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Clack returned to Cambridge with dozens of tetrapod fossils.
Clack帶著許多四足動物化石回到了劍橋
It meant that at last someone else would be able to do original work in the field of how we got our legs,
這意味著其他人終于可以對我們長出腿的事件進(jìn)行初步研究
but the true importance of the trip did not emerge until 1990
但是這趟旅程的重要性直到1990年才顯露出來
when a colleague, Mike Coats, started work on the specimen she'd almost thrown away, the acanthostega.
當(dāng)時她的同事Mike Coats正開始研究這件幾乎被她丟棄的標(biāo)本，棘螈
He started to dig its hand out of the rock and he expected, of course, to find just five fingers.
他開始清除前爪周圍的石頭，當(dāng)然，他希望看到5根趾
The first thing he found on this block was a finger. This digit here.
他在這塊區(qū)域找到的第一樣?xùn)|西是一根足趾，就是這根趾
So we've got a number of finger bones aligned along the edge of this block.
我們可以看到這個地方排列著好幾根趾
Then he continued with the preparation. He found the next finger which is here with its end curled over
后來他繼續(xù)清理，他在這里發(fā)現(xiàn)了第二根趾，趾尖是彎曲的
and then a third similarly with this crooked finger end and a fourth, again with that,
接著是第三根，同樣也有類似彎曲的趾尖，第四根，也是如此
and then there's a gap and then he went on to find another finger. Individual finger bones are really quite clear
接下來是一段空隙，他又找出了另一根趾頭，每段趾骨都清晰可見
and that makes a total of five, but he still had all this area here to prepare so instead of stopping
這樣他就找全了5根趾，但他還需要剖析這片區(qū)域，所以他沒有停下來
he went on to clean up the rest of this area and lo and behold here is another digit, so that makes six
他繼續(xù)清理剩下的部分，瞧，這看起來又是一根趾頭，這樣就是6根了
and he expected to finish there and then to his amazement here's a seventh and finally an eighth.
他以為這樣就結(jié)束了，但是讓他吃驚的是，這里還有第七根趾，最后是第八根
What? But it was true. Acanthostega had eight fingers on one hand.
怎么會這樣？但這卻是事實，棘螈的一個爪子上有8根趾
