走进剑桥大学 第20期:物种起源与达尔文

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物种起源与达尔文

Charles Darwin was the British naturalist¹ who became famous for his theories of evolution and natural selection. Like several scientists before him, Darwin believed all the life on earth evolved over millions of years from a few common ancestors.

查尔斯达尔文是英国博物学者，因提出进化论和自然选择学说而闻名于世。和科学界前辈一样，达尔文相信地球上的所有生命都是由少数共同的祖先历经数百万年进化而来的。

Born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, on February 12, 1809，Darwin was the fifth child of a wealthy family. After graduating from the elite² school at Shrewsbury in 1825, young Darwin went to the University of Edinburgh Medical School to study medicine. In 1827 he dropped out of medical school and entered the Christ’s College, Cambridge, in preparation for becoming a clergyman of the Church of England. There he met two stellar figures: Adam Sedgwick, a geologist³, and John Stevens Henslow, a naturalist. Henslow not only helped build Darwin’s self-confidence but also taught him to be a meticulous⁴ and painstaking⁵ observer of natural phenomena⁶ and collector of specimens⁷. After graduating from Cambridge in 1831，the 22-year-old Darwin was taken aboard the English survey ship Beagle, largely on Henslow's recommendation, as an unpaid⁸ naturalist on a scientific expedition around the world.

达尔文于1809年2月12日出生在英格兰希施罗普郡什鲁斯伯里的一个富裕家庭，在家中排行第五。1825年毕业于什鲁斯伯里的一个精英学校后，年轻的达尔文考入爱丁堡大学医学院学习医学。1827年他从医学院辍学并进入剑桥大学基督学院学习，准备成为英国国教牧师。在剑桥达尔文遇见了两位一流的人物：地质学者亚当塞奇威克和博物学者约翰斯蒂文亨斯楼。亨斯楼不仅帮助达尔文建立自信，还教导他要一丝不苟、不辞辛劳地观察自然现象和收集标本。1831年从剑桥大学毕业后，在亨斯楼的大力推荐下，22岁的达尔文作为一名不收报酬的博物学者开始了他环游世界的科学探

In South America Darwin found fossils of extinct animals that were similar to modern species. On the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean he noticed many variations among plants and animals of the same general type as those in South America. The expedition visited places around the world, and Darwin studied plants and animals everywhere he went, collecting specimens for further study.

达尔文在南美洲发现了和现代物种相似的灭绝动物的化石。在太平洋的加拉帕哥斯群岛，他注意到和南美洲的情况一样，同一个大类的动植物的很多变种都是相似的。达尔文随探险队拜访了世界 上的许多地方，每到一处，他就开始研究当地的动植物，收集标本以备更深一步的研究。

Upon his return to London in 1836，Darwin conducted thorough research of his notes and specimens. Out of this study grew several theories: one, evolution did occur; two, evolutionary⁹ change was gradual, requiring thousands to millions of years; three, the primary mechanism¹⁰ for evolution was a process called natural selection; and four, the millions of species alive today arose from a single original life form through a process called “sperfation."

1836年回到伦敦后，达尔文对他的笔记和标本就行了深入的研究。他的研究衍生出一些学说： 第一，进化的确发生了；第二，进化对于物种的改变是渐进的，需要上千甚至上百万年的时间：第三，产生进化的最主要机制是一种被称为自然选择的进程；第四，当今世上的数百万物种是由一个单一的初级生命形式通过“物种形成”衍生出来的。

Darwin’s theory of evolutionary selection holds that variation within species occurs randomly¹¹ and that the survival or extinction¹² of each organism is determined¹³ by that organism's ability to adapt to its environment. He set these theories forth¹⁴ in his book called The Origin of Species (1859). After publication of Origin of Species, Darwin continued to write on botany, geology, and zoology¹⁵ until his death in 1882.

达尔文的进化选择学说认为物种的变异是随机发生的，每一个生物体的存活或灭绝是由那个生物体适应环境的能力决定的。1859年，他在自己的著作《物种起源》中 提出了这些学说。《物种起源》出版后，达尔文继续在植物学、地质学和动物学等方面著书立作，一直到1882年辞世。

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