万物简史 第437期:小生物的世界(8)

 In 2001, a team from Tel Aviv University argued that B. permians were almost identical to a strain of modern bacteria, Bacillus marismortui, found in the Dead Sea. 2001年，以色列特拉维夫大学的一个小组认为，二叠纪芽孢杆菌与一种现代的细菌几乎相同。那种细菌名叫原古孢杆菌，是在死海里发现的。

Only two of its genetic¹ sequences differed, and then only slightly. 两者之间只有两种基因顺序不同，而且也只是稍稍不同。

Are we to believe, the Israeli researchers wrote, “我们该不该相信，”以色列研究人员写道，

"that in 250 million years B. permians has accumulated the same amount of genetic differences that could be achieved in just 3-7 days in the laboratory?" “二叠纪芽孢杆菌在2.5亿年里积累的基因变化之量，在实验室只要花3—7天时间就能守成？”

In reply, Vreeland suggested that "bacteria evolve faster in the lab than they do in the wild." Maybe. 弗里兰的回答是：“细菌在实验室里要比在野地里进化得快。”也许如此。

It is a remarkable² fact that well into the space age, most school textbooks divided the world of the living into just two categories—plant and animal. 直到空间时代，大多数学校的教材仍然把生物世界分为两类——植物和动物。这是不可思议的。

Microorganisms hardly featured. 微生物极少被置于显著地位。

Amoebas and similar single-celled organisms were treated as proto-animals and algae³ as proto-plants. 变形虫和类似的单细胞生物被看做是原始动物，海藻被看做是原始动物。

Bacteria were usually lumped in with plants, too, even though everyone knew they didn't belong there. 细菌还常常与植物混在一起，尽管大家都知道细菌不是植物。

As far back as the late nineteenth century the German naturalist⁴ Ernst Haeckel had suggested that bacteria deserved to be placed in a separate kingdom, 早在19世纪末，德国博物学家厄恩斯特·海克尔已经提出，细菌应该归于一个单独的界，

which he called Monera, but the idea didn't begin to catch on among biologists until the 1960s and then only among some of them. 他把它称之炎“原核生物”。但是，直到20世纪60年代，那个观点才被生物学家们接受，而且也只是被有的生物学家接受。

(I note that my trusty American Heritage desk dictionary from 1969 doesn't recognize the term.) （我注意到，1969年出版的袖珍《美语词典》里没有承认这个名称。）

1 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。

2 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

3 algae   

n.水藻，海藻

参考例句：

• Most algae live in water.多数藻类生长在水中。
• Algae grow and spread quickly in the lake.湖中水藻滋蔓。

4 naturalist   

n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者)

参考例句：

• He was a printer by trade and naturalist by avocation.他从事印刷业，同时是个博物学爱好者。
• The naturalist told us many stories about birds.博物学家给我们讲述了许多有关鸟儿的故事。