2015考研英语阅读英文原刊《经济学人》：核辐射与进化

　　2015考研英语复习正是强化复习阶段，考研英语阅读在考研英语中占了40分，所以考研英语阅读是英语科目中重要的一项。新东方名师范猛老师曾建议过考研生需要坚持每天泛读10-15分钟的英文原刊。强烈推荐了杂志《经济学人》.杂志中的文章也是考研英语的主要材料来源.希望考研考生认真阅读，快速提高考研英语阅读水平。

　　Radiation and evolution

　　核辐射与进化

　　Surviving fallout

　　辐射尘中 幸免于难

　　Birds can evolve to cope with the lingering effectsof nuclear incidents

　　鸟类能够通过进化应对核事故的残余影响

　　And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting

　　那乌鸦并没飞去，它仍然栖息，仍然栖息

　　THE disaster last year at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, caused by anearthquake and tsunami, scored seven on the International Nuclear and Radiological EventScale.

　　去年，地震和海啸引发了福岛第一原子能发电站核泄漏事故，在国际核与辐射事件等级标准中被评为第七级;

　　No worse rating exists.

　　没有比这情况还糟的分级了。

　　Radiation is harmful to living things,yet the long-term effects of persistently high levels of background radiation on ecosystemsare poorly understood.

　　核辐射对生物有害，而长时间高水平的本底辐射对生态系统有何影响，人们还知之甚少。

　　With this in mind, a team led by Timothy Mousseau of the University of South Carolina andAnders Moller of the University of Paris-Sud set out to compare bird species dwelling nearthe Fukushima plant with those living at the site of another nuclear incident that scored aseven on the INES:the Ukrainian town of Chernobyl, where disaster struck in 1986.

　　为了研究这个问题，南卡罗莱纳大学的Timothy Mousseau和巴黎第十一大学的Anders Moller率团队着手比较在两个INES七级事故事发地附近栖息的鸟类种群。

　　Remarkably, they found that some species seem to develop a tolerance for radioactivityover time.

　　结果出人意料。他们发现随着时间迁移，似乎有些鸟类发展出了对核辐射的耐受力。

　　Fukushima and Chernobyl are more than 7,000km apart, but Dr Mousseau and his colleaguessoon realised that the two sites had much in common.

　　福岛和切尔诺贝利相距7，000余公里，不过Mousseau和同事们很快发现，两地的鸟类种群有共同之处。

　　Both are in areas that have a temperate climate with species that have similar habits andneeds.

　　两地均属温带气候，周围环绕着农田和森林，鸟类的习性和需求相似。

　　And both are surrounded by a mixture of farmland and forest. Upon closer examination theresearchers found that 14 species of bird lived in both regions, including the barn swallow,great tit, great reed warbler, buzzard and Eurasian jay.

　　经过进一步调查，研究人员发现两地有14种相同的鸟类，包括家燕、大山雀、大苇莺、鵟、松鸦。

　　With so many similarities between the two places, a comparison of the biological responsesto radiation in each would surely be illuminating.

　　既然情况如此相似，比较两地生物对核辐射的反应自然应当具有启发意义。

　　To do this, during July 2011, the researchers counted and identified birds at 300 locationsnear Fukushima that had radiation levels as low as 0.5 microsieverts per hour and as high as35.

　　2011年7月，研究人员清点并鉴定了福岛核电站附近300个地点的鸟类。

　　Then they compared these results to bird data collected in areas that had the same range ofradiation levels near Chernobyl between 2006 and 2009.

　　这些地点的辐射水平低至0.5毫西弗/小时，高至35毫西弗/小时。作为对照，牙医给患者拍X光片的辐射量很少超过0.05毫西弗。

　　Their results, published in Environmental Pollution, show that as radiation levels in an arearose to 35 microsieverts per hour, the average number of birds dropped by almost a thirdcompared with the areas where radiation levels were only 0.5 microsieverts per hour.

　　研究结果发表在《环境污染》杂志上：在辐射水平为35毫西弗/小时的地方，鸟类平均数量比0.5毫西弗/小时的地方少了将近1/3。

　　This makes sense:

　　这是合情合理的：

　　in those areas with a high level of radiation, living things would tend to die or sicken and failto reproduce.

　　辐射水平高的地方，生物更容易生病死亡，更难繁衍后代。

　　However, when researchers looked at the 14 bird species that lived in both regions, theyfound that the same level of radiation was associated with twice as large a drop in birdnumbers in Fukushima as in Chernobyl.

　　但是，当研究者比对两地共有的14种鸟类时，发现在同样的辐射水平下，福岛的鸟类下降数量几乎达到了切尔诺贝利的两倍。

　　The reasons for this are not clear.

　　人们还不清楚这个现象的原因。

　　It is possible that the composition of the radionuclides are proving more dangerous to theFukushima birds than they are to the birds near Chernobyl.

　　也许是因为福岛的放射性核素成分对鸟类更危险。

　　But Dr Mousseau suggests a more likely explanation is that evolution has already been atwork near Chernobyl, killing off individual birds that cannot cope with the backgroundradiation and allowing the genes of those that have some tolerance to be passed on.

　　不过Mousseau博士称，这更可能是因为进化已经在切尔诺贝利周围的鸟群中起作用了。

　　The birds at Fukushima are only beginning to face the evolutionary challenge of living in aradioactive world.

　　不能适应本底辐射的鸟类死亡，对辐射有耐受力的基因则得以传承。而福岛的鸟类才刚刚开始面对辐射环境中的生存进化挑战。

　　词语解释

　　1.evolution n.进化;发展;演变

　　Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallacediscovered evolution independently.

　　查尔斯·达尔文和阿尔弗雷德· 罗素·华莱士各自独立地发现了进化论。

　　2.linger v.徘徊;逗留;消磨;漫步

　　She linger after the concert, hoping to meet thestar.

　　音乐会后她徘徊不去，希望能遇见明星。

　　3.tsunami n.海啸

　　The entire village drowned in the tsunami.

　　整个村庄都被海啸淹没了。

　　4.ecosystem n.生态系统

　　Water is the core of a healthy ecosystem.

　　水是维持生态系统良性循环的根本。

　　5.tolerance n.宽容;忍耐力;容忍

　　My tolerance of your impoliteness is limited.

　　我对你的无礼的忍耐是有限的。

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