(003-B9-R2)剑桥雅思第九本第三篇文章The history of the tortoise

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2024年5月18日发(作者：)

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.

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 talampayensis

，

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

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

Water Joyce and Jacques Gauthier,at Yale University ,obtained three measurements in these

particular bones of 71 species of living turtles and tortoises.

耶鲁大学的Water Joyce 和 Jacques Gauthier，从71种活体海龟和乌龟的特殊骨骼测试中获

得三个数据

They used a kind of triangular graph paper to plot the three measurements against one another .

他们用了一种三角形的图表纸来绘制这三个测量数据以区分彼此

All the land tortoise species formed a tight cluster of points in the upper part of the triangle;all the

water turtles cluster in the lower part of the triangular graph.

所有的旱系乌龟都集中分布在三角形的上部分，所有的水系海龟都分布在三角形图表的下部

分

There was no overlap, except when they added some species that spend time both in water and

on land .两者间没有重叠。知道他们添加了一些既生活在水中又生活在陆地的乌龟物种

Sure enough ,these amphibious species show up on the triangular graph approximately half way

between the‘wet cluster’ of sea turtles and the ‘dry cluster ‘of land tortoises .

可以确定的是，在三角形图表上，这些两栖物种大致分布在“湿集”的水系海龟和“干集”

的陆系乌龟中间位置

The next step was to determine where the fossils bones of

edti

and

ayensis

leave us in no doubt .

接下来是决定这个化石该放在哪儿，这些化石没有给我们丝毫悬念

Their points on the graph are right in the thick of the dry cluster.

在图表上，他们在深深地陷入在“干集”中间

Both these fossils were dry-land tortoises .

这些化石都是旱地乌龟

They come from the era before our turtles returned to the water .

在它们存在时，海龟还没有返回水中。

Key Words: three measurements of tortoise and turtle

Plot v.绘图 绘制 N. 小块土地

Triangular a. 三角形的 三人间的 Triangle n. 三角形

Tight a. 紧密的 Cluster n. 集群

Overlap v. 重叠 N. 重叠部分

Amphibious a.两栖的 species n. 物种

Approximately a.近似的 大约 Appropriate a. 合适的

Thick 厚的

Era n. 时代 时期 纪元

You might think,therefore ,（变换句式形成的英语语言美感） that modern land tortoises have

probably stayed on land ever since those early terrestrial times ,as most mammals did after a few

of them went back to the sea.

But apparently not.

因此，你或许会认为，自早些时候起，现代陆系乌龟和大多数哺乳动物一样待在陆地上，之

后其中的一些乌龟又回到了海洋中

但明显不是。

If you draw out the family tree of all modern turtles and tortoises ,nearly all the branches are

aquatic.

如果你给所有的现代海龟和乌龟花一幅家族树的话，（你会发现）几乎所有的分支都是水系

的

Today’s land tortoises constitute a single branch, deeply nested among branches consisting of

aquatic turtles .

如今的陆系乌龟却是唯一的分支，完全淹没在水系海龟的分支中

This suggestion that modern land tortoises have not stayed on land continuously since the time of

P. quenstedti and ayensis

自P. quenstedti和 ayensis起，这些现代陆系乌龟就没有持续地留在陆地上

Rather , went back to the water,and they then reemerged back onto the land in (relatively )more

recent times.

相反，它们中的一些回到了水中，然后又（相对地）在最近从水中浮起来回到陆地上

Key Words: the difference between tortoise with turtle

Apparently adv. 明显的 显然的

Aquatic adj. 水的 水生的

Constitute v. 构成 组成

Branch n. 分支 支脉

Nest n. 巢 窝 v. 造巢 使套入

Reemerge-d v. 再度出现

Tortoises therefore represent a remarkable double return.

由此，陆地乌龟代表了不可思议的“双返”

In common with all mammals,reptiles and birds,their remote ancestors were marine fish and

before（很多人在这一段会觉得逻辑有点乱，重点关注介词就可以避免了） that various more

or less worm-like creatures stretching back,still in the sea ,to the primeval bacteria .

同所有哺乳动物一样，爬行动物和鸟类的远古祖先都是鱼，再往前是蠕虫状的生物，仍在海

中，再往前，就是原始细菌了

Later ancestors lived on land and stayed there for a very large number of generations.

往后走，乌龟祖先们在陆地生存，并在那儿繁衍了很多很多代

Later ancestors still evolved back into the water and became sea turtles .

在然后，乌龟祖先们进化，返回水中，并成为海龟

And finally they returned yet again to the land as tortoises, some of which now live in the driest of

deserts.

最后，它们又返回到陆地上成为乌龟，其中的一些至今生活在最干旱的沙漠中

Key Words: reemerge of tortoise

Represent v. 代表

Remarkable adj. 非凡的 显著的

More or less adv. 差不多，几乎；大约；多少不等；多多少少

Worm-like adj. 蠕虫状的

Stretching v. 伸展 伸长 ~ back 返回 折回

Primeval n. 原始

是时候给剑桥雅思第九本第一套题之阅读部分做一个总结了：R1是人物传记，讲述化学家

W·H·Perkin的传奇经历，R2是议论文，传达个人对外太空文明探索的观点，R3是说明

文，说明乌龟的历史，不传达观点。R1是 7道对错判断和6道问题简答共13题，R2是4

道信息匹配，3道问题简答和6道对错判断共13题，R3是4道问题简答，3道对错判断，6

道关键信息填空和1道信息归纳共14题，一共40题。16道对错判断我错了5道，13到问

题简答我错了2道，11信息匹配我错了2道，一共错10题。75%的命中率不算高，阅读一

靠理解速度而考关键细节，继续加油。

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