11 Adaptations-High

Adaptations Written by Ron Fridell

编剧:罗恩·弗里德尔

Introduction Afternoon sunlight filters through the trees in a city park. A small bird called a warbler sits on a high tree branch, singing a beautiful song. Suddenly, he stops and dives to catch an insect out of midair. The insect struggles, but it can't escape. The warbler returns to his perch 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, and splinters fly as a woodpecker drives her hard, chisel-like beak into a tree. On the hunt for grubs, she drills through the bark as a jackhammer breaks up concrete. On a pond nearby, some ducks float along lazily. 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林。 一只叫莺的小鸟坐在高高的树枝上，唱着美丽的歌。 突然，他停下来，俯冲下去抓住半空中的一只昆虫。 昆虫挣扎着，但它逃不掉。 这只莺回到他的栖木上享用他的零食。 在地面上，一只鲜红的红雀用坚硬的喙敲开种子。 一声迅疾而有力的鼠叮叮叮叮的声音划破了空气，啄木鸟用凿子一样坚硬的喙撞向一棵树，碎片四溅。 为了寻找幼虫，她在树皮上钻孔，就像手提钻打碎混凝土一样。 在附近的池塘里，一些鸭子懒洋洋地漂浮着。 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 what they eat is different. Because their food is different, their beaks have different shapes. The warbler's beak— thin and pointed, like tweezers— is designed for grabbing insects. The cardinal's short, hard beak is made for cracking seeds. The woodpecker uses its long, strong beak to bore into wood, where insects lay their eggs. Ducks have wide bills for straining plants and small fish out of the water. Over hundreds of thousands of years, these birds' beaks changed to help them gather the food they need to survive. All plant and animal species have adaptations— 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，但它们吃的东西各不相同。 因为它们的食物不同，所以喙的形状也不同。 莺的喙又细又尖，像镊子一样，是用来抓昆虫的。 红雀又短又硬的喙是用来劈裂种子的。 啄木鸟用它又长又壮的喙钻进木头里，昆虫在那里产卵。 鸭子长着宽大的嘴，可以把植物和小鱼从水里捞出来。 在数十万年的时间里，这些鸟的喙发生了变化，以帮助它们收集生存所需的食物。 所有的植物和动物物种都有适应性，这些变化有助于它们在栖息地生存。 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? 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 develop? Individual organisms within a species are born with differences called mutations. These mutations may change the way an animal or plant grows and how it behaves. Some individuals have beneficial traits and behaviors to help them live in a certain environment. These individuals are able to survive and reproduce. Then those traits and behaviors are passed on to the next generation. Individuals that do not have the beneficial traits and behaviors may not survive. Therefore, they may not reproduce. Over many generations, more and more organisms are born with the beneficial traits and behaviors. These changes become adaptations for the whole species. This notion of species adapting to survive is known as natural selection, or survival of the fittest. The person who first brought this theory to the world's attention was Charles Darwin, a British naturalist. He wrote about it in his book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, which was published in 1859.

适者生存物种为了生存而适应环境的变化。 适应性是如何发展的? 一个物种内的个体生物出生时就有被称为突变的差异。 这些突变可能会改变动物或植物的生长方式和行为方式。 有些人具有有益的特征和行为，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。 然后这些特征和行为会遗传给下一代。 没有这些有益特征和行为的个体可能无法存活。 因此，它们可能不会繁殖。 经过许多代，越来越多的生物生来就具有有益的特征和行为。 这些变化成为整个物种的适应。 这种物种适应生存的概念被称为自然选择，或适者生存。 第一个使这一理论引起世界注意的人是英国博物学家查尔斯·达尔文。 他在1859年出版的《物种通过自然选择起源》一书中提到了这一点。

Let's consider an example of one adaptation and how it developed. 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. The high breathing hole became a characteristic of, or feature that identifies a whale.

让我们考虑一个适应性的例子，以及它是如何发展的。 数百万年前，所有的鲸鱼都有牙齿，从鼻子末端的洞里呼吸。 经过许多代的进化，一些鲸鱼在头部更远的地方长出了一个呼吸孔。 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。 高呼吸孔成了鲸鱼的特征或特征。

Today a whale's nose, called a blowhole, is atop its head. The blowhole makes it much easier for the whale to breathe. When a whale arches its body, its blowhole breaks the water's surface briefly to allow the whale to take a breath. Then, with its lungs filled with a fresh supply of air, it flexes its tail and returns to the ocean's depths.

今天鲸鱼的鼻子，叫做气孔，长在头顶。 喷水孔使鲸鱼更容易呼吸。 当鲸鱼拱起身体时，它的气孔会短暂地打破水面，让鲸鱼呼吸。 然后，它的肺里充满了新鲜空气，它弯曲尾巴，回到海洋深处。