时间:2019-01-02 作者:英语课 分类:生命物语


英语课

Millions of years ago, the embryo 1 of a distant ancestor of ours would have shared with us many of these features. As well as giving rise to us, it gave rise to all sorts of other creatures. And in those creatures, these features we're looking at here have evolved quite differently. We can actually see it happening with the ear bones, because those very same grooves 2 that in us would have become our ear bones, in this creature become something else entirely 3. This is the embryo of a fish. Here is its heart. And it too has a curved spine 4 and the tiny grooves here, just a fraction of a millimeter long, have evolved to become not ear bones, but supports for its gills.

So, sometime long, long ago, this sort and I shared a common ancestor. And like them it too had little bones around its gills which helped it to breathe. But as we evolved, these little bones were adapted for an entirely different job purpose to become the intricate mechanism 5 of our ears.

And our ear bones are not the only things to have been transformed in this way. Such apparent miracles are in fact all around us. The rest of our ears that allow us to balance and walk upright as well as hear, our limbs and hands, our whole body has been shaped by the process of evolution.

Everything about the human body has been inherited and adapted from something our ancestors had a long time ago. Even though they may have used it for something entirely different, we are recycled from the past.

Once we begin to understand the source from which our bodies are derived, the way we look at ourselves can never be quite the same again. So every part of the human body bears a shadow from our distant past. Evolution has adapted our bodies from those of our ancestors, all the way back since life was as simple as that in the steaming pools of three billion years ago. It is incredible...

words and expressions

derive:To issue from a source; originate.起源于,来自



n.胚胎,萌芽的事物
  • They are engaging in an embryo research.他们正在进行一项胚胎研究。
  • The project was barely in embryo.该计划只是个雏形。
n.沟( groove的名词复数 );槽;老一套;(某种)音乐节奏v.沟( groove的第三人称单数 );槽;老一套;(某种)音乐节奏
  • Wheels leave grooves in a dirt road. 车轮在泥路上留下了凹痕。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Sliding doors move in grooves. 滑动门在槽沟中移动。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地
  • The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
  • His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。
n.脊柱,脊椎;(动植物的)刺;书脊
  • He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
  • His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。
n.机械装置;机构,结构
  • The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
  • The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。
vi.起源;由来;衍生;导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取
  • Many English words are derived from Latin and Greek. 英语很多词源出于拉丁文和希腊文。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He derived his enthusiasm for literature from his father. 他对文学的爱好是受他父亲的影响。 来自《简明英汉词典》
学英语单词
-etanide
Abiacine
adjustable speed electric drive
adjustment of general average
allowable-load
allowance for price declines
american rocket society (ars)
audit of financial expenditure
baumann
Bazmān, Kūh-e
bead fern
boiler convection bank
Born-Oppen-heimer approximation
Bynoe R.
calamagrostis epigeios roth.
cathode spot
chattinesses
chlorophyll lipoprotein
cold flexibility
compression-ignition
connexion of a node
controllability matrix
crawler belt
decanters
Delphic
djenkolic acid
dorey
dribble from jet
drivership
drum with pins
El Aouedj
element of mixed fertilizer
Elongatolide
emission monitoring
emitting
Enteroentectropy
fake the broad
free-fall acceleration
galaphenylsulfone
gramaphone
grinding resistance
group system
Gzhat'
healthless
higher cut off frequency
hot karl
in the palm of your hand
indilatable
istans
kikenella infection
kilmainhams
knouting
Kohodio
La Bourboule
limewater test
liquid-fuel oil
mechanical movement
mica spectacles
military leader
neopulchellin
nonthinker
Old Right
outdoor planting
particulate organic phosphorus
pcworld.com
Picea mariana BSP.
Platonism in mathematics
pleated sheet
pollution by polychlorinated biphenyles
potassium hydrogen fluoride
Pourri, Mt.
prelatically
preteritness
prior bill of sale
Psalliota bisporus
reap laurels
receipts and payments documents
reel height adjustment lever
resistive coupling loop
ritas
rotating thermometer
Saint Edward's sapphire
Sandwich B.
sannaite
scariole
scsu
Sepaton
sevilla
sheer-point
space division multiplexing crosspoint switch
stare into the distance
tape data validation
target ranges
taxi dancer
tetchinesses
Ti-n-Tehoun
time concept
various interests
vegetative pole vegetal pole
waterpumps
wheat streak mosaic