万物简史 第563期:达尔文的非凡见解(12)

 Wallace continued for another fifty years as a naturalist¹ and thinker, occasionally a very good one, 华莱士在以后大约50年里仍然是一名博物学家和思想家，而且偶尔还干得不错，

but increasingly fell from scientific favor by taking up dubious² interests such as spiritualism and the possibility of life existing elsewhere in the universe. 但渐渐对科学失去了兴趣，将自己的研究转向了降魂术以及宇宙中存在别的生命可能性等方面。

So the theory became, essentially³ by default, Darwin's alone. 因此，达尔文主要是因为人家放弃而独自拥有了进化论的发明权。

Darwin never ceased being tormented⁴ by his ideas. 达尔文终其一生都为自己的观点而感到苦恼。

He referred to himself as "the Devil's Chaplain" and said that revealing the theory felt "like confessing a murder." 他称自己是“魔鬼的牧师”，说披露进化论使他觉得就像“招认自己是一名杀人犯”。

Apart from all else, he knew it deeply pained his beloved and pious⁵ wife. 除此之外，他还深深地伤害了他虔诚的爱妻。

Even so, he set to work at once expanding his manuscript into a book-length work. 尽管这样，他还是立即着手将他的手稿扩充成一本书。

Provisionally he called it An Abstract of an Essay on the Origin of Species and Varieties through Natural Selection, 一开始他给这本书取名为《物种起源和自然选择的多样性概论》，

a title so tepid⁶ and tentative that his publisher, John Murray, decided⁷ to issue just five hundred copies. 这个书名过于冗长和含混，出版该书的约翰·莫瑞决定只印500册。

But once presented with the manuscript, and a slightly more arresting title, Murray reconsidered and increased the initial print run to 1,250. 但是在拿到手稿以后，再加上使书名稍具吸引力，莫瑞决定将初版的印数增加到l250册。

On the Origin of Species was an immediate⁸ commercial success, but rather less of a critical one. 《物种起源》在商业上立刻取得成功，但却没有激起多大反响。

Darwin's theory presented two intractable difficulties. 达尔文的理论面临两个很棘手的困难：

It needed far more time than Lord Kelvin was willing to concede, and it was scarcely supported by fossil evidence. 一方面，要过很多年以后，它才最终得到开尔文勋爵的承认；另一方面，化石方面所提供的证据也少得可怜。

Where, asked Darwin's more thoughtful critics, were the transitional forms that his theory so clearly called for? 有一些善于思考的批评家提出这样的疑问，达尔文的理论中如此明确地强调的物种的过渡形态在哪里呢？

 

1 naturalist   

n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者)

参考例句：

• He was a printer by trade and naturalist by avocation.他从事印刷业，同时是个博物学爱好者。
• The naturalist told us many stories about birds.博物学家给我们讲述了许多有关鸟儿的故事。

2 dubious   

adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• What he said yesterday was dubious.他昨天说的话很含糊。
• He uses some dubious shifts to get money.他用一些可疑的手段去赚钱。

3 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。

4 tormented   

饱受折磨的

参考例句：

• The knowledge of his guilt tormented him. 知道了自己的罪责使他非常痛苦。
• He had lain awake all night, tormented by jealousy. 他彻夜未眠，深受嫉妒的折磨。

5 pious   

adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的

参考例句：

• Alexander is a pious follower of the faith.亚历山大是个虔诚的信徒。
• Her mother was a pious Christian.她母亲是一个虔诚的基督教徒。

6 tepid   

adj.微温的，温热的，不太热心的

参考例句：

• She bent her mouth to the tap and drank the tepid water.她把嘴伸到水龙头底下去喝那微温的水。
• Her feet firmly planted on the tepid rough brick of the floor.她一双脚稳固地立在微温而粗糙的砖地上。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。