万物简史 第564期:达尔文的非凡见解(13)

 If new species were continuously evolving, then there ought to be lots of intermediate forms scattered¹ across the fossil record, but there were not. 如果物种是持续不断地进化的，那么在化石中一定存在不少进化过程中的中间形态，但是事实上却没有。

In fact, the record as it existed then (and for a long time afterward) showed no life at all right up to the moment of the famous Cambrian explosion. 其实，当时（及以后很多年）已发现的化石表明，一直到著名的寒武纪大爆发之前，地球上根本没有任何生命。

(By coincidence, in 1861, at the height of the controversy², （巧合的是，1861年，就在争论最为激烈的时候，

just such evidence turned up when workers in Bavaria found the bones of an ancient archaeopteryx, a creature halfway³ between a bird and a dinosaur⁴. 一个这样的证据出现了。工人们在巴伐利亚发现了几根古代始祖鸟的骨头，这是一种介于鸟和恐龙之间的动物。

(It had feathers, but it also had teeth.) （它有羽毛，但也有牙齿。）

It was an impressive and helpful find, and its significance much debated, but a single discovery could hardly be considered conclusive⁵.) 这一发现令人印象深刻，同时也很有帮助，其特征被广泛地加以讨论，但是一个单独的发现几乎很难得出肯定的结论。）

But now here was Darwin, without any evidence, insisting that the earlier seas must have had abundant life 而在没有任何证据的情况下，达尔文却坚持认为早期的海洋里一定存在着丰富多彩的生命形式，

and that we just hadn't found it yet because, for whatever reason, it hadn't been preserved. 只是我们还没有找到它们而已。这是因为，不论出于何种原因，它们并没有保存下来。

It simply could not be otherwise, Darwin maintained. 达尔文认为这是惟一合理的解释。

"The case at present must remain inexplicable⁶; and may be truly urged as a valid⁷ argument against the views here entertained," “这种情形现阶段肯定无法解释清楚，但可以尽量被看做起与现存看法相对立的合理观点。”

he allowed most candidly⁸, but he refused to entertain an alternative possibility. 他很直率地承认，但是拒绝考虑其他可能性。

By way of explanation he speculated — inventively but incorrectly, 为了解释，他推论说——富有创见，却是不正确的，

that perhaps the Precambrian seas had been too clear to lay down sediments⁹ and thus had preserved no fossils. 也许前寒武纪的海水太清澈了，不能沉淀下任何物质，因此也就没有将化石保存下来。

Even Darwin's closest friends were troubled by the blitheness¹⁰ of some of his assertions. 即使是达尔文最好的朋友，也对他的某些过于武断的结论感到不安，

Adam Sedgwick, who had taught Darwin at Cambridge and taken him on a geological tour of Wales in 1831, said the book gave him "more pain than pleasure." 亚当·塞奇威克是达尔文在剑桥大学的老师，l887年曾带他到威尔士作地质考察，他说达尔文的书给他的“痛苦多于快乐”。

 

1 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

2 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

3 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

4 dinosaur   

n.恐龙

参考例句：

• Are you trying to tell me that David was attacked by a dinosaur?你是想要告诉我大卫被一支恐龙所攻击？
• He stared at the faithful miniature of the dinosaur.他凝视著精确的恐龙缩小模型。

5 conclusive   

adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的

参考例句：

• They produced some fairly conclusive evidence.他们提供了一些相当确凿的证据。
• Franklin did not believe that the French tests were conclusive.富兰克林不相信这个法国人的实验是结论性的。

6 inexplicable   

adj.无法解释的，难理解的

参考例句：

• It is now inexplicable how that development was misinterpreted.当时对这一事态发展的错误理解究竟是怎么产生的，现在已经无法说清楚了。
• There are many things which are inexplicable by science.有很多事科学还无法解释。

7 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

8 candidly   

adv.坦率地，直率而诚恳地

参考例句：

• He has stopped taking heroin now,but admits candidly that he will always be a drug addict.他眼下已经不再吸食海洛因了,不过他坦言自己永远都是个瘾君子。
• Candidly,David,I think you're being unreasonable.大卫，说实话我认为你不讲道理。

9 sediments   

沉淀物( sediment的名词复数 )； 沉积物

参考例句：

• When deposited, 70-80% of the volume of muddy sediments may be water. 泥质沉积物沉积后，体积的70-80％是水。
• Oligocene erosion had truncated the sediments draped over the dome. 覆盖于穹丘上的沉积岩为渐新世侵蚀所截削。

10 blitheness   

n.blithe（快乐的）的变形

参考例句：