古人类足迹表明150万年前有两种人类物种在肯尼亚毗邻而居
📖 逐句对照翻译
Scientists say ancient footprints left in wet dirt on a Kenyan lakeside suggest that two early human ancestors were neighbors about 1.5 million years ago.
科学家表示，在肯尼亚湖畔湿润泥土中留下的远古脚印表明，约150万年前，两位早期人类祖先曾是邻居。
Two separate species made the sets of footprints “within a matter of hours, or at most days,” said paleontologist Louise Leakey, a writer of the research published recently in the journal Science.
古生物学家路易丝·利基说，这两个不同物种留下脚印的时间“相隔几小时，最多几天”。利基是近期发表在《科学》杂志上的这项研究的作者之一。
Paleontologists study fossils to learn about the history of life on Earth.
古生物学家通过研究化石来了解地球上生命的演化历史。
Scientists already knew from earlier fossil finds that these two extinct lines of human development – called Homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei – lived about the same time in the Turkana Basin.
科学家从早期化石发现中已经得知，这两条已灭绝的人类发展谱系——分别被称为直立人和鲍氏傍人——大约在同一时期生活在图尔卡纳盆地。
But dating fossils is not exact.
但化石测年并不精确。
“It’s plus or minus a few thousand years,” said paleontologist William Harcourt-Smith of Lehman College and the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
纽约雷曼学院和美国自然历史博物馆的古生物学家威廉·哈考特-史密斯说：“误差在几千年上下。”
He was not involved in the study
他没有参与这项研究
Yet with fossil footprints, “there’s an actual moment in time preserved,” he said.
然而，他说，有了化石脚印，“就有一个真实的时间瞬间被保存下来。”
“It’s an amazing discovery.”
这是一个惊人的发现。
Researchers found the fossil footprints in 2021 in what is today Koobi Fora, Kenya, said Leaky, who is based at Stony Brook University in New York.
莱基说，研究人员于2021年在今天的肯尼亚库比福拉地区发现了这些化石脚印。莱基在纽约石溪大学工作。
Study co-writer Kevin Hatala is a paleoanthropologist at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
研究合著者凯文·哈塔拉是宾夕法尼亚州匹兹堡查塔姆大学的古人类学家。
He said the two species likely knew of each other’s existence whether they left the prints at the same time or a day or two apart.
他说，无论这两种物种是同时留下脚印，还是相隔一两天留下脚印，它们很可能都知道彼此的存在。
“They probably saw each other, probably knew each other was there and probably influenced each other in some way,” Hatala said.
哈塔拉说：“他们很可能看到了彼此，很可能知道对方在那里，并且很可能以某种方式影响了彼此。”
Scientists were able to tell the difference between the two species because of the shape of the footprints.
科学家们能够区分这两个物种，是因为脚印的形状不同。
The shape of each informed researchers about the structure of the foot and how it was being used at the time.
每个脚印的形状让研究人员得以了解脚的结构以及当时脚的使用方式。
Homo erectus appeared to be walking similarly to how modern humans walk – striking the ground heel first, then moving weight over the ball of the foot and toes and pushing off again.
直立人行走的方式似乎与现代人相似——脚跟先着地，然后将重心移到脚掌前部和脚趾上，再蹬地前行。
The other species, which was also walking upright, was moving “in a different way from anything else we’ve seen before, anywhere else,” said co-writer Erin Marie Williams-Hatala, a human development anatomist at Chatham.
共同作者、查塔姆大学人类发育解剖学家艾琳·玛丽·威廉姆斯-哈塔拉表示，另一个同样直立行走的物种“以一种与我们此前在任何其他地方所见都不同的方式”移动。
Among other details, the footprints suggest greater ability of movement in their big toe, compared to Homo erectus or modern humans, said Hatala.
哈塔拉表示，除其他细节外，这些足迹表明，与直立人或现代人类相比，他们的大脚趾具有更强的活动能力。
Our common primate ancestors probably had hands and feet fit for grasping branches.
我们共同的灵长类祖先可能拥有适合抓握树枝的手和脚。
But, over time, the feet of human ancestors developed to permit walking upright, researchers say.
但研究人员表示，随着时间的推移，人类祖先的脚逐渐进化，从而能够直立行走。
The new study adds to a growing amount of research that suggests the change to walking on two feet did not happen at a single moment, in a single way.
这项新研究进一步充实了越来越多的研究结果，这些结果表明，向双足行走的转变并非在某一刻、以单一方式发生。
Instead, there may have been a number of ways that early humans learned to walk, run and slide on prehistoric muddy hills.
相反，早期人类可能通过多种方式学会在史前泥泞的山坡上行走、奔跑和滑行。
“It turns out, there are different gait mechanics – different ways of being bipedal,” said Harcourt-Smith.
哈考特-史密斯说：“事实证明，双足行走有不同的步态机制——也就是不同的双足行走方式。”
I’m Caty Weaver.
我是凯蒂·韦弗。
The Associated Press reported this story.
美联社报道了这一事件。
Caty Weaver adapted the story for VOA Learning English.
卡蒂·韦弗为美国之音英语学习栏目改编了这个故事。
