BBC纪录片地平线《进化缺环》第23期:颚骨化石
日期:2017-03-21 14:30

(单词翻译:单击)

听力文本

When you see the tetrapods in the same fauna with these hyneria it, it really does
当你发现四足动物与这些含肺鱼处于同一个群落时,
make you think well maybe escaping from large, large predators like this hyneria was,
你不禁要想躲避诸如含肺鱼之类的大型掠食者
was a pretty important thing for these early tetrapods.
是早期四足动物求生的重要手段
The mystery of why we had evolved limbs was finally solved.
我们为什么会长出腿的谜题终于解开了
They were not for walking, but navigating through swamps, just like this hellbender salamander does today,
它们不是为了行走,而是为了在沼泽间穿行,就像今天的美国隐鳃鲵一样
but there was still a hole in the story.
不过这个故事中仍有一个漏洞

BBC纪录片地平线《进化缺环》

There was still no fossil that showed the process of change from fish to tetrapod actually happening.
那就是仍旧缺少用来说明鱼如何演变成四足动物的化石证据
The transitional form, something half fish/half four legged animal, was still missing.
即过渡型物种,某种半鱼半四足类的动物
And then Per Ahlberg made his fateful visit to Latvia.
后来,Per Ahlberg前往拉脱维亚,进行了一次最重要的访查
In that forgotten museum drawer he may have found what everyone had been looking for.
在这个被遗忘的博物馆抽屉中,他找到了所有人梦寐以求的东西
His trained eye told him the fossil was a fragment of jaw right from the time of transition
他的专业眼光告诉他,这块颚骨化石正好来自过渡时期
and it was certainly part fish and part tetrapod.
而它正是半鱼半四足类的动物
The information we get from this one paltry little bone is quite overwhelming.
我们从这块不起眼的小骨头中得到的信息是无可估量的。

词汇解析


1.the mystery of ……的谜题;……的奥秘
The mystery of how brain cells are killed off by degenerative neurological diseases is no different.
关于脑细胞是如何被质变的神经疾病杀死的奥秘跟这没有什么不同。

2.a fragment of 一块..的碎片
I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know.
我是一块镜子的碎片,我不知道镜子的完整的形状。

视频及简介

19世纪,英国生物学家赫胥黎在研究了尼安德特人的头骨以后,认为是一个具有猿脸的头骨,但决不是人与猿之间的中间缺环。这就告诉我们,人与猿之间的亲缘关系,似乎还应该有一环。1891年发现直立猿人(爪哇猿人)的骨胳,证明这个缺环确实是存在的。可是,日本的人类学家认为爪哇猿人尚不是真正的中间缺环。那么,在猿与人之间到底应该是什么样的一环呢?在埃塞俄比亚发现的早期人科动物化石,很可能是过渡物种。这一发现,弥补了原始人类进化中的一个“缺环”。


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