10 Adaptations-Mid

Adaptations Written by Ron Fridell

编剧:罗恩·弗里德尔

Introduction Afternoon sunlight spills through the trees in a city park. A small bird called a warbler sits on a tree branch, singing a beautiful song. Suddenly he stops and dives to catch an insect flying by. The insect struggles, but it can't escape. The warbler returns to his branch to enjoy his snack. Down on the ground, a bright red cardinal cracks open seeds with his hard bill. A quick, hard rat-tat-tat-tat sound splits the air. Splinters fly as a woodpecker drives her hard, chisel-like beak into a tree. Hunting grubs, she drills through the bark like a jackhammer. On a pond nearby, some ducks float slowly along. Their heads dip down into the water and back up, their wide bills dripping with water.

下午的阳光透过城市公园的树木洒下。 一只叫莺的小鸟坐在树枝上，唱着一首美丽的歌。 突然，他停下来，俯冲去抓一只飞过的昆虫。 昆虫挣扎着，但它逃不掉。 莺回到他的树枝上享受他的零食。 在地面上，一只鲜红的红雀用坚硬的喙敲开种子。 一声急促而刺耳的“哒哒哒”声响彻天际。 啄木鸟用凿子一样坚硬的喙啄向一棵树，木屑四溅。 为了捕食幼虫，她像手提钻一样钻穿树皮。 在附近的池塘里，一些鸭子慢慢地漂浮着。 它们的头浸入水中，然后仰起，宽大的喙上滴着水。

These birds are all looking for a meal. But because their food is different, their beaks have different shapes. The warbler's beak is thin and pointed, like tweezers, to catch insects. The cardinal's beak is short and hard for cracking seeds. The woodpecker uses its long, strong beak to dig into wood. Ducks have wide bills for straining plants and fish out of the water. Over hundreds of thousands of years, these birds beaks changed to help them gather the food they need. All plant and animal species have adaptations, or changes that help them survive in their habitat. Why do certain adaptations develop? And how do they help each plant or animal? Let's find out.

这些鸟都在寻找食物。 但由于它们的食物不同，它们的喙也有不同的形状。 莺的喙又细又尖，像镊子一样，用来捕捉昆虫。 红雀的喙又短又硬，用来劈开种子。 啄木鸟用它又长又壮的喙去挖木头。 鸭子长着宽大的嘴，可以把植物和鱼从水里捞出来。 几十万年来，这些鸟的喙发生了变化，以帮助它们收集所需的食物。 所有植物和动物物种都有适应性，或帮助它们在栖息地生存的变化。 为什么某些适应性会发展? 它们是如何帮助每种植物或动物的呢? 让我们一探究竟。

Survival of the Fittest Species adapt to changes in their environment in order to survive. How do adaptations happen? A species is made up of individual organisms. Individuals within a species are born with slight differences, called mutations. Sometimes, mutations change the traits and behaviors of living things. Some individuals have traits and behaviors that help them live in a certain environment. These individuals are able to survive and reproduce. Then those helpful features are passed on to offspring in the next generation. Individuals that do not have these traits and behaviors may not survive. As a result, they do not reproduce. Over time, more and more organisms are born with the features that help them survive. These features become adaptations for the species. The first person to write about this idea, often referred to as survival of the fittest, was Charles Darwin, a British naturalist. He wrote a book called On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. It was published in 1859.

适者生存物种为了生存而适应环境的变化。 适应是如何发生的? 一个物种是由一个个有机体组成的。 一个物种内的个体出生时具有微小的差异，称为突变。 有时，突变会改变生物的特征和行为。 有些人的性格和行为有助于他们在特定的环境中生存。 这些个体能够生存和繁殖。 然后这些有用的特征会遗传给下一代。 没有这些特征和行为的个体可能无法生存。 因此，它们不能繁殖。 随着时间的推移，越来越多的生物出生时就具备了帮助它们生存的特征。 这些特征成为了物种的适应性。 第一个提出这个通常被称为适者生存理论的人是英国博物学家查尔斯·达尔文。 他写了一本书，叫做《通过自然选择的方式产生物种的起源》。 这本书出版于1859年。

Let's consider an example of one adaptation and how it happened. Millions of years ago, all whales had teeth and breathed out of holes at the end of their snouts. Over many generations some whales developed a breathing hole farther up their head. These whales could breathe more easily in deep water. They could rise to the water's surface and take a breath without sticking their snouts above the water. As whales began to spend more time far out in the ocean, away from shore, more whales with higher breathing holes survived. Their babies also had breathing holes high on their heads.

让我们考虑一个适应的例子，以及它是如何发生的。 数百万年前，所有的鲸鱼都有牙齿，从鼻子末端的洞里呼吸。 经过许多代，一些鲸鱼在头部更远的地方发展出了一个呼吸孔。 这些鲸鱼在深水中可以更容易地呼吸。 它们可以浮到水面上，不用把鼻子伸出水面就能呼吸。 随着鲸鱼开始在远离海岸的海洋中度过更多的时间，更多呼吸孔较高的鲸鱼幸存了下来。 它们的婴儿头上也有高高的呼吸孔。

Today, a whale's nose, called a blowhole, is on top of its head. The blowhole is an adaptation that makes it much easier for the whale to breathe. The whale could not breathe as well if it still had the nose it had millions of years ago. A whale takes breath with its blowhole above water. With its lungs full of air, the whale lifts its tail and dives back down into the ocean.

今天，鲸鱼的鼻子，叫做气孔，长在头顶上。 喷水孔是一种适应，使鲸鱼更容易呼吸。 如果鲸鱼仍然拥有数百万年前的鼻子，它就不能呼吸了。 鲸鱼用它的喷水孔在水面上呼吸。 当它的肺里充满空气时，鲸鱼抬起尾巴，俯冲回海洋中。