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万物简史(MP3+中英字幕) 第439期:小生物的世界(10)

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When times are good, they exist as one-celled individuals, much like amoebas. But when conditions grow tough, they crawl to a central gathering place and become, almost miraculously, a slug. The slug is not a thing of beauty and it doesn't go terribly far—usually just from the bottom of a pile of leaf litter to the top, where it is in a slightly more exposed position—but for millions of years this may well have been the niftiest trick in the universe.

当年景好的时候,它们以单细胞的形式独立存在,很像是变形虫;而当条件变得恶劣的时候,它们就爬着集中到一个中心地方,几乎奇迹般地变成了一条蛞蝓。那条蛞蝓看上去并不漂亮,也移动不了多远——通常只是从一堆树叶的底部爬上顶上,处于比较暴露的位置——但在几百万年时间里,这很可能一直是宇宙中最绝妙的把戏。
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And it doesn't stop there. Having hauled itself up to a more favorable locale, the slime mold transforms itself yet again, taking on the form of a plant. By some curious orderly process the cells reconfigure, like the members of a tiny marching band, to make a stalk atop of which forms a bulb known as a fruiting body. Inside the fruiting body are millions of spores that, at the appropriate moment, are released to the wind to blow away and become single-celled organisms that can start the process again.

事情并不到此为止。黏性杆菌爬到上面一个比较有利的位置以后,再一次变换自己的面目,呈现出了植物的形态。通过某种奇妙而有序的过程,那些细胞改变了外形,就像一支行进中的小乐队那样,伸出了一根梗,顶上形成了一个花蕾,名叫“子实体”。子实体里面有几百万个孢子。到了适当的时刻,那些孢子随风而去,成为单细胞微生物,从而开始重复这一过程。
For years slime molds were claimed as protozoa by zoologists and as fungi by mycologists, though most people could see they didn't really belong anywhere. When genetic testing arrived, people in lab coats were surprised to find that slime molds were so distinctive and peculiar that they weren't directly related to anything else in nature, and sometimes not even to each other.
多年来,黏性杆菌被动物学家们称之为原生生物,被真菌学家们称之为真菌,虽然大多数人都可以明白,它们其实不属于任何哪个群。发明基因检测法以后,实验室人员吃惊地发现,黏性杆菌如此与众不同,无比奇特,与自然界的任何别的东西都没有直接关系,有时候连互相之间也毫无关系。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
bulb [bʌlb]

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n. 电灯泡,球状物

 
universe ['ju:nivə:s]

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n. 宇宙,万物,世界

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related [ri'leitid]

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adj. 相关的,有亲属关系的

 
favorable ['feivərəbl]

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adj. 有利的,赞许的,良好的,顺利的,偏袒的

 
distinctive [di'stiŋktiv]

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adj. 独特的

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genetic [dʒi'netik]

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adj. 基因的,遗传的,起源的

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band [bænd]

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n. 带,箍,波段
n. 队,一群,乐队

 
orderly ['ɔ:dəli]

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adj. 有秩序的,整齐的,一丝不苟的,和平的

 
exposed [iks'pəuzd]

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adj. 暴露的,无掩蔽的,暴露于风雨中的 v. 暴露,

 
curious ['kjuəriəs]

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adj. 好奇的,奇特的

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