9 Adaptations-Low

Adaptations Written by Ron Fridell

编剧:罗恩·弗里德尔

Introduction Afternoon sunlight shines through the trees in a park. A small bird called a warbler sings on a tree branch. Suddenly, he stops singing. He catches an insect flying by. The insect can't get away, and the warbler eats his snack. Down on the ground, a red cardinal cracks open seeds with his bill. A rat-tat-tat-tat sound rings out as a woodpecker makes a hole in a tree. Hunting grubs, she drills through the bark. On a pond nearby, some ducks float along. Their heads dip into the water. When they come up, their bills drip with water.

下午的阳光透过公园里的树林。 一种叫莺的小鸟在树枝上唱歌。 突然，他停止了唱歌。 他抓住一只飞过的昆虫。 昆虫逃不掉，莺吃了他的零食。 在地面上，一只红色的红雀用喙敲开种子。 一只啄木鸟在树上钻了一个洞，发出了叮叮叮的声音。 为了觅食，她钻穿树皮。 在附近的池塘里，一些鸭子漂浮着。 他们的头浸入水中。 当它们浮出水面时，它们的账单上滴着水。

These birds are all looking for a meal. But because their food is different, their beaks have different shapes. The warbler's beak is pointed like tweezers. The cardinal's beak is short and hard like a nutcracker. The woodpecker's beak is hard and pointed. The ducks bills are long and wide. Over many 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. How do adaptations help each living thing? 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。 莺的喙像镊子一样尖。 红雀的喙短而硬，像胡桃夹子一样。 啄木鸟的喙又硬又尖。 鸭子的嘴又长又宽。 几千年来，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。 适应性是如何帮助生物的? 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 happen? A species is made up of individual organisms. Individuals are born with slight differences. These differences may change the way an organism grows and what it can do. Some individuals have features that help them live in a certain place. These individuals are able to survive and have offspring. Those helpful features are passed on to offspring in the next generation. Individuals that do not have these features may not survive. They will not have offspring. Over time, more and more individuals are born with the features that help them survive. These features become adaptations for the whole species. This idea is known as survival of the fittest. The first person to write about this idea was Charles Darwin, a British scientist. He wrote about it in a book that came out 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。 每个人生来都有细微的差异。 这些差异可能会改变生物体的生长方式和功能。 有些人有帮助他们生活在特定地方的特征。 这些个体能够生存并繁衍后代。 这些有益的特征会遗传给下一代。 不具备这些特征的个体可能无法存活。 他们不会有后代。 随着时间的推移，越来越多的人天生就具有帮助他们生存的特征。 这些特征成为整个物种的适应性。 这就是所谓的适者生存。 第一个提出这一观点的人是英国科学家查尔斯·达尔文。 他在1859年出版的一本书中写到了这一点。

Let's consider an example of how one adaptation 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.

让我们来看一个例子，几百万年前，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。

Today, a whale's nose, called a blowhole, is on top of its head. The blowhole makes it easier for the whale to breathe. When it needs to breathe, a whale keeps the blowhole above water. It takes a breath through its blowhole. Then the whale dives back down into the ocean.

今天，鲸鱼的鼻子，叫做气孔，长在头顶上。 喷水孔使鲸鱼更容易呼吸。 当鲸鱼需要呼吸时，它会把呼吸孔保持在水面上。 它通过呼吸孔呼吸。 然后鲸鱼又潜回海里。