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
agape
almost periodic motion
American National coarse thread series
amide plants
Arn.
asian nations
associate charge
be thankful for small mercies
Bindura
blabbier
boschian
brayton/rankine bottoming cycle
chang tan
Chikushino
citern
clitopilus prunulus
cognitive-behavior
container width
contingency
corrugated steel plate
Cotamine
cottony rot
cut-off slope
directional antenna of fuze
due
fed president
flurecol
fubing system
functional food
Gillespian
glossopathy
Guaje, Llano de
gurevitches
heat fluctuation
high speed incremental plotter
homogenization of thrombus
Hynish Bay
in ... turn
inside glazing
international union of advertisers associations (iuaa)
irfa
isothermic shell calorimeter
kassir
Kollweiler
Kūh Sar
l'immoraliste
leakance test
lodocol
loss ratios
macrometeorologist
mare's teat
marry together
Mawlu
mean ergodic
mediations
motor vehicle sale tax
msph
Muqui
neurotic gangrene
New Hebrew
NSC-301739
Old World oriole
one-beam overwrite
operations sheet
organizational plan
output decoder
oval-head screw
patent implementing regulations
pedlery
perfemane (c.i.p.w.)
power system security analysis
prepresbyopia
propethylene
pseudocarcinomatous hyperplasia
reciprocal hybrids
recording car
Reithrodontomys raviventris
reprecipitated
rheinlaender
ring protection
scarlet strawberries
scouring pads
secocholane
sediment load
simplicial chain mapping
smokified
stock custody fee
subappendixes
sulfonie acid ion exchange resin
supravitally
system library
take bribes and bend the law
template for modification
the shit out of
Theisen disintegrator
topographic gradient hypothesis
Tylosoids
tymkovich
urethremorrhage
vapo(u)r pressure constant
Viscount Nelson
white ties