美国国家公共电台 NPR Smithsonian Solves 150-Year-Old Mystery Death Of Collector And Puts Bones On Display

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Let's turn now to a mystery that has taken scientists more than 150 years to solve. It involves the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and a skeleton. NPR's Scott Greenstone has the story.

SCOTT GREENSTONE, BYLINE¹: In 1852, when the Smithsonian Institution was only 6 years old and trying to build its collection, curators started receiving specimens² of frogs and birds from a teenager in Illinois. That teenager's name was Robert Kennicott.

GENE³ HUNT: And he basically collected things that are in all of our departments - botany, vertebrate zoology⁴, even paleobiology. He collected some fossils in there. And so he sort of pulls together all the different departments in our museum instead of one person.

GREENSTONE: That's Gene Hunt, a curator and paleontologist at the Smithsonian. Robert Kennicott's travels took him as far west as Alaska. On one of those Alaska trips in 1866, Kennicott left camp early and didn't come back for breakfast. His colleagues went to look for him.

DOUG OWSLEY: He was laying on the shoreline of the Yukon River, the broad brim of his hat was resting against his forehead. One of the things that they noticed is that there was foaming⁵ around the mouth.

GREENSTONE: Doug Owsley is a forensic⁶ anthropologist⁷ at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

OWSLEY: He carried a vial of strychnine for dispatching small animals he might want to preserve and collect, but that wasn't with him. So it was hypothesized that he'd taken that small vial and had thrown it into the river after he had taken a fatal dose.

GREENSTONE: That story started to make its way into the history books, but it didn't make sense to the people who knew Kennicott or studied his life.

STEVE SWANSON: I think of them as a whirlwind.

GREENSTONE: Steve Swanson is one of those people. He's director of the Grove⁸ National Historic Landmark⁹ in Illinois, the site where Kennicott grew up.

SWANSON: He'd come into a room, he'd never sit down and he would tell his whole story. He'd be moving and gesturing all the time.

GREENSTONE: Suicide just didn't fit with the stories of Kennicott's vivacious¹⁰ personality. Here's Harrison Kennicott, one of Kennicott's descendants.

HARRISON KENNICOTT: Yeah. It wasn't the kind of end of the story that anyone would want to hear about their ancestors.

GREENSTONE: The family and Steve Swanson wondered if there was a way to find out what really happened. Swanson asked a team at the Smithsonian to dig up Kennicott's body. The team analyzed¹¹ Kennicott's hair, his bones, his tissue, even digging into his childhood records. Doug Owsley was on that team. Here's what they found.

OWSLEY: This is not a death by suicide. This is actually a natural organic heart disease problem.

GREENSTONE: Mystery solved. But Robert Kennicott's story isn't over, and in a way, he's now been resurrected. Steve Swanson just saw him.

SWANSON: And I thought to myself, God, that's right. Kennicott, God bless him, has come back.

GREENSTONE: Robert Kennicott's bones are now on display at a new exhibit at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, the place he loved so much. Scott Greenstone, NPR News.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 specimens   

n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人

参考例句：

• Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。
• The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

4 zoology   

n.动物学，生态

参考例句：

• I would like to brush up my zoology.我想重新温习一下动物学。
• The library didn't stock zoology textbooks.这家图书馆没有动物学教科书。

5 foaming   

adj.布满泡沫的；发泡

参考例句：

• He looked like a madman, foaming at the mouth. 他口吐白沫，看上去像个疯子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is foaming at the mouth about the committee's decision. 他正为委员会的决定大发其火。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 forensic   

adj.法庭的，雄辩的

参考例句：

• The report included his interpretation of the forensic evidence.该报告包括他对法庭证据的诠释。
• The judge concluded the proceeding on 10:30 Am after one hour of forensic debate.经过近一个小时的法庭辩论后，法官于10时30分宣布休庭。

7 anthropologist   

n.人类学家，人类学者

参考例句：

• The lecturer is an anthropologist.这位讲师是人类学家。
• The anthropologist unearthed the skull of an ancient human at the site.人类学家在这个遗址挖掘出那块古人类的颅骨。

8 grove   

n.林子，小树林，园林

参考例句：

• On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林。
• The scent of lemons filled the grove.柠檬香味充满了小树林。

9 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

10 vivacious   

adj.活泼的，快活的

参考例句：

• She is an artless,vivacious girl.她是一个天真活泼的女孩。
• The picture has a vivacious artistic conception.这幅画气韵生动。

11 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》