时间:2018-12-24 作者:英语课 分类:Scientific American(八)月


英语课

Two years ago, Duke University Medical Center researchers said that the supposedly useless appendix is actually where good gut 1 bacteria safely hide out during some unpleasant intestinal 2 conditions.


Now the research team has looked at the appendix over evolutionary 3 history. They found that animals have had appendixes for about 80 million years. And the organ has evolved separately at least twice, once among the weird 4 Australian marsupials and another time in the regular old mammal lineage that we belong to.


Darwin thought that only a few animals have an appendix and that the human version was what was left of a digestive organ called the cecum. But the new study found that 70 percent of rodent 5 and primate 6 groups have species with an appendix. And some living animals have a cecum and an appendix. If Darwin had known about species that had both organs, he probably would have revised his views of the appendix, the researchers note.


Ironically, it’s natural selection that keeps the human appendix from shrinking away completely. Because smaller ones are more likely to become infected. And keep your genes 7 out of the pool.


—Steve Mirsky

 



1 gut
n.[pl.]胆量;内脏;adj.本能的;vt.取出内脏
  • It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
  • My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。
2 intestinal
adj.肠的;肠壁;肠道细菌
  • A few other conditions are in high intestinal obstruction. 其它少数情况是高位肠梗阻。 来自辞典例句
  • This complication has occasionally occurred following the use of intestinal antiseptics. 这种并发症偶而发生在使用肠道抗菌剂上。 来自辞典例句
3 evolutionary
adj.进化的;演化的,演变的;[生]进化论的
  • Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
  • These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。
4 weird
adj.古怪的,离奇的;怪诞的,神秘而可怕的
  • From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来,他好像有点怪。
  • His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。
5 rodent
n.啮齿动物;adj.啮齿目的
  • When there is a full moon,this nocturnal rodent is careful to stay in its burrow.月圆之夜,这种夜间活动的啮齿类动物会小心地呆在地洞里不出来。
  • This small rodent can scoop out a long,narrow tunnel in a very short time.这种小啮齿动物能在很短的时间里挖出一条又长又窄的地道来。
6 primate
n.灵长类(目)动物,首席主教;adj.首要的
  • 14 percent of primate species are highly endangered.14%的灵长类物种处于高度濒危状态。
  • The woolly spider monkey is the largest primate in the Americas.绒毛蛛猴是美洲最大的灵长类动物。
7 genes
n.基因( gene的名词复数 )
  • You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因,所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪
标签: SSS marsupial
学英语单词
a snack
acanthophoenix crinita h.wendl.
antedonid
apodictical
atomic number 77
attribute access
azide group
backscarps
ballsacks
bambi
be master in one's own house
Biomass waste
broomes
butterfly wing
Cherry County
cinemagoings
conductor screen
conglobations
CP invariance
cross hair ring
cyclobutadipyrimidine
Cyklosan
Dendrobium gratiosissimum
distance measure
distributing roller
diver's lead weight
ductilimetry
dynamic laser speckle
dysprosium chloride
electoral document
enterprise application integration software
entrike
fancier
fireproof building
Gamlingay
gas capacitor
Gelse
get mad
granitewares
heptarchs
hispanias
illegitimate last voyage
internal reader
Internet Printing Protocol
Lyonia ligustrina
Lötzen
marine terminal
Marylebone
master/slave mode
melodramatising
mighty post
moves into
multi-disc friction clutch
musculus depressor radii
nativelikeness
navegantes
nontort
normal length of rail
novaehollandiae
oberea breviantennalis
oceanographic research buoy
ogam
open-faced sandwich
opener
Orobanche ammophila C. A. Meyer
panmerristic
parallel bar
passerage
Polycnemum
power-line communication
proct
puerperal white leg
radices sympathica ganglii submaxillaris
radio-activities
reflection-free area
reflectometer
refueling blows
reurged
scalpeen
seedheads
slopworks
soaking factor
sodium lactate solution
spadassin
spring peeper
Stamatopoulos
stibiotriargentite (dyscrasite)
theoretical output
time lag (time delay)
Tourmalet, Col du
trihoral
triphasic wave
triple goddess
twisting momentum
ultra high tensile steel
underground railway survey
unliterary
unprofessionalizes
variable-star
venae cerebelli superiores
WDWN
whistlewings