Work on a single bacterium could easily consume a year. 研究一个细菌就可能一下子花掉一年时间。

　　At that time, according to Woese, only about 500 species of bacteria were known, 据沃斯说，那个时候，已知的细菌只有大约500种。

　　which is fewer than the number of species you have in your mouth. 这比你嘴巴里的细菌种类还要少。

　　Today the number is about ten times that, though that is still far short of the 26,900 species of algae, 今天，这个数字大约是那个数字的10倍，虽然还远远比不上26900种海藻、

　　70,000 of fungi, and 30,800 of amoebas and related organisms whose biographies fill the annals of biology. 70000种真菌和30800种变形虫，以及相关的微生物。生物学的编年史上都记载着它们的故事。

　　It isn't simple indifference that keeps the total low. 细菌总数量那么少，并不完全是因为人们对它们不重视。

　　Bacteria can be exasperatingly difficult to isolate and study. 细菌的分离和研究工作有可能极其困难的，

　　Only about 1 percent will grow in culture. 只有大约1%能通过培养繁殖。

　　Considering how wildly adaptable they are in nature, 考虑到它们在自然环境里强大的适应能力，

　　it is an odd fact that the one place they seem not to wish to live is a petri dish. 有个地方它们似乎不愿意去生活，这是很怪的，那就是在皮氏培养皿里。

　　Plop them on a bed of agar and pamper them as you will, and most will just lie there, declining every inducement to bloom. 要是你把细菌扔在琼脂培养基上，无论你怎么爱抚它们，其中大多数就躺在那里，怎么也不肯繁殖。

　　Any bacterium that thrives in a lab is by definition exceptional, 任何在实验室里繁殖的细菌都只能说是个例外，

　　and yet these were, almost exclusively, the organisms studied by microbiologists. 而这一些几乎全都是微生物学家们研究的对象。

　　It was, said Woese, "like learning about animals from visiting zoos." 沃斯说，这就“好像是一面在参观动物园，一面在了解动物”。

　　Genes, however, allowed Woese to approach microorganisms from another angle. 然而，由于基因的发现，沃斯可以从另一角度去研究微生物。

　　As he worked, Woese realized that there were more fundamental divisions in the microbial world than anyone suspected.  他在研究过程中意识到，微生物世界可以划分成更多的基本部分，