你体内的鱼（2014）

这显然和过去脱不了关系，
It clearly has deep roots in the past.
而你可以在现代动物的骨头上找到证据，
And you can see evidence of that in the bones of modern creatures.
一百五十多年前，科学家在人类手脚…
More than 150 years ago,scientists were finding connections
…和四条腿动物之间找到了连结，
between the hands and limbs of four-legged animals.
理查.欧文爵士是十九世纪的解剖学家，
Sir Richard Owen was an anatomist in the 19th century.
他非常幸运能在大航海时代做为一个解剖学家，
He was fortunate to be an anatomist in an age of discovery.
人们回到伦敦时，
And so people were coming back to London
带了各式新奇古怪的生物让他分♥析♥，
with new and oddball creatures for him to analyse
在分♥析♥这些不同生物的过程中，
and in analysing all the different creatures,
他找到了相同的模式，
he found common patterns.
尽管每一种四肢的形状和结构都非常不同，
Although the shape and structure of each limb was very different,
他开始发现到，那里存在着基础模式，
he started to see that there was an underlying theme.
看来像是同样结构的骨骼…被压缩或是延展…
It was as if the same set of bones was being squashed or extended
去达到不同的功能
to perform different functions.
这是只狗，你知道狗…会跑会跳，
Here's a dog.Dogs, you know, run and jump.
有什么呢？一根骨头，两根骨头，
What do you have?One bone, two bones,
小骨头，然后是指头，可以是手指或脚趾，
little bones and then the digits,equivalent to fingers or toes.
然后，当然，要来只鸟
And, of course, here's a bird.
四肢被重塑成了翅膀
Its limb has been modified into a wing
这里有一根骨头，两根骨头…
and it has one bone, two bones,...
很多小骨头，然后是指头
..lots of bones and then digits.
令人惊讶的事实是，这里的每一个生物，
The amazing fact is,in each of these creatures,
和我们的骨骼结构…大致上是相同的
the skeletal architecture is largely the same as ours.
更让人瞪目结舌的是，
And what was utterly surprising
今日所有行走在这个星球上的动物，它们骨骼之中，
is that the skeleton of every animal walking the Earth today
都有这个基础模式，一根骨头、两根骨头，
has this fundamental pattern of one bone, two bones,
小骨头，指头
little bones, fingers.
欧文不知道为什么生物有共同的模式，对他来说是个谜
Owen didn't know WHY creatures had that pattern. It was a mystery.
直到一个新的理解出现，查尔斯.达尔文的理解，
It really took a new insight,an insight from Charles Darwin,
基本上他说，生物之所以有共同的模式，
which basically said the reason why animals have this common pattern
是因为在遥远的过去中有段时间，
is because at some time in the distant past,
他们都拥有共同的祖先，而他们的祖先拥有这个模式
they shared a common ancestor that had a version of this pattern too.
根据达尔文的说法，
According to Darwin,
我们应该能够追溯到我们手脚演化之时，
we should be able to trace the evolution of our limbs and hands
只要往回推敲我们的家族树
by going back in time down our family tree.
从我们的灵长类祖先开始，
Starting with our primate ancestors,
我们可以看到和我们非常相似的双手双脚，
we see hands and limbs that look very similar to our own.
再回到更前面一点的首批哺乳类，
Go back a bit further to the first mammals
我们可以看到非常相似的手掌，
and we find deeper similarities in the paws.
然后我们可以看到，手掌是如何来自于我们的远亲
And we see how paws emerged from more distant relatives.
然后如果我们回到更早之前，
And if we go back even further,
我们见到了关系更疏远的四条腿祖先，
we reach our most distant four-legged ancestors.
这些动物，最早的四足动物，
These animals, the earliest tetrapods,
最先拥有了欧文的…一根骨头、两根骨头、很多小骨头模式
were among the first to have Owen's "one bone,two bones, lots of bones" pattern.
但当我们跳进大约四亿年前的水底世界，
But when we enter the underwater world around 400 million years ago,
不像动物们拥有四肢，史前鱼类拥有的是鳍
instead of animals with limbs,we find prehistoric fish with fins.
而这产生了生物学上的难解之谜
And that brings us to a great mystery of biology.
我们如何从有鳍的鱼，变成有手脚四肢的动物？
How did we get from fish with fins to animals with arms and legs?
达尔文大胆的预测，
Darwin boldly predicted
那里一定存在着一种远古生物，是过渡形式，
that there must have been ancient animals, transitional forms,
填补了这个空隙
that bridged this gap.
但这种生物看起来会是什么样子？
But what would such an animal look like?
它会有四肢？还是有鳍？或是都有？
Would it have limbs or fins or both?
这样的生物，对人类手的起源会有决定性的影响
Such a creature reflects a critical step in the origin of the human hand.
我决定要找到它
I set out to find one.
我从九零年代初开始我的探寻，当我在费城工作的时候，
I started my search back in the early '90s,
我知道找到这种过渡鱼类，
'I knew that finding this transitional fish
会是一项重要的任务，
'was going to be a tall proposition.'
-他们有很多…
A lot of them around...
第一个问题是，要从哪里找起？
'And the first question was where to look.'
这个世界很大，地球是一颗大行星，
The world's a big place,the Earth's a giant planet
而化石是很小的，所以你要如何找到他们？
and fossils are very small,so how do you find those things?
是这样的，我们有一张核对清单，
Well, there's a check list.
我们寻找拥有正确年代岩石的地方，
We look for places that have rocks of the right age.
如果你对恐龙有兴趣，你需要去找某个年代的石头
If you're interested in dinosaurs,there's one age of rock to look at,
如果你在寻找水陆之间的过渡期生物，
if you're looking at transitional creatures between water and land,
则有另一个年代的石头，
there's another age of rock.
然后你寻找拥有正确类型岩石的地点，
Then you look for places that have rocks of the right type -
那种比较有可能保存化石的岩石，
the kinds of rocks that are likely to hold fossils.
我们从先前的研究中得知，泥盆纪时代的岩石，
'We knew from previous discoveries that rocks from the Devonian era,
大约是三亿六千万年前，
'around 360 million years old,
很有可能保存了早期四足动物的化石，
'were likely to contain early tetrapod fossils.
而后来我们知道，在费城这里…就有那个年代的岩石
'And it turned out we had rocks of that age here in Pennsylvania.'
-另外一件事是…
The other thing is that...
为了寻找正确的地点，我和地质学家泰德.戴许勒合作
'To look for good sites, I teamed up with geologist Ted Daeschler
从那时开始，我们就成了寻找化石的最佳拍档
'and we've been fossil-hunting buddies ever since.'
我们这里全都找过了，甚到到了西维吉尼亚
We've tried it through here,even going down into West Virginia.
我们也许是古怪的搭档
'We are maybe an odd couple.'
尼尔是容易兴奋的、充满热情的…那非常好
Neil is excitable and enthusiastic,which is wonderful.
我也是充满热情的，但我比较没那么活泼
I'm enthusiastic as well but I think maybe not quite as vociferous.
我比较倾向…
'I might tend to hunker down more
把注意力集中在我们开始找到的东西
'and focus on recovering the material as we start to find it
而尼尔则比较像是…
"嘿！地平线的那一头有什么？山的那一头是什么？"
'and Neil might be a little bit more"OK, what's over the next horizon?"'
尼尔随时都蓄势待发，永远想着下一个要去的地方
Neil is on that edge, always thinking about the new place to go.
泰德和我会坐在车里，看着地图和地质学资料，
'Ted and I would sit in the car with maps and geological papers
然后我们开在这些州级公路上，寻找岩石…
'and we tootled through these state roads, looking at the rocks,
并说，"这是哪一种岩石？这是哪个年代？"
'saying "What kind of rock is this again? What kind of age is it?"'
但问题是，宾州不是沙漠，岩床并不是外露的…
'But Pennsylvania is not a desert,the bedrock is not exposed.
这里有森林，有绿草…
You have forests,you have grass
结果原来全州之中最棒的外露岩石…
'Turns out the best exposures of rock in the state were made for us
已经由宾州交通运输局帮我们准备好了
'by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
因为他们使用炸♥药♥
'because they would dynamite.
他们让地质记录的切片暴露出来，
'They'd exposed sections of the geological record.'
然后我们最终停在一个切面前，
And we eventually hit this one road cut,
巨大的暴露，它被称为"红山丘"
a giant exposure.It's called Red Hill.
我的天啊
Oh, my God.
当下我们知道，就是这里了
And then we knew -this is the place to hit.
我们有着探索地球的野心
'We had ambitions to explore the globe.
但我们的第一次考察，
'But our first expedition
并没有将我们带到半个地球外的异国沙漠，
'didn't take us to an exotic desert halfway around the world.
它就发生在宾州国道的公路旁，
'It happened by the side of a Pennsylvania highway.'
泰德有一次自己一个人重访了红山丘，
'Ted revisited Red Hill one time when I was not there.'
他打了电♥话♥给我，他说，"嘿，尼尔，"
'He made a phone call to me.He says, "Hey, Neil,
"我想我找到了非常重要的东西"
'"I think I've found something really important."'
-"我想我找到了四足动物"
-我说，"泰德，你在开玩笑吗？"
"I think I found a tetrapod."I said, "Ted, you kidding me?"
"你不会去了两三次就找到四足动物，这需要好几年的工作"
"You won't find a tetrapod so soon,it'll take years of work."
我那时沿着这一层在寻找，
So I was moving along this layer
然后看到一个很小、很漂亮的化石骨结构
and saw beautiful,little fossil-bone material,
顺着周围轻敲，就在这一层上，
chipped around it a little bit right on this layer
然后我的老天，
and, lo and behold,
结果找到的…是一块意义重大的化石，
uncovered what turned out to be a very significant specimen.
这是一块…早期有肢动物的肩胛骨
This is the shoulder girdle of an early limbed animal.
这是新的物种，一种全新模式的动物
'It was a new species.It was a whole new kind of animal
虽然我们只有肩胛骨，
'and although we only have a shoulder girdle,'
但它可以提供非常多骨骼结构的资讯，
it's actually a very informative part of the skeleton.
它会是在左边，头盖骨会是在那个方向，
It would be on the left side, the skull would go off in that direction
而这只动物本身会有约一公尺长
and the animal itself would be about a metre long.
光从一块肩胛骨，
And just from the shoulder girdle,
我们可以推断出…它的肢体如何生长
we can learn things about how it may have held that limb.
当然，它也可以拿来和其他世界不同地方…
And of course,it does compare to other animals
…但类似的动物进行比较
that are similar from other parts of the world
而我们可以用那些资讯，推断出海纳螈的外观样貌
and we can use those to learn other aspects of Hynerpeton.
这些早期的四足动物，
'These early four-legged animals
属于一个分类…称作"鱼石螈属"
'belong to a group I like to call the "Stegas".'
其中一些最好的化石，在格陵兰被发现，
Some of the best specimens had been found in Greenland
由古生物学家…珍妮.克拉克所发现
by a palaeontologist named Jenny Clack,
他从八零年代♥开♥始在那里工作
who began working there in the '80s.
有鳍动物和四肢动物之间存在着过渡生物，
The idea of transition between animals with fins and animals with limbs
这个想法已经存在许久，
has been thought about for a long time.