科学美国人60秒 SSS 2016-8-11
时间：2019-01-20 作者：英语课 分类：2016年Scientific American(八)月
The Explorers Club in New York City—whose members have included Neil Armstrong, Teddy Roosevelt, and the first men to reach both the North and South poles—has a reputation for serving exotic entrees 1, like fried tarantula and goats’ eyeballs. In 1951 the dinner menu featured Pacific spider crabs 2, turtle soup, bison steak and—allegedly scavenged from glacial ice off the coast of Alaska—a mound 3 of mammoth 4 meat.
纽约市的探险者俱乐部——其成员包括尼尔 ? 阿姆斯特朗、 西奥多 ? 罗斯福和第一批到达南北两极的人们——他们因提供具有异国情调的主菜而广为人知，如“炒狼蛛”和油炸山羊眼球。1951 年，晚餐菜单的特色菜为太平洋蜘蛛蟹、 海龟汤、 野牛牛排以及据说来自阿拉斯加海岸冰川的猛玛象肉。
One club member who couldn’t make the dinner asked to be sent a doggie bag, which he promptly 5 donated to the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut. What was particularly odd—odder than displaying leftovers 6 in a museum—was that the mammoth meat was labeled Megatherium, a giant extinct ground sloth 7 native to South America.
一名俱乐部成员，并不会做晚餐，被要求送打包袋，他及时将这个打包袋捐赠给位于格林威治，康涅狄格州的布鲁斯博物馆。特别奇怪的是——简直比在博物馆中展示剩菜还要奇怪——猛犸象肉被标记为“大地懒属”，一种巨型绝种地懒，原产于南美洲。
So which was it: mammoth or monster sloth? To find out 64 years later, researchers sequenced some mitochondrial DNA 8 they extracted from the preserved prehistoric 9 takeaway. What they found is that the source of the sample was neither mammoth nor sloth. It was actually sea turtle—meat that likely contributed to both the main course and that turtle soup appetizer 10.That’s the forensic 11 finding served up in the journal PLoS ONE. [Jessica R. Glass et al., Was Frozen Mammoth or Giant Ground Sloth Served for Dinner at The Explorers Club?]
因此，它到底是什么呢？猛犸象还是怪物树懒？64 年后，为找出答案，研究人员对一些线粒体DNA进行排序，这些DNA是他们从保存完好的史前外卖中提取的。他们发现样本的来源既不是猛犸象，也不是树懒。它实际上是海龟——海龟肉可能是用于做主菜和龟汤开胃菜。这是法医的发现，发表在《公共科学图书馆·综合》杂志上。
Of course, a double order of sea turtle might not be as exciting as a mouthful of mammoth or a soup?on of sloth. But it may be easier to swallow.
当然，双份海龟肉可能令人乏味，不像一口猛犸象肉或一丁点树獭肉那样令人振奋。但它可能更容易被接受。
- Can I also take you order for your entrees now? 现在要不要也点主菜？ 来自互联网
- Before the entrees are served, the waiter first serves four cold dishes. 在正菜上桌之前，服务员先上了四个凉碟。 来自互联网
- As we walked along the seashore we saw lots of tiny crabs. 我们在海岸上散步时看到很多小蟹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The fish and crabs scavenge for decaying tissue. 鱼和蟹搜寻腐烂的组织为食。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The explorers climbed a mound to survey the land around them.勘探者爬上土丘去勘测周围的土地。
- The mound can be used as our screen.这个土丘可做我们的掩蔽物。
- You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
- Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。
- He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
- She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。
- He can do miracles with a few kitchen leftovers.他能用厨房里几样剩饭做出一顿美餐。
- She made supper from leftovers she had thrown together.她用吃剩的食物拼凑成一顿晚饭。
- Absence of competition makes for sloth.没有竞争会导致懒惰。
- The sloth spends most of its time hanging upside down from the branches.大部分时间里树懒都是倒挂在树枝上。
- DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
- Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。
- They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
- It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。
- We served some crackers and cheese as an appetizer.我们上了些饼干和奶酪作为开胃品。
- I would like a cucumber salad for an appetizer.我要一份黄瓜沙拉作开胃菜。