Did the first flower look like this?花朵"始祖”長啥樣?像白蓮花和白百合結合體

All living flowers ultimately derive from a single ancestor that lived about 140 million years ago, a study suggests. 一項研究表明，地球上現存的所有花卉都起源於1.4億年前的同一個"祖先"。
Scientists combined models of flower evolution with the largest data set of features from living flowers ever assembled. 科學家將花卉演化的模型與最大的現存鮮花的特徵資料集組合在一起。 From this the team was able to infer the appearance of the ancestral flower.該研究團隊據此推測出鮮花始祖的樣貌。The flower had many concentric cycles of petal-like organs in sets of three, arranged in whorls, and was bisexual.這種鮮花雌雄同體，花瓣以同心圓方式環繞成多層，每層三片，層層呈齒輪狀分佈。

Hervé Sauquet, from Université Paris-Sud, France, one of the authors of the paper published last week in Nature Communications said: "There is no living flower that looks exactly like the ancestral one. This is a flower that existed at least 140 million years ago and has had considerable time to evolve into the incredible diversity of flowers that exist today."《自然通訊》上周刊載了這篇論文。法國巴黎第十一大學的埃爾韋•索凱是論文的作者之一。他說，"現存的所有花朵都與它們的祖先不同，原因在於鮮花始祖存在于至少1.4億年前，經過了相當長的時間才演變出今天的多樣性。"

Dr Jason Hilton from the University of Birmingham, UK, who was not involved in the study, said: "The structure and organization of the ancestral flower has remained enigmatic. For instance, we don't know if the oldest flowers were unisexual or bisexual, or if they were pollinated by wind or insects." 英國伯明罕大學的傑森•希爾頓博士沒有參加這項研究，他稱："鮮花始祖的結構和組織依然還是個謎。例如，我們不知道最古老的花朵是單性的還是雙性的，或是依靠風還是昆蟲授粉。"

To reconstruct the appearance of the first flower, the scientists recorded the features - such as the petals and sepals - of the flowers from 792 living species. 為了重現世上第一朵鮮花的外觀，科學家記錄了792種現存花卉的花瓣、萼片等外形特徵。They mapped the distribution of these features on to the evolutionary tree of flowering plants enabling them to build a picture of what flowers looked like at key points in their history - including the last common ancestor of all living flowers. 他們將這些特徵分佈繪製成開花植物的進化樹，從而重現花卉在關鍵的進化節點上的樣貌，其中就包括所有現存花卉的最後一個共同祖先的樣子。

The first flower is reconstructed with petal-like structures arranged in a whorl, so each petal appears in the same plane, like a common lily (but with more whorls), rather than in a spiral, where petals overlap in a spiral arrangement around the stem, like a lotus. 第一朵鮮花被重構成齒輪狀排列的花瓣狀結構，像一朵常見的百合（但花瓣更多），所有花瓣出現在同一個平面裡，而非像蓮花一樣花瓣圍繞花莖重疊呈螺旋狀排列。

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"For some of the features we studied, the result was surprising, especially the fact that organs (such as sepals and petals and the stamens) were probably arranged in whorls instead of spirals, as commonly assumed for the ancestral flower," said Hervé Sauquet. 埃爾韋•索凱說："關於鮮花始祖特徵的一些研究結果讓我們感到意外，特別是它的器官(如萼片、花瓣、雄蕊)可能是齒輪狀排列的，而並非是人們通常認為的螺旋狀"。

Sex evolution in flowers has been highly debated. Flowers can be unisexual or bisexual and this study infers a bisexual early flower with both male and female organs. 花的性進化一直備受爭議，鮮花可以是單性或雙性的。這項研究推斷花卉祖先是兩性的，同時擁有雄性和雌性器官。

"This study is important as it tells us how complicated the ancestral flower is likely to be - now the search is on to find it or something closely resembling it in the fossil record. That's if the model is correct - only time (and further study) will tell," said Jason Hilton. 傑森•希爾頓說。"這項研究意義重大，因為它告訴我們鮮花始祖可能有多複雜，現在研究者正努力在化石中搜尋它或此類東西。只有時間和進一步研究才能證明，這個鮮花始祖模型是否正確。"

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Stop treating children’s allergies as colds 兒童過敏別再當感冒

A doctor uses a stethoscope to listen to a child breathe in Hsinchu County on Oct. 8 last year.

一位醫師去年十月八日於新竹縣用聽診器聽小孩呼吸。

Photo: Tsai Chang-sheng, Liberty Times

照片：自由時報記者蔡彰盛

During a volunteer clinic for children that was organized by the Pediatric Department at Feng Yuan Hospital in April, they found that 40 percent of the children suffered from allergies. Hay fever accounted for the majority. It was also discovered that sneezing and runny noses are often treated as common colds. Doctors say that allergies are hereditary and that learning which allergens are causing allergies is the only way to effectively control them.

Ma Chih-hao, head of pediatrics at Feng Yuan Hospital, says that asthma, hay fever and eczema are the most common allergic conditions he treats, which are all closely related to a person being predisposed to allergies, he says, adding that different allergies exhibit different symptoms. For example, allergic conjunctivitis makes the eyes turn red, hay fever usually makes people sneeze, have runny and itchy noses in the morning or when the seasons are changing, rashes are particularly noticeable on the head, face, neck, and joint areas with eczema, while shortness of breath and wheezing are often associated with asthma.

Ma says that between 50 and 70 percent of people with both asthma and hay fever typically suffer from inflammation of the sinuses. If the inflammation persists, the asthma usually gets worse and can cause a child to feel low and sleepy during the day, and have difficulty paying attention, which can affect everyday life and cause learning disorders.

Ma says that the common cold is usually better within three to five days, while runny noses, coughing or asthma brought on by allergies can persist for one to two weeks. Asthmatic coughing is typically at its worst during the middle of the night or when sudden temperature changes occur between seasons, he says, adding that hay fever is usually worst right after getting out of bed in the morning. He suggests seeing a specialist to determine which allergens are affecting you and find a solution to control the problem. The most common causes of allergic reactions in Taiwan are dust mites, cockroaches, cats, dogs and mold, all of which can be controlled by keeping your living environment clean, Ma says.

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TODAY’S WORDS 今日單字

1. disorder n. 障礙；失調；不適 

(例: Brent has been suffering from a mild stomach disorder. (布倫特患輕度胃病。)

2. specialist n. 專家；專科醫生 

例: Sarah is a podiatrist, or foot specialist. (莎拉是一位足科醫師，亦稱為腳專家。)

3. mold n. 黴菌；霉 

例: There’s mold all over the bread. Don’t it eat. (麵包都發霉了。不要吃。)