A COLLECTION OF GOOD WORDS
进化
Evolution
With the opening of the second decade of the twentieth century it seemed that the stage was set for the last act in an unquestioned evolutionary drama.
随着二十世纪第二个十年的开始，一场毫无疑问的进化戏剧的最后一幕似乎已经搭好了舞台。
The first and most important reason for its elimination is the unquestioned fact that evolution is not a science; it is a hypothesis only, a speculation.
其消失的第一个也是最重要的原因是一个毋庸置疑的事实:进化不是一门科学;这只是一种假设，一种推测。
For the source of any characteristic so widespread and uniform as this adaptation to environment we must go back to the very beginning of the human race.
要找到象这种对环境的适应这样广泛而一致的特征的根源，我们必须追溯到人类的起源。
Geologists are rapidly becoming convinced that the mammals spread from their central Asian point of origin largely because of great variations in climate.
地质学家们正迅速确信，哺乳动物之所以从它们的中亚起源地繁衍开来，很大程度上是因为气候的巨大变化。
Evolution seems to close the heart to some of the plainest spiritual truths while it opens the mind to the wildest guesses advanced in the name of science.
进化论似乎把我们的心封闭在一些最朴素的精神真理之外，而它却把我们的头脑打开，让我们接受以科学的名义提出的最大胆的猜测。
The intellectual evolution of the race consists in an increase in the number, delicacy, complexity, permanence and speed of formation of such associations.
种族的智力进化包括这种关联的数量、精细程度、复杂性、持久性和形成速度的增加。
For example, if the big bang had been one-part-in-a billion more powerful, it would have rushed out too fast for the galaxies to form and for life to begin.
例如，如果大爆炸的威力是十亿分之一，那么它就会以太快的速度冲出，以致星系无法形成，生命无法开始。
If the means were available, we could trace our ancestry - yours and mine - back to the first blob of life-like material that came into being on the planet.
如果有可行的方法，我们可以追溯我们的祖先——你我的祖先——追溯到地球上出现的第一批类似生命的物质。
In microbiology the roles of mutation and selection in evolution are coming to be better understood through the use of bacterial cultures of mutant strains.
在微生物学中，突变和选择在进化中的作用通过使用突变菌株的细菌培养得到了更好的理解。
Eurasia ended up with the most domesticated animal species in part because it's the world's largest land mass and offered the most wild species to begin with.
欧亚大陆最终成为驯养动物最多的地区，部分原因是它是世界上面积最大的大陆，一开始就有最多的野生物种。
So we can't go backwards, we can only go where the evolutionary trajectory is taking us and attune our ideas about ourselves and our existence to that course.
因此，我们不能倒退，我们只能沿着进化的轨迹前进，把我们对自己和存在的想法调整到那个方向。
We're all like little ants who scurry around with the materials that are at hand right now. Each generation finds new materials. Its just evolution, isn't it?
我们都像小蚂蚁一样，拿着手边的材料到处乱窜。每一代人都能找到新的材料。这只是进化，不是吗?
KEEP EXPLORING
沿着这个主题，再读几句。
I have not the slightest doubt that this form of individuation represents a higher stage in the evolution of mankind.
我毫不怀疑，这种个性化的形式代表着人类进化的更高阶段。
Essential to the theory of evolution is the premise that everything has come into being by itself.
进化论的基本前提是一切事物都是自己产生的。
Evolutionary psychology is one of four sciences that are bringing human nature back into the picture.
进化心理学是四门将人性重新带入人们视野的科学之一。
Love is a sacred reserve of energy; it is like the blood of spiritual evolution.
爱是一种神圣的能量储备;它就像精神进化的血液。
The most telling and profound way of describing the evolution of the universe would undoubtedly be to trace the evolution of love.
描述宇宙进化最生动、最深刻的方式无疑是追溯爱的进化。
We observe closely related species in sympatry and infer how they evolved from a common ancestor.
我们在同域观察密切相关的物种，并推断它们是如何从一个共同的祖先进化而来的。