万物简史 第478期:生命在前进(20)

 　　Many of the Burgess specimens¹ have now been assigned to living phyla — just where Walcott put them in the first place. 许多布尔吉斯标本现在已经归到活着的动物的门里——就是沃尔科特最初放置它们的地方。

　　Hallucigenia and some others are thought to be related to Onychophora, a group of caterpillar-like animals. 致幻虫和几种别的动物被认为与栉蚕有关系，那是一群毛虫模样的动物。

　　Others have been reclassified as precursors² of the modern annelids. 别的已经被重新归类于现代环节动物的先驱。

　　In fact, says Fortey, "there are relatively³ few Cambrian designs that are wholly novel. 实际上，福泰说：“寒武纪造型只有几种是完全新的。

　　More often they turn out to be just interesting elaborations of well-established designs." 它们更往往证明只是已经确认的形态的有意思的发挥。”

　　As he wrote in his book Life: "None was as strange as a present day barnacle, nor as grotesque⁴ as a queen termite⁵." 他在《生活》杂志上写道：“再奇也奇不过今天的藤壶，再怪也怪不过白蚁后。”

　　So the Burgess Shale⁶ specimens weren't so spectacular after all. 所以，布尔吉斯页岩标本原来并非那么不可思议。

　　This made them, as Fortey has written, "no less interesting, or odd, just more explicable." 福泰写道，尽管如此，它们“依然很有意思，依然很古怪，只是能解释得比较清楚了”。

　　Their weird⁷ body plans were just a kind of youthful exuberance⁸ — the evolutionary⁹ equivalent, as it were, of spiked¹⁰ hair and tongue studs. 它们古怪的体形横剖面只是处于一种生气勃勃的青春阶段——在某种程度上类似于进化中的尖毛和舌尖。

　　Eventually the forms settled into a staid and stable middle age. 最后那些形态进人了固定、稳定的中年阶段。

　　But that still left the enduring question of where all these animals had come from—how they had suddenly appeared from out of nowhere. 但是，这些动物到底来自何方——它们是怎么突然从无到有的，这仍然是个难以解答的问题。

　　Alas¹¹, it turns out the Cambrian explosion may not have been quite so explosive as all that. 啊呀！寒武纪大爆发被证明也许并非爆发得那样厉害。

　　The Cambrian animals, it is now thought, were probably there all along, but were just too small to see. 现在认为，寒武纪的动物很可能早就存在，只是小得看不见罢了。

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 precursors   

n.先驱( precursor的名词复数 )；先行者；先兆；初期形式

参考例句：

• Phenyl (or polyphenyl) substituted epoxides serve as excellent precursors to phenyl (or diphenyl) carbenes. 某些苯代（或多苯）环氧乙烷是制取带苯环（或二苯）碳烯的极好原料。 来自辞典例句
• Note the presence of megakaryocytes, erythroid islands, and granulocytic precursors. 可见巨核细胞，红细胞岛和粒细胞前体细胞。 来自互联网

3 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

4 grotesque   

adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物）

参考例句：

• His face has a grotesque appearance.他的面部表情十分怪。
• Her account of the incident was a grotesque distortion of the truth.她对这件事的陈述是荒诞地歪曲了事实。

5 termite   

n.白蚁

参考例句：

• The termite control was also probed into further in this text.本文还进一步探讨了白蚁的防治方法。
• Termite often destroys wood.白蚁经常破坏树木。

6 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。

7 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。

8 exuberance   

n.丰富；繁荣

参考例句：

• Her burst of exuberance and her brightness overwhelmed me.她勃发的热情和阳光的性格征服了我。
• The sheer exuberance of the sculpture was exhilarating.那尊雕塑表现出的勃勃生机让人振奋。

9 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

10 spiked   

adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的

参考例句：

• The editor spiked the story. 编辑删去了这篇报道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They wondered whether their drinks had been spiked. 他们有些疑惑自己的饮料里是否被偷偷搀了烈性酒。 来自辞典例句

11 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。