中英對照讀新聞》Ancient Corals: First Glow-in-the-Dark Animals? 古代珊瑚：首批發光動物？

◎陳成良

Many animals can glow in the dark. Fireflies famously blink on summer evenings. But most animals that light up are found in the depths of the ocean.

許多動物可以在黑暗中發光。眾所周知，螢火蟲在夏日的夜晚眨眼。但大多數發光的動物都是在海洋深處發現的。

請繼續往下閱讀...

In a new study, scientists report that deep-sea corals that lived 540 million years ago may have been the first animals to glow, far earlier than previously thought.

在一項新的研究中，科學家報告說，生活在5.4億年前的深海珊瑚可能是第一批發光的動物，比以前認為的要早得多。

The researchers used genetic data from 185 species of luminous coral to construct a detailed evolutionary tree. They found that the common ancestor of all soft corals today lived 540 million years ago and very likely could glow — or bioluminescence.

研究人員使用來自185種發光珊瑚的遺傳數據，來構建詳細的進化樹。他們發現，今天所有軟珊瑚的共同祖先生活在5.4億年前，並且很可能會發光—或生物發光。

That date is around 270 million years before the previously earliest known example: a glowing prehistoric shrimp. It also places the origin of light production to around the time of the Cambrian explosion, when life on Earth evolved and diversified rapidly — giving rise to many major animal groups that exist today.

那個日期約比先前已知的最早例子：一種發光的史前蝦，早了2.7億年。它也將光產生的起源，歸結為在寒武紀大爆發前後，當時地球上的生命進化和多樣化迅速，從而產生今天存在的許多主要動物類群。

新聞辭典

blink：動詞，眨眼睛；閃爍。例句：The light blinked through darkness. （ 燈光在黑暗中閃爍不停。）

luminous：形容詞，發亮的。例句：He gazed at me with luminous eyes.（他眼睛閃閃發光地盯著我。）