万物简史 第575期:生命的物质(1)

26 The Stuff of Life

第二十六章 生命的物质

If your two parents hadn't bonded¹ just when they did — possibly to the second, possibly to the nanosecond — you wouldn't be here. And if their parents hadn't bonded in a precisely² timely manner, you wouldn't be here either. And if their parents hadn't done likewise, and their parents before them, and so on, obviously and indefinitely, you wouldn't be here.

如果你父母双方没有在恰当的时间结合——可能要精确到秒，更有可能要精确到毫微秒，你就不会在这里；而如果你父母的父母没有在恰当的时间以恰当的方式结合，你也不会在这里；如果你父母的父母的父母，以及你父母的父母的父母的父母，以此类推下去，没有以同样的方式结合，显而易见，你也肯定不会在这里。

基因交换与组合

Push backwards³ through time and these ancestral debts begin to add up. Go back just eight generations to about the time that Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were born, and already there are over 250 people on whose timely couplings your existence depends. Continue further, to the time of Shakespeare and the Mayflower Pilgrims, and you have no fewer than 16,384 ancestors earnestly exchanging genetic⁴ material in a way that would, eventually and miraculously⁵, result in you.

时光越是倒流，你赖以降生的人的数量越是增加。仅仅上溯到8代以前，也就是查尔斯·达尔文和亚伯拉罕·林肯出生的时间，这个数目已经超过250人，他们双方的结合决定了你的存在。继续往前推，一直到莎士比亚和“五月花”号清教徒生活的时间，你有不少于16384个祖先，他们彼此的基因交换与组合，最终奇迹般地成就了你。

At twenty generations ago, the number of people procreating on your behalf has risen to 1,048,576. Five generations before that, and there are no fewer than 33,554,432 men and women on whose devoted⁶ couplings your existence depends. By thirty generations ago, your total number of forebears — remember, these aren't cousins and aunts and other incidental relatives, but only parents and parents of parents in a line leading ineluctably to you — is over one billion (1,073,741,824, to be precise).

在20代以前，这个祖先数目已增加到了1048576个。在此基础上再往前推5代，成就你的祖先数不会少于33554432个。而在30代以前，你的祖先的总数——记住，这些数目不包括堂亲、表亲以及其他更远的亲戚，而只是父母一父母的父母一直到你这一线——已超过10亿（确切地说是1073741824）。

1 bonded   

n.有担保的，保税的，粘合的

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee.威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• This adhesive must be applied to both surfaces which are to be bonded together.要粘接的两个面都必须涂上这种黏合剂。

2 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

3 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

4 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。

5 miraculously   

ad.奇迹般地

参考例句：

• He had been miraculously saved from almost certain death. 他奇迹般地从死亡线上获救。
• A schoolboy miraculously survived a 25 000-volt electric shock. 一名男学生在遭受2.5 万伏的电击后奇迹般地活了下来。

6 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。