2008年英译汉全文
(仍在修改中,有错误请指正)
In his autobiography, he points out that he always
experienced much difficulty in expressing himself clearly and
concisely, but 46) he believes that this very difficulty may
have had the compensating
advantage of forcing him to think long
and
intently about every sentence, and thus enabling him to detect
errors in
reasoning and in his own observations.
He disclaimed the possession of any great
quickness of
apprehension or wit, such as
distinguished Huxley. 47)
He asserts, also, that his power to follow a long and purely
abstract train of thought was very limited, for which reason he
felt certain that he never could have succeeded with
mathematics. His memory, too, he described as extensive, but
hazy. So poor in one sense was it that he never could remember for
more than a few days a single date or a line of poetry. 48) On
the other hand, he did not accept as well founded the
charge made
by some of his critics that, while he was a good observer, he had
no power of reasoning. This, he thought, could not be true, because the
"Origin of Species" is one long
argument from the
beginning to the
end, and has convinced many able men. No one, he submits, could
have written it without possessing some power of reasoning. He was
willing to
assert that "I have a fair share of invention, and of
common sense or judgment, such as every fairly successful
lawyer or
doctor must have, but not, I believe, in any higher degree."49)
He adds
humbly that perhaps he was "superior to the common run
of men in noticing things which easily escape attention, and in
observing them carefully."
在自传中,他表示自己总是很难简洁明了地表达自我。但他相信,这种难处反而给他带来了好处。这迫使他长时间专注思考每一个句子,从而能发现自己推理和观察中的错误。他承认自己不像伟大的赫胥黎那样反应敏捷、理解力强、机智过人。他还断言,自己对一长串抽象理论的理解能力有限;有鉴于此,他曾深信自己不可能在数学方面取得成功。他对自己记忆力的描述是"广博而模糊"。从某个方面来说,甚至是很糟糕--对于某个重要日期或一行诗句,他过不了几天就会忘掉。另一方面,一些批评家指责他尽管善于观察,但没有推理能力。他认为这种指责毫无依据。他认为这不是真的,因为《物种起源》从头到尾就是个长篇论证,而且说服了很多有才华的人。他认为,没有推理能力的人可写不出这本书。他愿意声称"我具有一定的创造力和一般的常识或判断力,像每个成功的律师和医生必须具备的能力一样;但我相信,我的能力不比他们更强。"他谦虚地补充道,或许他"比普通人强一点的地方在于,我能注意到易被忽视的东西,并仔细观察它们"。
Writing in the last year of his life, he expressed
the opinion that in two or three respects his mind had changed
during the
preceding twenty or thirty years. Up to the age of
thirty or beyond it
poetry of many kinds gave him great pleasure.
Formerly, too, pictures had given him considerable, and music very
great, delight. In 1881, however, he said: "Now for many years I
cannot
endure to read a line of poetry; I have tried
lately to read
Shakespeare, and found it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me.
I have also almost lost my taste for pictures or music. Music
generally sets me thinking too energetically of what I have been at
work on, instead of giving me pleasure. I
retain some taste for
fine scenery, but it does not cause me the
exquisite delight which
it
formerly did." 50) Darwin was convinced that the loss of
these tastes was not only a loss of happiness, but might possibly
be
injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral
character,
他在生命中的最后一年里写道,在过去的二三十年里,他的思想在两三个方面有了改变。到三十岁或更晚些时候,各种诗歌给他带来了极大的欢乐。过去,绘画能带给他相当程度的欢乐,音乐则给了他无穷的乐趣。但到了1881年,他说:"很多年来,我连一行诗都读不进去了。我最近试着读莎士比亚,却发现它相当乏味,让我作呕。我对音乐和绘画也快失去兴趣了。音乐往往让我积极思考手头的事情,而不能给我乐趣。我对美妙的风景画尚有一丝好感,但它已不能像从前那样给我无上欢乐。"达尔文确信,失去这些兴趣不仅是失去乐趣,还可能损害智力,甚至可能有损品德。