英美报刊节选翻译练习(六)

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From < The proper study of mankind> 摘自《经济学人》 Dec 20th 2005

Not all of his contemporaries agree with Dr Ambrose about Toba's effect on humanity. The eruption¹ certainly happened, but there is less consensus² about his suggestion that it helped form the basis for what are now known as humanity's racial divisions, by breaking Homo sapiens into small groups whose random³ physical quirks⁴ were preserved in different places. The idea is not, however, absurd.It is based on a piece of evolutionary⁵ theory called the founder⁶ effect, which shows how the isolation⁷ of small populations from larger ones can accelerate evolutionary change, because a small population's average characteristics are likely to differ from those of the larger group from which it is drawn⁸.Like much evolutionary theory, this is just applied⁹ common sense. But only recently has such common sense been applied systematically¹⁰ to areas of anthropology¹¹ that have traditionally ignored it and sometimes resisted it. The result, when combined with new techniques of genetic¹² analysis, has been a revolution in the understanding of humanity's past.

new words

consensus     n 一致，合意
The two parties have reached a consensus。
这两个政党达成一致意见。
Homo Sapiens    智人（现代人的学名）
quirk     n 古怪的行为

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