万物简史 第511期:丰富多彩的生命(7)

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Joseph Banks was England's greatest botanist¹, and the Endeavour voyage — that is the one on which Captain Cook charted the 1769 transit² of Venus 约瑟夫·班克斯是英国最伟大的植物学家，“奋进”号航行——即库克船长绘制1769年金星凌日图、

and claimed Australia for the crown, among rather a lot else — was the greatest botanical expedition in history. 宣布澳大利亚为皇家殖民地的那次航行——是历史上最伟大的植物探险。

Banks paid 10,000 pounds, about $1 million in today's money, 班克斯支付了l万英镑，相当于今天的60万英镑，

to bring himself and a party of nine others — a naturalist³, a secretary, three artists, and four servants — on the three-year adventure around the world. 让自己和另外9个人——1名博物学家、l名秘书、3名美术家和4名仆人——加入了这次为期3年的环球探险活动。

Goodness knows what the bluff⁴ Captain Cook made of such a velvety⁵ and pampered⁶ assemblage, 天知道性格粗率的库克船长是怎么和这帮子文绉绉的、娇生惯养的人相处的，

but he seems to have liked Banks well enough and could not but admire his talents in botany — a feeling shared by posterity⁷. 但他似乎很喜欢班克斯，禁不住钦佩他在植物学方面的才能——后辈们也怀有同样的感情。

Never before or since has a botanical party enjoyed greater triumphs. 没有哪个植物考察小组取得过那么大的成就。过去没有，此后也没有。

Partly it was because the voyage took in so many new or little-known places, 这在一定程度上是因为这次航行将许多不大知名的新地方，

Tierra del Fuego, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, New Guinea — but mostly it was because Banks was such an astute⁸ and inventive collector. 火地岛、塔希提岛、新西兰、澳大利亚、新几内亚——占为殖民地，但主要是因为班克斯是个敏锐和天才的采集家。

Even when unable to go ashore⁹ at Rio de Janeiro because of a quarantine, 即使由于检疫规定而未能在里约热内卢上岸，

he sifted¹⁰ through a bale of fodder¹¹ sent for the ship's livestock¹² and made new discoveries. 他还是为船上的牲口偷偷弄来一包饲料，做出了新的发现。

Nothing, it seems, escaped his notice. 似乎什么也逃不过他的目光。

Altogether he brought back thirty thousand plant specimens¹³, including fourteen hundred not seen before, 他总共带回来3万件植物标本，包括1400件以前没有见过的，

enough to increase by about a quarter the number of known plants in the world. 能为世界上已知的植物总数增加大约四分之一。

 

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