万物简史 第490期:多灾多难的生命进程(10)

 　　Dinosaurs¹, whales, birds, humans, even fish— all are tetrapods, which clearly suggests they come from a single common ancestor. 恐龙、鲸、鸟、人甚至鱼——都是四足动物。这显然表明，它们出自一个共同的祖先。

　　The clue to this ancestor, it was assumed, would be found in the Devonian era, from about 400 million years ago. 据认为，这个祖先的线索要在大约4亿年以前的泥盆纪寻找。

　　Before that time nothing walked on land. 在此之前，陆地上没有行走的动物。

　　After that time lots of things did. 在此之后，许多动物在陆地上行走。

　　Luckily the team found just such a creature, a three-foot-long animal called an Ichthyostega. 很走运，那个小组恰好发现一个这样的动物。一个1米长的名叫鱼甲龙的动物。

　　The analysis of the fossil fell to Jarvik, who began his study in 1948 and kept at it for the next forty-eight years. 分析那个化石的任务落在贾维克身上。他于l948年开始研究，这项研究持续了48年。

　　Unfortunately, Jarvik refused to let anyone study his tetrapod. 不幸的是，贾维克不让别人插手他的研究工作。

　　The world's paleontologists had to be content with two sketchy² interim³ papers in which Jarvik noted⁴ 世界上的古生物学家不得不满足于两篇简短的临时性论文。贾维克在论文中指出，

　　that the creature had five fingers in each of four limbs, confirming its ancestral importance. 那种动物有4肢，每肢有5个指头，确认了它的祖先地位。

　　Jarvik died in 1998. 贾维克于l998年去世。

　　After his death, other paleontologists eagerly examined the specimen⁶ and found that Jarvik had severely⁷ miscounted the fingers and toes, 他死了以后，别的古生物学家连忙对那件标本做了仔细研究，发现贾维克把指头或脚趾的数目大大地数错了，

　　there were actually eight on each limb—and failed to observe that the fish could not possibly have walked. 每肢其实有8个——而且没有注意到那种鱼很可能不会走路。

　　The structure of the fin⁵ was such that it would have collapsed⁸ under its own weight. 从鳍的结构看来，它支撑不起自身的重量。

　　Needless to say, this did not do a great deal to advance our understanding of the first land animals. 不用说，这对增进我们对第一批陆地动物的了解没有作出多大贡献。

　　Today three early tetrapods are known and none has five digits⁹. 今天，已经知道早期有三种四足动物，但没有一种跟数字5有关系。

　　In short, we don't know quite where we came from. 总之，我们不大清楚我们是从哪儿来的。

1 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 sketchy   

adj.写生的，写生风格的，概略的

参考例句：

• The material he supplied is too sketchy.他提供的材料过于简略。
• Details of what actually happened are still sketchy.对于已发生事实的详细情况知道的仍然有限。

3 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 fin   

n.鳍；(飞机的)安定翼

参考例句：

• They swim using a small fin on their back.它们用背上的小鳍游动。
• The aircraft has a long tail fin.那架飞机有一个长长的尾翼。

6 specimen   

n.样本，标本

参考例句：

• You'll need tweezers to hold up the specimen.你要用镊子来夹这标本。
• This specimen is richly variegated in colour.这件标本上有很多颜色。

7 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

8 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

9 digits   

n.数字( digit的名词复数 )；手指，足趾

参考例句：

• The number 1000 contains four digits. 1000是四位数。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The number 410 contains three digits. 数字 410 中包括三个数目字。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》