英譯漢

In his autobiography, Darwin himself speaks of his intellectual powers with extraordinary modesty. He points out that he always experienced much difficulty in expressing himself clearly and concisely, but he believes that this very difficulty may have had the compensating advantage of forcing him to think long and intently about every sentence, and thus enabling him to detect errors in reasoning and in his own observations. He disclaimed his possession of any great quickness of apprehension or wit, such as distinguished Huxley. He asserted, also, that his power to follow a long and purely abstract train of thought was very limited, for which reason felt certain that he never could have succeeded with mathematics. His memory, too, he described as extensive, but hazy. So poor in one sense was it that he never could remember for more than a few days a single date or a line of poetry. On the other hand, he did not accept as well founded the charge made by some of his critics that, while he was a good observer, he had no power of reasoning. This, he thought, could not be true, because the “Origin of Species” is one long argument from the beginning to the end, and has convinced many able men. No one, he submits, could have written it without possessing some power of reasoning. He was willing to assert that “I have a fair share of invention, and of common sense or judgment, such as every fairly successful lawyer or doctor must have, but not, I believe, in any higher degree.” He adds humbly that perhaps he was “superior to the common run of men in noticing things which easily escape attention, and in observing them carefully.”

Writing in the last year of his life, he expressed the opinion that in two or three respects his mind had changed during the preceding twenty or thirty years. Up to the age of thirty or beyond it poetry of many kids gave him great pleasure. Formerly, too, pictures had given him considerable, and music very great, delight. In 1881, however, he said:“Now for many years I cannot endure to read a line of poetry. I have also almost lost my taste for pictures or music.” Darwin was convinced that the loss of these tastes was not only a loss of happiness, but might possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character.

參考譯文

在其(指達爾文)自傳中，他指出，想要簡潔明了地表達自己觀點的時候，他總會遇到很大的困難。他相信，正是這種困難或許能夠揚長避短，以使他長時間專注地思考每一個句子;因此，使他能在推理和自己的觀察中發現自己的缺點。他說他自己反應遲鈍，理解力差，就象著名的赫胥黎一樣。他還斷言，在深入理解冗長且完全抽象的一系列觀點上，他的能力受到了局限。有鑒于此，他曾深信自己在數學方面本來就不該獲得成功。他還認為自己的記憶雜亂而模糊，從某一個方面來說，甚至是很糟糕，以至于他記住一次約會或者是一行詩歌的話，幾天就能忘記。另一方面，批評家指責他盡管善于觀察，但卻不能推理，對此，他并不接受且認為毫無依據。他認為，這種批評是錯誤的，因為《物種起源》這本書從頭到尾都是長篇大論，卻說服了很多有才華的人。他承認，如果不具備推理能力，沒有人能夠寫出這樣的書。他愿意說自己是“有我應該具有的發現能力和常識判斷能力，正如每一個成功的律師和醫生一樣;但是，我認為，我的水平不高。”他謙虛地補充道，或許他“和普通人比起來，更能夠注意到那些別人容易忽略的細節，更能夠對此加以詳細地觀察”。

在其晚年著作中，他表示，在過去的二三十年中，他的思想在兩三個方面發生了變化。到三十歲左右，詩歌帶給他極大的快樂。以前，繪畫也能給他帶來興致，而音樂能給他無窮的樂趣。然而，他在1881年說：“這幾年來，讀一行詩，我就受不了。我最近還想要試圖讀讀莎士比亞，可發現，相當乏味，難以忍受到了令人嘔吐的程度。我也幾乎快要喪失了自己對音樂和繪畫的品味了。一般來說，音樂讓我更加積極深入地思考目前的工作，而不能給我樂趣。我現在依然能夠欣賞美景，但是它卻不能象從前一般帶給我極大的愉悅。”達爾文認為，失去對音樂和繪畫方面的興趣，不僅失去了幸福，而且還可能損傷智力，甚至可能會傷害道德。

詞義推敲：

this very difficulty very表示強調，我們可以翻譯為“正是這個困難”

compensating advantage 補充的/補償的優勢，

forcing him to 強迫他去

intently 刻意地，專心地，集中地

enabling him to 使他能夠

reasoning 推理

Asserted 宣稱，聲稱

Follow 理解

Abstract 抽象的，深奧的

train of thought 一連串的思想，思路，思想(固定搭配)

On the other hand 另一方面

as well founded 這個結構的完整形態應該是“as well founded one(指代charge)，我們翻譯“就像那些有根有據的指控一樣”。

charge 指控，控訴

critics 批評家，評論家

observer 觀測者，觀察員

no power of reasoning 缺乏推理的能力

add 增加，補充

humbly 謙虛地，謙恭地

superior to 優越于

the common run of men 普通人，比如：She's different from the common run of students. 她跟一般學生不同。

convince 使確信，使信服

the loss of these tastes 失去這些興趣

a loss of happiness 失去幸福

be injurious to 有害于…