万物简史 第644期:永不安分的类人猿(14)

By 1992, the study was largely discredited¹. But the techniques of genetic² analysis continued to be refined, and in 1997 scientists from the University of Munich managed to extract and analyze³ some DNA⁴ from the arm bone of the original Neandertal man, and this time the evidence stood up. The Munich study found that the Neandertal DNA was unlike any DNA found on Earth now, strongly indicating that there was no genetic connection between Neandertals and modern humans. Now this really was a blow to multiregionalism.

到了1992年，这一研究在很大程度上已经被否定，但是基因分析技术继续得以改进。1997年，慕尼黑大学的科学家从原始尼安德特人的胳膊骨骼中提取DNA并进行了研究，这一次，极具说服力的证据出现了。慕尼黑研究人员发现，尼安德特人的DNA与地球上现已发现的任何DNA都不相同，这很明显地意味着尼安德特人与现代人类的基因没有任何联系。这是对“多地区起源”假说一次真正意义上的沉重打击。

Then in late 2000 Nature and other publications reported on a Swedish study of the mitochondrial DNA of fifty-three people, which suggested that all modern humans emerged from Africa within the past 100,000 years and came from a breeding stock of no more than 10,000 individuals. Soon afterward⁵, Eric Lander, director of the Whitehead Institute/Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Genome Research, announced that modern Europeans, and perhaps people farther afield, are descended⁶ from "no more than a few hundred Africans who left their homeland as recently as 25,000 years ago."

接着，2000年底，《自然》杂志和其他一些报刊报道了一组瑞典科学家对于53个人的线粒体DNA所作的研究。他们认为，所有现代人类都在过去10万年间出现于非洲，并且来自一个不超过1万人的种群。稍后，怀特海德研究所暨麻省理工学院基因研究中心主任埃里克·兰德宣布，现代欧洲人，也许还有一些更远地方的人，是“至迟于2.5万年前离开他们家乡的区区数百个非洲人”的后裔。

1 discredited   

不足信的，不名誉的

参考例句：

• The reactionary authorities are between two fires and have been discredited. 反动当局弄得进退维谷，不得人心。
• Her honour was discredited in the newspapers. 她的名声被报纸败坏了。

2 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。

3 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

4 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

5 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

6 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。