Amidst the patient accumulation of facts, the discoveries of the sexual hormones since 1889 had engendered a particular interest.

1889年发现的性激素，格外吸引人们的兴趣，

Such interest, both lay and scientific, was not confined to the role of the hormones in physiological growth.

无论是对于科学家，还是外行人都认为，性激素不仅限于生理作用。

It was widely asserted that the 'chemical messages', at which E.T. Brewster had marvelled in 1912, determined the psychology as well as the physiology of the individual.

如布鲁斯特在1912年所说，化学信息还能决定人的心理。

If, to the more old-fashioned person, the problem of homosexuality remained one of 'filth' and indiscipline, of which as little was to be said as possible, the modern psychological view was dominated by the categories of 'masculine and 'feminine',

如果说，人们过去认为同性恋是一种污秽，那么在现代心理学来看，这是由"男性"和"女性"的生理范畴导致的，

with a belief that gay men and lesbian women had been endowed by nature with some unusual mixture of these all-important characteristics.

即同性恋是天生的，是某些重要特征的特殊混合注。

One attraction of this view was that it left intact an assumption of universal heterosexuality, since these apparent exceptions could be defined away as cases where a woman was 'really' a man, or vice versa.

这种观点的关键在于，它带来了一种普适的关于同性恋的完整假说，这种明显的异常可以理解成"实际上是男人的女人"，或者反之。

Some found in this theory a scientific justification of homosexuality, according to the logic of the age, others found the hope of solving the hitherto unsolvable problem that it posed.

按当时的逻辑来看，有些人看到，这个理论对同性恋给出了一个科学的正当理由，而另一些人则看到了解决这个问题的希望。

The discovery of the hormones suggested that the eternal verities of 'masculine' and 'feminine' might, indeed, be embodied in a simple chemical form.

通过对激素的研究，人们发现，一个人是"男性"还是"女性"，取决于一个简单的化学模式。