每日一篇 | 《经济学人》读译参考 Day396

TEXT 396

经济学人:熊猫遗传学:熊猫的远亲是谁?(1)

Science and technology: Panda genetics

科技：熊猫遗传学

Hey dude. Give me six!

嘿，伙计。用六指击个掌吧！

Two strange mammals illuminate the process of natural selection.

两种不同的哺乳动物阐明自然选择的过程。

Convergent evolution—the arrival, independently, by different species at the same answer to a question posed by nature—is a topic of great interest to biologists.One aspect of the phenomenon which has not yet been much looked at, however, is its underlying genetics.In particular, an issue not previously addressed is how often such changes arise from similar mutations in the two convergent lines,and how often they have different genetic causes that happen to have similar effects on the organisms’ forms and functions.

译文

趋同进化是生物学家们有着极大兴趣的话题，它是指在自然作用下，不同物种独立的共同进程。然而该现象在潜在基因方面尚未得到许多的关注。尤其是在两条趋势线中来自相似基因突变引起趋同变化的频率，以及不同基因对生物的形态功能起到相似作用的概率的方面，尚未得到解决。

That has now been rectified by an examination of two creatures which,though only distantly related, share an unusual feeding habit, an unusual anatomical feature and an unusual name: panda.

译文

如今通过对两种生物的检验已得到纠正，虽然这两种动物是远亲，但他们都具有与众不同的饮食习性、解剖特性以及一个不寻常的名字：熊猫。

The giant panda is a black and white bear. The red panda is related to weasels, raccoons and skunks.Their habitats—mountainous areas of southern China and its neighbours—overlap, but their last common ancestor lived 43m years ago.They do, though, share a limited kinship, for both are members (along with dogs, cats, hyenas, mongooses, seals and so on) of the mammalian order Carnivora.

译文

大熊猫是一种黑白相间的熊。小熊猫与鼬鼠，浣熊和臭鼬具有亲属关系。他们的栖息地在华南山区且近亲重叠，在4300万年前，他们有着共同祖先。尽管如此，由于它们都是食肉目哺乳动物类（像狗，猫，鬣狗，猫鼬，海豹等），所以确实有一些相同的血缘关系。

Which is curious, because both are vegetarian.More intriguingstill, both subsist almost entirely on bamboo (some etymologists think their mutual name is derived from the Nepali phrase nigalyaponya, meaning “bamboo-eater”).And most curiously of all, both have a sixth digit on their forepaws—a kind of ancillarythumb derived from one of the bones of the wrist that helps them hold bamboo stalks for consumption.

译文

令人好奇的是它们都是食草动物。更有趣的是，它们几乎完全以竹子为食（一些词源学家认为它们的共同名字源于尼泊尔语nigalyaponya，指“食竹者”）。最令人惊奇的是，它们的前爪上都长有第六指，是从腕骨长出用来帮助它们在进食时拿住竹茎的辅助拇指。

注释

1.natural selection 自然选择

例句:Living creature adapting to its environment is one of natural selection's results.

生物对环境的适应，是自然选择的结果之一。

2.along with 伴随

例句:The problem of pollution arises along with the rapid development of industry.

随着工业的迅速发展，产生了污染问题。

3.giant panda 大熊猫

例句:The gentle and good nature of the giant panda makes it especially likable.

大熊猫温和驯良，讨人喜欢。