cultivation in good taste is our main objective.培养高雅情趣是我们的主要目标。
• The land is not fertile enough to repay cultivation.这块土地不够肥沃，不值得耕种。