-
The history of the tortoise
乌龟史
If you go back far enough, everything
lived in the sea.
很久很久以前，所有的一切都生活在海里
At
various
points
in
evolutionary
history,
enterprising
individuals
within
many
different
animal
groups
moved
out
onto
the
land,sometimes
even
to
the
most
parched
deserts,taking
their
own
private
seawater with them in blood and cellular fluids. <
/p>
在很多不同类型的动物群体中，
其中那些有进取心的群体在进化史
的很多节点里断断续续向
陆地迁徙，有些甚至只是凭借血液内的海水和细胞里的液体，竟
迁徙去了最炎热的沙漠
In
addition to the reptiles,birds,mammals and insects
which we see all around us, other groups that
have
succeeded
out
of
water
include
scorpions
,snails,crustaceans
such
as
woodlice
and
land
crabs,millipedes and
centipedes,spiders and various worms.
另
外，我们身边的爬虫动物，鸟类，哺乳动物和昆虫也成功出水，还有蝎子，甲壳类动物如
木虱，螃蟹，千足虫，蜈蚣，蜘蛛和多种蠕虫
And
we
mustn
’
t
forget
the
plants,without
whose
prior
invasion
of
the
land
none
of
the
other
migrations could have happened.
并且，
我们决不能忽视掉植物，
如果没有它们作为先遣
队进入陆地，
上述这一切是不可能发
生的。
Key Words: sea ,plant, land
Evolutionary
adj.
进化的
Enterprising
adj.
有魄力的
有进取心的
Parched
adj.
炎热的
Desert n.
沙漠
v.
抛弃
Dessert n.
甜点
Cellular
adj.
细胞的
Fluid
n.
液体
Adj.
流动的
Reptile
n.
爬虫动物
Mammal
n.
哺乳动物
Insect
n.
昆虫
Succeed out
v.
成功
Scorpion
n.
蝎子
Snail
n.
蜗牛
Crustacean
n.
甲壳类动物
Adj.
甲壳纲的
Woodlice
n.
木虱
Land crab
n.
陆地螃蟹
Millipede
n.
千足虫
Centipede
n.
蜈蚣
Worm
n.
虫、蠕虫
Prior
a.
先前的
Invasion. n.
入侵
-v. invade
Migration
n.
移民
迁徙
Immigration
n.
移民
Moving from water to land involved a
major redesign of every aspect of life,including
breathing
and reproduction .
从水中移向陆地（这一行为）涉及身体各方面的主要重组，其
中包括呼吸和繁殖
Nevertheless ,a
good number of thoroughgoing land animals later
turned around,abandoned their
hard-
earned terrestrial re-tooling, and returned to the
water again.
然而，大量辛苦爬上陆地的动物不久就转向了，放弃了它们
在陆地辛苦进化来的重组工具，
又返回了水中。
Seals
have
only
gone
part
way
show
us
what
the
intermediates
might
have
been
like,on the way to extreme cases such
as whales and dugongs.
海豹是其中唯一的只走回一半路的，
它们向我们展示了处于来回路中间的是什么样。
也有比
较极端的例子，比如鲸鱼和儒艮
Whales(including the small whales we
call
dolphins )and
dugongs,with their close
cousins the
manatees,ceased
to
be
land
creatures
altogether
and
reverted
to
the
full
marine
habits
of
their
remote ancestors.
鲸鱼（包括我们所说的
小鲸鱼海豚）
和儒艮，
还有它们的近亲海牛，一齐终止了陆地生
物属
性，重新拾起了它们远古祖先的海洋习惯
They don
’
t even
come ashore to breed.
它们甚至都不来海岸繁殖了
They
do ,however,still breathe air,having never
developed anything equivalent to the gills of
their
earlier marine incarnation .
但是，它们却呼吸空气，而从未进化出较早海洋动物都有的鳃
Turtles
went
back
to
the
sea
a
very
long
time
ago
and
,like
all
vertebrate
returnees
to
the
water,they
breathe air.
海龟，返回海洋已经非常久了。和其他返回水中的脊椎动物
一样，海龟也呼吸空气
However ,they
are, in one respect ,less fully given back to the
water than whales or dugongs, for
turtles still lay their eggs on beaches
.
但是，
有一方面海龟与已完全回
到水中的鲸鱼和儒艮不同，
它们返回水中相对较少，
仍然在
沙滩上产卵
Key Words:
reproduction, return or stay
Reproduction
n.
繁殖
再现
复制品
Nevertheless
adv.
然而
不过
thoroughgoing
a.
彻底的
radically
adv.
根本地
完全地
completely
adv.
完全地
彻底地
hard-earned
a.
辛苦得来的
Terrestrial
adj.
陆地的
Intermediate
adj.
中间的
Intermediates
n.
中间者
Whale
n.
鲸鱼
Dugong
n.
儒艮
Dolphin
n
海豚
Penguin
n.
企鹅
Manatee
n.
海牛
Cease
v.
停止
终止
pause v.
停止
中止
Revert
v.
回复
重提
Equivalent
a.
相等的
相当的
Gill
n.
鳃
Incarnation
n.
赋予肉体
具人形
化身
Vertebrate
n.
脊椎动物
Returnee
n.
返回者
Ashore
n
海岸
Beach
n.
沙滩
There
is
evidence
that
all
modern
turtles
are
descended
from
a
terrestrial
ancestor
which
lived
before most of the dinosaurs.
有证据表明，所有的现代海龟都是从先恐龙时代的陆地祖先进化而来
There
are
two
key
fossils
called
Proganochelys
quenstedti
and
Palaeochersis
talampayensis
dating from early dinosaur times,which
appear to be close to the ancestry of all modern
turtles and
tortoises.
其中有两块关键化石
名为：
Proganochelys quenstedti
和
Palaeochersis t
alampayensis
，
生成
于早
期恐龙时代，揭示了与所有现代海龟和乌龟祖先的亲密联系
You might wonder how we can tell
whether fossil animals lived on land or in water
,especially if
only fragments are found
你或许想问：
我们是如何知道那些动
物生活在海里还是陆地，
尤其是仅仅找到了一些化石碎
片而已<
/p>
Sometimes
it
’
s obvious .
有时是很明显的
Ichthyosaurs were reptilian
contemporaries of the dinosaurs, with fins and
streamlined bodies .
鱼龙，是恐龙时代的两栖动物，有着鱼鳍和流线型的身体
The fossils look like dolphins and they
surely lived like dolphins , in the water .
它们的化石看起来像海豚，并且，在水中，它们也像海豚一样生活
With turtles it is a
little less obvious .
One
way to tell is by measuring the bones of their
forelimbs.
通过检测它们前肢骨后，结果显示它们与海龟不是很像
Key Words: ancestor of turtle
Descend
v.
下来
下降
遗传
Terrestrial
a.
陆地的
Dinosaur
n.
恐龙
Ancestry
n.
祖先
Fossil
n.
化石
Fossil Energy
化石能源
Fossil fuel
化石燃料
Ichthyosaur
n.
鱼龙
Reptilian
a.
爬行动物的
爬虫的
卑躬屈膝的
卑鄙的，
n.
两栖动物
卑劣的人
Contemporary
a
当前的
同时代的
n.
同时代的人或物
Fin
n.
鱼鳍
鱼翅
Streamlined
a.
流线型的
Forelimb
n.
前肢