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
abeam replenishment at sea
acetrous vertebrae
al-arabiya
amor insanus
arightly
arteria rectalis inferior
barley stripe mosaic virus group
baule's unit (haule)
bin
boardslide
bog manganese
broadsharer
budisov nad budisovkou
calappa japonica
caracoli
caucho
chalkboard
chewy nougat
clinical chemistry
closelipped
cost-benefit philosophy
dairyman
deentrainment column
direct bill of lading
displacement mark
drive theory of motivation
Edward the Elder
electric rock drill
Englishizes
Envancax
Epimedium franchetii
feint against
fixed-dose
fractional-pitch winding
gender-discrimination
genus aneidess
get ... by heart
gibberishlike
hangashores
hemiazygous vein
hytek
ilex cornutas
iodemia
iraqite
Isobuty
Lermoyez
Li Si
Love, Courtney
low-flowest
lustrelessly
lyric poem
mazzaroes
mcgillivray
mediopontine
mercury handling
metric dimension
Mitterrandian
money pool
mud-gas separator
multi-break switch or circuit-breaker
multiprogramming mapped memory
needfulls
notch root
oxygen-acetylene flame spraying coating
Ozurgeti
passenger car
phoelectron
polarizing light
promata
punched up
quick gearbox
recbcs
rewoven
Rhynchophlirina
roll stability tester of lubricating grease
sacred place
Saluron
scolecodonts
score an own goal
semipreparative separation
shotgun shacks
shrewlike
simultaneous determination
smushing
Sněžné
socket-shaped nebula
softening annealing
specific balance
speech-predictive encoding (spec)
SQ (significant quantity)
steam launch
stellar model
superspecials
Suramana
telemetry carrier
testicula
traveling time
unhelmed
unsteerable
Velešta
waltz around
Wedel (Holstein)