达尔文和生命之树（2009）

但他并没有像达尔文那样花20年时间收集大量的证据来支持这一观点
he had not spent 20 years gathering the mountain of
evidence to support it, as Darwin had done.
那这个理论算谁的？
But whose idea was it?
最后，林奈协会的资深成员们决定
In the end, the senior members of the Linnean Society
decided that the fairest thing
最公平的做法是在伦敦伯灵顿宫举♥行♥的
was for a brief outline of the theory from each of them to
be read out, one after the other,
学会会议上，逐一宣读他们各自的理论概要
at a meeting of the society, here in Burlington House in London.
林奈，从此成为
The Linnean, then as now,
研究自然世界的科学家们定期举♥行♥会议、
was the place where scientists studying the natural world
held regular meetings
展现和讨论他们观察和想法的文献的场所
to present and discuss papers about their observations
and thoughts.
1858年7月1日的那次会议参加者只有大约30人
The one held on July 1st 1858 was attended
by only about 30 people.
两位作者都没有出席
Neither of the authors were present.
华♥莱♥士♥在1♥0♥0♥0♥0♥英里之外的东印度群岛上
Wallace was 10,000 miles away in the East Indies,
达尔文由于他的幼子几天前的夭折而病得很重
and Darwin was ill and devastated by the death a
few days earlier of his infant son,
所以他待在他的肯特郡的家里
so he was still at his home in Kent.
结果是，这两份文献只好由大会秘书宣读
As a consequence, the two papers had to
be read by the secretary,
据我们所知，这两份文献当时几乎没有给人留下什么印象
and as far as we can tell, they made very little
impression on anyone.
第二年，达尔文将他的理论详细的写了出来
Darwin spent the next year writing out his theory in detail.
然后他把手稿寄给了他的出版商约翰·默里
Then he sent the manuscript to his publisher, John Murray,
和现在一样 – 在伦敦皮卡迪利大街附近的阿尔伯马尔街的办事处
whose firm – then as now – had offices in Albemarle Street,
just off Piccadilly in London.
默里是他那个时代伟大的出版商
Murray was the great publisher of his day
出版过简·奥斯汀和拜伦勋爵的作品
and dealt with the works of Jane Austen and Lord Byron,
他们的首印版至今还陈列在办公室的墙上
whose first editions still line these office walls.
达尔文认为他的作品只是简单的一个概要
Darwin regarded his work as simply a summary,
即便如此，它还是有400页
but even so, it is 400 pages.
它于1859年11月24日出版
It was published on November 24th 1859.
这不是首印版，太遗憾了
This is not a first edition, more’s the pity.
首印版现在价值数十万英磅
First editions are worth literally hundreds
of thousands of pounds.
这是我的第六版
This is a 6th edition – my copy,
我还是个孩子的时候买♥♥的，那时我18岁
which I bought as a boy, when I was 18, I notice.
它花了我一个先令的巨款
And it cost me the princely sum of one shilling.
第一版的1250本很快售罄
The first edition of 1,250 copies sold out immediately,
并进行了再版
and it went for a reprint.
然后再版又再版
And then another reprint and another reprint.
这是一本几乎没有技术术语的书 – 任何人都很容易理解
It’s a book that contains very few technical terms –
it’s easily understood by anybody.
不出所料，它引起了一场愤怒
And predictably, it caused an outrage,
不只在这个国家各地，实际上是在整个文明世界
not only throughout this country,
but indeed all the civilised world.
最让人难堪的是，其中所隐喻的
What scandalised people most, it seems, was the implication
人类并非如《创世纪》一书所宣称的那样
that human beings were not specially created by God,
由上帝所特别创造出来的
as the Book of Genesis stated,
而是由类人猿祖先演变而来的 –
but were descended from ape-like ancestors –
这一概念为漫画家们提供了广阔的发挥空间
a notion that provided a lot of scope for cartoonists.
以牛津主教塞缪尔·威尔伯福斯为首的教会领袖们抨击它
The leaders of the Church, headed by Samuel Wilberforce,
the Bishop of Oxford,
理由是它贬低了上帝的地位
attacked it on the grounds that it demoted God
并与《圣经》所说的创世界故事相矛盾
and contradicted the story of Creation
as told by the Bible.
“达尔文先生从四处游荡的自然著作的宽广大道
“That Mr Darwin should have wandered
from this broad highway
“进入了幻想和假设的丛林，其恶不小”
“of nature’s works into the jungle of fanciful
assumption is no small evil.”
“我读了你的书，痛苦多于快乐……”
“I have read your book with more pain than pleasure…”
“这是一个毒气吸入器的疯狂灵感”
“It is the frenzied inspiration of the inhaler
of mephitic gas.”
“彻底失败了”
“Fails utterly.”
达尔文的理论暗示生命起源于简单的形式
Darwin’s theory implied that life had originated
in simple forms,
然后变得越来越复杂
and had then become more and more complex.
他很清楚，进化论的整个概念会引发许多疑问
He knew perfectly well that the whole idea of evolution
raised a lot of questions.
事实上，其中一些疑问直到最近才得到答案
In fact, some of those questions would not be
answered until comparatively recently.
在他那个时代，许多卓越的科学家
But in his own time, many distinguished scientists
提出的问题似乎是无法克服的困难
raised what seemed to be insuperable difficulties.
其中最重要的是理查德·欧文
And foremost among them was Richard Owen,
他在20年前给已经灭绝的磨齿兽命名以纪念达尔文
the man who 20 years earlier had named the extinct
ground sloth in honour of Darwin.
多年来，这两个人对彼此产生了深深的个人厌恶
Over the years, the two men had developed a deep
personal dislike of one another
经常吵架
and had quarrelled frequently.
并不是欧文认为伊甸园的故事是完全正确的
It wasn’t that Owen thought that the story of
the Garden of Eden was literally correct,
但不管怎样，他是一个非常笃信宗教的人
but nonetheless, he was a deeply religious man.
毕竟，他要确保他的博物馆 – 将展示出造物的神奇 –
He had, after all, ensured that his museum,
which would display the wonders of Creation,
在设计上与中世纪欧洲伟大的基♥督♥教大教堂相呼应
echoed in its design the great
Christian cathedrals of medieval Europe.
欧文知道生命的多样性
And Owen knew about the diversity of life.
实际上，他花费了整个职业生涯来进行编目
Indeed, he had spent his whole career cataloguing it.
即便如此，他也不相信一个物种会随着时间而改变
But even so, he refused to believe that a species
could change over time.
他和其他维多利亚时代的先驱地质学家
He, and other pioneer Victorian geologists,
在建立他们相对较新的科学时
as they established their comparatively new science,
认识到生命历史的大致情形
recognised that the outlines of the
history of life could be deduced
可以通过考察周围的土地来推断
by examining the land around them.
看看苏格兰北部的这些岩石
Look at these rocks in northern Scotland.
我们从与它们相关的化石中知道它们非常古老
We know from fossils that are associated with them
that they are very ancient.
它们是沙石
And they are sand stones.
一层又一层地堆叠在海底的
Compacted sand that was laid
down at the bottom of the sea,
压实的沙子
layer upon layer upon layer.
看看这里有多少层！
But look how many layers there are!
很显然，那些在上面的一定是在下面的
Clearly, those at the top must have been laid down
之后覆盖的
after those beneath them.
当你一层一层地从上往下看，实际上你是在追溯时光
So as you descend from layer to layer,
you are in effect going back in time.
因此一个物种化石，如果它来自一个特定的层
So a fossil species, if it comes from a particular layer,
它就属于一个特定的年代
is of a particular age.
如果你能认出每一个，那么你就可以开始拼凑生命历史的轮廓
And if you can recognise each one, then you can begin
to piece together the outlines of life’s history.
啊，小蛸枕属……
Ah, Micraster…
一个世纪后，当我还在上大学的时候，识别化石并将它们
The ability to identify fossils and place them in their
geological time zone
按其所在的地质时区放置的能力仍然是一项重要技能
was still an essential skill when I was at university
a century later.
我们在这样的抽屉里翻来翻去
We worked our way through drawers like these,
里面装满了各种各样的化石 –
which are full of fossils of one sort or another –
它们都没有标签，只有数字
but none of them have labels, only numbers.
你期待能够拿起其中一块……
So you were expected to be able to pick up one…
然后说，“是的，这是一块箭石”
..and say, “Yes, that’s a belemnite.”
现在，实际上它是哪一个箭石，我已经不记得了
Now, actually which belemnite it is, I can’t remember now.
当你参加实际考试时
And when you came to your practical exam,
主考人员会拿出其中一个，然后问:
your examiners would produce one of these and say,
“好吧，这是什么？”
“OK, what’s that?”
你要么知道要么不知道
And you either knew or you didn’t,
你能看懂的方式要靠你在这样的抽屉里，一小时又一小时的工作
and the way you knew was because of all the work you
did in drawers like these, hour after hour.
欧文并不否认所有这些不同物种出现的顺序
Owen did not deny the sequence in which all these
different species appeared.
但他相信每一个都是单独的，每一个都是神创造的
But he believed that each was separate,
each divinely created.
然而，达尔文的理论要求，不仅相似的物种之间应该有联♥系♥
Darwin’s theory, however, required that there should be
connections not just between similar species,
而且大的动物群体之间也应该有联♥系♥
but between the great animal groups.
如果鱼类、爬行动物、鸟类和哺乳动物都是从彼此进化而来的
If fishes and reptiles and birds and mammals had all
evolved from one another,
那么这些大的物种之间肯定有中间形态
then surely there must be intermediate forms
between those great groups.
他们失踪了
And they were missing.
然后，就在《物种起源》出版两年后
And then, just two years after the publication of
The Origin Of Species,
理查德·欧文自己为他的博物馆购买♥♥了最惊人的化石
Richard Owen himself purchased the most astonishing
fossil for his museum.
它是在巴伐利亚的一个石灰石采石场被发现的
It had been found in this limestone quarry in Bavaria.
这里的石头成扁平光滑的片状
The stone here splits into flat, smooth leaves
从罗马时代起就被用作屋顶瓦片
that have been used as roofing tiles since Roman times.
大部分是空白的
Most are blank.
但是偶尔，当你将它们分开时
But occasionally, when you split them apart,