万物简史 第480期:生命在前进(22)

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号：tingroom，领取免费英语资料大礼包。

　　"And it could have happened quite swiftly, so in that sense I suppose it was an explosion." “这种情况可能发生得很快，因此在那个意义上可以说是一次爆发。”

　　The idea is that just as mammals bided¹ their time for a hundred million years until the dinosaurs² cleared off and then seemingly burst forth³ in profusion⁴ all over the planet, 这话的意思是，像哺乳动物那样磨蹭了l亿年，直到恐龙让道，然后才似乎突然之间在全球大量增加。

　　so too perhaps the arthropods and other triploblasts waited in semimicroscopic anonymity⁵ for the dominant⁶ Ediacaran organisms to have their day. 节肢动物和别的三胚层动物也是一样。它们以半微生物的形态默默地等待，等着占支配地位的埃迪亚卡拉动物群没落。

　　Says Fortey: "We know that mammals increased in size quite dramatically after the dinosaurs went—though when I say quite abruptly⁷ I of course mean it in a geological sense. 福泰说：“我们知道，恐龙一走，哺乳动物的个儿戏剧性地变大了——虽然我说相当突然，但我当然是从地质学的意义上说的。

　　We're still talking millions of years." 我们仍然在谈论几百万年。”

　　Incidentally, Reginald Sprigg did eventually get a measure of overdue⁸ credit. 顺便说一句，雷金纳德·斯普里格最后还是得到了一份荣誉，虽然来得晚了一点。

　　One of the main early genera, Spriggina, was named in his honor, as were several species, 有个早期的主要的“属”像几个物种那样以他的名字命名，被称之为斯普里格属。

　　and the whole became known as the Ediacaran fauna⁹ after the hills through which he had searched. 整个儿发现在后来被叫做埃迪亚卡拉动物群，以他寻找化石的山区名字命名。

　　By this time, however, Sprigg's fossil-hunting days were long over. 然而，到那个时候，斯普里格寻找化石的年代早已过去。

　　After leaving geology he founded a successful oil company and eventually retired¹⁰ to an estate in his beloved Flinders Range, where he created a wildlife reserve. 他离开地质学以后建立了一家很成功的石油公司，最后隐退到他心爱的弗林德斯山脉中的一处庄园并在那里创建了一个野生物保留地。

　　He died in 1994 a rich man. 他1994年去世时已经是个富豪。

分享到：