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JonathanDrori_2010U-_每粒花粉都有一个故事_
Thank you. I have two missions here today. 谢谢。今天在这我有两项任务。
missions:n.任务; v.给…交代任务; (mission的复数)
The first is to tell you something about pollen , I hope, and to convince you that it's more than just something that gets up your nose. 第一,我像告诉你一些关于花粉的知识 让你相信它们不仅仅是让你打喷嚏的小东西。
pollen:v.传授花粉给;n.[植]花粉; convince:v.使确信;使相信;说服,劝说;
And, secondly, to convince you that every home really ought to have a scanning electron microscope . 第二,让你们相信 每一户家庭都应该有一台电子扫描显微镜。
electron microscope:n.电子显微镜;
(Laughter) （笑声）
Pollen is a flower's way of making more flowers. 花粉是花朵繁殖的一种方法。
It carries male sex cells from one flower to another. 它把雄性细胞 从一朵花传到另一朵。
This gives us genetic diversity , or at least it gives the plants genetic diversity. 这就形成了基因的多样性, 或者至少是植物基因的多样性。
genetic:adj.基因的;遗传学的; diversity:n.差异(性):多样性:多样化:
And it's really rather better not to mate with yourself. 花粉最好不要与同株交配。
mate:n.助手,大副; v.使配对;
That's probably true of humans as well, mostly. 对人来说也是如此。
Pollen is produced by the anthers of flowers. 花粉产生于花朵的花粉囊。
anthers:n.花药;花粉囊;(anther的复数)
Each anther can carry up to 100,000 grains of pollen, so, it's quite prolific stuff . 每一个花粉囊中花粉多达10万粒。 相当多产。
grains:n.谷物;颗粒;细粒;少量;一点儿;(grain的复数) prolific:adj.多产的;丰富的; stuff:n.东西:物品:基本特征:v.填满:装满:标本:
And it isn't just bright flowers that have pollen; it's also trees and grasses. 不光是鲜亮的花朵有花粉; 树和草也有。
And remember that all our cereal crops are grasses as well. 记住所有的谷类作物也是草。
cereal:n.谷物;谷类植物;adj.谷类制成的;
Here is a scanning electron micrograph of a grain of pollen. 这是一张花粉的电子扫描显微照片。
micrograph:n.显微照片,显微图;微动描记器;
The little hole in the middle, we'll come to a bit later, but that's for the pollen tube to come out later on. A very tiny tube. 中间那个小洞,我们待会再讲。 那是花粉管日后长出来的地方 非常细的小管。
pollen tube:n.花粉管;
So, that's 20 micrometers across, that pollen grain there. 直径是20微米, 那粒花粉。
micrometers:n.微米;[机]千分尺;分厘卡;[仪]测微计;
That's about a 50th of a millimeter . 大约就是50分之一毫米。
millimeter:n.毫米;
But not all pollen is quite so simple looking. 但并不是所有的花粉都看上去如此简单。
This is Morina. This is a plant -- which I've always thought to be rather tedious -- named after Morin , who was an enterprising French gardener , who issued the first seed catalog in 1621. 这是Morina。 我总是认为相当单调, 这种植物以Morin命名, Morin是一名很有事业心的法国园艺师, 事实上他是第一个出版种子目录的人, 在1621年。
tedious:adj.沉闷的;冗长乏味的; Morin:n.[试剂]桑色素; enterprising:adj.有事业心的;有进取心的;有魄力的;有胆量的; gardener:n.园丁;菜农;园艺爱好者; issued:v.宣布;公布;发出;将…诉诸法律;(issue的过去分词和过去式) catalog:n.目录册;产品样本;学校便览;一览表;v.(为…)编目录;(把…)按目录分类;
But anyway, take a look at its pollen. 让我们看一看它的花粉。
take a look at:看一看;检查;
This is amazing, I think. 我认为这很神奇。
That little hole in the middle there is for the pollen tube, and when the pollen finds its special female spot in another Morina flower, just on the right species , what happens? 中间那个小洞是长出花粉管的地方。 当花粉在另一朵Morina花上 找到雌花柱头时, 当然是在同种花上,会发生什么？
female:adj.女性的;雌性的;柔弱的,柔和的;n.女人;[动]雌性动物; species:n.[生物]物种;种类;
Like I said, pollen carries the male sex cells. 我说过的,花粉携带着雄性细胞。
If you actually didn't realize that plants have sex, they have rampant , promiscuous and really quite interesting and curious sex. Really. 如果你没有意识到过植物有性交, 但事实上它们杂交,乱交 还有各种各样新奇有趣的性交方式,真的。
rampant:adj.猖獗的;蔓延的;狂暴的;奔放的; promiscuous:adj.混杂的;杂乱的;adv.偶然地;胡乱地; curious:adj.好奇的,有求知欲的;古怪的;爱挑剔的;
(Laughter) A lot. （笑声）
My story is actually not about plant propagation , but about pollen itself. 我要讲的不是关于植物的繁殖, 而是花粉本身。
propagation:n.传播;繁殖;增殖;
'"So, what are pollen's properties?" I hear you ask. 那么,花粉有什么用呢？我听见你们问。
First of all , pollen is tiny. Yes we know that. 首先,花粉很小。这我们知道。
First of all:adv.首先;
It's also very biologically active, as anyone with hay fever will understand. 而且它生物性很活跃, 得过花粉热的人会有体会。
biologically:adv.生物学上,生物学地; hay fever:n.花粉病;
Now, pollen from plants, which are wind-dispersed -- like trees and grasses and so on -- tend to cause the most hay fever. 被风一吹, 从树和草上散落的花粉, 会导致花粉热。
And the reason for that is they've got to chuck out masses and masses of pollen to have any chance of the pollen reaching another plant of the same species. 原因是,植物不得不散播 大量的花粉以使之有机会 到达另外一株同种植物上。
chuck:n.卡盘;夹头;辞退;(牛等的)颈肉;v.放弃;[机]用卡盘夹紧;(口语)抛出,逐出; masses:n.民众;大量(mass的复数);包块;v.集中;聚集(mass的三单形式);
Here are some examples -- they're very smooth if you look at them -- of tree pollen that is meant to be carried by the wind. 这有一些例子。 如果你看一看这几张树的花粉的照片, 它们很光滑。这样有利于被风吹走。
Again -- this time, sycamore -- wind-dispersed. 无花果树,靠风传播。
sycamore:n.美国梧桐;西克莫无花果树;假挪威槭;
So, trees: very boring flowers, not really trying to attract insects. 树,有很无趣的花, 不是来吸引昆虫的。
boring:adj.无聊的;令人厌烦的;n.钻孔;v.使厌烦;钻孔;(bore的现在分词)
Cool pollen, though. 但是花粉很独特。
This one I particularly like. 这张我特别喜欢。
particularly:adv.特别地,独特地;详细地,具体地;明确地,细致地;
This is the Monterey Pine , which has little air sacks to make the pollen carry even further. 这是蒙特雷松树的花粉,有很小的气囊, 来帮助花粉传播的更远。
Monterey:n.蒙特利(美国一座城市); Pine:n.松木;松树;vi.难过,悲伤 sacks:n.麻布袋; v.解雇; (sack的第三人称单数和复数)
Remember, that thing is just about 30 micrometers across. 记住,这些东西直径都大约只有30微米。
Now, it's much more efficient if you can get insects to do your bidding. 如果能让昆虫来传播将会更有效。
efficient:adj.有效率的;有能力的;生效的;
This is a bee's leg with the pollen glommed onto it from a mallow plant. 这是一支蜜蜂的腿。 上面沾满了一种锦葵属植物的花粉。
glommed:vt.偷;抢;看;抓住;n.一瞥; mallow:n.锦葵;锦葵属植物;
And this is the outrageous and beautiful flower of the mangrove palm . 这种非同寻常的漂亮的花 来自红树棕榈.
outrageous:adj.粗暴的;可恶的;令人吃惊的; mangrove:n.红树林; palm:n.手掌;手心;棕榈树;v.把…藏在手中(尤指玩戏法);
Very showy , to attract lots of insects to do its bidding. 很艳丽,以此来吸引昆虫传粉。
showy:adj.艳丽的;炫耀的;显眼的;
The pollen has little barbs on it, if we look. 花粉上有些小倒钩。 如果我们看一下。
barbs:n.[昆]倒刺;冷嘲热讽(barb的复数形式);
Now, those little barbs obviously stick to the insects well, but there is something else that we can tell from this photograph, and that is that you might be able to see a fracture line across what would be the equator of this, if it was the Earth. 这些小倒钩 能牢牢粘住昆虫, 但是从这张图我们还能判断出其他东西, 你可能看到一条裂缝 如果这是地球这条裂缝就穿过赤道。
fracture:n.(指事实)骨折;(指状态)断裂;破裂;v.(使)断裂;破裂;(使)分裂;
That tells me that it's actually been fossilized , this pollen. 这告诉我们这粒花粉已经成为化石了。
fossilized:adj.石化的;僵化的;老化的;v.石化(fossilize的过去式和过去分词);
And I'm rather proud to say that this was found just near London, and that 55 million years ago 我很自豪的说 这是在伦敦附近找到的,5500万年前
London was full of mangroves . 伦敦到处都是红树林。
mangroves:n.[林]红树林(mangrove的复数);红树属植物;
Isn't that cool? 这难道不很酷吗？
(Laughter) （笑声）
Okay, so this is another species evolved to be dispersed by insects. 好了,这是另一种由昆虫传粉的植物。
evolved:v.(使)逐渐形成;进化;进化形成;(evolve的过去分词和过去式) dispersed:adj.散布的;被分散的;被驱散的;v.分散;传播(disperse的过去分词);
You can tell that from the little barbs on there. 我们可以从这些小倒钩上判断出这一点。
All these pictures were taken with a scanning electron microscope, actually in the lab at Kew Laboratories . 所有这些图片都是用电子扫描显微镜拍摄的 事实上是在Kew实验室中拍的。
Laboratories:n.实验室;(laboratory的复数)
No coincidence that these were taken by Rob Kesseler, who is an artist, and I think it's someone with a design and artistic eye like him that has managed to bring out the best in pollen. 当然这些都是由罗布 凯斯勒拍摄的 他是一名艺术家。 我认为这不是巧合,一位像他那样带着目的和艺术的眼光来拍摄 已经把花粉最美的东西表现出来了。
coincidence:n.巧合,巧事;同时存在;并存;相同; artistic:adj.艺术的;风雅的;有美感的; bring out:出版,生产;使显示;说出;
(Laughter) （笑声）
Now, all this diversity means that you can look at a pollen grain and tell what species it came from, and that's actually quite handy if you maybe have a sample and you want to see where it came from. 所有这些多样性, 意味着你可以看着一粒花粉 然后说出它来自哪种植物。 如果你有标本并想知道花粉出自何种植物 这会非常简单。
handy:adj.便利的;手边的,就近的;容易取得的;敏捷的;
So, different species of plants grow in different places, and some pollen carries further than others. 不同种类的植物 在不同的地区生长。 一些花粉比其它的传播的更远。
So, if you have a pollen sample, then in principle , you should be able to tell where that sample came from. 因此,如果你有一份花粉标本 这样,原则上来说,你就应该能够判断出 那个样本出自哪里。
in principle:大体上,原则上;
And this is where it gets interesting for forensics . 这便是法医学的有趣之处。
forensics:n.辩论术;辩论练习;
Pollen is tiny. It gets on to things, and it sticks to them. 花粉很小。它接近物体,然后粘附在上面。
So, not only does each type of pollen look different, but each habitat has a different combination of plants. 不仅仅每一种花粉看上去不同, 每一种环境都有不同的植物,
habitat:n.[生态]栖息地,产地; combination:n.结合;组合;联合;[化学]化合;
A different pollen signature , if you like, or a different pollen fingerprint . 不同的花粉特征, 你也可以说不同的花粉指纹。
signature:n.署名;签名;信号; fingerprint:n.指纹;手印;vt.采指纹;
By looking at the proportions and combinations of different kinds of pollen in a sample, you can tell very precisely where it came from. 通过看标本中 各种花粉的比例和组合, 你可以准确地判断出它来自哪里。
proportions:n.[数]比例;大小(proportion的复数形式); combinations:n.[数]组合;制品(combination的复数);合谱;
This is some pollen embedded in a cotton shirt, similar to the one that I'm wearing now. 这是附在棉衬衫上的花粉, 这种衬衫跟我现在穿的相似。
embedded:adj.嵌入式的;植入的;内含的;v.嵌入(embed的过去式和过去分词形式);
Now, much of the pollen will still be there after repeated washings . 很多花粉依然会留在那 经过几次洗涤之后。
washings:n.洗涤;(washing的复数)
Where has it been? 它到过哪里？
Four very different habitats might look similar, but they've got very different pollen signatures . 四种不同的环境可能看起来相似 但是它们却有不同的花粉信号。
habitats:n.[生态]栖息地;(动植物的)[经]产地(habitat的复数形式); signatures:n.签名;鲜明特征(signature的复数);
Actually this one is particularly easy, these pictures were all taken in different countries. 事实上这很简单。这些照片都是 在不同国家拍摄的。
But pollen forensics can be very subtle . 但是花粉鉴定之术可以非常精确。
subtle:adj.微妙的;精细的;敏感的;狡猾的;稀薄的;
It's being used now to track where counterfeit drugs have been made, where banknotes have come from, to look at the provenance of antiques and see that they really did come from the place the seller said they did. 它被用来追踪 假药在哪里制造的, 钞票从哪来的, 察看古董的出处 认定它们确实是来自 卖方说的地方。
track:n.小道;足迹;车辙;轨道;v.追踪;跟踪; counterfeit:vt.伪造,仿造; vi.仿造; n.赝品; adj.假冒的,伪造的; banknotes:n.钞票;纸币(banknote的复数); provenance:n.出处,起源; antiques:n.文物;古物;古董;古玩;v.使显得古色古香;(antique的第三人称单数和复数)
And murder suspects have been tracked using their clothing, certainly in the U.K., to within an area that's small enough that you can send in tracker dogs to find the murder victim . 特别是在英国 通过谋杀犯的衣物来追踪他们, 可以缩小到一个很小的范围 然后你可以让警犬来 找到受害人。
suspects:v.怀疑;不信任;(suspect的第三人称单数) tracked:v.跟踪;追踪;(track的过去分词和过去式) tracker:n.拉纤者,纤夫;追踪系统,[自]跟踪装置;追踪者; victim:n.受害人;牺牲品;牺牲者;
So, you can tell from a piece of clothing to within about a kilometer or so, where that piece of clothing has been recently and then send in dogs. 你可以辨认一件衣服 在大约一千米之内 这件衣服最近到过的地方 然后放出狗。
recently:adv.最近;新近;
And finally , in a rather grizzly way, the Bosnia war crimes; some of the people brought to trial were brought to trial because of the evidence from pollen, which showed that bodies had been buried, exhumed and then reburied somewhere else. 最后还有一种很不爽的方法, 花粉鉴定应用到了波斯尼亚战争犯身上。 一些罪犯被绳之以法 应归功于花粉, 这些花粉表明尸体被掩埋过, 又挖出来,然后再埋在其他地方。
finally:adv.终于;最终;(用于列举)最后;彻底地; grizzly:adj.灰色的;n.灰熊; Bosnia:n.波斯尼亚;波士尼亚; evidence:n.证据,证明;迹象;明显;v.证明; exhumed:v.掘出;恢复(exhume的过去式); reburied:vt.再埋葬;重新埋葬;
I hope I've opened your eyes, if you'll excuse the visual pun , (Laughter) 我希望我让你们开阔了眼界, 如果你能原谅一些花粉的秘密
visual:adj.视觉的,视力的;栩栩如生的; pun:n.双关语;v.使用双关语
to some of pollen's secrets. 在视觉上的双关性,
This is a horse chestnut . 顺便说一句,这是七叶树。
horse chestnut:七叶树;马栗树;
There is an invisible beauty all around us, each grain with a story to tell ... 在我们周围有看不见的美, 每一粒花粉都有一个故事,
invisible:adj.看不见的;n.看不见的人或物;
each of us, in fact, with a story to tell from the pollen fingerprint that's upon us. 事实上,我们每一个人也都有故事, 基于在我们身上的花粉指纹。
Thank you to the colleagues at Kew, and thank you to palynologists everywhere. 感谢Kew研究中心的同事。 也感谢各地的花粉研究专家。
colleagues:n.同事;同行(colleague的复数);
(Applause) （掌声）