我们知道雅思阅读的文章主要是从国外知名报刊杂志上获取的，然后经过一系列的改编，最终成为考题。那前程百利雅思考试小编就在这些相关网站上给大家找了本文人类祖先Lucy 40周年庆，大家可以轻松随意浏览一番。
Human ancestor Lucy celebrates 40th anniversary
人类祖先Lucy 40周年庆
文章题材：历史类
我们先来学习一些有关这个话题的词汇：
1. elbow：n.肘部 vt. 推挤
2. osteology：骨学
3. anatomy：解剖学
4. forerunner：先驱者
5. paleoanthropologist：古人类学家
6. enigmatic：神秘的
7. grim：冷酷的
8.cranium：颅骨，头盖
9. prehuman：类人猿
10. morphological：形态学的
11. emeritus：退休的
12. lineage：血统;家系
13. moniker：绰号
14. evolution n. 演化
15. elaborate：adj. 尽心制作的，详尽的
16. jaw n. 下颚
17. chimpanzee n. 黑猩猩
18. cognitive认知的
19. flexibility：灵活性
20. characterize：vt. 具有……的特征
文章重点段落摘要：红色字体部分是长难句，有相应的句子结构分析和译文哦。黄色背景表示重点词汇哦。
1. Next month paleoanthropologists will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Johanson’s discovery of the elbow bone on November 24, 1974. In the intervening four decades, many more fossils along with other clues have been discovered, rewriting the story of the human race. The evolution of earlier humanlike species and eventually modern humans has grown from the outline of a play with a small cast to an elaborate production with more characters than an Agatha Christie mystery, many remaining enigmatic with relationships still unclear.
句子结构分析：这句话的主干是The evolution of earlier humanlike species and eventually modern humans has grown from…，from…to…是把人类进化过程比作剧本的完善过程。并且将剧本中的角色与阿加莎·克里斯蒂推理小说里的人物进行比较：more characters than an Agatha Christie mystery…。
译文：早期的类人物种到现代人类的演化过程，就像只有小演员的一个简陋的舞台剧本发展成为拥有众多角色的精彩剧本。这些角色比阿加莎·克里斯蒂推理小说里的神秘而又关系模糊的人物更多。
2. “Darwin knew that the tree for evolution of any species had to be a branching tree, with lots of false starts, mostly dominated by that grim reaper of evolution, extinction, and survival of very few branches,” Johanson said. “He and Huxley made the specific prediction … that on the basis of similarities in teeth and jaws and anatomy, of us and particularly chimpanzees, the earliest ancestors for humans would be discovered in Africa.”
句子结构分析：这句话的主语是He and Huxley made the specific prediction … that…the earliest ancestors for humans would be discovered in Africa. That the earliest…引导prediction的同位语从句，on the basis of在……的基础上，表示预测的前提条件。
译文：在我们和部分黑猩猩的牙齿、下颚和骨骼相似性的基础上，他(达尔文)和赫胥黎作出具体预测…人类最早的祖先可能在非洲发现。
3. Now Johanson and others are busy trying to fill in the details in the rest of the story, such as how factors like climate and diet led to the cognitive complexity, linguistic flexibility, capacity for culture and cooperation that characterize the modern human race. To Johanson, this story is not just about the need to know where we came from, but to understand where we are going.
句子结构分析：这句话的主干是Johanson and others are busy trying to fill in the details in the rest of the story，such as举例说明details in the rest of the story，how引导名词性从句，that…引导定语从句修饰cognitive complexity, linguistic flexibility, capacity for culture and cooperation。
译文：现在Johanson和其他人正在努力补充完善人类进化史的诸多细节，如气候、饮食等因素如何促使认知复杂性、语言灵活性，文化和合作能力的发展，从而进化为现代人类。
怎么样，亲爱的烤鸭们，是不是对人类进化的历史有了更多地了解，看完这篇小素材，你记住这些背景知识及背景词汇了么，还没记住的话，就在复习一遍吧。
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