万物简史 第436期:小生物的世界(7)

 In 1997 scientists successfully activated¹ some anthrax spores² that had lain dormant³ for eighty years in a museum display in Trondheim, Norway. 1997年，科学家们成功地激活了已经在挪威特隆赫姆博物馆休眠了80年之久的一些炭疽细胞。

Other microorganisms have leapt back to life after being released from a 118-year-old can of meat and a 166-year-old bottle of beer. 有一听118年的陈年罐头和一瓶166年的陈年啤酒，刚一打开，有的微生物就一下子活了过来。

In 1996, scientists at the Russian Academy of Science claimed to have revived bacteria frozen in Siberian permafrost for three million years. 1996年，俄罗斯科学院的科学家们声称，他们使在西伯利亚永久冻土里冻结了300万年的细菌恢复了生机。

But the record claim for durability⁴ so far is one made by Russell Vreeland and colleagues at West Chester University in Pennsylvania in 2000, 迄今为止，耐久力最长的记录，是2000年由宾夕法尼亚州西切斯特大学的拉塞尔·弗里兰和他的同事们宣布的，

when they announced that they had resuscitated⁵ 250-million-year-old bacteria called Bacillus permians 他们声称使2.5亿岁的细菌苏醒了过来。那种细菌名叫“二叠纪芽孢杆菌”，

that had been trapped in salt deposits two thousand feet underground in Carlsbad, New Mexico. 一直困在新墨西哥州卡尔斯巴德地下600米深处的盐层里。

If so, this microbe is older than the continents. 果真如此的话，这种微生物比大陆还要古老。

The report met with some understandable dubiousness⁶. 那个报告受到一些人的怀疑，这是可以理解的。

Many biochemists maintained that over such a span the microbe's components⁷ would have become uselessly degraded unless the bacterium⁸ roused itself from time to time. 许多生物化学家认为，在那么长的时间里，细菌的成分会退化，从而失去作用，除非细菌不时自我苏醒过来。

However, if the bacterium did stir occasionally there was no plausible⁹ internal source of energy that could have lasted so long. 然而，即使细菌真的不时苏醒，体内的能源也不可能持续那么长的时间。

The more doubtful scientists suggested that the sample may have been contaminated, if not during its retrieval then perhaps while still buried.  怀疑更深的科学家们认为，样品也许已经受到污染，如果不是收集的过程中被污染的，那么也许是埋在地下的时候被污染的。

1 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

2 spores   

n.（细菌、苔藓、蕨类植物）孢子( spore的名词复数 )v.（细菌、苔藓、蕨类植物）孢子( spore的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Ferns, mosses and fungi spread by means of spores. 蕨类植物、苔藓和真菌通过孢子传播蔓生。
• Spores form a lipid membrane during the process of reproducing. 孢于在生殖过程中形成类脂膜。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 预防生物武器

3 dormant   

adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的

参考例句：

• Many animals are in a dormant state during winter.在冬天许多动物都处于睡眠状态。
• This dormant volcano suddenly fired up.这座休眠火山突然爆发了。

4 durability   

n.经久性，耐用性

参考例句：

• Nylons have the virtue of durability.尼龙丝袜有耐穿的优点。

5 resuscitated   

v.使（某人或某物）恢复知觉，苏醒( resuscitate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The doctor resuscitated the man who was overcome by gas. 医生救活了那个煤气中毒的人。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She had been literally rejuvenated, resuscitated, brought back from the lip of the grave. 她确确实实返老还童了，恢复了精力，被从坟墓的进口处拉了回来。 来自辞典例句

6 dubiousness   

n.dubious（令人怀疑的）的变形

参考例句：

7 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

8 bacterium   

n.(pl.)bacteria 细菌

参考例句：

• The bacterium possibly goes in the human body by the mouth.细菌可能通过口进入人体。
• A bacterium is identified as the cause for his duodenal ulcer.一种细菌被断定为造成他十二指肠溃疡的根源。

9 plausible   

adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的

参考例句：

• His story sounded plausible.他说的那番话似乎是真实的。
• Her story sounded perfectly plausible.她的说辞听起来言之有理。