万物简史 第506期:丰富多彩的生命(2)

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Alexander von Humboldt in Amazonia, Darwin on the Beagle voyage, and much else that is either very rare or historically important or both. 亚历山大·冯·洪堡在亚马孙河流域采集的标本，以及达尔文在乘“贝格尔”号船远航中采集的标本——还有其他大量标本，不是非常稀有的，就是具有重要历史意义的，或者二者兼之。

Many people would love to get their hands on these things. A few actually have. 许多人会喜欢伸出手去摸一摸，有的还真的这么做了。

In 1954 the museum acquired an outstanding ornithological² collection from the estate of a devoted³ collector named Richard Meinertzhagen, l954年，博物馆从一位名叫理查德·迈纳茨哈根的热心的收藏家那里获得了一批出色的鸟类标本。

author of Birds of Arabia, among other scholarly works. 迈纳茨哈根是《阿拉伯半岛的鸟类》的作者，还写过许多别的学术著作。

Meinertzhagen had been a faithful attendee of the museum for years, 在许多年里，他一直是博物馆的一名忠实的参观者，

coming almost daily to take notes for the production of his books and monographs⁴. 为了写自己的书和专著差不多每天都来做笔记。

When the crates⁵ arrived, the curators excitedly jimmied them open to see what they had been left 箱子到达以后，管理人员连忙撬开来看看里面是什么东西，

and were surprised, to put it mildly, to discover that a very large number of specimens bore the museum's own labels. 说得婉转点儿也是吃惊地发现，大批标本上贴着博物馆自己的标签。

Mr. Meinertzhagen, it turned out, had been helping⁶ himself to their collections for years. 原来，迈纳茨哈根多年来一直在为他们“收藏”标本。

It also explained his habit of wearing a large overcoat even during warm weather. 这就解释了为什么他有穿大衣的习惯，即使在暖和的夏天。

A few years later a charming old regular in the mollusks department—"quite a distinguished⁷ gentleman," I was told, 几年以后，软体动物部门的一位可爱的老常客——人家告诉我，他“还是一位挺杰出的绅士”

was caught inserting valued seashells into the hollow legs of his Zimmer frame. 正当他把价值连城的海贝壳塞进他的齐默助行架的空心腿里时，他被当场发现。

I don't suppose there's anything in here that somebody somewhere doesn't covet⁸, “我认为，总是有人对这里的东西垂涎三尺。”

Richard Fortey said with a thoughtful air as he gave me a tour of the beguiling⁹ world that is the behind-the-scenes part of the museum. 理查德·福泰一面领着我参观博物馆的不对外开放部分，一面若有所思地说。

 

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