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Rob:Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Rob.
大家好，欢迎来到英语六分钟。我是罗伯。
Neil:And I'm Neil. Hello.
我是尼尔。大家好。
Rob:Hello, Neil! Today we're talking about evolution. Now the man most people think of when talking about evolution is of course Charles Darwin. He was a bit of a genius, wasn’t he?
你好，尼尔！今天我们要谈一谈进化。说到进化大部分人会想到查尔斯·达尔文。他可以说是一个天才，对吧？
Neil:He was. Evolution means the way living things change and develop over millions of years. And a genius has great and unusual skills or abilities in a particular subject or area. Well Charles Darwin was a clever man but I happen to know that another man actually came up with the same idea, but many years before he did!
是的。进化是指生物在数百万年间进行的改变和发展。天才是指在某一课题或领域具有卓越或者非凡的技能的人。查尔斯·达尔文确实很聪明，可我还知道另一个人也提出过相同的说法，而且时间上早许多年。
Rob:So how do you know that then, clever clogs – that's someone who thinks they know everything? What was his name?
那你是怎么知道的,你这个自以为是的家伙？（clever clogs是指自以为什么都懂的人。）他叫什么名字？
Neil:Well, his name was Patrick Matthew.
他的名字是帕特里克·马修。
Rob:OK, well we’re going to learn more about him on today’s programme. But first can you answer this, Neil? What was Patrick Matthew’s job? Was he a) a politician? b) a church minister? Or c) a horticulturalist?
好吧，我们今天的节目就对他进行进一步的了解。但是，首先你能回答这个问题吗，尼尔？帕特里克·马修的职业是什么？他是一个a)政客？b)教堂的牧师？还是 c)园艺学家？
Neil:Well, I don’t know so I'll go for the most profession that sounds most interesting - a horticulturalist, so I’ll choose that one! That’s a person who studies plants.
我不知道，那么我就猜最有趣的那个职业吧——园艺学家，我就选这个！园艺学家的工作是研究植物。
Rob:OK. We’ll find out later whether you are right or wrong. But let’s listen now to Dr Mike Weale talking about Patrick Matthew. Can you hear the word he uses to mean 'change-making'?
好的。我们稍后再看你的回答是对还是错。现在让我们听一听迈克·威尔博士对帕特里克·马修的介绍。你能听出他用哪个单词来表示“做出改变”吗？
He published a brief outline of the idea of species being able to change into other species through natural selection – This is great, transformative idea that unites us all in a single tree of life. And he did that 27 years before Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace did so. And they recognized that he did so but other people since then have simplified the story and tended to concentrate just on Darwin.
他曾经发表过一个简要的概论说提出物种能够通过自然选择的过程演变为其他物种。这是一个伟大的、变革性的理论，它将我们所有生物都归结到了同一棵进化树上。他提出此观点比达尔文和阿尔弗雷德·拉塞尔早27年。他们两人承认这个事实，但是其他人后来简化了这个故事，达尔文渐渐成为了重点。
Neil:So, Matthew believed that evolution happened by natural selection. And natural selection describes the way that plants and animals adapt to their environment, because some individuals survive and reproduce, and others don’t.
那么，马修认为进化是通过自然选择的过程实现的。因为在自然环境下一些个体能够繁衍生存而另一些却不能，因此自然选择是动植物适应环境的方式。
Rob:And adapt means the way our bodies or our behaviour change to suit new conditions.
适应是指改变我们的身体或者行为以适应新的环境。
Neil:And what does Mike mean by ‘a single tree of life’?
迈克说的“同一棵进化树”是什么意思？
Rob:Well, the basic idea behind evolution is that all the different species – or types of living thing – have evolved from the same simple life form. Just like a family tree describes how the members of your family are related to each other, so the ‘tree of life’ describes how all living things are related.
进化论最基本的观点就是所有的物种——各种形式的生物——都是从同一种简单的生物形式演变而来的。和表示家庭成员之间关系的家庭族谱类似，进化树用来表示所有生物之间的联系。
Neil:So if this was a transformative – or change-making – idea, why don’t more of us know about Patrick Matthew?
那么，如果这是一个变革性的理论，为什么只有这么少的人知道帕特里克·马修呢？
Rob:A good question, Neil. We heard in the clip that Darwin acknowledged – or accepted - Matthew’s claim to the idea. But it seems to be down to us – the general public – wanting to simplify things.
问得好，尼尔。我们在刚才的采访片段中听到达尔文承认这个理论由马修提出。但是似乎是我们这些平凡大众想把事情简单化。
Neil:Well, I like to keep things simple, Rob.
我喜欢简化事情，罗伯。
Rob:You don’t have to tell me that, Neil. But let’s hear more on why Matthew might have been passed over – or ignored – by some. Here’s Dr Patricia Fara, senior tutor at Clare College , Cambridge. She tells us why Darwin was so successful. And listen out for the word she uses to mean close friends and supporters.
你不必告诉我这个，尼尔。让我们再来听一听马修被一些人忽略的其他可能的原因。以下是剑桥大学卡莱尔学院高级导师帕翠夏·法拉博士的描述。她告诉我们为什么达尔文如此成功。注意听她用来表示“密友”和“支持者”的单词。
He brought his allies on board. And although he was publishing from his stronghold down in Kent he had the most famous, most prominent, eminent members of the scientific society in Victorian times who were pushing on his behalf. Having a scientific theory being accepted is not just a matter of whether the theory’s right.
他有支持自己的盟友。尽管他在他肯特州的大本营发表这一理论，他的维多利亚时期功名卓著的科学界的盟友们都在竭力帮着推广他的理论。一个科学理论是否得到认可单凭这一理论是正确的是远远不够的。
Rob:The word she used was allies. What are they , Neil?
她用到了“盟友”这个词。那是什么，尼尔？
Neil:Allies are people who help or support us in something - having someone on board also means to have someone’s support for an idea or project. And Darwin’s allies weren’t just mates from down the pub, were they?
“盟友”是指在某件事情上帮助和支持我们的人，（having someone on board也是指某人支持自己的观点和计划）而达尔文的盟友们并非只是在酒馆里结交的朋友，对吧？
Rob:No, they weren’t! They were famous, prominent and eminent scientists. Prominent means important and well-known and eminent means important and respected.
是的。他们都是功名卓著的科学家。功名卓著是指他们十分重要，很有名望。
Neil:Ah yes! So you could say that I’m an eminent radio presenter, Rob?
啊，是的！所以罗伯你是不是就可以说我是一个功名卓著的电台主持人呢？
Rob:Well, I could Neil, but…
啊，我可以这样说尼尔，但是……
Neil:OK, OK, OK moving on! These eminent scientists were pushing on Darwin’s behalf. In other words, they were taking strong action to promote his theory of evolution.
好了，好了，好了我们接着往下说！这些功名卓著的科学家在竭力推广达尔文的理论，换句话说，也就是他们采取强有力的行动帮助达尔文推广理论。
Rob:And it’s possible that Patrick Matthew did not enjoy the same level of support.
可能帕特里克·马修得不到这样的支持。
Neil:That could be true. So do you remember the quiz question from the beginning of the show, Rob?
有可能是这样。你还记得节目开始时的测试题目吗，罗伯？
Rob:Indeed I do! I asked: What was Matthew’s job? Was he … a) a politician? b) a church minister? Or c) a horticulturalist?
当然记得！我的问题是：帕特里克·马修的职业是什么？他是一个a)政客？b)教堂的牧师？还是 c)园艺学家？
Neil:And I said c) horticulturalist.
我的回答是c)园艺学家。
Rob:Yes. And that was the right answer – so well done! Just to remind you: a horticulturalist is a person whose job is to study and grow plants such as flowers, fruit and vegetables. But Matthew was interested in trees too. In fact, his ideas about evolution appear in an appendix – or section giving extra information – at the end of a 200-page book about wood!
是的，你的回答是正确的——做得好！提醒你一下：园艺学家的工作是研究和种植植物，如花卉、果树和蔬菜。但是马修对树也很感兴趣。事实上他关于进化论的观点出现在他的一本200页的关于树木的书的附录，也就是附加信息中。
Neil:So maybe that’s why we know Darwin’s name but not Matthew’s. It doesn’t seem fair.
所以，或许那就是为什么我们知道达尔文的名字而不知道马修的名字。这样似乎并不公平。
Rob:Well, life’s not fair, Neil. You should know that by now!
生活本来就不公平，尼尔。这点你现在应该已经知道了！
Neil:I should, I should…
是的，是的……
Rob:So why don’t we hear the words we learned today?
那么我们来听一下我们今天学到的单词好吗？
Neil:OK. Here we go:
好的。我们开始吧：
Evolution
进化
Genius
天才
Clever clogs
自以为是的人
Natural selection
自然选择
Adapt
适应
Species
物种
Transformative
变革性的
Passed over
忽略
Allies
盟友
On board
支持
Prominent
杰出的
Eminent
有名的
Horticulturalist
园艺学家
Appendix
附录
Rob:Thank you, Neil. Well, that’s the end of today's 6 Minute English.
谢谢你，尼尔。今天的英语六分钟到这里就结束了。
译文属可可原创，仅供学习和交流使用，未经允许不得转载
