纪录片《进化缺环》 第12期 发现腔棘鱼（在线收听）

East London in South Africa.

这里是南非的东伦敦

63 years ago, just before Christmas,

63年前，就在圣诞节前夕

the curator of the local museum was idly sifting through a fisherman's catch down on the waterfront.

当地博物馆的馆长正漫不经心地挑选着渔民们从海滨捕来的东西

Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer was then just 31 years old.

Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer当时才31岁

22nd December 1938 was a wonderful day.

1938年12月22日是一个美妙的日子

I came upon this most beautiful fish. It was just on, just on 5ft.

我无意之中得到了这条最漂亮的鱼，它有5英尺长

It was silver and gold and green and blue and had white kind of flecks on it

体色是金、银、蓝、绿错杂，还有白色的斑点

and to my horror it had these slim-like fins

我感到震惊的是它竟然长着瘦长的鳍

and I thought to myself what on earth can this be, I've never seen a fish like this.

我在想地球上怎么会有这样的动物，我从没看到过这样的鱼

She rushed the fish off to have it preserved. Then she asked Dr. J.L.B. Smith, a South African academic, to identify it.

她赶紧把鱼带回去保存起来，然后邀请J.L.B. Smith博士，一位南非学者，对它进行鉴定

He stood at the head of the table and he said, "Well lass," he said,

他站在桌子一头说：“啊，小姑娘”

"this fish will be on the lips of every scientist in the world. It's a coelacanth."

“这条鱼将成为全世界科学家谈论的焦点，它是一条腔棘鱼”

Coelacanths were a breed of Devonian lobe-finned fish that were thought to have been extinct for over 76 million years.

腔棘鱼是泥盆纪肉鳍鱼的一种，人们以为它早在7600万年前就已灭绝

It was absolutely fantastic because it was... it's living

这实在太奇怪了，因为它还活着

and it, it's exactly like having found a live dinosaur or a live archaeopteryx.

这种兴奋的感觉好比找到了一只活的恐龙或是一只活的始祖鸟。