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East London in South Africa.
這里是南非的東倫敦
63 years ago, just before Christmas,
63年前，就在圣誕節前夕
the curator of the local museum was idly sifting through a fisherman's catch down on the waterfront.
當地博物館的館長正漫不經心地挑選著漁民們從海濱捕來的東西
Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer was then just 31 years old.
Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer當時才31歲
22nd December 1938 was a wonderful day.
1938年12月22日是一個美妙的日子
I came upon this most beautiful fish. It was just on, just on 5ft.
我無意之中得到了這條最漂亮的魚，它有5英尺長
It was silver and gold and green and blue and had white kind of flecks on it
體色是金、銀、藍、綠錯雜，還有白色的斑點
and to my horror it had these slim-like fins
我感到震驚的是它竟然長著瘦長的鰭
and I thought to myself what on earth can this be, I've never seen a fish like this.
我在想地球上怎么會有這樣的動物，我從沒看到過這樣的魚
She rushed the fish off to have it preserved. Then she asked Dr. J.L.B. Smith, a South African academic, to identify it.
她趕緊把魚帶回去保存起來，然后邀請J.L.B. Smith博士，一位南非學者，對它進行鑒定
He stood at the head of the table and he said, "Well lass," he said,
他站在桌子一頭說：“啊，小姑娘”
"this fish will be on the lips of every scientist in the world. It's a coelacanth."
“這條魚將成為全世界科學家談論的焦點，它是一條腔棘魚”
Coelacanths were a breed of Devonian lobe-finned fish that were thought to have been extinct for over 76 million years.
腔棘魚是泥盆紀肉鰭魚的一種，人們以為它早在7600萬年前就已滅絕
It was absolutely fantastic because it was... it's living
這實在太奇怪了，因為它還活著
and it, it's exactly like having found a live dinosaur or a live archaeopteryx.
這種興奮的感覺好比找到了一只活的恐龍或是一只活的始祖鳥。
