英语课程计划-Darwin Day

February the 12th is Darwin Day. It is to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin on February 12, 1809 and his life as a scientist. This day also aims to encourage children to get into science. Darwin was one of the world’s greatest scientists and greatly changed the way we look at how we got here. His theory of evolution is one of the most important theories ever. Scientists first came together to recognize and discuss Darwin’s contribution to science in 1909. Today, there are many events on Darwin Day all over the world. These include dinner parties with special recipes for evolutionary¹ soup, recreations of Darwin’s journey in his ship the Beagle, and Darwin festivals.

Darwin was an English naturalist² who had a passion for nature. Through his studies, he realized that all species of life evolved over time from common cells billions of years ago. He sailed around the world observing and drawing animals to demonstrate this. He published a book on his findings, “On the Origin of the Species”, which is accepted by most scientists as the theory of evolution. It is still the foundation of biology and provides a logical explanation for the diversity of life on Earth. He described the process of how new species started as ‘natural selection’, or ‘the survival of the fittest’. Darwin is buried in London’s Westminster Abbey, close to another great British scientist Sir Isaac Newton.

1 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

2 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。