万物简史 第553期:达尔文的非凡见解(2)

 Darwin enjoyed every advantage of upbringing, but continually pained his widowed father with his lackluster academic performance. 达尔文从小生活条件优越，可是学习成绩平平，这使得他丧偶的父亲痛苦不已。

"You care for nothing but shooting, dogs, and rat-catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family," “你除了打猎枪、玩狗、捉老鼠，什么都不挂在心上。你将丢你自己和整个家族的脸。”

his father wrote in a line that nearly always appears just about here in any review of Darwin's early life. 他父亲有一次曾经这样写道。凡是回顾查尔斯幼年生活的时候，几乎总是要引用他父亲的这句话。

Although his inclination¹ was to natural history, 尽管达尔文感兴趣的是自然史。

for his father's sake he tried to study medicine at Edinburgh University but couldn't bear the blood and suffering. 可是在父亲的坚持下，他还是勉强到爱丁堡大学学医。然而，他一见到血就犯晕，一碰到病人痛苦就神经高度紧张。

The experience of witnessing an operation on an understandably distressed² child—this was in the days before anesthetics, of course—left him permanently³ traumatized. 有一次，他亲眼目睹了一位小孩的手术，小孩声嘶力竭的惨状——那时还未发明麻醉药——给他的精神造成了永远也无法抹去的创痛。

He tried law instead, but found that insupportably dull and finally managed, more or less by default, to acquire a degree in divinity from Cambridge. 他试着转学法律，但很快发现这门学科极其枯燥，实在令他难以忍受。最后，他并不十分顺利地从剑桥大学获得了一个神学学位。

A life in a rural vicarage seemed to await him when from out of the blue there came a more tempting⁴ offer. 乡村牧师的生涯似乎正在前面等着他，就在这时，一个更具诱惑力的机会不期而然地出现在了他的面前。

Darwin was invited to sail on the naval⁵ survey ship HMS Beagle, essentially⁶ as dinner company for the captain, Robert FitzRoy, 海军探测船“贝格尔”号船长罗伯特·菲茨罗伊邀请达尔文一同去远航，

whose rank precluded⁷ his socializing with anyone other than a gentleman. 菲茨罗伊的身份决定了他非得跟有教养的人交往——实际上是作为船长的餐桌伙伴。

FitzRoy, who was very odd, chose Darwin in part because he liked the shape of Darwin's nose. 菲茨罗伊十分古怪，他挑选达尔文是因为他喜欢达尔文的鼻子的形状。

(It betokened⁸ depth of character, he believed.) （他认为这是性格坚强的体现。）

Darwin was not FitzRoy's first choice, but got the nod when FitzRoy's preferred companion dropped out. 达尔文并不是菲茨罗伊的首选，但是最终还是得到他的认可，因为他更中意的人选跑掉了。

From a twenty-first-century perspective the two men's most striking joint⁹ feature was their extreme youthfulness. 以今天的观点来看，两个人最显著的共同点莫过于他们都非常年轻。

At the time of sailing, FitzRoy was only twenty-three, Darwin just twenty-two. 在他们出发时，菲茨罗伊年仅23岁，达尔文只有22岁。

 

1 inclination   

n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好

参考例句：

• She greeted us with a slight inclination of the head.她微微点头向我们致意。
• I did not feel the slightest inclination to hurry.我没有丝毫着急的意思。

2 distressed   

痛苦的

参考例句：

• He was too distressed and confused to answer their questions. 他非常苦恼而困惑，无法回答他们的问题。
• The news of his death distressed us greatly. 他逝世的消息使我们极为悲痛。

3 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

4 tempting   

a.诱人的, 吸引人的

参考例句：

• It is tempting to idealize the past. 人都爱把过去的日子说得那么美好。
• It was a tempting offer. 这是个诱人的提议。

5 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

6 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

7 precluded   

v.阻止( preclude的过去式和过去分词 )；排除；妨碍；使…行不通

参考例句：

• Abdication is precluded by the lack of a possible successor. 因为没有可能的继承人，让位无法实现。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bad weather precluded me from attending the meeting. 恶劣的天气使我不能出席会议。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 betokened   

v.预示，表示( betoken的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Nothing betokened that the man know anything of what had occurred. 显然那个人还不知道已经发生了什么事。 来自互联网
• He addressed a few angry words to her that betokened hostility. 他对她说了几句预示敌意的愤怒的话。 来自互联网

9 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。