Every paleontologist knows that most new species, genera, and families, and that nearly all categories above the level of family appear in the record suddenly and are not led up to by known, gradual, completely continuous transitional sequences.

  • -- George G. Simpson 乔治·辛普森

每一位古生物学家都知道大多数新物种、属和科,而且几乎所有科以上的类别都是突然出现在记录中,而不是由已知的、渐进的、完全连续的过渡序列导致的。

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Certainly paleontologists have found samples of an extremely small fraction, only, of the earth's extinct species, and even for groups that are most readily preserved and found as fossils they can never expect to find more than a fraction.

当然,古生物学家们只发现了地球上已灭绝物种中极小一部分的样本,甚至对于那些最容易保存下来并以化石形式被发现的群体,他们也不可能找到超过一小部分的样本。

But when we have families, when we have children, this gives us a purpose for being, to protect our children, to avoid going to jail because if I'm in jail, who looks after my children, who's there for my wife?

但是当我们有了家庭,当我们有了孩子,这给了我们一个目标,去保护我们的孩子,避免进监狱,因为如果我在监狱里,谁来照顾我的孩子,谁来照顾我的妻子?

Almost all paleontologists recognize that the discovery of a complete transition is in any case unlikely.

几乎所有的古生物学家都认识到,在任何情况下,发现一个完整的转变都是不可能的。

I'm as interested in the families and communities that surround our soldiers.

我对我们士兵周围的家庭和社区同样感兴趣。