《中英對照讀新聞》World’s Oldest Plant-Like Fossils Discovered in India－全球最古老的植物化石在印度被發現

◎劉宜庭

Swedish scientists have uncovered 1.6 billion-year-old fossils that indicate multi-cellular life developed much earlier than previously thought － possibly 400 million years earlier.

瑞典科學家發現了16億年前的化石，這表示多細胞生物的發展比原先預估的還要更早──可能早了4億年。

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Therese Sallstedt of the Department of Palaeobiology at the Swedish Museum of Natural History was examining fossilized, layered mats of cyanobacteria collected in an ancient rock outcrop in central India when she came across what appear to be primitive algae fossils.

瑞典自然歷史博物館古生物學部研究員特瑞莎．莎瑟丹，在檢測從印度中部古老岩石露頭蒐集的層狀藍綠菌化石時，發現了這種似乎是最古老的藻類化石。

Cyanobacteria are basic, single-cell life forms that have existed for nearly 3.5 billion years and are among the oldest fossils known.

藍綠菌是基本的單細胞生物，已生存近35億年，是已知最古老的化石之一。

The newly-discovered algae, by comparison, lived approximately 1.2 billion years before the first plants are thought to have appeared on land.

相較之下，這種新發現的藻類要比被視為最早出現在陸地上的植物還古老將近12億年。

《新聞辭典》

outcrop：名詞，指露頭，在野外岩石露出於地表的部分；動詞，指露出地面、出現。例句：Every rock outcrop shows numberless joints.（所有岩石的露頭都出現許多節理。）

come across：介係詞片語，指發現、遇見。例句：I have come across a curious rock.（我發現一種奇特的岩石。）

algae：名詞，指海藻、藻類。例句：Algae spread quickly in the lake.（藻類在湖中迅速蔓延。）