2019年12月四级第2套仔细阅读 Passage 2 原文翻译及答案解析

When we think of animals and plants, we have a pretty good way of dividing them into two distinct groups: one converts sunlight into energy, and the other has to eat food to make its energy. Well, those dividing lines come crashing down with the discovery of a sea slug (海蛞蝓) that's truly half animal and half plant. It's pretty incredible how it has managed to hijack the genes of the algae (藻类) on which it feeds.

当我们想到动物和植物时，我们有一个相当好的方法将它们分成两个不同的类别：一个将阳光转化为能量，另一个必须通过进食来产生能量。然而，随着一种真正半动物半植物的海蛞蝓（海蛞蝓）的发现，这些分界线被彻底打破。令人难以置信的是，它竟然能够劫持其赖以为食的藻类（藻类）的基因。

The slugs can manufacture chlorophyll, the green pigment (色素) in plants that captures energy from sunlight, and hold these genes within their body. The term "kleptoplasty" is used to describe the practice of using hijacked genes to create nutrients from sunlight. And so far, this green sea slug is the only known animal that can be truly considered solar-powered, although some animals do exhibit plant-like behaviors. Many scientists have studied the green sea slugs to confirm that they are actually able to create energy from sunlight.

这些蛞蝓能够制造叶绿素，这是植物中捕获阳光能量的绿色色素（色素），并将这些基因保留在体内。术语"kleptoplasty"用于描述利用劫持的基因从阳光中制造养分的做法。迄今为止，这种绿色海蛞蝓是唯一已知可以真正被视为太阳能驱动的动物，尽管一些动物确实表现出类似植物的行为。许多科学家研究了绿色海蛞蝓，以确认它们确实能够从阳光中产生能量。

In fact, the slugs use the genetic material so well that they pass it on to their future generations. Their babies retain the ability to produce their own chlorophyll, though they can't generate energy from sunlight until they've eaten enough algae to steal the necessary genes, which they can't yet produce on their own.

事实上，这些蛞蝓非常善于利用遗传物质，甚至将其传给后代。它们的幼虫保留了产生自身叶绿素的能力，但在它们吃下足够的藻类以窃取必要的基因之前，无法从阳光中产生能量，因为这些基因它们尚不能自行产生。

"There's no way on earth that genes from an alga should work inside an animal cell," says Sidney Pierce from the University of South Florida. "And yet here, they do. They allow the animal to rely on sunshine for its nutrition. So if something happens to their food source, they have a way of not starving to death until they find more algae to eat."

"来自南佛罗里达大学的Sidney Pierce说：'地球上没有理由让藻类的基因在动物细胞中起作用。' '然而在这里，它们确实有效。它们让动物能够依靠阳光获取营养。因此，如果食物来源出现问题，它们有办法在找到更多藻类食物之前不会饿死。'"

The sea slugs are so good at gathering energy from the sun that they can live up to nine months without having to eat any food. They get all their nutritional needs met by the genes that they've hijacked from the algae.

这些海蛞蝓非常擅长从太阳收集能量，以至于它们可以长达九个月不进食。它们通过从藻类劫持的基因满足所有营养需求。