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物种起源|The Origin of Species

引言|INTRODUCTION

属类： 双语小说 【分类】其他读物 阅读：[12202]
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搭乘皇家“贝格尔”号周游世界时，身为博物学者，我对南美洲的生物分布以及现存生物和古生物的地质关系颇为留意。某些情况似乎让我对物种起源略有所悟——这是个谜中谜，正如一位极伟大的哲学家说过的。回国后的1837年，我灵机一动，耐心深入搜集有关的资料，加以融会贯通，这个问题也许可以有所心得的嘛。经过五年努力之后，我斗胆对该主题进行了思辨，并记了些简短的笔记；1844年又把它扩充为一份结论提纲，当时在我看来算是有点眉目了。从那以后，我始终不渝，孜孜以求。希望读者原谅我扯个人的琐事，说出来是为了表明，我的决定并非草率做出。

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When on board H.M.S. “Beagle,” as naturalist, I was much struck with certain facts in the distribution of the inhabitants of South America, and in the geological relations of the present to the past inhabitants of that continent. These facts seemed to me to throw some light on the origin of species—that mystery of mysteries, as it has been called by one of our greatest philosophers. On my return home, it occurred to me, in 1837, that something might perhaps be made out on this question by patiently accumulating and reflecting on all sorts of facts which could possibly have any bearing on it. After five years’ work I allowed myself to speculate on the subject, and drew up some short notes; these I enlarged in 1844 into a sketch of the conclusions, which then seemed to me probable: from that period to the present day I have steadily pursued the same object. I hope that I may be excused for entering on these personal details, as I give them to show that I have not been hasty in coming to a decision.

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如今，我的研究工作即将告一段落，但离彻底完成还需投入两三年时间，而且我现在身体不算强壮，便有人劝我先发表了这份摘要再说。特别促使我这样做的，是研究马来群岛博物学的华莱士先生对于物种起源所做的一般结论，竟几乎和我不谋而合。去年，他把一份有关本主题的研究报告寄给了我，要求我转交查尔斯·赖尔（Charles Lyell）爵士，爵士把它交给了林奈学会，刊登在该学会第三卷学报上。赖尔爵士和胡克博士都了解我的研究，胡克还读过我1844年写的纲要，他们认为最好把我原稿的若干章节和华莱士先生的优秀论文同时发表。我不胜荣幸。

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My work is now nearly finished; but as it will take me two or three more years to complete it, and as my health is far from strong, I have been urged to publish this Abstract. I have more especially been induced to do this, as Mr. Wallace, who is now studying the natural history of the Malay archipelago, has arrived at almost exactly the same general conclusions that I have on the origin of species. Last year he sent to me a memoir on this subject, with a request that I would forward it to Sir Charles Lyell, who sent it to the Linnean Society, and it is published in the third volume of the Journal of that Society. Sir C. Lyell and Dr. Hooker, who both knew of my work—the latter having read my sketch of 1844—honoured me by thinking it advisable to publish, with Mr. Wallace’s excellent memoir, some brief extracts from my manuscripts.

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现在发表的这个摘要必定不够完善。这里无法为我的若干论述提出参考文献和权威典籍，有必要拜托读者对我的论述精确性有所信任。错误在所难免，虽然自认一贯小心谨慎，只信赖可靠的典籍。本书仅仅能给出我所得到的一般结论，用少量事实来做实例，希望在大多数情况下这就足够了。今后有必要把我做结论所依据的全部事实以及参考资料一五一十发表出来，这一点我比谁都念念不忘的；希望将来的著作中能做到。我很清楚，本书所讨论的，几乎没有一点不能用事实来举证，而绝不会引出同我的结论直接背道而驰的东西。只有对每一个问题的正反两方面事实和论点加以充分论述，反复权衡，才能得出公平的结果，但这里做不到。

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This Abstract, which I now publish, must necessarily be imperfect. I cannot here give references and authorities for my several statements; and I must trust to the reader reposing some confidence in my accuracy. No doubt errors will have crept in, though I hope I have always been cautious in trusting to good authorities alone. I can here give only the general conclusions at which I have arrived, with a few facts in illustration, but which, I hope, in most cases will suffice. No one can feel more sensible than I do of the necessity of hereafter publishing in detail all the facts, with references, on which my conclusions have been grounded; and I hope in a future work to do this. For I am well aware that scarcely a single point is discussed in this volume on which facts cannot be adduced, often apparently leading to conclusions directly opposite to those at which I have arrived. A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question; and this cannot possibly be here done.

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我得到了许多学者的慷慨相助，其中有些素不相识；很遗憾，由于篇幅的限制，无法一一鸣谢。然而，机会难得，一定要对胡克博士深切致谢，最近十五年来，他以丰富的学识和卓越的判断力，千方百计鼎力相助。

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I much regret that want of space prevents my having the satisfaction of acknowledging the generous assistance which I have received from very many naturalists, some of them personally unknown to me. I cannot, however, let this opportunity pass without expressing my deep obligations to Dr. Hooker, who for the last fifteen years has aided me in every possible way by his large stores of knowledge and his excellent judgment.

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关于物种起源，学者们如果对生物的相互亲缘关系、胚胎关系、地理分布、地质演替等等加以思考，那就可以想见会得出如下结论：物种不是独立创造出来的，而是与变种一样，是从其他物种传承下来的。然而，这一结论即使有根有据，也不能令人满意，除非我们能够证明，这个世界的无数物种如何变异才获得了令人赞不绝口的完善构造和相互适应性。学者们始终把可能的变异仅仅归因于外界条件，如气候、食物等。从某一狭义来说，正如后文即将看到的，这可能是正确的；但是，例如把啄木鸟的构造，它的脚、尾、喙、舌，如此绝妙地适应于在树皮下捉昆虫，也仅仅归因于外界条件，则是十分荒谬的。再如槲寄生，它从某些树木吸取营养，种子必须由某些鸟传播，而且是雌雄异花，绝对需要借助某些昆虫来完成异花授粉。用外界条件、习性或植株本身的意志作用来解释这种寄生生物的构造以及它和若干种不同生物的关系，也同样荒谬绝伦。

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In considering the Origin of Species, it is quite conceivable that a naturalist, reflecting on the mutual affinities of organic beings, on their embryological relations, their geographical distribution, geological succession, and other such facts, might come to the conclusion that each species had not been independently created, but had descended, like varieties, from other species. Nevertheless, such a conclusion, even if well founded, would be unsatisfactory, until it could be shown how the innumerable species inhabiting this world have been modified, so as to acquire that perfection of structure and coadaptation which most justly excites our admiration. Naturalists continually refer to external conditions, such as climate, food, etc., as the only possible cause of variation. In one very limited sense, as we shall hereafter see, this may be true; but it is preposterous to attribute to mere external conditions, the structure, for instance, of the woodpecker, with its feet, tail, beak, and tongue, so admirably adapted to catch insects under the bark of trees. In the case of the misseltoe, which draws its nourishment from certain trees, which has seeds that must be transported by certain birds, and which has flowers with separate sexes absolutely requiring the agency of certain insects to bring pollen from one flower to the other, it is equally preposterous to account for the structure of this parasite, with its relations to several distinct organic beings, by the effects of external conditions, or of habit, or of the volition of the plant itself.

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我想，“创世遗迹”论者会断言，经过不计其数的世代，某鸟生下了啄木鸟，某植物生下了槲寄生，且创造得如我们所见的一样完美；但依我看，这种假设无法自圆其说，未触及和解释生物的相互适应性，以及对其生活条件的适应性。

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The author of the “Vestiges of Creation” would, I presume, say that, after a certain unknown number of generations, some bird had given birth to a woodpecker, and some plant to the misseltoe, and that these had been produced perfect as we now see them; but this assumption seems to me to be no explanation, for it leaves the case of the coadaptations of organic beings to each other and to their physical conditions of life, untouched and unexplained.

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因此，弄清变异和适应的途径至关重要。刚开始观察时，我就觉得仔细研究驯养动物和栽培植物，对于解决这个难题也许会提供最好的机会。果然功夫不负有心人，通过这种和所有其他的复杂个例，我一个劲儿地发现，有关驯养变异的知识即使不完善，也能提供最好、最可靠的线索。我在此斗胆声明，我坚信这种研究价值很高，虽然学者们往往加以忽视。

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It is, therefore, of the highest importance to gain a clear insight into the means of modification and coadaptation. At the commencement of my observations it seemed to me probable that a careful study of domesticated animals and of cultivated plants would offer the best chance of making out this obscure problem. Nor have I been disappointed; in this and in all other perplexing cases I have invariably found that our knowledge, imperfect though it be, of variation under domestication, afforded the best and safest clue. I may venture to express my conviction of the high value of such studies, although they have been very commonly neglected by naturalists.

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有鉴于此，本书第一章讨论驯养变异。我们将看到，大量的遗传变异至少是可能的，更有甚者，我们将看到，人类通过选择积累连续的微小变异，能耐是何等巨大。然后将讨论物种在自然状况下的变异性；不幸的是，讨论这个问题不得不简而又简，因为只有罗列长篇的事实才能加以妥当处理。然而，我们还能得以讨论什么环境条件最有利于变异。第三章讨论全世界所有生物之间的生存斗争，这是以几何级数高度增殖的必由之路。这就是马尔萨斯（Malthus）学说在整个动物界和植物界的应用。每一物种所出生的个体，大大超过其可能生存的数量，于是生存斗争反复出现，结果任何生物所发生的变异，无论多么微小，只要在复杂多变的生活条件下以任何方式有利于自身，就会有较好的生存机会，这样便被自然选择了。根据强有力的遗传原理，任何被选中的变种都倾向于繁殖其变异了的新形态。

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From these considerations, I shall devote the first chapter of this Abstract to Variation under Domestication. We shall thus see that a large amount of hereditary modification is at least possible; and, what is equally or more important, we shall see how great is the power of man in accumulating by his Selection successive slight variations. I will then pass on to the variability of species in a state of nature; but I shall, unfortunately, be compelled to treat this subject far too briefly, as it can be treated properly only by giving long catalogues of facts. We shall, however, be enabled to discuss what circumstances are most favourable to variation. In the next chapter the Struggle for Existence amongst all organic beings throughout the world, which inevitably follows from their high geometrical powers of increase, will be treated of. This is the doctrine of Malthus, applied to the whole animal and vegetable kingdoms. As many more individuals of each species are born than can possibly survive; and as, consequently, there is a frequently recurring struggle for existence, it follows that any being, if it vary however slightly in any manner profitable to itself, under the complex and sometimes varying conditions of life, will have a better chance of surviving, and thus be naturally selected. From the strong principle of inheritance, any selected variety will tend to propagate its new and modified form.

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自然选择的基本问题在第四章详述；我们将看到，自然选择几乎不可避免地导致较少改进的生物类型大量绝灭，并且引发我所谓的“性状分歧”（Divergence of Character）。第五章讨论复杂的、不为人知的变异法则和相关生长法则。接下来的四章将对本学说所存在的最明显最重大的难点加以讨论：第一，过渡的难点，也就是难以了解简单生物或简单器官如何变化和改善成高度发展的生物或构造精密的器官；第二，本能的问题，即动物的精神力；第三，杂交现象，即物种杂交的不育性和变种杂交的能育性；第四，地质记录不完全。第十章考察生物在整个时间上的地质演替。第十一章和第十二章讨论生物在整个空间上的地理分布。第十三章论述生物的分类或相互的亲缘关系，包括成熟期和胚胎期。最后一章对全书做一扼要的复述，加上简短的结束语。

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This fundamental subject of Natural Selection will be treated at some length in the fourth chapter; and we shall then see how Natural Selection almost inevitably causes much Extinction of the less improved forms of life, and induces what I have called Divergence of Character. In the next chapter I shall discuss the complex and little known laws of variation and of correlation of growth. In the four succeeding chapters, the most apparent and gravest difficulties on the theory will be given: namely, first, the difficulties of transitions, or in understanding how a simple being or a simple organ can be changed and perfected into a highly developed being or elaborately constructed organ; secondly, the subject of Instinct, or the mental powers of animals; thirdly, Hybridism, or the infertility of species and the fertility of varieties when intercrossed; and fourthly, the imperfection of the Geological Record. In the next chapter I shall consider the geological succession of organic beings throughout time; in the eleventh and twelfth, their geographical distribution throughout space; in the thirteenth, their classification or mutual affinities, both when mature and in an embryonic condition. In the last chapter I shall give a brief recapitulation of the whole work, and a few concluding remarks.

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只要承认对周围全部生物的相互关系是多么无知，关于物种和变种的起源至今还不甚了了，就不足为奇了。谁能解释某一个物种为什么分布范围广而且为数众多，而另一个近缘物种为什么分布范围狭而为数稀少？这种关系至关重要，决定着世界一切生物现在的繁盛，并且我相信也决定着它们未来的成功和变异。至于世界上无数生物在史上诸多既往地质时代里的相互关系，我们就所知甚少了。虽然诸多问题至今模糊不清，而且还会长期如此，但经过尽可能从容的斟酌研究和冷静判断，我毫不怀疑，许多学者还保持着的和我以前所持的观点——即每一物种都是独立创造出来的——是错误的。我完全相信，物种不是一成不变的。那些所谓同属的物种都是其单元属已然灭绝的另一物种的直系后裔，正如任何一个物种的公认变种乃是那个物种的后裔一样。另外，我还相信自然选择是变异的主要而非唯一的途径。

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No one ought to feel surprise at much remaining as yet unexplained in regard to the origin of species and varieties, if he makes due allowance for our profound ignorance in regard to the mutual relations of all the beings which live around us. Who can explain why one species ranges widely and is very numerous, and why another allied species has a narrow range and is rare? Yet these relations are of the highest importance, for they determine the present welfare, and, as I believe, the future success and modification of every inhabitant of this world. Still less do we know of the mutual relations of the innumerable inhabitants of the world during the many past geological epochs in its history. Although much remains obscure, and will long remain obscure, I can entertain no doubt, after the most deliberate study and dispassionate judgment of which I am capable, that the view which most naturalists entertain, and which I formerly entertained—namely, that each species has been independently created—is erroneous. I am fully convinced that species are not immutable; but that those belonging to what are called the same genera are lineal descendants of some other and generally extinct species, in the same manner as the acknowledged varieties of any one species are the descendants of that species. Furthermore, I am convinced that Natural Selection has been the main but not exclusive means of modification.

序号 英文/音标 中文解释 更多操作

past

[pɑːst]

a. 过去的;

enlarge

[ɪn'lɑːdʒ]

v.扩大;增大;详述

extract

['ekstrækt]

vt.摘录;提取

manuscript

['mænjuskrɪpt]

n.手稿;原稿

imperfect

[ɪm'pɜːfɪkt]

adj.不完美的;有缺点的;未完善的

repose

[rɪ'pəʊz]

n.休息或睡眠;安宁

creep

[kriːp]

vi.蹑手蹑脚地走;爬

scarcely

['skeəsli]

adv.几乎不;简直不;刚刚;决不

adduce

[ə'djuːs]

v.引证;举出

naturalist

['nætʃrəlɪst]

n.自然主义者;博物学者

affinity

[ə'fɪnəti]

n.姻亲;密切关系;吸引力

succession

[sək'seʃn]

n.连续;继承权;继位

independently

[ˌɪndɪ'pendəntli]

adv.独立地;自立地

founding

['faʊndɪŋ]

n.建立;成立,

inhabit

[ɪn'hæbɪt]

v.居住于;占据;栖息

excite

[ɪk'saɪt]

vt.使兴奋;使激动;刺激;激起

continual

[kən'tɪnjuəl]

adj.不断的;频繁的;连续的

bark

[bɑːk]

v.(狗)吠;咆哮

pollen

['pɒlən]

n.花粉

parasite

['pærəsaɪt]

n.寄生虫;寄生生物;食客

vestige

['vestɪdʒ]

n.丝毫;遗迹;痕迹;退化的器官

modification

[ˌmɒdɪfɪ'keɪʃn]

n.修改;修正;修饰

commencement

[kə'mensmənt]

n.开始;毕业典礼

domesticate

[də'mestɪkeɪt]

vt.驯养;使专注于家务;教化

perplex

[pə'pleks]

v.使困惑;使糊涂;使复杂化

invariably

[ɪn'veəriəbli]

adv.不变地;总是;一贯地

domestication

[dəˌmestɪ'keɪʃn]

n.驯服;教化

Domestication

[dəˌmestɪ'keɪʃn]

n.驯服;教化

geometric

[ˌdʒiːə'metrɪk]

adj.几何学的;几何学图形的

recur

[rɪ'kɜː(r)]

vi.重现;再发生

inheritance

[ɪn'herɪtəns]

n.遗传;遗产;继承;继承物

embryonic

[ˌembri'ɒnɪk]

adj.胚胎的;萌芽期的

allowance

[ə'laʊəns]

n.津贴

ignorance

['ɪɡnərəns]

n.无知;愚昧

entertain

[ˌentə'teɪn]

v.娱乐;使有兴趣;招待;考虑;抱有;容纳

deliberate

[dɪ'lɪbərət]

adj.深思熟虑的;故意的;从容不迫的

genus

['dʒiːnəs]

n.【生物学】属;类;种;型

extinct

[ɪk'stɪŋkt]

adj.灭绝的;熄灭的;消亡的

descendant

[dɪ'sendənt]

n.后裔;子孙;后代

unexplained

[ˌʌnɪk'spleɪnd]

adj.未得到解释的

innumerable

[ɪ'njuːmərəbl]

adj.无数的;数不清的

epoch

['iːpɒk]

n. 时期; 时代; 新纪元; 划时代的大事; 世

dispassionate

[dɪs'pæʃənət]

adj.冷静的;不带感情的;平心静气的

erroneous

[ɪ'rəʊniəs]

adj.错误的;不正确的

lineal

['lɪniəl]

adj.直系的;嫡系的;直线的

descendant

[dɪ'sendənt]

n.后裔;子孙;后代

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