Fundamentalism was strong in Tennessee, and the state legislature had recently passed a law prohibiting the teaching of any theory that denies the story of creation as taught in the Bible.
在田纳西州，原教旨主义势力很强，州立法机构最近还通过了一项法令，禁止公开讲授任何否定《圣经》上宣讲的创世说的理论。
The new law was aimed squarely at Darwin's theory of evolution.
这项新法规的矛头直接指向了达尔文的进化论。
An engineer, George Rappelyea, used to argue with the local people against the law.
有位名叫乔治拉普利亚的工程师因反对这项法规常和当地人进行辩论。
During one such argument, Rappelyea said that nobody could teach biology without teaching evolution.
有一次辩论中，拉普利亚说，任何人要讲授生物学，就不能不讲进化论。
Since I had been teaching biology, I was sent for.
因为我就是讲授生物学的，所以他们便把我叫去作证。
Rappelyea is right, I told them.
拉普利亚是对的，我对他们说。
Then you have been violating the law, one of them Said.
那么说，你在触犯法律，他们中的一位说。
So has every other teacher, I replied. Evolution is explained in Hunter's Civic Biology, and that's our textbook.
所有其他的教师也都在触犯法律，我回答说。亨特所著的《生物学基础》中就讲到了进化论，那是我们使用的教科书。
Rappelyea then made a suggestion. Let's take this thing to court, he said, and test the legalityof it.
于是拉普利亚提出一个建议。让我们将此事交付法庭判决，他说，以检验其是否合法。
When I was indicted on May 7, no one, least of all I, anticipated that my case would snowball into one of the most famous trials in U. S. history.
当我于五月七日被正式起诉时，谁也不曾料到，我本人更没有料到我的这件案子竟会越闹越大，以至成为美国历史上最著名的庭审案例之一。
The American Civil Liberties Union announced that it would take my case to the U.S Supreme Court if necessary to establish that a teacher may tell the truth without being sent to jail.
美国公民自由联合会宣布：如有必要，联合会将把我的案子提交美国最高法院审理，以确保教师不至于因讲授真理而被送进监狱。
Then Bryan volunteered to assist the state in prosecuting me. Immediately the renownedlawyer Clarence Darrow offered his services to defend me.
接着，布莱恩自告奋勇地要协助州政府方面对我进行起诉。著名律师克拉伦斯o达罗也立即主动提出要替我辩护。
Ironically, I had not known Darrow before my trial but I had met Bryan when he had given a talk at my university. I admired him, although I did not agree with his views.
具有讽刺意味的是，在这次审判之前我并不认识达罗，但我却见过布莱恩，那是我念大学的时候，他来校作过演讲。我很钦佩他，尽管我并不赞同他的观点。