2022年经济学人 南京古生物所发现1.8亿年前蜉蝣化石

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Science & technology

科技板块

A fossil feast

化石盛宴

The print edition contains a picture which shows part of the oldest known mayfly swarm¹.

印刷版中有一张照片，展示了已知的最古老的蜉蝣群的一部分。

It was collected, by a team led by Zhang Qianqi of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, from a site near Hezhou, in southern China, and is reported in the latest edition of Geology.

它是由南京地质古生物研究所的张前旗领导的一个团队从中国南方贺州附近的一个地点收集的，发表在最新一期的《地质学》刊物上。

Some 180m years ago, during the early part of the Jurassic period, this site was a lake where mayflies lived and swarmed² to mate, as they do today, providing, as a side-effect, a feast for local insectivores.

大约1.8亿年前，在侏罗纪早期，这个地方是一个湖泊，蜉蝣生活在那里，成群交配，就像今天一样，同时也为当地的食虫动物提供了一场盛宴。

These probably included small pterosaurs, but not birds, which had not yet evolved.

其中可能包括小型翼龙，但不包括尚未进化的鸟类。

Insects rarely fossilise well in rock (though they do in amber), but in this case exquisite³ anatomical details of the creatures are visible in the mudstone that has solidified⁴ from the lake’s sediments⁵.

昆虫很少能在岩石中很好地形成化石(尽管它们在琥珀中可以)，在由湖泊沉积物凝固而成的泥岩中，人们可以看到这些生物精致的解剖细节。

1 swarm   

n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入

参考例句：

• There is a swarm of bees in the tree.这树上有一窝蜜蜂。
• A swarm of ants are moving busily.一群蚂蚁正在忙碌地搬家。

2 swarmed   

密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去

参考例句：

• When the bell rang, the children swarmed out of the school. 铃声一响，孩子们蜂拥而出离开了学校。
• When the rain started the crowd swarmed back into the hotel. 雨一开始下，人群就蜂拥回了旅社。

3 exquisite   

adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的

参考例句：

• I was admiring the exquisite workmanship in the mosaic.我当时正在欣赏镶嵌画的精致做工。
• I still remember the exquisite pleasure I experienced in Bali.我依然记得在巴厘岛所经历的那种剧烈的快感。

4 solidified   

（使）成为固体，（使）变硬，（使）变得坚固( solidify的过去式和过去分词 )； 使团结一致； 充实，巩固； 具体化

参考例句：

• Her attitudes solidified through privilege and habit. 由于特权和习惯使然，她的看法变得越来越难以改变。
• When threatened, he fires spheres of solidified air from his launcher! 当危险来临，他就会发射它的弹药！

5 sediments   

沉淀物( sediment的名词复数 )； 沉积物

参考例句：

• When deposited, 70-80% of the volume of muddy sediments may be water. 泥质沉积物沉积后，体积的70-80％是水。
• Oligocene erosion had truncated the sediments draped over the dome. 覆盖于穹丘上的沉积岩为渐新世侵蚀所截削。