Алексей ВИНИДИКТОВ
АНГЛИЙСКИЙ ЯЗЫК.
Пополняем словарный запас.
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ВЫПУСК # 64
от 21 апреля 2003 г.

I. Разговорные слова и выражения

II. How Evolution Works. Question Two (Continued)

 

Разговорные слова и выражения

apology дословно извинение
a very bad example of something

This is just an apology for a letter. - Это не письмо, а какое-то жалкое подобие.

apoplectic апоплексический
violently excited and angry, and often having a red face

He gets apoplectic if he's contradicted. - Когда ему противоречат, кажется, что его вот-вот хватит удар.

appaling ужасный, ужасающий
very bad

appaling food - ужасная/отвратительная еда.

apron strings дословно завязки фартука
the strings of an apron regarded as a sign of the control of a boy or a man by his mother or wife

He's tied to his wife's apron strings - Он у жены под башмаком.

Although he's nearly 40 he's still tied to his mother's apron strings - Хотя ему уже около 40, он все еще держится за материну юбку/не может без матери шагу ступить.

to be up in arms (about something) принять что-либо в штыки, быть возмущенным чем-л.
to be very angry and ready to argue or fight

They were up in arms about the introduction of new rules - Они приняли в штыки новые правила.

The women are up in arms over/about their low rate of pay - Женщины возмущены низким уровнем своей заработной платы.


How Evolution Works

Question 2: How Can Evolution Be So Quick? (continued)

Example: The Evolution of Mammals
65 million years ago, mammals were much simpler than they are today. A representative (типичный представитель) mammal of the time was the species Didelphodon, a smallish, four-legged creature similar to today's opossum.

In 65 million years, according to the theory of evolution, every mammal that we see today (over 4,000 species) evolved from small, four-legged creatures like Didelphodon. Through random mutations and natural selection, evolution has produced mammals of striking diversity (поразительного разнообразия) from that humble (робкий, скромный) starting point:

  • Humans
  • Dogs
  • Moles (кроты)
  • Bats
  • Whales (киты)
  • Elephants
  • Giraffes
  • Panda bears
  • Horses
Evolution has created thousands of different species that range (различаются) in size and shape (форма) from a small brown bat that weighs a few grams to a blue whale that is nearly 100 feet (30.5 m) long.

Let's take Carl Sagan's statement (утверждение) that "A characteristic period for the emergence of one advanced species from another is perhaps a hundred thousand years, and very often the difference in behavior between closely related species -- say, lions and tigers -- does not seem very great." In 65 million years, there are only 650 periods of 100,000 years -- that's 650 "ticks" of the evolutionary clock.

Imagine trying to start with an opossum and get to an elephant in 650 increments (шаги) or less, even if every increment were perfect. An elephant's brain is hundreds of times bigger than an opossum's, containing hundreds of times more neurons, all perfectly wired. An elephant's trunk (хобот) is a perfectly formed prehensile appendage (хватательный придаток) containing 150,000 muscle elements (reference). Starting with a snout (рыло, морда) like that of an opossum, evolution used random mutations to design the elephant's snout in only 650 ticks (зд. шаги). Imagine trying to get from an opossum to a brown bat in 650 increments. Or from an opossum to a whale. Whales have no pelvis (таз), have flukes (хвостовые плавники), have very weird (странные) skulls (черепа) (especially the sperm whale (кашалот)), have blow holes up top, have temperature control that allows them to swim in arctic waters and they consume salt water rather than fresh. It is difficult for many people to imagine that sort of speed given the current theory.

Example: The Evolution of the Human Brain
Here is another example of the speed problem. Current fossil (ископаемое) evidence (данные, свидетельства) indicates that modern humans evolved from a species called Homo erectus. Homo erectus appeared about 2 million years ago. Looking at the skull of Homo erectus, we know that its brain size was on the order of 800 or 900 cubic centimeters (CCs).

 

Modern human brain size averages (составляет в среднем) about 1,500 CCs or so. In other words, in about 2 million years, evolution roughly doubled the size of the Homo erectus brain to create the human brain that we have today. Our brains contain approximately 100 billion neurons today, so in 2 million years, evolution added (добавила) 50 billion neurons to the Homo erectus brain (while at the same time redesigning (переделывая) the skull to accommodate (чтобы вместить) all of those neurons and redesigning the female pelvis (таз самки) to let (чтобы пропустить) the larger skull through during birth, etc.).

 
* In an absolutely fascinating (удивительный) experiment first reported (о котором впервые сообщалось) in July 2002, scientists modified a single (один) mouse gene and created mice with brains 50% larger than normal. See this article for details. This experiment shows that a point mutation can, in fact, have an immense (огромный) effect on brain size. It is still unknown whether the larger brains make the mice smarter or not, but it is easy to imagine later mutations refining (улучшающий, совершенствующий) the wiring (связи) of these millions of new neurons.

In another fascinating study, researches have identified minimal changes in an amino acid (аминокислота) on a single gene that have a profound (глубокий) effect on speech processing (обработка) in humans.

It does appear (действительно, похоже) that tiny (крохотные) changes in single genes can have very large effects on the species.

Let's assume (давайте предположим) that Homo erectus was able (был способен) to reproduce (воспроизводиться) every 10 years. That means that, in 2 million years, there were 200,000 generations (поколения) of Homo erectus possible. There are four possible explanations for where the 50 billion new neurons came from in 200,000 generations:

  • Every generation, 250,000 new neurons were added to the Homo erectus brain (250,000 * 200,000 = 50 billion).
  • Every 100,000 years, 2.5 billion new neurons were added to the Homo erectus brain (2,500,000,000 * 20 = 50 billion).
  • Perhaps 500,000 years ago, there was a spurt (всплеск, рывок) of 20 or so closely-spaced (находящихся близко друг к другу) generations that added 2.5 billion neurons per generation.
  • One day, spontaneously, 50 billion new neurons were added to the Homo erectus brain to create the Homo sapiens brain.
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  HSW Home

Table of Contents:
Introduction to How Evolution Works
The Basic Process of Evolution
How Life Works: DNA and Enzymes
The Simplest Example of Evolution
The Speed of Mutations
Natural Selection
Creating a New Species
Holes in the Theory
Question 1: How Does Evolution Add Information?
› Question 2: How Can Evolution Be So Quick?
Question 3: Where Did the First Living Cell Come From?
The Future of Evolution
Lots More Information!


That's all, folks!

 

С наилучшими пожеланиями,

Алексей Винидиктов.


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To be continued...