万物简史 第425期:生命的起源(19)

 　　But about 3.5 billion years ago something more emphatic¹ became apparent. 但是，大约在35亿年前，更加坚强的东西变得显而易见。

　　Wherever the seas were shallow, visible structures began to appear. 只要哪里的海水很浅，可见结构就开始展现。

　　As they went through their chemical routines, the cyanobacteria became very slightly tacky, 在藻青菌完成惯常的化学过程的当儿，它们开始带有点儿黏性。

　　and that tackiness trapped microparticles of dust and sand, which became bound together to form slightly weird² but solid structures, 那个黏性粘住了微小的灰尘和沙粒，一起形成了有点古怪而又能坚困的结构，

　　the stromatolites that were featured in the shallows of the poster on Victoria Bennett's office wall. 浅水里的叠层石，维多利亚·贝内特办公室墙上挂的画里就是这类东西。

　　Stromatolites came in various shapes and sizes. 叠层石有各种形状、各种大不。

　　Sometimes they looked like enormous cauliflowers, sometimes like fluffy³ mattresses⁴ (stromatolite comes from the Greek for "mattress"), 叠层石有时候看上去像巨大的花椰菜，有时候又像毛茸茸的地垫（叠层石在希腊语里就是地垫的意思）；

　　sometimes they came in the form of columns, rising tens of meters above the surface of the water—sometimes as high as a hundred meters. 有时候，叠层石呈圆柱状，戳出水面几十米——偶尔高达100米。

　　In all their manifestations⁵, they were a kind of living rock, and they represented the world's first cooperative venture, 从各种表现形式来看，叠层石都是一种有生命的岩石。叠层岩代表了世界上第一个合作项目，

　　with some varieties of primitive⁶ organism living just at the surface and others living just underneath⁷, each taking advantage of conditions created by the other. 有的种类原始生物就生活在表面，有的就生活在下面，一方利用了另一方创造的条件。

　　The world had its first ecosystem⁸. 世界有了第一个生态系统。

　　For many years, scientists knew about stromatolites from fossil formations, 多少年来，科学家是从化石结构了解叠加层石的。

　　but in 1961 they got a real surprise with the discovery of a community of living stromatolites at Shark Bay on the remote northwest coast of Australia. 但是，在1961年，他们在遥远的澳大利亚西北海岸的沙春湾发出了一个有生命的叠层石社会，着实吃了一惊。

1 emphatic   

adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的

参考例句：

• Their reply was too emphatic for anyone to doubt them.他们的回答很坚决，不容有任何人怀疑。
• He was emphatic about the importance of being punctual.他强调严守时间的重要性。

2 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

3 fluffy   

adj.有绒毛的，空洞的

参考例句：

• Newly hatched chicks are like fluffy balls.刚孵出的小鸡像绒毛球。
• The steamed bread is very fluffy.馒头很暄。

4 mattresses   

褥垫，床垫( mattress的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The straw mattresses are airing there. 草垫子正在那里晾着。
• The researchers tested more than 20 mattresses of various materials. 研究人员试验了二十多个不同材料的床垫。

5 manifestations   

n.表示，显示（manifestation的复数形式）

参考例句：

• These were manifestations of the darker side of his character. 这些是他性格阴暗面的表现。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• To be wordly-wise and play safe is one of the manifestations of liberalism. 明哲保身是自由主义的表现之一。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

7 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

8 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。