时差N小时 成吉思汗(上)

Today, Afghanistan is a war-torn region, battled over by military forces and world-spanning empires.

如今军队武力战争和帝国扩张疆土让阿富汗饱受战乱之苦。

Eight hundred years ago things were much the same.

而早在800年前，阿富汗时局依旧。

Only then, there was only one ruler: Genghis Khan.

唯一不同的是只有一个统治者：成吉思汗。

Khan is one of the greatest conquerors¹ who ever lived.

成吉思汗是史上最伟大的征服者之一。

Before he was finished, he had created an empire that ran all the way from the Caspian Sea to the Sea of Japan.

成吉思汗生前征服的疆域从里海到日本海。

That's the history portion of our segment.

讲完历史故事，

Now, on to the science.

让我们来说说科学吧。

What is it that powerful males of the human species are after when they overrun other males?

为什么强大的民族想要征服其它民族？

From an evolutionary² point of view, the major objective is to spread their genes³ more effectively.

从进化的角度说，其主要目的是开枝散叶。

And surprising, new data suggest Khan may have done that more successfully than anyone imagined.

令人惊讶的是，新数据显示成吉思汗出人意外地成功做到了这一点。

1 conquerors   

征服者，占领者( conqueror的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Danes had selfconfidence of conquerors, and their security precautions were casual. 这些丹麦人具有征服者的自信，而且他们的安全防卫也是漫不经心的。
• The conquerors believed in crushing the defeated people into submission, knowing that they could not win their loyalty by the victory. 征服者们知道他们的胜利并不能赢得失败者的忠心，于是就认为只有通过武力才能将他们压服。

2 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• 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。

3 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 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