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  3. When Martin Brasier discovered what looked like fossil cells in between the cemented sand grains of an ancient beach in Western

When Martin Brasier discovered what looked like fossil cells in between the cemented sand grains of an ancient beach in Western

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问题     When Martin Brasier discovered what looked like fossil cells in between the cemented sand grains of an ancient beach in Western Australia, he knew he had his work cut out for him. One of the biggest challenges for geologists is deciding when a fossil is really a fossil, particularly when it comes to early life.【F1】There are no bones to go by, and the mineralized spheres representing simple cells and sometimes fibers could easily be crystals or other irregularities in the sediment(沉淀物)itself. What’s more, Brasier, a geologist at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, has been one of the most vocal critics of many of the most ancient fossils other researchers have found.
    But now Brasier and David Wacey, a geologist at the University of Western Australia in Crawley, say they have discovered 3. 4-billion-year-old cells, possibly the oldest fossils ever found.【F2】Other microorganisms as old or older have been reported, including an extensive set of photosynthesizing(进行光合作用的)bacteria 20 kilometers away from Brasier and Wacey’s find, but Brasier and others have questioned the validity of those fossils. The two scientists say their chemical analyses of the minerals near the cells suggest the microorganisms depended on sulfur for fuel. Such a beach might have been life’s first breeding ground, Brasier says.
    The work represents "some of the best evidence for the nature of Earth’s earliest life," says Bruce Runnegar, a geologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved in the study.
    【F3】Brasier first suspected the ancient rock formation would be a good place to look because it so closely resembled a modern beach, indicating that the sediments had not been badly heated or distorted since they were laid down.【F4】Wacey and colleagues analyzed the rock formation that included this ancient shoreline to verify the beach was about 3.4 billion years old.
    The fossil cells they discovered looked promising: They were hollow, and some were clustered together in groups surrounded by what looked like a membrane. "The morphology is very cell-like," Brasier says. The cells were also patchily distributed in the sediment, just as modern bacteria tend to congregate near sources of food, the researchers report today in Nature Geo-science.
    【F5】Turning to chemistry, Wacey and Brasier found that the apparent cell walls contained a different element, or version of carbon from the surrounding rock. They also found tiny mineral crystals containing a different version of sulfur in and around the cells—evidence that the microorganisms were processing sulfur from the environment to extract energy.
    Earth at that time was nothing like it is today. Oceans were likely a steamy 45℃; oxygen was lacking. So it makes sense that early life depended on sulfur-containing compounds, Brasier says. Sulfur bacteria are common today in hydrothermal vents, hot springs, and low-oxygen environments. Other researchers have argued that early bacteria were photosynthetic or used hydrogen for energy. " In the end, it will probably turn out there were a wide variety of organisms using a wide range of metabolisms," says Stanford University geologist Donald Lowe.
【F2】
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答案其他像它一样古老甚至比它还要古老的微生物都被报道过，包括距离布雷斯和维森所发现的化石二十公里之外的大量的进行光合作用的细菌，但布雷斯和其他考古学家却曾对那些化石的有效性进行质疑。
解析 该句是一个以but作转折连词的并列复合句。前一个分句中，介词including后的内容对分句的主语other microorganisms as old or older进行补充说明，因此可在including前添加代词，利用增词法翻译成“这其中包括……”；而20 kilometers away from Brasier and Wacey’s find作bacteria的后置定语，根据中文的表达习惯将其前置，译成“距离布雷斯和维森所发现的化石二十公里之外的细菌”。
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