VOA科学技术2023 科学家研究一头3500年前的棕熊遗骸

A team of Russian scientists recently examined something extremely unusual: the frozen body of a brown bear that lived thousands of years ago.

一个俄罗斯科学家小组最近检查了一件非常不寻常的东西：一头生活在数千年前的棕熊的冷冻尸体。

The cold preserved the body almost perfectly¹ in the frozen lands of eastern Siberia for almost 3,500 years.

寒冷将熊的尸体几乎完好地保存在西伯利亚东部冰冻的土地上近3500年。

Maxim² Cheprasov is the laboratory chief at the Lazarev Mammoth³ Museum Laboratory at the North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk, eastern Siberia.

马克西姆·切普拉索夫是位于西伯利亚东部雅库茨克的东北联邦大学拉扎列夫猛犸象博物馆实验室的实验室主任。

"This find is absolutely unique: the complete body of an ancient brown bear," he said.

“这一发现绝对是独一无二的：一具古代棕熊的完整尸体，”他说。

In 2020, reindeer⁴ herders found the female bear on an island in the Arctic Ocean.

2020年，驯鹿牧民在北冰洋的一个岛屿上发现了这头母熊。

Part of the animal was sticking out of the frozen ground, or permafrost, on Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island.

在大利亚霍夫岛上，这只动物的一部分躯体从冻土中伸出来。

The island is around 4,600 kilometers east of Moscow.

该岛位于莫斯科以东约4600公里处。

Because it was found just east of the Bolshoy Etherican River, it has been named the Etherican brown bear.

因为它是在Bolshoy Etherican河以东被发现的，所以它被命名为Ethercan棕熊。

Low temperatures helped preserve the bear's soft tissue for 3,460 years.

低温帮助熊的软组织保存了3460年。

It also let the scientists know about its final meals - bird feathers and plants.

它还让科学家们了解了它的最后一餐——鸟类的羽毛和植物。

The bear is 1.55 meters tall and weighs nearly 78 kilograms.

这只熊身高1.55米，体重近78公斤。

"For the first time, a carcass with soft tissues has fallen into the hands of scientists, giving us the opportunity to study the internal organs and examine the brain," said Cheprasov.

切普拉索夫说：“这是第一次，一具带有软组织的尸体落入科学家的手中，这让我们有机会研究内脏和检查大脑。”

The scientific team in Siberia looked at the bear's brain, skin and internal organs so they could study its cells, genes⁵, viruses and other organisms that lived inside it.

这支西伯利亚科学团队研究了这头熊的大脑、皮肤和内脏，以便研究它的细胞、基因、病毒和其他生活在它体内的微生物。

"Genetic⁶ analysis has shown that the bear does not differ in mitochondrial DNA⁷ from the modern bear from the north-east of Russia – Yakutia and Chukotka," Cheprasov said.

切普拉索夫说：“基因分析表明，这头熊的线粒体DNA与俄罗斯东北部雅库特和楚科奇的现代熊没有区别。”

He said the bear was about three to four years old when it died from an injury to its back.

他说，这头熊因背部受伤而死亡，当时只有大约三到四岁。

It is unclear how the bear came to be on the island, which is now divided from the mainland by a 50-kilometer-wide body of water.

目前尚不清楚这头熊是如何来到这个岛屿上的，该岛现在与大陆被50公里宽的水域隔开。

It may have crossed over ice, it might have swum over, or the island might still have been part of the mainland.

它可能越过了冰层，可能游过去了，或者该岛当时可能仍然是大陆的一部分。

The Lyakhovsky Islands contain some of the richest treasures in the world for the field of paleontology.

大利亚霍夫群岛拥有一些世界上古生物学领域最丰富的宝藏。

The area attracts both scientists and ivory traders hunting for the remains⁸ of woolly mammoths, a kind of hairy elephant that disappeared long ago.

该地区吸引了寻找猛犸象遗骸的科学家和象牙贸易商，猛犸象是一种很久以前就消失了的的多毛象。

I'm Jill Robbins.

吉尔·罗宾斯为您播报。

1 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

2 maxim   

n.格言，箴言

参考例句：

• Please lay the maxim to your heart.请把此格言记在心里。
• "Waste not,want not" is her favourite maxim.“不浪费则不匮乏”是她喜爱的格言。

3 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

4 reindeer   

n.驯鹿

参考例句：

• The herd of reindeer was being trailed by a pack of wolves.那群驯鹿被一只狼群寻踪追赶上来。
• The life of the Reindeer men was a frontier life.驯鹿时代人的生活是一种边区生活。

5 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

6 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。

7 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。