万物简史 第472期:生命在前进(14)

 　　Today some of Sprigg's original Ediacaran specimens¹, along with many of the other fifteen hundred specimens that have been found throughout the Flinders Range since that time, 今天，斯普里格的埃迪亚卡拉标本原件，与自那以后在整个弗林德斯山脉所发现的其他1500件标本中的许多标本一起，

　　can be seen in a glass case in an upstairs room of the stout² and lovely South Australian Museum in Adelaide, but they don't attract a great deal of attention. 陈列在阿德莱德南澳大利亚州博物馆楼上的一个玻璃柜里，但是没有吸引多少注意力。

　　The delicately etched patterns are rather faint and not terribly arresting to the untrained eye. 上面蚀出的精美图案不大清楚，对没有受过训练的人来说没有多大吸引力。

　　They are mostly small and discshaped, with occasional, vague trailing ribbons. 它们大多很小，呈圆盘形，偶尔带有隐约的条纹。

　　Fortey has described them as "soft-bodied oddities." 福泰把它们称为“软体怪物”。

　　There is still very little agreement about what these things were or how they lived. 这些是什么东西，它们是怎么生活的，人们的看法远非一致。

　　They had, as far as can be told, no mouth or anus with which to take in and discharge digestive materials, 从表面看来，它们没有用来进食的嘴巴，也没有用来排泄废物的肛门，

　　and no internal organs with which to process them along the way. 根本没有用来消化食物的内脏器官。

　　"In life," Fortey says, "most of them probably simply lay upon the surface of the sandy sediment³, like soft, structureless and inanimate flatfish." “在生活中，”福泰说，“它们大多数很可能就趴在砂质沉积物的表面，就像没有固定形状、毫无生气、软绵绵的比目鱼那样。”

　　At their liveliest, they were no more complex than jellyfish. 在最活泼的时候，它们也不会比水母更复杂。

　　All the Ediacaran creatures were diploblastic, meaning they were built from two layers of tissue. 埃迪亚卡拉动物都是双胚层的，即它们由两层组织构成。

　　With the exception of jellyfish, all animals today are triploblastic. 除了水母以外，今天所有的动物都是三胚层的。

　　Some experts think they weren't animals at all, but more like plants or fungi⁴. 有的专家认为，它们根本不是动物，而更像是植物或真菌。

　　The distinctions between plant and animal are not always clear even now. 即使现在，植物和动物的界线并不总是很分明。

　　The modern sponge spends its life fixed⁵ to a single spot and has no eyes or brain or beating heart, and yet is an animal. " 现代海绵一辈子固定在一个地方，既没有眼睛，也没有大脑，更没有搏动的心脏，然而它是动物。

1 specimens   

n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人

参考例句：

• Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。
• The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 stout   

adj.强壮的，粗大的，结实的，勇猛的，矮胖的

参考例句：

• He cut a stout stick to help him walk.他砍了一根结实的枝条用来拄着走路。
• The stout old man waddled across the road.那肥胖的老人一跩一跩地穿过马路。

3 sediment   

n.沉淀，沉渣，沉积(物)

参考例句：

• The sediment settled and the water was clear.杂质沉淀后，水变清了。
• Sediment begins to choke the channel's opening.沉积物开始淤塞河道口。

4 fungi   

n.真菌，霉菌

参考例句：

• Students practice to apply the study of genetics to multicellular plants and fungi.学生们练习把基因学应用到多细胞植物和真菌中。
• The lawn was covered with fungi.草地上到处都是蘑菇。

5 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。