万物简史 第517期:丰富多彩的生命(13)

 This was an amazing disclosure. 这句话里包含着丰富的历史内容。

Joseph Banks was England's greatest botanist 1, and the Endeavour voyage — that is the one on which Captain Cook charted the 1769 transit 2 of Venus 约瑟夫·班克斯是英国最伟大的植物学家，“奋进”号航行——即库克船长绘制1769年金星凌日图、
and claimed Australia for the crown, among rather a lot else — was the greatest botanical expedition in history. 宣布澳大利亚为皇家殖民地的那次航行——是历史上最伟大的植物探险。
Banks paid 10,000 pounds, about $1 million in today's money, 班克斯支付了l万英镑，相当于今天的60万英镑，
to bring himself and a party of nine others — a naturalist 3, a secretary, three artists, and four servants — on the three-year adventure around the world. 让自己和另外9个人——1名博物学家、l名秘书、3名美术家和4名仆人——加入了这次为期3年的环球探险活动。
Goodness knows what the bluff 4 Captain Cook made of such a velvety 5 and pampered 6 assemblage, 天知道性格粗率的库克船长是怎么和这帮子文绉绉的、娇生惯养的人相处的，
but he seems to have liked Banks well enough and could not but admire his talents in botany — a feeling shared by posterity 7. 但他似乎很喜欢班克斯，禁不住钦佩他在植物学方面的才能——后辈们也怀有同样的感情。
Never before or since has a botanical party enjoyed greater triumphs. 没有哪个植物考察小组取得过那么大的成就。过去没有，此后也没有。
Partly it was because the voyage took in so many new or little-known places, 这在一定程度上是因为这次航行将许多不大知名的新地方，
Tierra del Fuego, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, New Guinea — but mostly it was because Banks was such an astute 8 and inventive collector. 火地岛、塔希提岛、新西兰、澳大利亚、新几内亚——占为殖民地，但主要是因为班克斯是个敏锐和天才的采集家。
Even when unable to go ashore 9 at Rio de Janeiro because of a quarantine, 即使由于检疫规定而未能在里约热内卢上岸，
he sifted 10 through a bale of fodder 11 sent for the ship's livestock 12 and made new discoveries. 他还是为船上的牲口偷偷弄来一包饲料，做出了新的发现。
Nothing, it seems, escaped his notice. 似乎什么也逃不过他的目光。
Altogether he brought back thirty thousand plant specimens 13, including fourteen hundred not seen before, 他总共带回来3万件植物标本，包括1400件以前没有见过的，
enough to increase by about a quarter the number of known plants in the world. 能为世界上已知的植物总数增加大约四分之一。
But Banks's grand cache was only part of the total haul in what was an almost absurdly acquisitive age. 但是，在一个渴求知识几乎到了荒唐程度的时代，班克斯的巨大收获只是总收获的组成部分。
Plant collecting in the eighteenth century became a kind of international mania 14. 采集植物在l8世纪成了一种国际性的狂热。
Glory and wealth alike awaited those who could find new species, 荣誉和财富都在等着能发现新物种的人。
and botanists 15 and adventurers went to the most incredible lengths to satisfy the world's craving 16 for horticultural novelty. 植物学家和冒险家们竭尽全力来满足世人对新奇植物的渴求，达到了令人难以置信的地步。
Thomas Nuttall, the man who named the wisteria after Caspar Wistar, 托马斯·纳托尔，即那个以卡斯珀·威斯塔的名字来命名紫藤的人，
came to America as an uneducated printer but discovered a passion for plants and walked halfway 17 across the country and back again, 来到美国的时候还是未受过教育的印刷工，但他发现自己对植物很感兴趣，徒步来回穿越半个美国，
collecting hundreds of growing things never seen before. 采集到了几百种以前没有见过的植物。
John Fraser, for whom is named the Fraser fir, spent years in the wilderness 18 collecting on behalf of Catherine the Great 约翰·弗雷泽——福莱氏冷杉就是以他的名字命名的——花了几年时间在荒野里为叶卡捷琳娜大帝采集标本，
and emerged at length to find that Russia had a new czar who thought he was mad and refused to honor his contract. 最后发现俄罗斯已经换了个新沙皇。新沙皇认为弗雷泽是在发疯，拒绝兑现他的合同。
Fraser took everything to Chelsea, where he opened a nursery and made a handsome living selling rhododendrons, azaleas, magnolias, 弗雷泽把全部东西带回切尔西，在那里办了个苗圃，向英国乡绅们出售杜鹃花、木兰、
Virginia creepers, asters, and other colonial exotica to a delighted English gentry 19. 弗吉尼亚匍匐植物、紫菀，以及其他来自殖民地的奇花异草，令他们欣喜万分，他自己也挣了不少钱。
Huge sums could be made with the right finds. 只要有合适的发现，就能挣到大钱。
John Lyon, an amateur botanist, spent two hard and dangerous years collecting specimens, but cleared almost $200,000 in today's money for his efforts. 业余植物学家约翰·莱昂花了艰苦而又危险的两年时间采集标本，收到了相当于今天l25000英镑的回报。
Many, however, just did it for the love of botany. 然而，许多干这种事的人完全出于对植物学的热爱。
Nuttall gave most of what he found to the Liverpool Botanic Gardens. 纳托尔把自己找到的大部分标本赠给了利物浦植物园。
Eventually he became director of Harvard's Botanic Garden and author of the encycl opedi cGenera of North American Plants (which he not only wrote but also largely typeset). 最后，他成为哈佛植物园的主任，百科全书般的《北美植物志》的作者（这本书不仅是他写的，而且在很大程度上是他排字的）。
And that was just plants. 那只是植物部分。
There was also all the fauna 20 of the new worlds — kangaroos, kiwis, raccoons, bobcats, mosquitoes, and other curious forms beyond imagining. 还有新世界的全部动物群——袋鼠呀，鹬鸵呀，浣熊呀，红猫呀，蚊子呀，还有别的难以想像的奇特东西。
The volume of life on Earth was seemingly infinite, as Jonathan Swift noted 21 in some famous lines: 地球上的生命量似乎是永无尽头的，正如乔纳森·斯威夫特在一首著名的诗里指出的：
So, naturalists 22 observe, a flea 23 Hath smaller fleas 24 that on him prey 25; 所以，博物学家注意到，一个跳蚤捕食较小的跳蚤；
And these have smaller still to bite 'em And so proceed ad infinitum. 较小的跳蚤还有更小的跳蚤可以咬。哪是尽头谁知晓。
All this new information needed to be filed, ordered, and compared with what was known. 所有这些新的信息都需要归档、整理并与已知的信息进行比较。
The world was desperate for a workable system of classification. 世界迫切需要一个可行的分类体系。
Fortunately there was a man in Sweden who stood ready to provide it. 幸亏瑞典有个人已经准备停当。
His name was Carl Linne (later changed, with permission, to the more aristocraticvon Linne), 他的名字叫卡尔·林奈（后来经过允许又改名为更有贵族味的冯·林奈），
but he is remembered now by the Latinized form Carolus Linnaeus. 但现在人们只记得他已经拉丁化的名字Carolus Linnaeus。
He was born in 1707 in the village of Rashult in southern Sweden, the son of a poor but ambitious Lutheran curate, 他生于瑞典南部的拉舒尔特村，父亲是个贫穷而又雄心勃勃的路德教助理牧师。
and was such a sluggish 26 student that his exasperated 27 father apprenticed 28 him (or, by some accounts, nearly apprenticed him) to a cobbler. 他在学业上很懒惰，因此他的父亲又气又恼，把他送到（据有的说法，是差一点把他送到）补鞋匠那里去当学徒。
Appalled 29 at the prospect 30 of spending a lifetime banging tacks 31 into leather, 想到自己一辈子要往皮子里敲钉子，小林奈不寒而栗，
young Linne begged for another chance, which was granted, and he never thereafter wavered from academic distinction. 恳求再给他一次机会。他的要求得到满足。此后，他始终坚持要在学术上作出成绩。
He studied medicine in Sweden and Holland, though his passion became the natural world. 他在瑞典和荷兰攻读医学，虽然他渐渐对大自然产生了兴趣。
In the early 1730s, still in his twenties, he began to produce catalogues of the world's plant and animal species, using a system of his own devising, and gradually his fame grew. 18世纪30年代，他使用自己制定的体系，开始为世界上植物和动物的物种编制目录。他的名气渐渐响起来。
Rarely has a man been more comfortable with his own greatness. 很少有人像他那样心安理得地对待自己的名气。
He spent much of his leisure time penning long and flattering portraits of himself, 他花了很多业余时间来绘制和美化自己的肖像，
declaring that there had never "been a greater botanist or zoologist," 宣称从来没有出过“一个更伟大的植物学家或动物学家”，
and that his system of classification was "the greatest achievement in the realm of science." 他的分类体系是“科学领域最伟大的成就”。
Modestly he suggested that his gravestone should bear the inscription 32 Princeps Botanicorum, "Prince of Botanists." 他还谦虚地提出，他的墓碑上应当写上“植物王子”的墓志铭。
It was never wise to question his generous self-assessments. 对他的赞扬备至的自我评估提出质疑绝对不是一件明智的事。
Those who did so were apt to find they had weeds named after them. 这么做的人往往发现自己的名字被用来命名野草。
Linnaeus's other striking quality was an abiding 33 — at times, one might say, a feverish 34 — preoccupation with sex. 林奈的另一个鲜明特点是他持久不变地——有时候可以说是狂热地——对性感兴趣。
He was particularly struck by the similarity between certain bivalves and the female pudenda. 某些双壳类动物和女性外阴的相似性给他留下了尤其深刻的印象。
To the parts of one species of clam 35 he gave the names vulva, labia, pubes, anus, and hymen. 有一种蛤蜊的一些部位他给起名为“外阴”、“阴唇”、“阴毛”、“肛门”，以及“处女膜”。
He grouped plants by the nature of their reproductive organs and endowed them with an arrestingly anthropomorphic amorousness 36. 他按照生殖器官来对植物进行分类，把它描述述得会像人那样谈情说爱。
His descriptions of flowers and their behavior are full of references to "promiscuous 37 intercourse," "barren concubines," and "the bridal bed." 他在描述花朵及其行为时，经常提到“乱交”、“不能生育的情妇”和“新婚之床”。
In spring, he wrote in one oft-quoted passage: 到了春天，他在一段经常被引用的话里写道：
Love comes even to the plants. Males and females ... hold their nuptials 38 ... showing by their sexual organs which are males, which females. 爱情甚至来到植物中间。男男女女……举行婚礼……以性器官来显示谁是男的，谁是女的。
The flowers' leaves serve as a bridal bed, which the Creator has so gloriously arranged, 花儿的叶子当做新婚之床，这一切造物主已经作好了极好的安排，
adorned 39 with such noble bed curtains, and perfumed with so many soft scents 40 that the bridegroom with his bride might there celebrate their nuptials with so much the greater solemnity. 挂起了如此高雅的床幔，洒上各种各样淡雅的香水，新郎和他的新娘可以在那里更庄严地庆祝婚礼。
When the bed has thus been made ready, then is the time for the bridegroom to embrace his beloved bride and surrender himself to her. 一旦床铺这样准备停当，接着就到了新郎拥抱新娘，把自己交托给她的时候。
He named one genus of plants Clitoria. 他把一种植物命名为“阴蒂”（即蝶豆属）。
Not surprisingly, many people thought him strange. 许多人认为他很古怪，这是不足为怪的。
But his system of classification was irresistible 41. 然而，他的分类体系是极富魅力的。
Before Linnaeus, plants were given names that were expansively descriptive. 在林奈之前，植物的名字过分重于描述，长得不可开交。
The common ground cherry was called Physalis amno ramosissime ramis angulosis glabris foliis dentoserratis. 普通的酸浆属植物被叫做Physalis amno ramosissime ramis angulosis glabris foliis dentoserratis。
Linnaeus lopped it back to Physalis angulata, which name it still uses. 林奈把它缩短为Physalis anguulata（灯笼草）。这个名字现在依然沿用。
The plant world was equally disordered by inconsistencies of naming. 由于名称不一，植物界简直一片混乱。
A botanist could not be sure ifKosa sylvestris alba cum rubore, folio glabro was the same plant that others called Rosa sylvestris inodora seu canina. 一位植物学家不知道Rosa sylvestris alba cum rubore，folio glabro是不是就是指别的植物学家称之为Rosa sylvestris inodora seu canina的同一种植物。
Linnaeus solved the puzzlement by calling it simply Rosa canina. 林奈干脆把它叫做Rosa canina（多刺月季），从而解决了这个难题。
To make these excisions useful and agreeable to all required much more than simply being decisive. 这样大刀阔斧地缩短植物名称，使这些名称对大家有用并为大家接受。这需要的不仅是果断，
It required an instinct — a genius, in fact — for spotting the salient qualities of a species. 还需要一种本能——实际上是一种天才，能够发现一个物种的显著特点。
The Linnaean system is so well established that we can hardly imagine an alternative, 林奈分类系统的地位已经牢固确立，我们很难想像还能有别的体系来取而代之。
but before Linnaeus, systems of classification were often highly whimsical. 而在林奈之前，分类体系是极其随意的。
Animals might be categorized by whether they were wild or domesticated 42, terrestrial or aquatic 43, large or small, 动物的分类标准可以是：野的还是家的，陆生的或水生的，大的还是小的，
even whether they were thought handsome and noble or of no consequence. 甚至它们被认为是漂亮和高贵的还是无足轻重的。
Buffon arranged his animals by their utility to man. 布丰根据动物对人的用途大小来进行分类，
Anatomical considerations barely came into it. 几乎不考虑解剖学上的特点。
Linnaeus made it his life's work to rectify 44 this deficiency by classifying all that was alive according to its physical attributes. 林奈按照生理特征来进行分类，把纠正上述不足作为自己毕生的事业。
Taxonomy — which is to say the science of classification — has never looked back. 分类学——即分类的科学——再也没有走回头路。
It all took time, of course. 这一切当然都要花时间。
The first edition of his great Systema Naturae in 1735 was just fourteen pages long. 他的大作《自然体系》在1735年的第一版只有14页。
But it grew and grew until by the twelfth edition — the last that Linnaeus would live to see — it extended to three volumes and 2,300 pages. 但是，它越来越长，越来越长，到了第12版——林奈活着见到的最后一版——已经扩展到3卷，长达2300页。
In the end he named or recorded some 13,000 species of plant and animal. 最后，他命名或记录了大约13000种植物和动物。
Other works were more comprehensive, 别的著作覆盖面还要广泛，
John Ray's three-volume Historia Generalis Plantarum in England, completed a generation earlier, covered no fewer than 18,625 species of plants alone, 约翰·雷在一代人以前完成的3卷本英格兰的《植物通史》仅植物就包括了不少于l8625种，
but what Linnaeus had that no one else could touch were consistency 45, order, simplicity 46, and timeliness. 但是，林奈有着没有人可以相比的地方：连贯、有序、简洁、及时。