万物简史第507期:丰富多彩的生命(3)-英语课

时间：2019-02-13 作者：英语课 分类：万物简史

英语课

We wandered through a confusion of departments where people sat at large tables doing intent, 我们漫步穿过一个又一个部门，只见人们坐在大桌子跟前，

investigative things with arthropods and palm fronds 1 and boxes of yellowed bones. 仔细研究着节肢动物、棕榈叶子和成箱的发了黄的骨头。
Everywhere there was an air of unhurried thoroughness, of people being engaged in a gigantic endeavor that could never be completed and mustn't be rushed. 到处可见人们在不慌不忙地从事一个宏大的事业，这个事业是永远也完不成的，因此没有必要匆匆忙忙。
In 1967, I had read, the museum issued its report on the John Murray Expedition, 1967年，博物馆发表了一份关于约翰·默里探险的报告，
an Indian Ocean survey, forty-four years after the expedition had concluded. 那是一次对印度洋的考察，这时候距离探险结束已经44年。
This is a world where things move at their own pace, 在那个天地里，人们是以自己的速度来办事的。
including a tiny lift Fortey and I shared with a scholarly looking elderly man 包括福泰和我乘坐的那部小小的电梯。电梯里有个学者模样的老头儿。
with whom Fortey chatted genially 2 and familiarly as we proceeded upwards 3 at about the rate that sediments 4 are laid down. 电梯以大约沉积物下落的速度慢腾腾地往上移动，福泰和老头儿亲切地聊开了天。
When the man departed, Fortey said to me: 那个人走了以后，福泰对我说：
"That was a very nice chap named Norman who's spent forty-two years studying one species of plant, St. John's wort. “他是个很可爱的家伙，名叫诺曼，42年来一直在研究一种名叫金丝桃的植物。
He retired 5 in 1989, but he still comes in every week." 他于l989年退休，但仍然每个星期都过来。”
How do you spend forty-two years on one species of plant? I asked. “怎么研究一种植物要花42年？”我问。
It's remarkable 6, isn't it? Fortey agreed. He thought for a moment. "He's very thorough apparently 7." “有点儿不可思议，对吗？”福泰表示赞同，他想了片刻，“他显然研究得很透彻。”
The lift door opened to reveal a bricked-over opening. Fortey looked confounded. 电梯门开了，只见面前是一个用砖头砌成的出口，福泰显得有点不知所措，
"That's very strange," he said. "That used to be Botany back there." “这就怪了，”他说，“过去这儿是植物部。”
He punched a button for another floor, and we found our way at length to Botany by means of back staircases and discreet 8 trespass 9 他按了按电钮再上一层楼。我们爬上后楼梯，小心翼翼地
through yet more departments where investigators 10 toiled 11 lovingly over once-living objects. 穿过几个别的部，只见研究人员在不辞辛劳地研究曾经有过生命的物品，终于找到了通往植物部的路。
And so it was that I was introduced to Len Ellis and the quiet world of bryophytes—mosses to the rest of us. 于是，我被介绍给莱恩·埃利斯，以及那个静悄悄的苔藓世界。

万物简史 第507期:丰富多彩的生命(3)

万物简史第507期:丰富多彩的生命(3)