VOA慢速英语2018 一万年前的英国人是黑皮肤蓝眼睛

Tests Suggest 10,000-Year-Old Brit Had Dark Skin, Blue Eyes

Genetic¹ material from a 10,000-year-old skeleton² suggests the oldest-known Briton had dark skin and blue eyes.

根据一具1万年前的骨骼中提取的遗传物质表明，人们所知最古老的英国人有着深色的皮肤和蓝色的眼睛。

Scientists from Britain’s Natural History Museum and University College London reported the finding Wednesday after studying the remains³ of an individual known as “Cheddar Man.”

英国自然历史博物馆和伦敦大学学院的科学家们于周三报道了这一发现，他们研究了一个被称为“切达尔人”的遗骸。

The skeleton was discovered over a century ago.It was found inside a large hole in the Cheddar Gorge⁴ area of southwest England.

这具骨架早在一个多世纪前就被人们发现。当时人们在英格兰西南部切达峡谷地区的一个大洞里发现了它。

The researchers cut a hole into the skull⁵ of the human remains and removed DNA⁶ from bone powder.

研究人员在这个人类遗骸的头骨上挖了一个洞，并从骨粉中提取出了DNA。 

The letters DNA are short for the term deoxyribonucleic acid.Scientists call it the chemical of life.

DNA是脱氧核糖核酸的缩写。科学家称其为生命的化学物质。 

DNA is made up of genes⁷. Genes, like letters in words, carry a huge amount of information. They tell cells how to make all the materials for life.

DNA是由基因组成的。基因，就像单词中的字母，承载着大量的信息。他们告诉细胞如何制作生命所需的原材料。

The British scientists say their tests showed Cheddar Man had dark, wavy⁸ hair, blue eyes and "dark to black" skin color.

英国科学家称，他们的测试表明，切达尔人有深色、波浪状的头发、蓝色的眼睛和“深色甚至黑色”的皮肤。

The researchers say the evidence suggests that Europeans’ light skin coloring developed much later than experts had thought.

研究人员说，有证据表明，欧洲人的浅色皮肤进化得比专家们之前认为的要晚得多。 

Cheddar Man overturns⁹ people’s expectations of what kinds of genetic qualities go together, said Tom Booth, who worked on the project.

研究该项目的汤姆·布斯说，切达尔人颠覆了人们对基因特性组成类型的预想。 

It seems that pale eyes entered Europe long before pale skin or blond¹⁰ hair, which didn’t come along until after the arrival of farming, he added.

他补充说:“看起来，浅色的眼睛早在白皮肤或金色头发之前就进入了欧洲而白色皮肤和棕色头发直到农业出现之后才出现。”

Some experts believe that ancient humans who lived in extreme northern areas may have developed light colored skin. They note light skin is able to take in more sunlight than darker skin. Sunlight is required for the body to produce vitamin D.

一些专家认为，生活在极端北部地区的远古人类可能已经进化成浅色皮肤。他们注意到浅色皮肤比深色皮肤能吸收更多的阳光。人体需要阳光才能产生维生素D。

Cheddar Man shares genetic similarities with other human remains found in Spain, Hungary and Luxembourg.All those individuals lived in the Mesolithic Period, also known as the Middle Stone Age Period.The group, known as Western Hunter-Gatherers, moved to Europe from the Middle East after the last Ice Age, about 12,000 years ago.

切达尔人与西班牙、匈牙利和卢森堡的其他人类遗骸有基因相似性。这些人都生活在中石器时代。这个被称为西方狩猎采集者的族群，在大约12000年前的最后一个冰河时代之后从中东迁往欧洲。

The Associated Press says Cheddar Man is the oldest complete skeleton found in Britain. Human beings had lived on the island off and on for thousands of years before his time, but they disappeared during periodic¹¹ ice ages.

美联社说，切达尔人是英国发现的最古老的完整骨骼。人类在切达尔人之前已经在岛上断断续续生活了几千年，但是人类在周期性的冰河时代就消失了。

Cheddar Man would have been one of a very small population of hunter-gatherers in Britain at the time.Scientists, who have been studying his skeleton say he appears to have had a healthy diet but died in his 20s, possibly through violence.

在当时的英国，切达尔人是一个非常小的狩猎采集者族群。一直在研究他的骨骼的科学家们说，他的饮食习惯还比较健康，但在20多岁时就去世了，可能是遭到了暴力。

Words in This Story

powder – n. a very fine, dry substance

pale – adj. lacking in color; not bright

blond – adj. of light color; a golden or yellowish brown color

off and on – adv. now and then

1 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。

2 skeleton   

n.骨骼，框架，骨干，梗概，提要

参考例句：

• A long illness made a skeleton out of him.长期的卧病使他骨瘦如柴。
• Her notes gave us just the bare skeleton of her theory.她的笔记只给我们提供了她的理论的梗概。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 gorge   

n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃

参考例句：

• East of the gorge leveled out.峡谷东面地势变得平坦起来。
• It made my gorge rise to hear the news.这消息令我作呕。

5 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

6 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。

7 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

8 wavy   

adj.有波浪的，多浪的，波浪状的，波动的，不稳定的

参考例句：

• She drew a wavy line under the word.她在这个词的下面画了一条波纹线。
• His wavy hair was too long and flopped just beneath his brow.他的波浪式头发太长了，正好垂在他的眉毛下。

9 overturns   

（使）翻倒( overturn的第三人称单数 )； 使垮台，推翻； 撤销（判决等）

参考例句：

• It overturns economic policies. 它无视经济政策。
• It overturns child-raising theory. 它推翻了儿童抚养理论。

10 blond   

adj.金发的；n.白肤碧眼金发的人

参考例句：

• Her long blond hair spilled down over her shoulders.她那淡黄色的长发披垂在双肩。
• This blond man delivers newspaper every morning.这个白肤金发碧眼的男人每天早晨送报纸。

11 periodic   

adj.周期的，定期的，时而发生的

参考例句：

• Long long ago,we knew the periodic motion of a planet.很久以前，我们就知道行星的周期运动。
• These arrangements are subject to periodic reviews.这几项安排每隔一定时间须予复查。