万物简史 第569期:达尔文的非凡见解(18)

 Unfortunately, Nageli failed to perceive the importance of what Mendel had found. 不幸的是，耐格里没有意识到孟德尔的发现的重要性，

He suggested that Mendel try breeding hawkweed. 他建议孟德尔培育山柳属科植物。

Mendel obediently did as Nageli suggested, but quickly realized that hawkweed had none of the requisite¹ features for studying heritability. 孟德尔按照他所说的去做了，但很快发现山柳属植物并不具备研究遗传性所必不可缺的特点。

It was evident to him that Nageli had not read the paper closely, or possibly at all. 很明显，耐格里并未认真阅读他的论文，甚至可能根本没有读。

Frustrated², Mendel retired³ from investigating heritability 灰心丧气的孟德尔从此放弃了遗传性研究，

and spent the rest of his life growing outstanding vegetables and studying bees, mice, and sunspots, among much else. 在他的余生中转而种植良种蔬菜，从事蜜蜂、老鼠、太阳黑子之类别的研究。

Eventually he was made abbot. 最后他被推选为修道院院长。

Mendel's findings weren't quite as widely ignored as is sometimes suggested. 孟德尔的发现并未像有时候被认为的完全被大家疏忽。

His study received a glowing entry in the Encyclopaedia⁴ Britannica — then a more leading record of scientific thought than now, 他的研究成果被光荣地收入《大英百科全书》中——当时是一部记录科学思想的著作，其重要性远远超过它在今天的地位，

and was cited repeatedly in an important paper by the German Wilhelm Olbers Focke. 并且在德国威廉·奥伯斯·福克所撰写的一篇重要论文里被一再引用。

Indeed, it was because Mendel's ideas never entirely⁵ sank below the waterline of scientific thought  实际上，由于孟德尔的观点一直未曾沉没在科学思想的汪洋大海之中，

that they were so easily recovered when the world was ready for them. 因此。当世界具备了接受它们的条件时，它们就很容易地被人们重新发现。

Together, without realizing it, Darwin and Mendel laid the groundwork for all of life sciences in the twentieth century. 达尔文和孟德尔一起为20世纪的全部生命科学奠定了基础，不过他们两个都没有意识到这一点。

Darwin saw that all living things are connected, that ultimately they "trace their ancestry⁶ to a single, common source," 达尔文发现所有的生物都是相互关联的，并且它们说到底都“源自一个共同的祖先”；

while Mendel's work provided the mechanism⁷ to explain how that could happen. 而孟德尔的工作则从机制上为这一切是怎么发生的提供了解释。

The two men could easily have helped each other. 他们两个人本来可以相互帮助。

Mendel owned a German edition of the Origin of Species, which he is known to have read,  孟德尔拥有一本德文版的《物种起源》，据说他读过这本书，

so he must have realized the applicability of his work to Darwin's, 因此他一定意识到他的工作适用于达尔文的理论，

yet he appears to have made no effort to get in touch. 但是他似乎并没有想办法和达尔文联系过。

 

1 requisite   

adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品

参考例句：

• He hasn't got the requisite qualifications for the job.他不具备这工作所需的资格。
• Food and air are requisite for life.食物和空气是生命的必需品。

2 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

4 encyclopaedia   

n.百科全书

参考例句：

• An encyclopaedia contains a lot of knowledge.百科全书包含很多知识。
• This is an encyclopaedia of philosophy.这是本哲学百科全书。

5 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

6 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

7 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。