傳說中的雪人「可能是古代北極熊的後代」－【精英翻譯】的部落格

Mythical yeti ’could be descended from ancient polar bear’ 傳說中的雪人「可能是古代北極熊的後代」

◎詹立群

A British geneticist said Thursday he may have solved the mystery of the yeti, after matching DNA from two animals said to be the mythical beast to an ancient polar bear.

一位英國遺傳學家週四表示，他也許已解開雪人之謎，經過比對2種據說是該傳奇野獸的動物基因之後，（發現那）符合古代北極熊（的基因）。

There have for centuries been legends about hairy, ape-like creatures, also known as "migoi" in the Himalayas, "bigfoot" in North America and "almasty" in the Caucasus mountains.

有關毛茸茸、長得像猩猩的生物的傳奇已流傳數世紀，又稱為喜馬拉雅地區的「米格伊」，北美的「大腳」以及高加索山區的「阿瑪斯蹄」。

The myth was given credence when explorer Eric Shipton returned from his 1951 expedition to Everest with photographs of giant footprints in the snow.

在探險家艾瑞克．希普頓1951年帶回埃佛勒斯山雪地上大腳印的照片後，那個傳說被信以為真。

Bryan Sykes made a global appeal last year for samples from suspected Yeti and received about 70, of which 27 gave good DNA results.

布萊恩‧賽克斯去年向全世界徵求疑似雪人的樣本，並收到約70個，其中有27個在基因比對上有好消息。

Two hair samples came up trumps -- one from a beast shot in the Kashmiri region of Ladakh 40 years ago and the other found in Bhutan a decade ago.

2個毛髮樣本出現意外的好成績：一個來自40年前拉達克喀什米爾地區一頭被射殺的野獸、另一個來自10年前的不丹。

Brown bears and polar bears are closely related as species and are known to interbreed when their territories overlap, according to Sykes.

棕熊與北極熊在品種上關係密切，並已知曾在生活地域交疊時異種交配，賽克斯說。

新聞辭典

credence：名詞，相信、信任。例句：Do not give credence to all the gossip you hear.（不要相信你聽到的閒話。）

come up trumps：片語，出乎意料地順利、意外地有幫助。例句：The team came up trumps on the day.（那一隊當天成績好得出乎意料。）