万物简史(MP3+中英字幕) 第474期:生命在前进(16)
日期:2018-10-26 16:42

(单词翻译:单击)

"From the first there were a number of scientists who doubted the account that Steve Gould had presented, however much they admired the manner of its delivery," Fortey wrote in Life. That is putting it mildly. If only Stephen Gould could think as clearly as he writes! barked the Oxford academic Richard Dawkins in the opening line of a review (in the London Sunday Telegraph) of Wonderful Life. Dawkins acknowledged that the book was "unputdownable" and a "literary tour-de-force," but accused Gould of engaging in a "grandiloquent and near-disingenuous" misrepresentation of the facts by suggesting that the Burgess revisions had stunned the paleontological community. "The view that he is attacking—that evolution marches inexorably toward a pinnacle such as man—has not been believed for 50 years," Dawkins fumed.
“从一开始,许多科学家就对斯蒂芬·杰伊·古尔德的陈说表示怀疑,尽管他们对他陈述的方法表示赞赏。”福泰在《生活》杂志中写道。这是一种婉转的说法。“要是斯蒂芬·古尔德想的像他写的一样清楚就好了!”牛津大学学者理查德·道金斯在一篇评《奇异的生命》的文章(刊登于《星期日电讯报》)的开头一行中就说。道金斯承认那本书“令人爱不释手”,是一部“精心杰作”,但指责古尔德在“夸夸其谈,以极不恳切的言辞”歪曲事实,认为布尔吉斯重新分类震惊了古生物学界。“他所攻击的那个观点——即进化不可阻挡地朝着顶峰前进,比如人类——50年来无人相信。”道金斯气呼呼她说。
寒武纪大爆发

And yet that was exactly the conclusion to which many general reviewers were drawn. One, writing in the New York Times Book Re^vie^, cheerfully suggested that as a result of Gould's book scientists "have been throwing out some preconceptions that they had not examined for generations. They are, reluctantly or enthusiastically, accepting the idea that humans are as much an accident of nature as a product of orderly development."
许多普通的评论员就是那样不大注意分寸。有一位给《纽约时报》的《书评周刊》写文章的人兴高采烈地认为,由于古尔德的作品,科学家们“正抛弃多少代人以来未经仔细审度的先入之见。他们像接受关于人类是有序发展的产物那样,勉勉强强地或热情洋溢地接受关于人类是大自然中的偶然事件的观点”。
But the real heat directed at Gould arose from the belief that many of his conclusions were simply mistaken or carelessly inflated.
但是,对于古尔德的真正批评出于这样的信念:他的许多结论是完全错误的或者是随心所欲地夸大的。

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重点单词
  • orderlyadj. 有秩序的,整齐的,一丝不苟的,和平的 adv.
  • literaryadj. 文学的
  • carelesslyadv. 粗心大意地,疏忽地
  • conclusionn. 结论
  • enthusiasticallyadv. 热情地,热心地
  • engagingadj. 动人的,迷人的,有魅力的
  • reluctantlyadv. 嫌恶地;不情愿地
  • deliveryn. 递送,交付,分娩
  • grandiloquentadj. 夸张的,夸大的,浮夸的
  • communityn. 社区,社会,团体,共同体,公众,[生]群落