万物简史 第543期:令人惊叹的细胞(7)

He offered no interpretations¹, but simply the facts of what he had found, accompanied by exquisite² drawings. 列文虎克罗列了他所发现的一些事实，并配以一些精美的绘图，却没有任何解释和说明。

He sent reports on almost everything that could be usefully examined, 他所提交的报告几乎包括了所有可以用于检测的事物，

bread mold, a bee's stinger, blood cells, teeth, hair, his own saliva³, excrement⁴, and semen 面包霉、蜜蜂螫针、血细胞、牙齿、头发，他自己的唾液、精液、甚至大便

(these last with fretful apologies for their unsavory nature), （提及后面两样时，他还说了为它们的恶臭表示歉意的话），

nearly all of which had never been seen microscopically⁵ before. 所有这些以前几乎都没有用显微镜观察过。

After he reported finding "animalcules" in a sample of pepper water in 1676, 1676年，列文虎克在一份报告中声称，他在一份胡椒水试剂中发现了微生动物。

the members of the Royal Society spent a year with the best devices English technology could produce 皇家学会动用了英国所能生产的一切先进设备

searching for the "little animals" before finally getting the magnification right. 来寻找这种“小动物”，直到1年以后才最终解决了放大倍率的问题。

What Leeuwenhoek had found were protozoa. 列文虎克发现的是原虫。

He calculated that there were 8,280,000 of these tiny beings in a single drop of water—more than the number of people in Holland. 据他计算，一点水中有8280000这样的微生物，比荷兰的人口还多。

The world teemed⁶ with life in ways and numbers that no one had previously⁷ suspected. 世界充斥着这样的生命，其生存方式和数目远远超出了以前人们的想像。

Inspired by Leeuwenhoek's fantastic findings, 在列文虎克惊人发现的鼓舞下，

others began to peer into microscopes with such keenness that they sometimes found things that weren't in fact there. 其他人开始目不转睛她盯着显微镜从事研究，他们的目光有时是过于敏锐了，以致有时他们发现了一些实际上不存在的事物。

One respected Dutch observer, Nicolaus Hartsoecker, was convinced he saw "tiny preformed men" in sperm⁸ cells. 一位令人尊敬的荷兰研究人员尼古拉·哈茨奥克声称，他在精子细胞中看到了“预先成形的小人”，

He called the little beings "homunculi" and for some time many people believed that all humans, indeed, all creatures, 他为这些小生物取名为“侏儒小人”。有一段时期，许多人相信所有的人，事实上，所有生物，

were simply vastly inflated⁹ versions of tiny but complete precursor¹⁰ beings. 都不过是小而完整的母体的放大体。

 

1 interpretations   

n.解释( interpretation的名词复数 )；表演；演绎；理解

参考例句：

• This passage is open to a variety of interpretations. 这篇文章可以有各种不同的解释。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The involved and abstruse passage makes several interpretations possible. 这段艰涩的文字可以作出好几种解释。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 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。

3 saliva   

n.唾液，口水

参考例句：

• He wiped a dribble of saliva from his chin.他擦掉了下巴上的几滴口水。
• Saliva dribbled from the baby's mouth.唾液从婴儿的嘴里流了出来。

4 excrement   

n.排泄物，粪便

参考例句：

• The cage smelled of excrement.笼子里粪臭熏人。
• Clothing can also become contaminated with dust,feathers,and excrement.衣着则会受到微尘、羽毛和粪便的污染。

5 microscopically   

显微镜下

参考例句：

• Microscopically the ores are medium grained to amorphous. 显微镜下，矿石为中粒至非晶质。 来自辞典例句
• He studied microscopically the statistics of trade. 他极仔细地研究了贸易统计数字。 来自辞典例句

6 teemed   

v.充满( teem的过去式和过去分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注

参考例句：

• The pond teemed with tadpoles. 池子里有很多蝌蚪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ideas of new plays and short stories teemed in his head. 他的脑海里装满了有关新的剧本和短篇小说的构思。 来自辞典例句

7 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

8 sperm   

n.精子，精液

参考例句：

• Only one sperm fertilises an egg.只有一个精子使卵子受精。
• In human reproduction,one female egg is usually fertilized by one sperm.在人体生殖过程中，一个精子使一个卵子受精。

9 inflated   

adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨

参考例句：

• He has an inflated sense of his own importance. 他自视过高。
• They all seem to take an inflated view of their collective identity. 他们对自己的集体身份似乎都持有一种夸大的看法。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 precursor   

n.先驱者；前辈；前任；预兆；先兆

参考例句：

• Error is often the precursor of what is correct.错误常常是正确的先导。
• He said that the deal should not be seen as a precursor to a merger.他说该笔交易不应该被看作是合并的前兆。