英文短文欣赏篇一：优美的英语短文
优美的英语短文
优美的英语短文
如何写出一篇优美的英语短文？ 必克英语给你推荐一篇关于描写风景优美的英语短文，文章里面有好多语句都是我们英语写作中可以借鉴引用的。
优美的英语短文（英文原版）
Autumn in the gloomy depression of the eyes is a symbol of autumn is in the eyes of the farmer's harvest, but in the eyes of love the autumn is a beautiful picture. - Title in mind
Spondee have the advent of several autumn, autumn's picture has been lightly started, the fall of the angels came gently, and she get rid of the hot summer, cool autumn wind brought about a refreshing, but also brought about by different colors The gift of new clothes to do all things.
Of view, the messenger of autumn came saw her simply pass play, the wind blowing through the breeze. Xiaocaohu were immediately put on new clothes golden, as if the carpet is a great shop to the distance. Welcomed the arrival of autumn messenger.
The messenger of autumn light footsteps strode to the field. Well, the corn is full Jingying his white teeth smile envoy welcomed the arrival of Autumn. Look, see the fall of the messenger of sorghum also sorry it! Face up to red. Look fast, look at the rice beautiful new clothes themselves laughed.
The messenger came to the orchard in autumn, the persimmon Ilex look put new clothes, red face . Like a red lantern. Look at the pear , like a doll in the tree, so cute.
The messenger came to the garden in autumn, finger, chrysanthemum are competing to open up new clothes to wear, colorful, red, yellow, pink, and how beautiful and go through the dance-hyun, the United States and the world dress up more.
Autumn, how beautiful the words. You, you find that it comes in around it?
优美的英语短文（中文版）
秋在悲观的人眼里是萧条的象征，秋在农夫的眼里是丰收，但在爱秋的人眼里却是一幅优美的画卷。——题记
纷纷扬扬几场秋雨的降临，秋的画卷也被轻轻展开，秋的使者也轻轻地来了，她赶走了炽热的夏日，唤来凉爽的秋风,带来了清爽，还带来各色的新衣给万物做礼物。
看，秋的使者跋山涉水走来，只见她挥一挥衣袖，微风拂过。小草们立刻换上了金黄的新衣，仿佛是一块巨大的地毯铺向远方。欢迎秋天使者的到来。
秋的使者迈着轻盈的步履来到田野。看，那晶莹饱满的玉米正露出洁白的牙齿微笑着欢迎秋之使者的到来。快看，高粱见到秋的使者还不好意思呢！把脸蛋涨得通红。快瞧，那黄灿灿的稻谷看者自己漂亮的新衣都笑弯了腰。
秋的使者来到果园，看那满树的柿子换上新衣，羞得脸蛋通红。像一个个红灯笼。看那黄澄澄的鸭梨，像一个娃娃在树上，那么可爱。
秋的使者来到庭院，弹弹手指，菊花们穿着新衣竞先开放，姹紫嫣红，红的、黄的、粉的，多么美丽，跳着炫舞，把世界打扮得更美。
秋，多么美丽的字眼。你，发现它降临在你身边了吗？
英语口语培训 /
英文短文欣赏篇二：英语美文赏析
龙源期刊网 .cn
英语美文赏析
作者：王晓宁
来源：《英语学习·教师版》2014年第05期
英语美文，即使用地道、优美的英语语言写的文章；英语美文赏析，则是在接触地道英语语言的基础之上，了解和理解英语语言文化背景，欣赏语言确切应用所表达的真实情景，甚至对其传达的情绪情感感同身受，以致对更深层的思想传达了解并分享。
我的美文赏析始于2003年，源于几百篇美国中学生优秀作文的翻译。3个月的翻译工作，对于已经有20年专业英语学习和近十年英语教学的我都受益良多。地道的英语语言，真实的生活场景，生动自然的生活、情感和思绪，一些我们熟识却总能让你眼前一亮的小词、小句给了我最初开设美文赏析课的想法。浸润在地道的英语语言文化中，欣赏貌似简单却画面感极强（simple but powerful）的小词小句，感受简单平易的意思之下表达的或栩栩如生的画面，或真实动人的情感，或本该讳莫如深却清晰可触的思想；而在这不断的学习中慢慢积累起来的东西，正是包括我和我的学生们这些英语学习者最终使用所迫切需要的。
浸润
语言的学习，首先要保证一定的语言输入（take in），由每天的接触和积累慢慢养成语言的感觉和习惯；而美文的阅读和欣赏，又给予学生高质量的语言。一样的语言输入，不一样品质的语言输入自然效果会有不同。比如“Home Sweet Home”，描述了要搬离居住12年的家，字里行间流露出的依恋和不舍；“The Beauty of the Beast”，小作者在回家路上偶遇一只不愿离弃被车撞身亡的同伴的小松鼠，真切体会到这只小动物身上的兽性之美，从而引发的对于人性的思考，而导致学生们对自己身上人性的剖析，并给了学生们“有心观世界，点滴皆故事”的启迪；“I Call Myself”， 通过一个妈妈在给孩子描述白种人，黄种人和黑人时表现出的细微的态度差别，包括使用的不同词汇，描述了在美国真实存在的种族歧视。这在美国黑人总统Obama当政的今天，给了学生们不小的震撼，也加强了他们对于美国种族差异的了解和认识。典型生动的细节，简单温暖的文字，真实动人的情感，总让学生们在读完以后感动沉思。我想，这就是语言的力量，这就是语言值得我们用心欣赏的原因——了解生活，感受美丽，触动心灵。每天浸润其中，怎会没有收益？
欣赏
出于语言学习的目的，在美文阅读中我指导学生欣赏的，首先是用于表达的字、词、句。对于词，我有一句名言“simple but powerful”，所有的词汇，都要在合适的情境中才能表现出触动人心的力量 （situational words）。学生渐渐领悟——词汇的使用，并不是越难越大越好，而是要针对情景；无论多小多简单的词汇，只要使用恰当，就都会具有打动人心的力量——比如，在读到The young squirrel once more stands erect and with piercing emptiness in his coal black eyes， faces me时，正是 “此时无声胜有声”的感受——痛到深处无言表。
英文短文欣赏篇三：英语美文欣赏(带翻译)
Friends or 'Enemies?'
When I was younger, my Dad used to tell me: "Boys don't want to be your friend." He then left the rest to my imagination. At the time, I didn't agree. I thought: I can crack a good joke, I know how to shoot a hoop, and I'm a cheerful person (but not in an annoying way). What kind of boy wouldn't want to be around that kind of girl?
Turns out, my Dad was right. Not to be all "Samantha Brick" about it, but in my experience, single, heterosexual men aren't actively looking for an exclusively platonic relationship with a woman they find sexually attractive. This of course is not a revolutionary concept. In fact, it seems pretty natural to me.
Now, I will be the first to say that it is really and truly the most wonderful thing in the world if the attraction is mutual. But the Powers That Be seem to like to play these complicated little mating games with humans where the guy we want to re-enact scenes from 9? Weeks with sees our attractiveness level as akin to that of a discarded dishcloth, and the most physical we could see ourselves being with the guy who actually likes us is a game of ping pong over an especially long table. All of which means that someone usually ends up getting rejected.
I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I have struggled with the scenario where I am not interested in a man romantically, but I want to keep him as a friend because he is funny and I enjoy his company, or he has shown himself to be that rare specimen known as "a nice, genuine person, " or he simply doesn't mention his therapist in every other sentence.
Rather than string him along and give him hope, I feel compelled to somehow communicate to him sooner rather than later that we'll just be staying friends, nothing more. Otherwise, I think I am being unfair to him. Why should he waste his romantic stamina on me when there are loads of other single women out there who might fall instantly in love with him? The thing is, it can sometimes be tricky to reject a man and keep him as a friend. If the operation is not executed carefully, you may end up creating a "menemy."
It requires a certain amount of skill to be able to turn down a man's sexual advances or romantic gestures and then get him to agree to meet you for blueberry pancakes the following weekend and chat about the latest Woody Allen film. Some men aren't satisfied with just that. I'm not clear why. What's so bad about friendship? Everyone needs buddies. But I've seen men react poorly or simply fall off the face of the earth. I get it -- their feelings are hurt. None of us likes getting rejected. But in my experience, some men find it especially soul-crushing.
I am only bringing all of this up because I recently had to go through this scenario again. I had spent some time cultivating a friendship with a man who, in my defense, I thought was gay. So I didn't see the harm in him buying me the occasional falafel, or accepting an invitation to see a film with him. Isn't that what friends are for? But a mutual friend shed light on his sexual orientation (straight) and suggested that his intentions -- and attentions -- weren't platonic. He had never "made the moves" but now it was all crystal clear -- that explains the way he had looked at me that time the tahini sauce dribbled down my chin! Since he had clearly been too timid to express his feelings, I thought I would be clever this time and subtly mention the dates I had been going on, focusing on the one guy I was kind of keen on, so that he would know that I was "unavailable" for heavy petting and those sorts of activities, but that I was available for things like roller skating, falafel-eating and shooting the breeze. Doesn't that sound nice? That way, he would known not to try to lean in for a kiss, and I wouldn't have to pull the Stevie Wonder dance and dodge him went he went for it. It was like pre-rejection, yet I was sparing his feelings because he didn't even have to put himself out there! I really thought I was being brilliant.
It backfired, of course. Said man ended up sending me an email rant accusing me of being insensitive by talking about other men when he had "feelings for me." As if I am psychic, by the way, just because I am a woman! How was I supposed to know that? I think in his mind we were dating. In my mind, he was my new gay BFF. In the end, I got mad at him for getting mad at me, and now the friendship has ended.
And I have created yet another "menemy."
Look, I have also tried the direct thing: "I really like you, but only as a friend, " but you can only do that when the guy has made his intentions clear, and in my experience, they either cope okay (though rarely do I feel much enthusiasm for friendship after that), or they really don't cope well. I also tried the thing where you make them think they are rejecting you, but it gets quite confusing and only works if the guy isn't very sharp, and why would I -- or you -- be hanging out with someone not that sharp in the first place?
As we all remember, Billy Crystal's character says men and women can't be friends in When Harry Met Sally because the sex stuff gets in the way. I do have single, male, heterosexual friends with whom I have an easy, non-romantic rapport, but I honestly don't know if they would walk away if I was sprawled naked on a bed calling out to them. I may not be everybody's cup of tea, but sometimes, I wonder if they wonder. And they may wonder if I wonder. If so, I hope they'll keep it to
themselves.
被拒后：朋友亦或敌人？
那时我并不以为然，认为凭自己的幽默诙谐，灌篮娴熟，开朗活泼的性格，又有那一个男孩不喜欢在这样的女孩身边呢？
但结果证明父亲是对的。对此不需要太自恋（Samantha Brick，自由专栏女作家曾写过为什么女人恨我等文章，有英版芙蓉姐姐之称），但以我的经验来说，单身异性恋男士在他们认为极具吸引力的女性身上并不想只是寻求一份简单的柏拉图式的关系。当然这一概念并没有什么开创性，事实上在我看来再自然不过了。
首先我要说的是两情相悦的确是世界上最为美妙事。但上帝却好似很喜欢玩这种复杂的配对游戏，要么是通过九个半周的交往后，我们想与之确定关系的男孩认为我们的吸引力指数同丢弃的抹布不相上下，要么就是我们对中意我们的男孩不起化学反应，两人总是像隔着一长长的桌台打乒乓球一般。结果都是以另一方被拒而告终。
有些异性我虽然不想和他交往，但很想和他做朋友，因为他幽默诙谐，有他陪在身边我会很开心,或者他友好善良并且为人真诚（这一类人可是稀缺性品种），或者是他不是每隔一句便提起他的理疗师。我敢说这种情形你也经历过吧。
我认为有必要对他说明白我们之间只会是朋友这种关系这么简单，仅此而已。说这些话宜早不宜晚，而不是将他带在身边给他希望。不然对他来说是不公平的。外面那么多单身女性，她们或许会对他一见钟情，为什么要让他白白浪费精力放在我身上呢？
但有时在拒绝一位男士后要想和他保持朋友关系，这种情况颇为棘手。如果处理不当，结果是你可能会结下梁子。要想拒绝异性的追求或是一些暧昧举动，同时还要让他同意下一周他依然可以和你会面，边品尝蓝莓煎饼边谈论伍迪艾伦执导的电影，这的确需要一定的技巧。有些男士对此不以为意。我不清楚他们的原因，做朋友难道不好吗？每个人都有自己的朋友呀。但是我确实见到有些男性在被拒绝后反应很糟糕，有的甚至好似在地球蒸发了一样再也没见到他的面。我明白--他们受伤了。没有人喜欢被别人拒绝。根据我的经验甚至有些男士认为被拒让人精神崩溃。提起这些是因为最近我就遇到了这种情况。前段时间我和位异性发展着朋友关系，我起初一直以为他是同性恋。所以他时不时给我买三明治，或是邀请我去看电影，我都没觉得有什么问题。朋友不就是做这些吗？但朋友间是需要彼此都明白各人的性取向的（他是异性恋）还要暗示对方他的想法意图并不是柏拉图之类。他从未做出暧昧举动，但事实上，他看我脸上有芝麻酱的眼神就已经说的很明白了。
他有些胆怯还没有袒露对我的感情，所以我想这次我可以聪明些向他委婉的提下我最近一直和某个男生在交往，并对这个我颇为动心的男生十分用心。不用说他就明白恋人间得耳鬓厮磨不属于我和他，而类似滑冰，吃吃三明治呀，或闲聊呀我都没问题。我这样做是不是还不错呀？这样他就明白不要试着前倾身子去吻我，我也不会用以要学史蒂威·旺达舞蹈为借口来躲避他的不轨举动。在他未向我表白前我就已然拒绝他了，我认为这招妙哉。
当然结果是事与愿违。此男再给我发送的邮件中激昂痛骂我多么没有感情：明知道他对我的情意却当着他的面谈论其他男生。仅仅因为我是女的，好像我就是神经病一样。我哪知道这些呀？我认为在他心里我们就一直在约会，而在我心里却把他当做可以做一辈子的同性恋朋友。最后，因为他对我生气，我也对他动了气，友情也就戛然而止了。我又结下了一段梁子。
你瞧，我也试过用较为直接的方式回绝男生，“我真的很喜欢你，但只是出于朋友间的喜欢而已。”这招仅适用于当此男表明了他的感情时候。在我经验中，有些男生反应还可以（尽管随后我觉得他同我做朋友的热情度大打折扣），有些男生对此应对得不是太好。还有一招我也用过，就是让他们感觉是他们在拒绝你，这招颇具有迷惑性且对象仅适用于头脑不是很敏捷的男生。但话又说回来，我怎么会和一个头脑不灵光的男生交往呢？
我们都会记得在当哈利遇上莎莉这部电影中比利克里斯托扮演的角色曾说：男人和女人从来不会是朋友，因为“男女有别”。我的确有一些单身异性恋的男性朋友，我和他们之间也处的轻松随意，无关乎风月，但我真的不知道要是我懒洋洋赤身裸体于床上，大声唤着他们，他们是否会决然走开呢？我或许不是每个人的菜，但有时我想他们是否会考虑我是不是他们喜欢的类型，或许他们也会想我会不会有同样的念头。如果是这样的话，希望他们缄口不提保密于心吧。
Living With My Teenage Genius
AS HER son Cameron sits at his laptop completing an assignment for his maths degree course Alison Thompson is busy helping her daughter Emma get dressed.
Nothing unusual there, except that at just 14 Cameron is a highly gifted maths prodigy, while Emma is 12 and severely autistic.
Having two children with such contrasting abilities has at times been a challenge, admits full-time mum Alison, 34, who also has 10-year-old daughter Bethany.
While help has always been readily available for Emma, Alison and her husband Rod, 37, a computer programmer, have had to fight to get Cameron the support he needs. “People could see that Emma has special needs but because Cameron was doing so well at school his teachers never thought there was a problem. They refused to acknowledge that he was gifted, ” says Alison.
Admittedly it took Alison and Rod a while to realise their son was different. “Cameron was our first child and we didn’t really have anything to compare him with. He always had a very impressive vocabulary and we knew he was bright but he didn’t reach his milestones exceptionally early and there were no other real signs.”
It was only when he began primary school that his abilities became clear. “He used to cry when it was time to come home, ” recalls Alison. “He just always wanted to learn more.”
On one occasion he even corrected the teacher when she told the class that zero was the lowest number. Cameron told her she was wrong because there were negative numbers. He was four at the time.
By the time he was seven, Cameron, who lives with his family in Wrexham, North Wales, was leaps and bounds ahead of his classmates. It was also clear that he was suffering from Asperger’s syndrome, which is a form of autism. Children with Asperger’s typically find social interaction incredibly difficult and can become obsessive and inflexible.
“Not only was he getting bored at school but he didn’t know when to keep quiet and had no idea how to pick up on social cues, ” says Alison, who along with Rod started to put pressure on the school for extra support for their son.
Now 14 Cameron is at secondary school, studying for a distance learning maths degree with the Open University, having sailed through his GCSE at 11 and his A-level at 12, achieving top grades.
Today it is clear that this slightly built, engaging and awkward teenager is gifted but it has been a battle to get the authorities to acknowledge his needs.
“I don’t think the teachers had a clue what to do with a gifted child, ” says Alison. “We were worried about being labelled as pushy parents but there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting the best for your child. I think the teachers thought we were trying to drive Cameron with his maths but the drive came from him.”
Frustrated, the Thompsons considered home education – Cameron was also being targeted by bullies – but they thought it would hamper their son socially.
By his final year of primary school, Cameron had become bored and disruptive but fortunately when he moved to senior school teachers there took his talents seriously and he was encouraged to do more advanced maths work.
“He steamed through the GCSE syllabus in just three months, ” says Alison. “For the first time in ages he seemed really happy.”
Then his parents had to decide what to do next. Some gifted children are sent to university early but Alison and Rod felt this wasn’t right for Cameron. “What would he have in common with the other students?” she asks. “I just don’t understand these parents who are so ambitious that they lose all sight of their child.
“I was once contacted by a mother who told me her five-year-old was interested in taking a GCSE. I mean, really? What five-year-old has actually heard of a GCSE? When Cameron was five all he wanted was to be a train driver.”
Alison admits she is baffled by much of her son’s degree course. Even Rod, who has a maths degree himself, struggles to keep up. Yet they are careful never to compare Cameron with his sisters.
Bethany is bright too but not gifted. Sociable and artistic she is the one who will remind absent minded Cameron to put on his coat. She also helps him out in social situations. “Bethany could make friends in an empty room, ” says Alison proudly. “Having siblings with such different needs has made her very accepting.”
Emma attends a specialist school and the family is quick to celebrate her successes too. “The other day she did up the buttons on her coat which was real progress, ” Alison says.
The Thompsons try to live a normal life. Late last year they took part in a fly-on-the-wall television documentary to prove that not all gifted children are the result of overly ambitious parents. Cameron, who is also a brown belt in karate, was happy to take part as he had always wanted to be on TV.
“There is so much help out there for children like Emma
家有神童
艾莉森?汤普森家有三个孩子，三个孩子个个不同。一个是天赋异禀的小神童，一个是自闭症儿童，还有一个却在社交方面表现出众。艾莉森是怎样抚养他们的？她遇到了哪些困难？
当艾莉森?汤普森的儿子卡梅伦坐在电脑前完成他的数学学士学位课作业时，她忙着帮她的女儿埃玛穿好衣服。很平常的场景，除了14岁的卡梅隆是一个非常有天赋的数学神童，而12岁的艾玛则是严重的自闭症患者。艾莉森承认抚养两个反差很大的孩子有时是一个挑战。34岁的艾莉森是一个全职母亲，他同时还有一个10岁的女儿伯达尼。
艾玛总是及时获得帮助的那一个，而艾莉森和她的程序员丈夫罗德不得不为卡梅隆争取他所需要的支持。“大家都知道艾玛有特殊需要，但因为卡梅伦在学校表现优秀，他的老师从来没有想过他的问题。他们拒绝承认他是天才，”艾莉森说。
诚然，艾莉森和罗德也不是一开始就发现他们的儿子有什么不同。 “卡梅隆是我们的第一个孩子，我们真的没有什么可以比较。他的词汇量一直佷令人惊讶，我们知道他聪明，但在他的阶段性发展中，他没有提前很多，也有没有其他明显的迹象。“
直到他上小学，他的能力才变得明显。“过去一到回家的时候，他就哭，”艾莉森。 “他只是想学更多的知识。”有一次，他甚至还纠正了老师。当老师告诉同学零是最小的数字时，卡梅伦告诉她，她错了，因为有负数。那时候他四岁。
七岁的卡梅伦与他的家人住在北威尔士最大的城市雷克瑟姆（Wrexham），那时候他已经远远超过他的同学。但很明显，他很患有阿斯伯格综合症，这是自闭症的一种形式。患有阿斯伯格综合症的儿童通常在社会交往上存在困难，还可能变得执着而顽固。
“他在学校不仅感到厌烦，还不知道什么时候应当保持安静，无法理解人际交流中的隐藏含义，”艾莉森说。她和罗德开始向学校施压，以求他们的儿子获得额外的帮助。
14岁的卡梅隆目前还在中学阶段，已经开始攻读开放大学函授数学学位。11岁他通过了GCSE课程，12岁通过A-level课程，并且都取得了优异的成绩。
毋庸置疑，这个清瘦、有魅力却有点古怪的青少年是有天赋的，但让当局承认他的需求却是一场艰苦的战斗。“我不认为教师们知道该怎么教育一个有天赋的孩子，”艾莉森说。 “我们害怕被当作为爱出风头的父母，但希望孩子获得最好的教育这一点绝对没有错。老师认为是我们要求卡梅隆学数学，但实际上那是他主动要学的。”他们的尝试受到打击，卡梅伦也成为了众矢之的，随后他们想到了家庭教育，但又觉得这不利于孩子社会化的培养。
到卡梅伦小学最后一年时，他已经开始无聊到捣乱了，所幸升学后那里的老师很看重他的天赋，并鼓励他学习高年级的数学。
“他在短短三个月内学完了GCSE课程教学大纲，”艾莉森说， “他似乎很久没那么高兴了。”
然后，他的父母不得不决定下一步做什么。一些天才儿童提前进入大学，但艾莉森和罗德觉得这样对卡梅伦不好。 “他与其他学生有什么共同点？”她问， “我只是不明白有些家长是如此雄心勃勃，却全然忘记了他们的孩子。"“曾经又一位母亲告诉我，她5岁的女儿想要参加GCSE考试。我在想，这会是真的吗？ 一个5岁的孩子真的了解GCSE是什么吗？当卡梅伦5岁时，他就想当一名火车司机。“
艾莉森承认，她对儿子的学位课程感到困惑。即使拥有数学学位的罗德也不见得能跟上。然而，他们很小心，从来不拿卡梅隆与他的妹妹们做比较。
伯达尼也很聪明，但算不上天赋异禀。善于交际、喜欢艺术的她会提醒心不在焉的卡梅隆把他的外套穿上，她还回在社交场合为哥哥解围。 “即使在一个空房间里，伯达尼也能交朋友，” 艾莉森骄傲地说， “有不同需求的兄弟姐妹，让她变得很包容。”
艾玛就读的是一所特殊学校，家里人也会即时为她的每一次成功庆祝。 “有一天，她自己系上了衣服上所有的扣子，这绝对是进步，”艾莉森说。
汤普森一家尝试着像正常家庭那样去生活。去年年底，他们参加了一个观察式电视纪录片的拍摄，向大家证明并不是所有的天才儿童都是过于雄心勃勃的父母造就的。同时是空手道棕带的卡梅伦很高兴参加这次纪录片拍摄，因为他一直想上电视。
“社会给了像艾玛这样的孩子许多帮助，但对于天才儿童几乎没有任何帮助，”艾莉森说。 “天才儿童也需要支持，但他们的生活并没有和其他人太不同。卡梅伦就是个例子。”
10 Biggest Puzzles of Human Evolution
NOBODY would mistake a human for a chimpanzee, yet we share more DNA than mice and rats do. How can that be? Advances in genomics are starting to uavel the mystery.
Line up the genomes of humans and chimps side by side and they differ by little more than 1 per cent. That may not seem like much, but it equates to more than 30 million point mutations. Around 80 per cent of our 30, 000 genes are affected, and although most have just one or two changes (Gene, vol 346, p 215), these can have dramatic effects. The protein made by the human geneFOXP2, which helps us to speak, differs from its chimp counterpart by just two amino acids, for example. And small changes in the microcephalin andASPM genes may underlie big differences in brain size between humans and chimps.
But protein evolution is only part of what makes us human. Also critical are changes in gene regulation - when and where genes are expressed during development - says James Noonan of Yale University. Mutations in key developmental genes are likely to be fatal. But, he says: "Altering the expression of a gene in a single tissue or at a single time can more easily lead to an innovation that is not lethal." Noonan's lab is one of many that are busy comparing gene expression in tissues such as the brain to home in on the key regulatory difference between chimps and humans, most of which have still to be uncovered.
Then there's gene duplication. This can give rise to families of genes that diversify and take on new functions, says Evan Eichler at the University of Washington in Seattle. His lab has identified uniquely human gene families that affect many aspects of our biology, from the immune system to brain development. He suspects that gene duplication has contributed to the evolution of novel cognitive capacities in humans, but at a cost: greater susceptibility to neurological disorders.
Copying errors mean whole chunks of DNA have been accidentally deleted. Other chunks find themselves in new locations when mobile genetic elements jump around the genome or viruses integrate themselves into our DNA. The human genome contains more than 26, 000 of these so-called INDELs, many linked with differences in gene expression between humans and chimps (Mobile DNA, vol 2, p 13).
Even a complete catalogue of genetic differences will not solve the mystery. Much of what makes us human is cultural, passed from generation to generation by learning, says Ajit Varki at the University of California, San Diego. What's more, he says, The co-evolution of genes and culture is a major force in human evolution, famously leaving the descendents of dairy farmers able to digest milk protein, for example. To crack the mystery of human uniqueness we need to know how genomes build bodies and brains, how brains create culture, and how culture eventually feeds back to alter the genome. It remains a distant goal.
人类进化十大谜（之一）：我们与黑猩猩：形不似而基因似？人类和黑猩猩外貌迥异，没有人会搞错，但这两者间的基因相似度却很高，高过野鼠和家鼠之间的基因相似度。这怎么可能呢？基因组学研究正在解开这个谜底。
把人类和黑猩猩的染色体组并排比较，二者差异略高于百分之一。看似不多，但却相当于三千多万的点突变。我们30,000个基因的约百分之八十都会受影响，尽管多数仅有一两处变异（见《基因》第346卷第215页），但影响可能十分巨大。比如，人类FOXP2基因所制造的蛋白质作用于我们的语言能力，只有两个氨基酸与黑猩猩的相应蛋白质不同。此外，微脑磷脂和ASPM基因里的细微差别可能决定了人类和黑猩猩大脑尺寸的巨大差异。
但是，蛋白质的进化只是造就人类的部分原因。耶鲁大学詹姆斯?努南（James Noonan）说，基因规则的变化同等重要——在生长过程中基因何时何地进行表达。关键性发展基因的突变很可能致命。不过他说：“改变单一组织的基因表达或仅改变一次某个基因的表达更容易带来安全的创新。”努南的实验室忙于比较黑猩猩和人类大脑等组织之间的基因表达，找出关键性的规则差异；从事这一工作的实验室还很多，大多尚不为世人所知。
此外还有基因复制。西雅图华盛顿大学的伊万?艾克勒（Evan Eichler）说，由此可能产生多样化和具备新功能的基因族。唯有他的实验室找出了影响了我们免疫系统到大脑发展等多个方面生物性的基因族。他怀疑基因复制对人类新认知能力的进化起着作用，不过是有代价的：更容易神经紊乱。
复制错误就意味着整段的DNA被意外删除。别的基因段进入新的位置，基因组附近出现活动的基因成分，或者病毒融入我们的DNA。人类的基因组包含26000多个这种所谓的基因插入/缺失（INDEL），许多都和人类与黑猩猩之间的基因表达差异相关（《可移动的DNA》第2卷第13页）。
即使取得完整的基因差异图也无法揭开这个谜团。加州大学圣地亚哥分校的阿吉特?瓦基（Ajit Varki）说，造就人类的主要是代代传承的文化。他还说，基因与文化的共同进化才是人类进化的主要力量，比如这个众所周知例子，畜牧业牧民的后代擅于消化牛奶蛋白。要解开人类特殊性之谜，我们必须了解基因组如何构建出身体和大脑，大脑如何创造文化，文化最终又如何反过来改变基因组。这个目标依然遥远。