2018年可锐考研英语阅读文章精选.docxVIP

2018年可锐考研英语阅读文章精选（六）Palaeontology Do the locomotion　　古生物学 活动活动　　The earliest animal tracks yet found have been unearthed in Canada　　在加拿大出土了迄今为止发现的最早动物足迹　　ONE of the greatest mysteries of the history of life is the Cambrian explosion.　　寒武纪的大爆炸是生命史中最大的谜团之一。　　Prior to 560m years ago, animal fossils are rare.　　5.6亿年以前的动物化石寥寥无几。　　Then, in a geological eyeblink, they become common.　　然而，只过了地质史上一瞬间的功夫，它们便多得不足为奇了。　　Shelly creatures such as trilobites and brachiopods, of whose ancestors there is little sign inthe rocks, are suddenly everywhere.　　像三叶虫、腕足动物此般壳类动物的祖先没有在岩层中留下什么痕迹，但它们的遗迹却突然间比比皆是。　　Biologists would dearly love to know what happened.　　生物学家们迫不及待地想知道当时到底发生了什么。　　Recent discoveries at the delightfully named Mistaken Point, in Newfoundland, serve to lift theveil slightly.　　纽芬兰岛上有个地方名字很有趣，叫“错误点”，正是最近在这里的一些发现轻轻掀起了这个神秘面纱的一角。　　These findings are not of Precambrian animals themselves, but of their tracks. And these,paradoxically, may be more useful.　　发现的并不是寒武纪前的动物本身，而是它们的足迹。而出人意料的是，这些足迹可能还更有用。　　Alexander Liu of Oxford University and his colleagues took an interest in Mistaken Pointbecause it is a site known for so-called Ediacaran fossils, shell-less animals of unknownprovenance that slightly predate the Cambrian.　　牛津大学的亚历山大?刘和他的同事们之所以对“错误点”产生兴趣，是因为它因埃迪卡拉动物化石而闻名，埃迪卡拉动物是存在于略早于寒武纪时期的缘起不明的无壳动物。　　As Mr Liu and his team explored the rocks they came across more than 70 markings thatlooked like tracks—slight impressions in the sediment with tiny ridges sticking up along thesides.　　在刘和他的团队对那里的岩石进行勘察的过程中，他们发现了70多个类似足迹的斑点——在沉淀物中的一些浅痕，其周边有轻微的突起。　　These markings, they report in Geology, are up to 13mm wide and up to 17cm long.　　据他们在《地质学》杂志中的报告，这些斑点宽不过13毫米，长不过17厘米。　　What is most curious about these tracks is that the rock they are in is reckoned to haveformed at least a kilometre below sea level.　　更奇特的是，据估计，这些足迹所在的岩石是在海平面至少一千米以下形成的。　　Fossil bodies might get into such rock by sinking to the sea floor.　　化石体倒是可能会沉到海底而进入这块岩石。　　Tracks, however, must have been made by something that was alive.