万物简史 第558期:达尔文的非凡见解(7)

 And then he did an extraordinary thing: he put his notes away and for the next decade and a half busied himself with other matters. 接着，他做出了一件惊人之举：他将他的笔记扔到一边，用了15年的时间忙于别的事情。

He fathered ten children, devoted¹ nearly eight years to writing an exhaustive opus on barnacles 他成了10个孩子的父亲，他花了将近8年的时间撰写一部关于藤壶的详尽的著作。

("I hate a barnacle as no man ever did before," he sighed, understandably, upon the work's conclusion), （“我比以往任何人都讨厌藤壶。”在这项工作结束以后，他叹息着说。这是可以理解的。）

and fell prey² to strange disorders³ that left him chronically⁴ listless, faint, and "flurried," as he put it. 他得了一种怪病，经常无精打采，头晕眼花，“心神不定”，他自己说。

The symptoms nearly always included a terrible nausea⁵ and generally also incorporated palpitations, 他时常感到恶心，心率失调，

migraines, exhaustion⁶, trembling, spots before the eyes, shortness of breath, "swimming of the head," and, not surprisingly, depression. 偏头痛，极度疲劳，浑身打战，眼冒金星，呼吸短促，“头脑变得轻飘飘的”，情绪极度低落，这是不足为怪的。

The cause of the illness has never been established, 他得病的原因，至今没有定论。

but the most romantic and perhaps likely of the many suggested possibilities is that he suffered from Chagas's disease, 人们有许多猜测，但最无根据而又最有可能的是他患了一种热带慢性病夏格氏病，

a lingering tropical malady⁷ that he could have acquired from the bite of a Benchuga bug⁸ in South America. 他有可能是在南美洲被寄生虫锥体虫叮咬而感染这种疾病的。

A more prosaic⁹ explanation is that his condition was psychosomatic. 一种比较符合实际的说法是一种身心疾病。

In either case, the misery¹⁰ was not. 无论是哪种病，痛苦是不言而喻的。

Often he could work for no more than twenty minutes at a stretch, sometimes not that. 他常常只能连续工作不超过二十分钟，有时甚至更短。

Much of the rest of his time was devoted to a series of increasingly desperate treatments, 在他余生的许多时间里，达尔文尝试了一系列越来越绝望的治疗方法，

icy plunge¹¹ baths, dousings in vinegar, draping himself with "electric chains" that subjected him to small jolts¹² of current. 洗冷水浴呀、泡醋呀、电疗呀，最后一种害得他不停地遭受小小的电击。

He became something of a hermit¹³, seldom leaving his home in Kent, Down House. 他几乎成了一个隐士，很少离开他在肯特的家。

One of his first acts upon moving to the house was to erect¹⁴ a mirror outside his study window so that he could identify, and if necessary avoid, callers. 搬家以后的第一个举措是在书房的窗外立了一面镜子，这样他可以提前发现，必要的话还可以回避来访之客。

 

1 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

2 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

3 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 chronically   

ad.长期地

参考例句：

• Similarly, any pigment nevus that is chronically irritated should be excised. 同样，凡是经常受慢性刺激的各种色素痣切勿予以切除。
• People chronically exposed to chlorine develop some degree of tolerance. 人长期接触氯气可以产生某种程度的耐受性。

5 nausea   

n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶)

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕期常有恶心的现象。
• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。

6 exhaustion   

n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述

参考例句：

• She slept the sleep of exhaustion.她因疲劳而酣睡。
• His exhaustion was obvious when he fell asleep standing.他站着睡着了，显然是太累了。

7 malady   

n.病，疾病(通常做比喻)

参考例句：

• There is no specific remedy for the malady.没有医治这种病的特效药。
• They are managing to control the malady into a small range.他们设法将疾病控制在小范围之内。

8 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

9 prosaic   

adj.单调的，无趣的

参考例句：

• The truth is more prosaic.真相更加乏味。
• It was a prosaic description of the scene.这是对场景没有想象力的一个描述。

10 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

11 plunge   

v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲

参考例句：

• Test pool's water temperature before you plunge in.在你跳入之前你应该测试水温。
• That would plunge them in the broil of the two countries.那将会使他们陷入这两国的争斗之中。

12 jolts   

（使）摇动， （使）震惊( jolt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He found that out when he got a few terrific jolts, but he wouldn't give up. 被狠狠地撞回来几次后，他发觉了这一点，但他决不因此罢休。
• Some power bars are loaded with carbohydrates or caffeine for quick jolts. 有些能量条中包含大量的碳水化合物和咖啡因，以达到快速提神的效果。

13 hermit   

n.隐士，修道者；隐居

参考例句：

• He became a hermit after he was dismissed from office.他被解职后成了隐士。
• Chinese ancient landscape poetry was in natural connections with hermit culture.中国古代山水诗与隐士文化有着天然联系。

14 erect   

n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的

参考例句：

• She held her head erect and her back straight.她昂着头，把背挺得笔直。
• Soldiers are trained to stand erect.士兵们训练站得笔直。