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
a gentleman of the pad
accounting for estate income
acetylisable
adjaye
alclometasone
antidevolutionist
antienvironment
antitussin
Arteria obturatoria accessoria
assignment of interests
attending court trials
aversive learning
ballad-operas
Ban Non Nam
Bernedo
bilirubinemia
Blennius pholis
booters
Butt Wrap
capacity ration
civil mediation
Dagebüll
damper block
decrapifier
dichloracetic acid
diesel engined
downsloping
dynamic econometric model
emulator trap processor
exchange pairing (grell 1962)
exotoxic tyberculin
field original map
go to end
hand basket
heat-flow gauge
hemangio-endothelioma
high tension oil filled cable
Holstebro
homefelt
hydroxies
incur expense
isoacceptor tRNA
ITLC-SG
ivory scrap
krump
l-naphthaldehyde
language board
layered structural mineral
level of base plate and support
Littleton,Sir Thomas
Loeb algorithm
loop-type pit bot-tom
low-airspeed sensing and indicating equipment (lassie)
low-pressure piston
luminous surface
mcshan
megalurothrips distalis
memory by time period
midchain
Monom
multi-stage storage pump
natrii tauroglycocholas
neuroleukin(NLK)
nomar
Nuphar japonicum DC.
octylene
open fluidized bed
ox eye
passer-by
Paullina
phibalothrips peringuei
Piroplasma ovis
pointed
razor-cut
receive something with a grain of salt
rotation noise of propeller
royalest
sander valve
satinash
scrubber brush roll
self setting silicate process
self-energized seal
single-disk opener
sky wave correction
soft launch
spironucleosis
splitting of phoneme
staphyloangina
starlike curve
strike slop
subport organization
suleman
tension plate lock-up
tentage
three wattmeter method
tire cutter
Triosteum
tube pan
upper changeover
wash fast
with whip ans spur