“对于我来说，始祖鸟化石堪称经典案例，”达尔文曾对密友透露说。

"It is a grand case for me, " Darwin confided to a friend.

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和带有腿部的古鲸类化石一样，始祖鸟化石似乎捕捉到了关键进化形变中的某个瞬间。

Like fossils of whales with legs, Archaeopteryx seemed to capture a moment in a critical evolutionary metamorphosis.

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而这次始祖鸟化石的发现，比先前发现的鸟化石时代更早，层位更低，特征更加原始。

However, this find of archaeopteryx fossils are from a much earlier age, lower in stratus and more primitive in features than previously discovered archaeopteryx.

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