经济学人150:美国的蝴蝶 所有事都值得惊奇

　　Butterflies in America
美国的蝴蝶
To marvel¹ at all things
所有事都值得惊奇
A splendid twinning of natural science and America
自然科学与美利坚民族的完美结合
Butterfly People: An American Encounter with the Beauty of the World.By William Leach².
蝴蝶客：美国与世界之美的相遇
“BUTTERFLIES and butterflies”, wrote Walt Whitman, “continue to flit to and fro, all sorts, white, yellow, brown, purple”. Whitman may have had an eye for colour, but as a mere³ journalist and poet with perhaps a touch of lepidopterophilia, he does not quite qualify as one of William Leach's “Butterfly People”.
“蝴蝶、还是蝴蝶”，沃尔特惠特曼写道，“它们不停地来回飞过，各种各样的，有白的、黄的、棕色的还有紫色的”。惠特曼对颜色是有判断力，但是仅仅作为一位知道点鳞翅类昆虫的记者和诗人，并不是威廉所称的“蝴蝶客”
True butterfly people were far more serious. They were enthusiasts⁴ and obsessives who took advantage of the unfettered access to undeveloped land afforded by a young country pressing its frontier westward⁵. They were artisans and aesthetes⁶: scientists of a sort that gradually ceased to exist as the natural sciences grew more formal and mature.
真正的蝴蝶客远远严谨的多。他们狂热而迫切，年轻的国家正在向西部扩充领土，所以他们可以利用这种优势，自由使用未开发的土地。他们是手艺人兼审美家：这类所谓的科学家，随着自然科学发展得更加正式和成熟，这类科学家渐渐不存在了。
Mr Leach's compelling thesis is that 19th-century America provided a uniquely hospitable⁷ time and place for lovers, and especially collectors, of butterflies. Agricultural toil⁸ and westward expansion brought droves of ordinary people into intimate contact with vast expanses of pristine⁹ lands. Most 19th-century Americans, Mr Leach writes—uncharitably but probably accurately—saw nature “as something to dig up or harvest from the earth or to be torn down and transformed into real estate or money”, and yet because there was so much untouched land, even the most rapacious¹⁰ miner or builder would in the course of his life come into contact with the natural world on a scale and in a way unknown to Americans today.
里奇先生的有趣命题是：19世纪的美国为蝴蝶爱好者，特别是收藏家提供了一个独一无二的热情好客的时代。农业耕作和西部扩张将大批的普通人与广袤无际的未开垦土地紧密联系在一起。大多数19世纪的美国人，里奇先生写道，视自然为“可以从地下挖掘或从地上收割的，可以推倒盖房子或者卖钱的东西”，他的评语尽管尖刻，却也许十分精准。可是因为有如此之多未开垦的土地，即使是最贪婪的财主和建设者也会在他一生中与大自然发生联系,这种联系无论从规模上、在形式上， 都是如今的美国人无法想象的。
Perhaps more important, “natural science” had not yet become “biology”. It was practised out of doors rather than in a laboratory, and aside from the classification madness of Linnaeus, it was light on systems and formality. Its early titans, such as Charles Darwin and Alexander von Humboldt, a Prussian aristocrat¹¹ whose masterwork, “The Cosmos”, began being published in 1845, “seemed indifferent to drawing lines between art and science,” Mr Leach writes. “Their prose was often excellent and readable, so much so as to later seem unscientific. They often wrote on behalf of the artistic¹² attractions of nature.” They led with a sense of curiosity driven by rapture¹³ and wonder. Natural science belonged not to the trained and pedigreed biologist, but to the passionate¹⁴ amateur: they were “naturalists”, not biologists.
或许更重要的是，“自然科学”没有发展为“生物学”。它的研究在户外进行而不是在实验室，不像林奈繁杂的分类法，体系和形式是次要的。有关研究它的早期的泰斗，像查尔斯达尔文，以及亚历山大洪堡特，一位在1845年出版名著《大宇宙》的普鲁士贵族，“似乎对划分科学与艺术的界线漠不关心”，里奇先生写道。“他们写的散文总是出色易懂，以至于对后人来说显得不科学，他们常常为了自然的艺术吸引力而写文章。”他们引领了一种由狂喜和惊奇驱使的好奇感。自然科学不属于受过训练的正统生物学家，但却属于热情激昂的业余爱好者：他们是“博物学家”，而不是生物学家。
Butterfly people learned by observing, thinking and arguing. They included Samuel Scudder, who named the monarch¹⁵ butterfly and wrote a magisterial¹⁶, three-volume work about North American butterflies that won raves¹⁷ from lepidoptery's literary champion, Vladimir Nabokov, 70 years after its publication. Another was William Henry Edwards. His great grandfather was America's most renowned¹⁸ Puritan theologian, and he eventually wrote his own three-volume doorstop.
蝴蝶客们从观察、思考和争论中学习。他们中包括萨缪尔斯卡德，他命名了黑脉金蝴蝶，写了一本关于北美蝴蝶的三卷的权威著作，这部书出版70年后令鳞翅类昆虫的文学巨匠弗拉基米尔纳博科夫惊叹不已。另一位是威廉亨利爱德华。他了不起的祖父是美国最有名望的普鲁士神学家，他最终写出了自己三卷鸿篇巨著。
Mr Leach is at his best when profiling men such as Edwards, Scudder and others, including solitary¹⁹, taciturn Herman Strecker and resentful, bilious²⁰ Augustus Grote. These are the amateur giants on whose broad shoulders much contemporary biology and entomology rests.
里奇先生最擅长介绍爱德华、斯卡德等等，包括沉默寡言的隐士斯特雷克和坏脾气的奥古斯塔斯格罗特。当代生物学和昆虫学正是站在这些业余研究巨匠宽阔的肩膀上。

1 marvel   

vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事

参考例句：

• The robot is a marvel of modern engineering.机器人是现代工程技术的奇迹。
• The operation was a marvel of medical skill.这次手术是医术上的一个奇迹。

2 leach   

v.分离，过滤掉；n.过滤；过滤器

参考例句：

• Liquid water can leach soluble materials from the interface.液态水能够从界面溶解出可溶性物质。
• They believe that the humic materials are leached from decaying plant materials.他们认为腐植物料是从腐烂的植物体浸沥而来。

3 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

4 enthusiasts   

n.热心人，热衷者( enthusiast的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A group of enthusiasts have undertaken the reconstruction of a steam locomotive. 一群火车迷已担负起重造蒸汽机车的任务。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Now a group of enthusiasts are going to have the plane restored. 一群热心人计划修复这架飞机。 来自新概念英语第二册

5 westward   

n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西

参考例句：

• We live on the westward slope of the hill.我们住在这座山的西山坡。
• Explore westward or wherever.向西或到什么别的地方去勘探。

6 aesthetes   

n.审美家，唯美主义者( aesthete的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This point of view was put forward by Greek aesthetes more than two thousand years ago. 这是二千多年前希腊的美学家提出来的观点。 来自互联网
• From then on, it was inherited and developed constantly by the later writers, artists and aesthetes. 从那以后，这一观点不断地被后来的文学家、艺术家及美学家继承和发展。 来自互联网

7 hospitable   

adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的

参考例句：

• The man is very hospitable.He keeps open house for his friends and fellow-workers.那人十分好客，无论是他的朋友还是同事，他都盛情接待。
• The locals are hospitable and welcoming.当地人热情好客。

8 toil   

vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事

参考例句：

• The wealth comes from the toil of the masses.财富来自大众的辛勤劳动。
• Every single grain is the result of toil.每一粒粮食都来之不易。

9 pristine   

adj.原来的，古时的，原始的，纯净的，无垢的

参考例句：

• He wiped his fingers on his pristine handkerchief.他用他那块洁净的手帕擦手指。
• He wasn't about to blemish that pristine record.他本不想去玷污那清白的过去。

10 rapacious   

adj.贪婪的，强夺的

参考例句：

• He had a rapacious appetite for bird's nest soup.他吃燕窝汤吃个没够。
• Rapacious soldiers looted the houses in the defeated city.贪婪的士兵洗劫了被打败的城市。

11 aristocrat   

n.贵族，有贵族气派的人，上层人物

参考例句：

• He was the quintessential english aristocrat.他是典型的英国贵族。
• He is an aristocrat to the very marrow of his bones.他是一个道道地地的贵族。

12 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

13 rapture   

n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜

参考例句：

• His speech was received with rapture by his supporters.他的演说受到支持者们的热烈欢迎。
• In the midst of his rapture,he was interrupted by his father.他正欢天喜地，被他父亲打断了。

14 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

15 monarch   

n.帝王，君主，最高统治者

参考例句：

• The monarch's role is purely ceremonial.君主纯粹是个礼仪职位。
• I think myself happier now than the greatest monarch upon earth.我觉得这个时候比世界上什么帝王都快乐。

16 magisterial   

adj.威风的，有权威的；adv.威严地

参考例句：

• The colonel's somewhat in a magisterial manner.上校多少有点威严的神态。
• The Cambridge World History of Human Disease is a magisterial work.《剑桥世界人类疾病史》是一部权威著作。

17 raves   

n.狂欢晚会( rave的名词复数 )v.胡言乱语( rave的第三人称单数 )；愤怒地说；咆哮；痴心地说

参考例句：

• She raves about that singer. 她醉心地谈论那位歌手。 来自辞典例句
• His new play received raves in the paper. 他的新剧本在报纸上受到赞扬。 来自辞典例句

18 renowned   

adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的

参考例句：

• He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
• She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。

19 solitary   

adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士

参考例句：

• I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
• The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际，显得十分壮美。

20 bilious   

adj.胆汁过多的；易怒的

参考例句：

• The quality or condition of being bilious.多脂肪食物使有些人患胆汁病。
• He was a bilious old gentleman.他是一位脾气乖戾的老先生。