菌类植物产生于几十亿年前

>

58 菌类植物产生于几十亿年前

DATE=8/24/01
TITLE=ENVIRONMENT REPORT - Early Plant Study 
BYLINE=Cynthia Kirk
（Start at 1’00” ）This is Bill White with the VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT.
American scientists say the first plants may have appeared on Earth hundreds of millions of years earlier than (1)fossil records suggest. They say this could have had a major effect on the (2)climate and development of life on Earth.  
Researchers at Pennsylvania State University studied (3)genetic¹ (4)evidence from the modern-day plants that developed from early plants. The evidence suggests that organisms called fungi² first appeared on land more than one-thousand-million years ago. It shows that plants first appeared on land about seven-hundred-million years ago. Land plants and fungi are believed to have developed from sea plants called (5)algae. 
Until now, scientists had believed plants and fungi first appeared on land about five-hundred-million years ago. That (6)estimate was based on the oldest-known fossils. 
The new (7)theory has led researchers to believe that the presence of plants may have led to the early development of animal life. They say plants may have changed the Earth’s climate and caused a cooling period when the Earth was covered with ice. That was followed by the appearance of animal life about five-hundred-million years ago. This event is called the (8)Cambrian Explosion. 
Plants produce (9)oxygen, which animals need to survive. They also lower the levels of (10)carbon (11)dioxide in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide traps heat from the sun in the atmosphere and causes the Earth to warm.
Researchers say plants could have increased oxygen and lowered carbon dioxide enough for animals to grow larger and develop into different species.
Some scientists have believed that plants and fungi could have appeared much earlier than first thought. But they had no record of this because fossils of early plants have not been (12)discovered. Scientists believe that plant tissues were too soft to be protected as fossils in rock.
Researchers made the new finding by studying the genes³ of living kinds of fungi, plants and animals. They studied the rate of change in the genes of species during the passage of time. Genes change at a similar rate when a new species develops. The scientists matched this "genetic clock" with evolutionary⁴ events whose dates have been proven in the fossil record. This helped them estimate how long ago a species developed.  
This VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT was written by Cynthia Kirk.

 

fossil[ 5fCsl ]n.化石, 僵化的事物adj.化石的, 陈腐的, 守旧的
climate[ 5klaimit ]n.气候, 风土, 思潮
genetic[ dVi5netik ]adj.遗传的, 起源的
evidence[ 5evidEns ]n.明显, 显著, 明白, 迹象, 根据, [物]证据, 证物
algae[5AldVi:]n.藻类, 海藻
estimate[ 5estimeit ]v.估计, 估价, 评估n.估计, 估价, 评估
theory[ 5WiEri ]n.理论, 学说, ...论, 原理, 意见, 推测
Cambrian[5kAmbrIEn]adj.[地]寒武纪的n.寒武纪人, 威尔士人, 寒武纪层
oxygen[ 5CksidVEn ]n.[化]氧
carbon[ 5kB:bEn ]n.[化]碳(元素符号C), (一张)复写纸
dioxide[ dai5Cksaid ]n.二氧化物
discover[ dis5kQvE ]vt.发现, 发觉v.发现

1 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

2 fungi   

n.真菌，霉菌

参考例句：

• Students practice to apply the study of genetics to multicellular plants and fungi.学生们练习把基因学应用到多细胞植物和真菌中。
• The lawn was covered with fungi.草地上到处都是蘑菇。

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

4 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。