万物简史 第473期:生命在前进(15)

 　　When we go back to the Precambrian the differences between plants and animals were probably even less clear," says Fortey. “要是我们回到寒武纪之前，植物和动物的区别很可能更不明确，”福泰说，

　　"There isn't any rule that says you have to be demonstrably one or the other." “没有任何规定说，你非得明确不是植物就是动物。”

　　Nor is it agreed that the Ediacaran organisms are in any way ancestral to anything alive today (except possibly some jellyfish). 关于埃迪亚卡拉动物群在哪个方面是不是今天活着的哪种动物（可能除了水母以外）的祖先的问题，意见也很不统一。

　　Many authorities see them as a kind of failed experiment, a stab at complexity¹ that didn't take, 许多权威把它们看做是一种失败的尝试，想要变成复杂动物而又没有成功，

　　possibly because the sluggish² Ediacaran organisms were devoured³ or outcompeted by the lither and more sophisticated animals of the Cambrian period. 可能是因为懒散的埃迪亚卡拉动物群给吃了个干净，或者在竞争中输给了寒武纪的比较灵活、比较复杂的动物。

　　There is nothing closely similar alive today, Fortey has written. “今天活着的没有很类似的动物，”福泰写道，

　　"They are difficult to interpret as any kind of ancestors of what was to follow." “它们很难被解释成是哪种后来出现的动物的祖先。”

　　The feeling was that ultimately they weren't terribly important to the development of life on Earth. 我们觉得，它们对地球上生命的发展最终没有起多大作用。

　　Many authorities believe that there was a mass extermination⁴ at the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary 许多权威人士认为，在前寒武纪和寒武纪之交的时候，存在大规模的灭绝现象，

　　and that all the Ediacaran creatures (except the uncertain jellyfish) failed to move on to the next phase. 埃迪亚卡拉动物群（除了水母不大确定以外）都没有能进入下一阶段。

　　The real business of complex life, in other words, started with the Cambrian explosion. 换句话说，正经八百的复杂生命始于寒武纪大爆发。

　　That's how Gould saw it in any case. 反正古尔德是这么看的。

　　As for the revisions of the Burgess Shale⁵ fossils, almost at once people began to question the interpretations⁷ and, in particular, Gould's interpretation⁶ of the interpretations. 至于布尔吉斯页岩化石的重新分类，人们几乎马上对那些解释提出质疑，尤其是对古尔德对解释进行的解释。

1 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

2 sluggish   

adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的

参考例句：

• This humid heat makes you feel rather sluggish.这种湿热的天气使人感到懒洋洋的。
• Circulation is much more sluggish in the feet than in the hands.脚部的循环比手部的循环缓慢得多。

3 devoured   

吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• She devoured everything she could lay her hands on: books, magazines and newspapers. 无论是书、杂志，还是报纸，只要能弄得到，她都看得津津有味。
• The lions devoured a zebra in a short time. 狮子一会儿就吃掉了一匹斑马。

4 extermination   

n.消灭，根绝

参考例句：

• All door and window is sealed for the extermination of mosquito. 为了消灭蚊子，所有的门窗都被封闭起来了。 来自辞典例句
• In doing so they were saved from extermination. 这样一来却使它们免于绝灭。 来自辞典例句

5 shale   

n.页岩，泥板岩

参考例句：

• We can extract oil from shale.我们可以从页岩中提取石油。
• Most of the rock in this mountain is shale.这座山上大部分的岩石都是页岩。

6 interpretation   

n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理

参考例句：

• His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
• Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。

7 interpretations   

n.解释( interpretation的名词复数 )；表演；演绎；理解

参考例句：

• This passage is open to a variety of interpretations. 这篇文章可以有各种不同的解释。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The involved and abstruse passage makes several interpretations possible. 这段艰涩的文字可以作出好几种解释。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》