英语听力精选进阶版 10849（在线收听）

Good morning. I live just down the lane from Walton Hall, the home of the 19th century naturalist and explorer, Charles Waterton. He had several visits from Charles Darwin, following his epic voyage on the Beagle and whist he was writing his book “On The Origin of Species” whose theory of evolution was to rock the worlds of science and religion. The two men had much in common when it came to science, but not when it came to religion. Waterton was a devout Roman Catholic, Darwin, it was thought was an agnostic. There were good reason for believing this for late in his life he wrote to a prominent atheist who was perhaps seeking his support, “It has always been my object to avoid writing on religion, and I have confined myself to science.”

早上好。我家就住在沃尔顿大厅所在的这条街。该大厅是19世纪自然学家和探险家查尔斯·沃特顿的家。他在比格尔进行史诗般的探险过后，查尔斯·达尔文因撰写《物种起源》多次造访他。达尔文的进化论轰动了科学界和宗教界。在科学方面，两人有许多共同点，但是在宗教方面却并非如此。沃尔顿是一位虔诚的罗马天主教徒，而达尔文据说却是一位不可知论者。我们有很好的理由相信这一点，因为晚年时他给一位向他寻求支持的无神论者写道：“我向来避免书写与宗教有关的内容，因为我已经献身科学。”

But as many of us learned this week that wasn’t to remain strictly true. On Monday afternoon in New York, a brief letter hand written by Darwin was auctioned for almost 200 thousand dollars. It was penned just a month after his letter to the atheist, but was sharper in tone and content. It was sent to a young barrister, who was obviously a keen Christian and was worried that if he derived pleasure in reading Darwin’s books he might lose his faith. He’d written, “I ask you to give a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer to the question ‘Do you believe in the New Testament?” Darwin replied, “Dear Sir, I am sorry to have to inform you that I do not believe in the Bible as a divine revelation and therefore not in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Yours faithfully”.

但是本周我们许多人了解到，严格来说这并不是真的。周一下午，达尔文手写的一封简短的书信在纽约拍卖出近20万美元的高价。这封书信就在他写给那位无神论者的书信一个月之后，但是在论调和内容方面更加尖锐。这封信是寄给一位年轻的大律师的，他很显然是一位热切的基督徒，担心如果他阅读达尔文的书时得到快乐，他或许会失去自己的信仰。他写道：“我要你给出明确肯定或否定的答案，你是否相信圣经新约？”达尔文回复道：“尊敬的先生，我很抱歉地告诉您，我不相信圣经是上帝的启示，因此不相信耶稣·基督是上帝之子。”

Why did the young barrister’s letter so get under Darwin’s skin that he broke with a life-time of reticence on matters of religion? We will probably never know, but clues can perhaps be found in other letters which he wrote. When he and his wife Emma settled in Down in Kent Darwin correspondence shows that he made great friends with the local vicar and Darwin would do everything to support his local church except worship there. He would accompany his wife and family to the church gates, and then go for a thoughtful walk whilst they went to worship. But with the vicar he planned an educational and benevolent trust for the parish and became its very active treasurer.

为何这位年轻大律师的书信如此激怒达尔文，打破了他一生抗拒发表于宗教有关言论的习惯？我们或许永远不会知道，但是从他书写的其他书信中或许可以找到一些线索。当他和妻子艾玛在肯特定居时，达尔文的通信表明，他和当地教区牧师成为很好的朋友，达尔文愿意做一切事情来支持当地教堂，除了做礼拜。他会陪伴妻子和家人去教堂门口，然后在亲人做礼拜时他就会去漫步一下。但是他和这位牧师一起计划在该郊区成立教育和慈善信托基金，并成为非常积极的财务主管。

Then the vicar left and a keen new curate arrived, who was a far more yes, or no, person. The curate made local life so difficult for Darwin that he withdrew from the educational and care structure which he’d created.

后来这位牧师离开了，一位副牧师到来，他是一位更加是非明确的人。这位副牧师让达尔文在当地的生活非常困难，所以他从自己创立的教育和慈善机构退出。

It wouldn’t surprise me if the letter from the enthusiastic Christian lawyer reminded Darwin of his treatment by the Christian curate some years earlier and he took to his pen. The press have interpreted the letter as evidence of Darwin’s atheism, but I don’t necessarily think that that’s the case. What Darwin certainly didn’t believe was that a loving God would allow non-believers to burn eternally in hell fire. I agree with him.

如果说这位虔诚的基督徒律师的信件提醒达尔文他在这位基督徒副牧师那里的遭遇，从而愤然下笔书写的话，我不觉得奇怪。媒体将这封信件解读为达尔文无神论的证据，但是我不认为是这样。达尔文确定不相信的是，仁慈博爱的上帝会让不信仰上帝的人永恒地在地狱之火中燃烧。我赞同他的观点。