2017-01-06 Scientists discover rare ancient fossil fruit 科学家发现罕见果实植物化石

文字稿

一个有 5200万年历史的果实化石在南美被发现。这枚远古时期的浆果所属的植物种类包括现在人们喜欢吃的土豆、西红柿和辣椒。科学家们说，这个化石的发现说明茄科植物的起源比人类先前想象的要早了好几千万年。请听 Helen Briggs 的报道。

Scientists at Pennsylvania State University say the small fruit resembles the modern day ground cherry or Physalis and tomatillo.

Little is known about how these plants evolved, as until now, only a few fossilised seeds have been found. The plant is part of the nightshade family, a group of more than 2000 different species. They include crops such as potatoes, peppers and tomatoes, the tobacco plant, plants used for medicines and flowers grown in gardens such as petunia. The discovery pushes back the origins of this plant family by tens of millions of years.

Scientists believe many more fossil plants are waiting to be discovered in South America, adding to our knowledge of how some of the world’s most valuable crops evolved and flourished. 

词汇表

resembles 像…，类似于
modern day 现代的
Physalis 酸浆属（植物物种名称）
fossilised 变成化石
nightshade 茄科植物 
crops 农作物
tobacco 烟草
petunia 矮牵牛花
pushes back 向后推延
origins 起源，由来
evolved 进化
flourished 蓬勃发展，越来越茂盛

测验

请听报道并回答下列问题。

1. Where was the fossil discovered?

2. The fossilised plant belongs to which plant family?

3. True or false? The discovery of this fossil fruit shows the origin of this plant family is more recent than previously thought.

4. Which word in the text means ‘very important or extremely useful’?

答案

1. Where was the fossil discovered?
South America.

2. The fossilised plant belongs to which plant family?
It belongs to a plant family called nightshade, which has over 2000 different species.

3. True or false? The discovery of this fossil fruit shows the origin of this plant family is more recent than previously thought.
False. According to the text, the discovery of the fossil fruit shows the origin of this plant family is much older than previously thought, by tens of millions of years.

4. Which word in the text means ‘very important or extremely useful’?
Valuable.