8. Yet another startling fact was revealed: the crab's shell reached the darkest color about 50 minutes later each day. There was a second clock inside the crab, for the tides also occur 50 minutes later from day to day. Moreover, even when the crabs were taken from the beach and put back in the dark, they continued their tidal rhythm. More research disclosed that a crab from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, reached its darkest color four hours earlier than the one taken from a beach on a neighboring island. The tides on the nearby island were found to be exactly four hours later than the Cape Cod tides.
8、人們還發(fā)現(xiàn)了另一個(gè)令人驚愕的事實(shí):蟹殼的顏色變得最深的時(shí)間每天推遲50分鐘。顯然在蟹的身體里存在著第二只鐘,因?yàn)槌毕M(jìn)退的時(shí)間恰恰也是一天比一天推遲50分鐘。而且,即使把蟹從海灘上帶回來放在黑暗中,它們?nèi)匀槐3炙鼈兊某毕?jié)奏。更進(jìn)一步的研究發(fā)現(xiàn),來自馬賽諸塞州CAPECOD的蟹達(dá)到它最深顏色的時(shí)間,比來自于鄰島的蟹早4個(gè)小時(shí)。同時(shí)觀察出,鄰島的潮汐極其準(zhǔn)確地比CAPECOD的潮汐晚了4個(gè)小時(shí)。
9. Ants don't carry calendars around with them any more than fiddler crabs possess real wrist watches. But ants show amazing accuracy as to the day of the year. Each year, an ant nest sends out winged, young queens on mating flights. Hundreds of them may fly out of a single nest in the soil. Last summer, at the crest of my mountain, I watched an ant city prepare to send forth its young queens. At the precise moment that they took wing, a colony of the same species that my wife was watching near the bottom of the mountain, also sent its queen on a wedding flight. There was, of course, no way could the two colonies have checked take-off time with each other.
9、螞蟻不可能隨身攜帶日歷就像招潮蟹不可能帶著真正的手表一樣。但是螞蟻對(duì)一年中的特定一天有著驚人的精確判斷。每年,每一個(gè)蟻巢都會(huì)送出帶翅膀的、年輕的蟻后進(jìn)行交配飛行。上百個(gè)這樣的蟻后有可能從土中的同一個(gè)蟻巢飛出。去年夏天,在我家的山頂,我看到一個(gè)蟻巢準(zhǔn)備放出它們的年輕蟻后。在它們起飛的同一個(gè)精確時(shí)刻,由我的妻子負(fù)責(zé)觀察的山腳附近的另一窩同種的蟻?zhàn)?,亦放出它們的蟻后舉行飛行婚禮。顯然,這兩個(gè)蟻群根本沒有辦法校對(duì)彼此的起飛時(shí)間。
10. Entomologist Albro T.Gaul once jotted down in his notebook that a particular species of ant in northern Massachusetts began its wedding flight at a certain day and time. He later learned that another entomologist in New Jersey, 260 miles away, observed a wedding flight by the same species of ant, on the same day, and at exactly the same time! This split-second timing is not always the rule. However, most flights take place within a definite period of time.
10、有一次,昆蟲學(xué)家AlbroT、Gaul先生在他的筆記本里匆匆記下,在馬賽諸塞州北部某種螞蟻開始舉行飛行婚禮的準(zhǔn)確“日”和“時(shí)”。他后來知道,在260英里以外紐澤西州另一個(gè)昆蟲學(xué)家也觀察到同一種類螞蟻舉行飛行婚禮的時(shí)間,竟和他記錄的在同一天、同一個(gè)時(shí)刻!這種分割到秒的記時(shí)并不總是有規(guī)律的??傊?,絕大多數(shù)的飛行婚禮開始時(shí)間在一個(gè)確定的時(shí)間段里。
11. Birds also have built-in timepieces which send them off on fall and spring migrations. What the birds really have is a clock-like mechanism which allows them to time hours of darkness or light in each day.
11、鳥類也有天生的時(shí)間感應(yīng)器指導(dǎo)它們秋春遷移。鳥類真正具有的是一種“似鐘的裝置”,使它們能從時(shí)間上區(qū)分每天黑夜或白晝的小時(shí)數(shù)。
12. But what sends birds northward again in the spring? New research by Dr. Albert Wolfson of Northwestern University seems to indicate that the timing of return flight is extraordinarily complex. In the fall of the year the short days and long nights cause the "clocks" in migratory birds to undergo a kind of "winding" in preparation for their spring return and breeding. Then during the late fall and winter as the clock "ticks", certain physiological changes occur in the bird. The length of each day during the winter determines how fast the clock will run, and hence when the "alarm" will ring for the spring migration. The clock continues to run through breeding time, then stops-to be re-wound again the next fall.
12、但是,是什么讓鳥在春天北飛呢?西北大學(xué)AlbertWolfson博士的最新研究似乎指出決定回飛的時(shí)間是極其復(fù)雜的問題。每年秋季,短暫的白晝和長(zhǎng)時(shí)間的黑夜令候鳥身體里的“時(shí)鐘”經(jīng)歷某種轉(zhuǎn)變,為它們春天的返回和繁殖做準(zhǔn)備。在之后的深秋和冬天,如同鐘的轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)一樣,特定的生理變化在鳥類的身體上表現(xiàn)出來。在冬天里,每一天白晝的長(zhǎng)短決定該時(shí)鐘的運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)快慢,因此“鬧鈴”將為春天的遷徙響起提示信號(hào)。時(shí)鐘在繁殖期間持續(xù)運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn),然后停止,再在下一個(gè)秋天復(fù)蘇。
13. Scientists are now learning that many of the clocks of nature can be reset, speeded up or slowed down-all for our benefit. Pioneering experiments at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's research center in Beltsville, Maryland, have shown that plants can be helped to develop faster in less time. By increasing or lessening the hours of darkness in each day, the scientists have been able to turn plant growth off and on like an electric switch.
13、科學(xué)家現(xiàn)在知道,從人類的利益出發(fā),很多大自然的鐘都可以重置、加速、或者減慢。美國(guó)農(nóng)業(yè)部在瑪里蘭州BELTSVILLE的研究中心進(jìn)行了開拓性的實(shí)驗(yàn),實(shí)驗(yàn)表明人們能幫助植物在較短時(shí)間內(nèi)生長(zhǎng)得更快。用增加和減少每天黑暗小時(shí)數(shù)的方法,科學(xué)家已經(jīng)能夠控制植物生長(zhǎng),如同控制一個(gè)電器開關(guān)。
14. New knowledge about nature's living clocks has practical applications. For man, too, seems to follow daily rhythms. The amount of sugar in our blood stream varies with the time of day, as does our temperature. More of the cells in our skin and muscles divide during the night hours than during the day. By tinkering with the clocks of plants and animals, scientists may learn more about the fascinating way our bodies work.
14、關(guān)于大自然的“活鐘”的新知識(shí)具有實(shí)際用途。人類似乎也遵循每天的時(shí)間節(jié)奏。我們血液中的血糖水平以及體溫隨一天的時(shí)間不同而不同。我們的皮膚和肌肉里的細(xì)胞分裂在夜間比在白天要多。通過調(diào)整植物和動(dòng)物的生物鐘,科學(xué)家們可以更多了解我們身體運(yùn)作的神秘方式
8、人們還發(fā)現(xiàn)了另一個(gè)令人驚愕的事實(shí):蟹殼的顏色變得最深的時(shí)間每天推遲50分鐘。顯然在蟹的身體里存在著第二只鐘,因?yàn)槌毕M(jìn)退的時(shí)間恰恰也是一天比一天推遲50分鐘。而且,即使把蟹從海灘上帶回來放在黑暗中,它們?nèi)匀槐3炙鼈兊某毕?jié)奏。更進(jìn)一步的研究發(fā)現(xiàn),來自馬賽諸塞州CAPECOD的蟹達(dá)到它最深顏色的時(shí)間,比來自于鄰島的蟹早4個(gè)小時(shí)。同時(shí)觀察出,鄰島的潮汐極其準(zhǔn)確地比CAPECOD的潮汐晚了4個(gè)小時(shí)。
9. Ants don't carry calendars around with them any more than fiddler crabs possess real wrist watches. But ants show amazing accuracy as to the day of the year. Each year, an ant nest sends out winged, young queens on mating flights. Hundreds of them may fly out of a single nest in the soil. Last summer, at the crest of my mountain, I watched an ant city prepare to send forth its young queens. At the precise moment that they took wing, a colony of the same species that my wife was watching near the bottom of the mountain, also sent its queen on a wedding flight. There was, of course, no way could the two colonies have checked take-off time with each other.
9、螞蟻不可能隨身攜帶日歷就像招潮蟹不可能帶著真正的手表一樣。但是螞蟻對(duì)一年中的特定一天有著驚人的精確判斷。每年,每一個(gè)蟻巢都會(huì)送出帶翅膀的、年輕的蟻后進(jìn)行交配飛行。上百個(gè)這樣的蟻后有可能從土中的同一個(gè)蟻巢飛出。去年夏天,在我家的山頂,我看到一個(gè)蟻巢準(zhǔn)備放出它們的年輕蟻后。在它們起飛的同一個(gè)精確時(shí)刻,由我的妻子負(fù)責(zé)觀察的山腳附近的另一窩同種的蟻?zhàn)?,亦放出它們的蟻后舉行飛行婚禮。顯然,這兩個(gè)蟻群根本沒有辦法校對(duì)彼此的起飛時(shí)間。
10. Entomologist Albro T.Gaul once jotted down in his notebook that a particular species of ant in northern Massachusetts began its wedding flight at a certain day and time. He later learned that another entomologist in New Jersey, 260 miles away, observed a wedding flight by the same species of ant, on the same day, and at exactly the same time! This split-second timing is not always the rule. However, most flights take place within a definite period of time.
10、有一次,昆蟲學(xué)家AlbroT、Gaul先生在他的筆記本里匆匆記下,在馬賽諸塞州北部某種螞蟻開始舉行飛行婚禮的準(zhǔn)確“日”和“時(shí)”。他后來知道,在260英里以外紐澤西州另一個(gè)昆蟲學(xué)家也觀察到同一種類螞蟻舉行飛行婚禮的時(shí)間,竟和他記錄的在同一天、同一個(gè)時(shí)刻!這種分割到秒的記時(shí)并不總是有規(guī)律的??傊?,絕大多數(shù)的飛行婚禮開始時(shí)間在一個(gè)確定的時(shí)間段里。
11. Birds also have built-in timepieces which send them off on fall and spring migrations. What the birds really have is a clock-like mechanism which allows them to time hours of darkness or light in each day.
11、鳥類也有天生的時(shí)間感應(yīng)器指導(dǎo)它們秋春遷移。鳥類真正具有的是一種“似鐘的裝置”,使它們能從時(shí)間上區(qū)分每天黑夜或白晝的小時(shí)數(shù)。
12. But what sends birds northward again in the spring? New research by Dr. Albert Wolfson of Northwestern University seems to indicate that the timing of return flight is extraordinarily complex. In the fall of the year the short days and long nights cause the "clocks" in migratory birds to undergo a kind of "winding" in preparation for their spring return and breeding. Then during the late fall and winter as the clock "ticks", certain physiological changes occur in the bird. The length of each day during the winter determines how fast the clock will run, and hence when the "alarm" will ring for the spring migration. The clock continues to run through breeding time, then stops-to be re-wound again the next fall.
12、但是,是什么讓鳥在春天北飛呢?西北大學(xué)AlbertWolfson博士的最新研究似乎指出決定回飛的時(shí)間是極其復(fù)雜的問題。每年秋季,短暫的白晝和長(zhǎng)時(shí)間的黑夜令候鳥身體里的“時(shí)鐘”經(jīng)歷某種轉(zhuǎn)變,為它們春天的返回和繁殖做準(zhǔn)備。在之后的深秋和冬天,如同鐘的轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)一樣,特定的生理變化在鳥類的身體上表現(xiàn)出來。在冬天里,每一天白晝的長(zhǎng)短決定該時(shí)鐘的運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)快慢,因此“鬧鈴”將為春天的遷徙響起提示信號(hào)。時(shí)鐘在繁殖期間持續(xù)運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn),然后停止,再在下一個(gè)秋天復(fù)蘇。
13. Scientists are now learning that many of the clocks of nature can be reset, speeded up or slowed down-all for our benefit. Pioneering experiments at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's research center in Beltsville, Maryland, have shown that plants can be helped to develop faster in less time. By increasing or lessening the hours of darkness in each day, the scientists have been able to turn plant growth off and on like an electric switch.
13、科學(xué)家現(xiàn)在知道,從人類的利益出發(fā),很多大自然的鐘都可以重置、加速、或者減慢。美國(guó)農(nóng)業(yè)部在瑪里蘭州BELTSVILLE的研究中心進(jìn)行了開拓性的實(shí)驗(yàn),實(shí)驗(yàn)表明人們能幫助植物在較短時(shí)間內(nèi)生長(zhǎng)得更快。用增加和減少每天黑暗小時(shí)數(shù)的方法,科學(xué)家已經(jīng)能夠控制植物生長(zhǎng),如同控制一個(gè)電器開關(guān)。
14. New knowledge about nature's living clocks has practical applications. For man, too, seems to follow daily rhythms. The amount of sugar in our blood stream varies with the time of day, as does our temperature. More of the cells in our skin and muscles divide during the night hours than during the day. By tinkering with the clocks of plants and animals, scientists may learn more about the fascinating way our bodies work.
14、關(guān)于大自然的“活鐘”的新知識(shí)具有實(shí)際用途。人類似乎也遵循每天的時(shí)間節(jié)奏。我們血液中的血糖水平以及體溫隨一天的時(shí)間不同而不同。我們的皮膚和肌肉里的細(xì)胞分裂在夜間比在白天要多。通過調(diào)整植物和動(dòng)物的生物鐘,科學(xué)家們可以更多了解我們身體運(yùn)作的神秘方式