英語(yǔ)聽力文摘 樹跟人類是近親？

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樹跟人類是近親?

Last time we talked about the false belief that evolutionary theory says human beings descended from monkeys.

In fact, evolution says that both human beings and monkeys descended from a common ancestor that existed about thirty million years ago. Across time, species can give rise to other species, which can in turn give rise to others.

So, while it’s not true that human beings evolved from monkeys, if you stretch your thinking you can see how monkeys can be considered relatives of ours.

After all, I call someone my cousin if she and I have a common ancestor. If we could keep records across millions of years, we might want to count monkeys and apes as our cousins too.

But wait a minute! If that’s true, then aren’t we also related to the ancestors of that common ancestor? I mean, my cousin and I both share a grandparent. But the family tree doesn’t stop there. We also share that grandparent’s grandparents. What about the species that diverged to give rise to the common ancestor of monkeys and humans?

If you see where this is leading, you’ll have understood something rather wonderful about life on earth. In fact, if you take the longest possible perspective — now looking back about four billion years — you will find that every life form on earth is related to every other. We all share common ancestors, because all life came from the first self-reproducing, single-celled organism that existed in the oceans of primal earth.

Yes, that tree outside is your relative, as is every bug and blade of grass. Invite them in for dinner, why don’t you?

上次我們談?wù)摰搅岁P(guān)于人類進(jìn)化論的錯(cuò)誤觀念：人類是猴子演變而來(lái)的。

其實(shí)，進(jìn)化論闡述的是人類和猴子都是同一個(gè)祖先的后裔。而這個(gè)祖先存在于三千萬(wàn)年前。斗轉(zhuǎn)星移，物種會(huì)產(chǎn)生其他的物種，這樣依次發(fā)展又會(huì)產(chǎn)生別的不同物種。

因此，盡管人類從猴子演變而來(lái)不是真的，但如果你發(fā)散思維，就會(huì)明白為什么會(huì)說(shuō)猴子是我們的近親。

終究，我把和我有共同祖先的人叫做表兄妹。假如我們能夠備存紀(jì)錄數(shù)百萬(wàn)年之久，可能我們會(huì)把猴子和猿也視作表兄妹。

且慢!如果真的是這樣，那我們的祖先不是也有著共同祖先?我的意思是，我和我的表姐是同一個(gè)祖母。但是家族譜并不會(huì)止于此。我們也是同一個(gè)曾曾曾祖母。而那些分散發(fā)展成猴子和人類共同祖先的物種呢?

如果想知道哪兒是起頭，就得明白和地球生物有關(guān)的一些非常奇妙的事情。實(shí)際上，如果你從長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)的角度來(lái)看的話——回顧到四十億年前，你就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)地球上的所有生物都是息息相關(guān)的。我們有著共同的祖先，因?yàn)樗械纳紒?lái)源于原始地球上第一個(gè)存在于海洋中自我復(fù)制的單細(xì)胞有機(jī)體。

是的，外面那棵樹是你的親戚。同樣的，所有的蟲子和青草都是。邀請(qǐng)它們共進(jìn)晚餐吧!為什么不呢?