Mineral Evolution托福聽力原文翻譯及問題答案

Mineral Evolution托福聽力原文翻譯及問題答案

一、Mineral Evolution托福聽力原文：

NARRATOR:Listen to part of a lecture in a geology class.

MALE PROFESSOR:Since Earth formed,some four and a half billion years ago,the number of minerals here has increased dramatically,from a few dozen relatively simple minerals early on…to over 4,300 kinds of minerals we can identify today—many of them wonderfully complex.A basic question of geology is how all these new minerals came into being.Well,recent studies have turned to biology to try to explain how this happens.

Now,much of biology is studied through the lens of evolution.And the theory of evolution suggests that,as environments change—and inevitably they do—some organisms will have characteristics that allow them to adapt to those changes successfully…characteristics that help these organisms develop and survive and reproduce.And when environments become more complex—as tends to happen over time—those earlier adaptations,those variations…become the basis of yet other combinations and variations…and lead to ever more diverse and complex forms of life.So from fewer,simpler,and relatively similar forms of life billions of years ago,life on Earth has now become a dazzling array of diversity and complexity.

Well,some geologists now want to apply this concept to explain mineral diversity too.The conditions that minerals are under are not constant.Conditions like temperature or pressure or chemical surroundings—these change—often in cycles,increasing and decreasing slowly over time.And as conditions change,minerals sometimes break down and their atoms recombine into totally new compounds,as part of a process some call mineral evolution.

Now,minerals are not alive,of course,so this is not evolution in quite the same sense you'd have in living organisms.But there do appear to be some parallels.Living organisms not only adapt to their environment but also affect it—change the environment within which other organisms may then develop.Likewise,each new mineral also enriches the chemical environment from which lots of other,even more complex new minerals may be formed in the future.

Beyond these similarities,though,what's really fascinating about mineral evolution is the way minerals apparently coevolve with living organisms.Uh,what do I mean by that?

Well,it's maybe a billion years after Earth’s formation that we first see evidence of life.Of course,early life-forms were primitive—just tiny,single-celled microbes—but over time,they had a profound effect.Huge numbers of these microbes began producing food by photosynthesis,which,of course,also freed up enormous amounts of oxygen.And lots of that oxygen interacted with the atoms of existing minerals,creating rust out of iron,for instance,…reacting with a whole range of different metals to create lots of new minerals.

Now,living organisms rely on minerals.But they not only take in some minerals as nutrients,they also excrete others as waste products...including what we call biominerals—minerals that form with the help of biological life.We can see geologic evidence of biomineral production in what are called stromatolites.

Stromatolites look like wavy layers of sedimentary rock.But they're really fossils—fossils of the waste from microbial mats.Microbial mats are vast colonies of one-celled organisms…that were once the most prevalent form of life on Earth.And the study of stromatolites indicates that these ancient microbial mats interacted with minerals in the environment and left behind new compounds as waste products—biominerals like carbonates,phosphates,and silica.In fact,we’ve grown microbial mats in the laboratory,and,over time,they too have produced some of the same sorts of minerals found in stromatolites.Uh,you don't need to know the details of the process right now—we’re still figuring out just how it works,ourselves.

But you might be interested to know that this concept of mineral evolution is being used in the search for evidence of life on other planets.The thinking is that if certain minerals occur here on Earth as a result of a biological process,and if we also find those same minerals on another planet,…this would suggest that life may have once existed there.

But—just because a particular mineral is found on say,Mars or Venus—uh,we really shouldn't assume that whatever caused it to turn up there…must be the same process that formed that mineral here on Earth.

二、Mineral Evolution托福聽力中文翻譯：

旁白：聽地質(zhì)學(xué)課上的一節(jié)課。

男教授：自從地球形成以來，大約在45億年前，這里的礦物數(shù)量急劇增加，從早期的幾十種相對(duì)簡(jiǎn)單的礦物…到今天我們可以識(shí)別的4300多種礦物，其中許多非常復(fù)雜。地質(zhì)學(xué)的一個(gè)基本問題是這些新礦物是如何形成的。最近的研究轉(zhuǎn)向生物學(xué)試圖解釋這是如何發(fā)生的。

現(xiàn)在，很多生物學(xué)都是從進(jìn)化的角度來研究的。進(jìn)化論表明，隨著環(huán)境的變化，不可避免地，一些生物體會(huì)具有一些特征，使它們能夠成功地適應(yīng)這些變化……這些特征有助于這些生物體的發(fā)展、生存和繁殖。隨著時(shí)間的推移，當(dāng)環(huán)境變得越來越復(fù)雜時(shí)，這些早期的適應(yīng)，這些變化…成為其他組合和變化的基礎(chǔ)…并導(dǎo)致更加多樣和復(fù)雜的生命形式。因此，數(shù)十億年前，地球上的生命從更少、更簡(jiǎn)單和相對(duì)相似的生命形式，現(xiàn)在變成了一系列令人眼花繚亂的多樣性和復(fù)雜性。

現(xiàn)在，一些地質(zhì)學(xué)家也想用這個(gè)概念來解釋礦物多樣性。礦物所處的條件不是恒定的。溫度、壓力或化學(xué)環(huán)境等條件通常會(huì)發(fā)生周期性變化，隨時(shí)間緩慢增減。隨著條件的變化，礦物有時(shí)會(huì)分解，它們的原子會(huì)重新組合成全新的化合物，這是一些人稱之為礦物演化過程的一部分。

當(dāng)然，礦物是沒有生命的，所以這并不是進(jìn)化，也不是生物體的進(jìn)化。但似乎有一些相似之處。生物不僅適應(yīng)環(huán)境，而且影響環(huán)境-改變其他生物可能在其中發(fā)展的環(huán)境。同樣，每一種新礦物也豐富了化學(xué)環(huán)境，未來可能會(huì)形成許多其他甚至更復(fù)雜的新礦物。

盡管如此，除了這些相似之處之外，礦物進(jìn)化的真正吸引人之處在于礦物顯然與生物共同進(jìn)化的方式。我這是什么意思？

也許是在地球形成10億年后，我們才第一次看到生命的跡象。當(dāng)然，早期的生命形式很原始，只是微小的單細(xì)胞微生物，但隨著時(shí)間的推移，它們產(chǎn)生了深遠(yuǎn)的影響。大量這些微生物開始通過光合作用生產(chǎn)食物，當(dāng)然，這也釋放了大量的氧氣。大量的氧與現(xiàn)有礦物的原子相互作用，例如，使鐵生銹……與一系列不同的金屬反應(yīng)，產(chǎn)生大量新的礦物。

現(xiàn)在，生物依靠礦物質(zhì)。但它們不僅吸收一些礦物質(zhì)作為營(yíng)養(yǎng)物質(zhì)，還將其他礦物質(zhì)作為廢物排出……包括我們稱之為生物礦物質(zhì)的礦物質(zhì)，這些礦物質(zhì)是在生物生命的幫助下形成的。我們可以在所謂的疊層石中看到生物礦物產(chǎn)生的地質(zhì)證據(jù)。

疊層石看起來像沉積巖的波浪層。但它們實(shí)際上是化石，是微生物墊產(chǎn)生的廢物化石。微生物席是單細(xì)胞有機(jī)體的巨大聚落…曾經(jīng)是地球上最普遍的生命形式。對(duì)疊層石的研究表明，這些古老的微生物席與環(huán)境中的礦物相互作用，留下了新的化合物，如碳酸鹽、磷酸鹽和二氧化硅等生物礦物廢物。事實(shí)上，我們已經(jīng)在實(shí)驗(yàn)室里種植了微生物墊，隨著時(shí)間的推移，它們也產(chǎn)生了一些在疊層石中發(fā)現(xiàn)的相同種類的礦物質(zhì)。呃，你現(xiàn)在不需要知道這個(gè)過程的細(xì)節(jié)，我們自己還在弄清楚它是如何工作的。

但你可能有興趣知道，礦物演化的概念正被用于尋找其他行星上生命的證據(jù)。我們的想法是，如果地球上的某些礦物是生物過程的結(jié)果，如果我們?cè)诹硪粋€(gè)星球上也發(fā)現(xiàn)了這些礦物，這將表明那里可能曾經(jīng)存在過生命。

但是，僅僅因?yàn)樵诨鹦腔蚪鹦巧习l(fā)現(xiàn)了一種特殊的礦物，我們真的不應(yīng)該假設(shè)，無論是什么原因?qū)е滤霈F(xiàn)在那里……一定是地球上形成這種礦物的同一過程。

三、Mineral Evolution托福聽力問題：

Q1:1.What is the main purpose of the lecture?

A.To explain how geologists identified the minerals present during Earth's formation.

B.To explain why living organisms require certain minerals to survive.

C.To explain the differences between simple and compound minerals.

D.To explain a recent theory about mineral formation.

Q2:2.What point does the professor make about the minerals present during Earth's formation?

A.They were comparatively few of them.

B.They were more complex than minerals formed on other planets.

C.Most were not affected by temperature and pressure changes on early Earth.

D.Some of them are no longer being formed naturally on Earth.

Q3:3.What similarities does the professor point out between minerals and living organisms?[Click on 2 answers.]

A.Both first appeared on Earth at approximately the same time.

B.They both can be formed only in the presence of oxygen.

C.They both have become more diverse and complex over time.

D.Not only are they both shaped by their environment,but both also affect it.

Q4:4.What are stromatolites?

A.Fossils remains of microbial mats.

B.Layered deposits of iron-based minerals.

C.Layers of rock that indicate changes in Earth's pressure and temperature.

D.Rock formations created when oxygen interacts with certain metals.

Q5:5.Why does the professor talk about microbial mats?

A.To explain why organisms tend to colonize near certain minerals.

B.To describe how minerals can be created by living organisms.

C.To illustrate the effects of geological processes on living organisms.

D.To emphasize that evolving life depended on the presence of oxygen.

Q6:6.What does the professor think about using evidence of minerals on another planet to determine whether life has existed there?

A.He believes it is the most promising way to search for life on another planet.

B.He doubts that complex minerals will ever be found on another planet.

C.He is cautious about assuming that certain minerals indicate the presence of life.

D.He is surprised that the technique was not suggested until recently.

四、Mineral Evolution托福聽力答案：

A1:正確答案：D

A2:正確答案：A

A3:正確答案：CD

A4:正確答案：A

A5:正確答案：B

A6:正確答案：C

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