Ancestor of all flowers revealed by scientists 科学家揭示花卉“祖先”的样貌

Ancestor of all flowers revealed by scientists 科学家揭示花卉“祖先”的样貌

一项发表在《自然通讯》杂志上的研究表明，地球上现存的所有花卉植物都可以追溯到1.4 亿年前的同一个“祖先”。科学家们通过计算机将花卉演化的模型与现存最大的鲜花特征数据库组合在一起，推测出地球上第一朵花的样貌。请听报道。

From roses and lilies to cherry trees and wheat, there are hundreds of thousands of species of flowering plants, and every single one of them traces back to a single ancestral flower that grew 140 million years ago.

Now by analysing the evolutionary differences between living species to track how the floral features have changed over time, scientists have been able to reconstruct this ancient bloom’s appearance. And instead of the primitive-looking species they were expecting, a complex, multi-part organism has emerged.

The flower had concentric circles of petal-like features which are grouped in sets of threes, with multiple male and female reproductive organs.

Some questions about this species remain, such as its colour and size. Scientists say a fossil of the bloom could help, although no floral relics from this ancient period have yet been found.

词汇表 traces back to 追溯到

ancestral 祖先的

evolutionary 进化上的 

changed over time 随着时间改变了

reconstruct 重新组建，重现

bloom 花朵

primitive-looking 看着很原始、很简单的

complex 复杂的

emerged 呈现出来

concentric 有同一中心轴的

petal-like 像花瓣一样的

floral relics 花的遗迹

测验 请听报道并回答下列问题。

1. What kind of plants are roses and lilies?

2. Is the ancestral flower a very primitive looking plant?

3. True or false? Scientists have found evidence of the first flower from fossils.

4. Which word in the text means ‘a distinctive attribute or aspect of something’?

答案

1. What kind of plants are roses and lilies?

Roses and lilies are flowering plants.

2. Is the ancestral flower a very primitive looking plant?

No, according to the text, the ancestral flower is a complex, multi part organism.

3. True or false? Scientists have found evidence of the first flower from fossils.

False. There are no floral relics from this ancient period yet.

4. Which word in the text means ‘distinctive attributes or aspects of something’?

Features.