Elaine Morgan says we evolved from aquatic apes

翻译人员: Xiaogeng Zhao 校对人员: Chaoran Yu

Well, this is 2009.

今年是2009年

And it's the Bicentenary of Charles Darwin.

是达尔文诞辰二百周年

And all over the world, eminent evolutionists

全世界杰出的进化论学者

are anxious to celebrate this.

都在期盼该周年庆祝

And what they're planning to do is to enlighten us

他们将会启发，教导我们

on almost every aspect

达尔文和他的一生

of Darwin and his life,

是如何改变我们的思维方式

and how he changed our thinking.

这几乎会涵盖到各个方面

I say almost every aspect,

我说是“几乎”各个方面

because there is one aspect of this story

这是因为，还有一个方面

which they have thrown no light on.

他们根本就没有提及到

And they seem anxious to skirt around it and step over it

而且他们迫不及待地想要把这个“特例”遮住并“踩扁”

and to talk about something else.

去说他们另外想说的事

So I'm going to talk about it.

那么，现在我就要开始我对这个“特例”的陈述了。

It's the question of, why are we so different from the chimpanzees?

这个“特例”指的是：“我们为什么会和黑猩猩如此的不同”？

We get the geneticists keeping on telling us

基因学家在不停的告诉我们

how extremely closely we are related -- hardly any genes of difference,

人类和黑猩猩是多么的接近，在基因上几乎没有什么不同。

very, very closely related.

真的是联系十分紧密

And yet, when you look at the phenotypes,

但是，当你看外形时

there's a chimp, there's a man;

猩猩是猩猩，人是人

they're astoundingly different,

两者的不同是那么的使人震惊

no resemblance at all.

完全没有相似之处

I'm not talking about airy-fairy stuff

我并不是在说那些比较空洞的不切实际的东西

about culture or psychology, or behavior.

比如文化啦，心理学或行为学

I'm talking about ground-base, nitty-gritty,

我是在说基础的，本质上的

measurable physical differences.

可以测量的实质上的区别

They, that one,

他们，那个家伙

is hairy and walking on four legs.

浑身是毛，用四条腿走路

That one is a naked biped. Why?

这个家伙却是光溜溜的，用两条腿来走路，这是为什么呢？

I mean --

你们明白吧

(Laughter)

（笑声）

if I'm a good Darwinist, I've got to believe

如果我是一个好的达尔文论者，我必须要相信

there's a reason for that.

这是有原因的。

If we changed so much, something must have happened.

如果我们变化这么大，一定是受到某种因素的影响

What happened?

到底发生了什么呢？

Now 50 years ago, that was a laughably simple question.

在50年前，有一个“可笑”的简单问题。

Everybody knew the answer.

所有的人都知道答案

They knew what happened.

他们都知道发生了什么

The ancestor of the apes stayed in the trees;

猿类的始祖留在了树上

our ancestors went out onto the plain.

而我们的祖先却走向了平原

That explained everything.

这解释了一切

We had to get up on our legs to peer over the tall grass,

我们必须直立站着，才能看到高草之外

or to chase after animals,

才能追捕动物

or to free our hands for weapons.

或是解放了我们的双手，使我们能够使用武器

And we got so overheated in the chase

我们在追捕中身体过热

that we had to take off that fur coat and throw it away.

所以我们必须“扔掉”全身的“毛皮大衣”

Everybody knew that, for generations.

一代一代，大家都知道这个故事

But then, in the '90s, something began to unravel.

但是，在90年代，有些事开始被揭开

The paleontologists themselves looked a bit more closely

考古学家们更加仔细地观察了

at the accompanying microfauna

伴生的微型生物群

that lived in the same time and place as the hominids.

和原始人处在同时期同地域的微型生物群

And they weren't savanna species.

结果发现它们不是草原物种

And they looked at the herbivores. And they weren't savanna herbivores.

考古学家们又观察了食草动物，结果它们也不是草原的食草动物

And then they were so clever, they found a way to analyze

然后他们发现了一个聪明的办法来分析

fossilized pollen.

变为化石的花粉

Shock, horror.

惊吓，恐惧

The fossilized pollen was not of savanna vegetation.

这些石化了的花粉根本不属于草原植物

Some of it even came from lianas,

有些竟然来自藤本植物

those things that dangle in the middle of the jungle.

这些藤本植物是悬挂在热带雨林之中的啊

So we're left with a situation where

这留给我们我们如此一个局面

we know that our earliest ancestors

我们知道，我们最早的祖先

were moving around on four legs in the trees,

在树上生活时已经开始用两条腿开始到处活动了

before the savanna ecosystem even came into existence.

那时草原生态系统还没有形成呢

This is not something I've made up.

这不是我编出来的故事

It's not a minority theory.

也不是少数派学说

Everybody agrees with it.

所有人都一致同意该理论

Professor Tobias came over from South Africa

来自南非的Tobias教授

and spoke to University College London.

在伦敦大学学院讲演

He said, "Everything I've been telling you for the last 20 years,

他说：“过去20年里，我对你们所说的一切”

forget about it. It was wrong.

把它都忘掉吧，以为它是错误的

We've got to go back to square one and start again."

我们必须返回最初，一切从头开始

It made him very unpopular. They didn't want to go back to square one.

这言论使他变得非常不受欢迎。他们不想返回最初的起点

I mean, it's a terrible thing to happen.

我是说，那将会是一件多么可怕的事啊。

You've got this beautiful paradigm.

你们已经有了美丽而巧妙的范式系统

You've believed it through generations.

一代一代我们对此深信不疑

Nobody has questioned it.

从没有人质疑该理论

You've been constructing fanciful things on top of it,

你们在此基础上建立了富于想象的事物

relying on it to be as solid as a rock.

对此的信赖坚如磐石。

And now it's whipped away from under you.

而如今突然被釜底抽薪

What do you do? What does a scientist do in that case?

你该怎么办？遇到这样的问题科学家是怎么处理的呢？

Well, we know the answer because

我们知道这个问题的答案是通过了

Thomas S. Kuhn

Thomas S. Kuhn

wrote a seminal treatise

写的关于这件事一篇专题论文

about this back in 1962.

是他在1962年写的

He said what scientists do

他说:作为科学家

when a paradigm fails

当范例不再成立或失效时应当怎么办

is, guess what -- they carry on as if nothing had happened.

你猜他怎么说的？“他们继续下去就当什么也没有发生过”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

If they haven't got a paradigm they can't ask the question.

如果他们连范例都没有，他们将不能问问题

So they say, "Yes it's wrong,

所以他们会说，“是的，范例是错误的

but supposing it was right ..."

但如果你想，假设它是对的话那么......”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And the only other option open to them

他们剩下唯一的选择

is to stop asking the questions.

就是停止问问题

So that is what they have done now.

所以他们现在就是这么做的

That's why you don't hear them talking about it. It's yesterday's question.

这就是为什么你们听不到他们的讨论。这个问题变成了过时

Some of them have even elevated it into a principle.

他们其中的有些人将这提升到了原则的高度

It's what we ought to be doing.

我们就该这么照着做

Aaron Filler from Harvard said,

哈佛大学的Aaron Filler说

"Isn't it time we stopped talking about selective pressures?

“该是时候停止有选择性的施压了吧？

I mean, why don't we talk about, well, there's chromosomes, and there's genes.

我是说，我们为什么不来讨论染色体啊，基因啊

And we just record what we see."

然后记录下我们所观察到的

Charles Darwin must be spinning in his grave!

达尔文一定会在九泉之下气得团团转

He knew all about that kind of science.

如果他得知这种“科学”态度

And he called it hypothesis-free science.

和他所称的“无假设”科学

And he despised it from the bottom of his heart.

他从心底里看不起这种事

And if you're going to say,

如果你要说

"I'm going to stop talking about selective pressures,"

“我们将要停止有选择性的施压了”

you can take "The Origin of Species" and throw it out of the window,

你还不如把“物种起源”直接丢出窗外好了

for it's about nothing else but selective pressures.

因为“物种起源”所讲的就是选择性压力

And the irony of it is,

具有讽刺的是

that this is one occasion of a paradigm collapse

正是这个颠覆了范式系统

where we didn't have to wait for a new paradigm to come up.

其实我们用不着等待新的范例的出现

There was one waiting in the wings.

现在已经有一个在旁边等着了

It had been waiting there since 1960

它从1960年就开始等在那里了

when Alister Hardy, a marine biologist,

当海洋生物学家Alister Hardy

said, "I think what happened,

说：“我认为

perhaps our ancestors

我们的祖先可能

had a more aquatic existence

在水中栖息

for some of the time."

生活了一段时间”

He kept it to himself for 30 years.

他把这个想法在自己的心理隐藏了30年

But then the press got hold of it and all hell broke loose.

当媒体得知他的理论，反响简直是天崩地裂

All his colleagues said, "This is outrageous.

所有他的同仁都说，这简直是无稽之谈

You've exposed us to public ridicule!

你让我么在大众面前丢人现眼

You must never do that again."

你可再也不能这么做了

And at that time, it became set in stone:

在当时，这是板上钉钉的

the aquatic theory should be dumped

人类水中起源说是一定要被抛弃的

with the UFOs and the yetis,

就像“幽浮”（不明飞行物）和雪人一样

as part of the lunatic fringe of science.

被当成是疯狂的伪科学

Well I don't think that.

不过，我可不这么认为

I think that Hardy had a lot going for him.

我认为Hardy是有他的充分的理由的

I'd like to talk about just a handful

我只想说其中几个

of what have been called the

那些被称为

hallmarks of mankind,

人类的标志性特质

the things that made us different from everybody else,

那些然我们人类与其他物种不同的

and all our relatives.

也和我们“远亲”不同的特质

Let's look at our naked skin.

让我们来看看我们裸露的的皮肤吧

It's obvious that most of the things we think about

很显然，每当我们想起

that have lost their body hair, mammals without body hair,

失去身体毛发的哺乳动物时

are aquatic ones, like the dugong, the walrus,

我们就会想起水生动物，比如懦艮，海象

the dolphin, the hippopotamus, the manatee.

海豚，河马，海牛

And a couple of wallowers-in-mud like the babirusa.

和一些在泥里打滚的疣猪

And you're tempted to think, well perhaps,

你也许忍不住会想，可能

could that be why we are naked?

这就是我们人类皮肤裸露的原因？

I suggested it and people said, "No no no.

我提及了一下，人们纷纷说：“不不不，不可能”

I mean, look at the elephant.

我说，来看看大象吧

You've forgotten all about the elephant haven't you?"

你们都忘记了大象了吧？

So back in 1982 I said,

1982年我说过

"Well perhaps the elephant had an aquatic ancestor."

大象可能有水生始祖

Peals of merry laughter!

一阵开心的笑声！

"That crazy woman. She's off again. She'll say anything won't she?"

那个疯女人，她又开腔了，她是什么都敢说啊她？

But by now, everybody agrees that the elephant had an aquatic ancestor.

但是现如今，人人都同意大象是有水生始祖的

This has come 'round to be that all those naked pachyderms

这已成为共识，所有具有裸露厚皮的动物

have aquatic ancestors.

都具有水生祖先

The last exception was supposed to be the rhinoceros.

曾几何时，犀牛被认为是最后的一个特例

Last year in Florida they found extinct ancestor of a rhinoceros

结果，去年，在佛罗里达发现了犀牛绝迹的始祖

and said, "Seems to have spent most of its time in the water."

据说“大部分时间是在水中生活的”

So this is a close connection between nakedness and water.

所以说，裸露的皮肤和水是有着紧密联系的

As an absolute connection, it only works one way.

作为一个充分条件，这只是单向有效的

You can't say all aquatic animals are naked,

你可不能说所有的水生动物都是皮肤裸露的

because look at the sea otter.

因为，看看海獭。

But you can say

但是，你可以说

that every animal that has become naked

所有皮肤变为裸露的动物

has been conditioned by water, in its own lifetime,

都在其有生之年经过“水的考验”

or the lifetime of its ancestors. I think this is significant.

或是其祖先经过“水的洗礼”。我认为这是有重大意义的

The only exception is the naked Somalian mole-rat,

唯一的特例就是索马里鼹鼠

which never puts its nose above the surface of the ground.

它从没有接触过地表

And take bipedality.

却依靠两肢行走

Here you can't find anybody to compare it with,

这是独一无二的

because we're the only animal that walks upright on two legs.

因为我们人类是唯一依靠双腿直立行走的

But you can say this: all the apes and all the monkeys

但是我们可以说，所有的猿类以及猴类

are capable of walking on two legs,

如果他们愿意，在短时间里

if they want to, for a short time.

都有依靠双腿行走的能力

There is only one circumstance in which they

而只有一种情况下

always, all of them, walk on two legs,

他们总是依靠双腿行走的

and that is when they are wading through water.

那就是当他们淌水经过的时候

Do you think that's significant?

你认为这个意味深长么？

David Attenborough thinks it's significant,

David Attenboroug（BBC著名自然节目主持人）认为这意义重大

as the possible beginning of our bipedalism.

因为这可能是我们开始两肢行走的原因

Look at the fat layer.

再来看看脂肪层

We have got, under our skin, a layer of fat, all over:

在我们皮下分布着一层脂肪

nothing in the least like that in any other primate.

根本不像其他的灵长类动物

Why should it be there?

脂肪为什么在那里呢？

Well they do know, that if you look at other aquatic mammals,

如果你看看水生动物，你就会知道

the fat that in most land mammals

大部分陆栖哺乳动物的脂肪

is deposited inside the body wall,

贮存在体腔以内

around the kidneys and the intestines and so on,

包裹在在肾脏，肠子等内脏之外

has started to migrate to the outside,

这些脂肪满满的向外部移动

and spread out in a layer inside the skin.

均匀分布在表皮之下

In the whale it's complete:

对于鲸鱼来说，这样的移动是完全的

no fat inside at all, all in blubber outside.

体腔内部完全没有脂肪，全部在体腔外部

We cannot avoid the suspicion

我们不能回避这个疑问

that in our case it's started to happen.

对于我们人类来说，这种脂肪转移已经开始了

We have got skin lined with this layer.

我们的皮下已经具有这样的脂肪层了

It's the only possible explanation of why humans,

这唯一能够解释为什么人类

if they're very unlucky,

如果很不幸的话

can become grossly obese,

会变得非常肥胖

in a way that would be totally impossible for any other primate, physically impossible.

可以说对于其他灵长类动物来讲，变得如此肥胖是生理上绝对不可能的

Something very odd, matter-of-factly, never explained.

有一个很奇怪的现象，从来没有解释

The question of why we can speak.

就是关于为什么我们能说话的问题

We can speak.

我们能说话

And the gorilla can't speak. Why?

大猩猩却不能，为什么呢？

Nothing to do with his teeth or his tongue or his lungs or anything like that --

这和牙齿，舌头，肺都没有关系

purely has to do with its conscious control of its breath.

这只和有意识的呼吸控制有关

You can't even train a gorilla to say "Ah" on request.

你是连训练大猩猩有意识的说“啊”都不可能的

The only creatures that have got conscious control of their breath

唯一一类动物具有有意识呼吸控制的

are the diving animals and the diving birds.

是潜水动物，和潜水鸟类

It was an absolute precondition for our being able to speak.

这是能够说话的先决必要条件

And then again, there is the fact that we are streamlined.

还有，我们身体的流线型形态

Trying to imagine a diver

想像一下人类跳水

diving into water -- hardly makes a splash.

跳入水中，波澜不惊

Try to imagine a gorilla

再想像一下大猩猩

performing the same maneuver,

做同样的动作

and you can see that, compared with gorilla,

你可以看得出，和大猩猩相比

we are halfway to being shaped like a fish.

我么的体型相当接近鱼类

I am trying to suggest that, for 40-odd years,

四十多年来，我一直在努力的提议这个想法

this aquatic idea has been miscategorized as lunatic fringe,

水生说被错误的的归类为歪门邪道

and it is not lunatic fringe.

它可不是旁门左道

And the ironic thing about it is that

具有讽刺意味的是

they are not staving off the aquatic theory

他们扼杀水生说

to protect a theory of their own,

并不是要保护他们自己的学说

which they've all agreed on, and they love.

那个他们都赞同，热爱的理论

There is nothing there.

这样的理论根本就不存在

They are staving off the aquatic theory

他们扼杀水生说

to protect a vacuum.

却是在保护一种“真空状态”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

(Applause)

（掌声）

How do they react when I say these things?

每当我这么说的时候，他们是如何反应的呢？

One very common reaction I've heard about 20 times

一个我听了有不下二十次的通常反应是

is, "But it was investigated.

“这已经被研究调查过了

They conducted a serious investigation of this at the beginning,

在最初他们就进行了严肃的考察

when Hardy put forward his article."

当Hardy发表了他的论文时

I don't believe it.

我根本就不相信

For 35 years I've been looking for any evidence

三十五年来，我一直在寻找证据

of any incident of that kind,

哪怕任何偶然巧合

and I've concluded that that's one of the urban myths.

现在我总结，这根本就是个谣传

It's never been done.

根本从来就没有所谓的研究调查

I ask people sometimes, and they say,

有时我会问有些人，他们会说

"I like the aquatic theory!

我喜欢水生说

Everybody likes the aquatic theory.

所有人都喜欢水生说

Of course they don't believe it, but they like it."

当然他们都不相信它，但喜欢它

Well I say, "Why do you think it's rubbish?"

然后我会问：“你为什么认为这是胡扯呢”

They say "Well ...

他们会说“恩......

everybody I talk to says it's rubbish.

所有人都认为这是胡扯

And they can't all be wrong, can they?"

他们不会都错吧？会么？

The answer to that, loud and clear, is, "Yes! They can all be wrong."

答案是，响亮而清楚的，“是的，他们可以全部错了！”

History is strewn with the cases when they've all got it wrong.

历史上有很多例子是大多数人都错了

(Applause)

（掌声）

And if you've got a scientific problem like that,

如果你有一个像这样的科学问题

you can't solve it by holding a head count,

是解决问题不是靠着数人头投票表决

and saying, "More of us say yes than say no."

并且说：“说对的人比说不对的人多”的

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Apart from that, some of the heads count more than others.

除此之外，有些“头”比其他的“头”代表票数要多

Some of them have come over.

他们中间有些人改变了观点

There was Professor Tobias. He's come over.

Tobias教授，他就改变了观点

Daniel Dennett, he's come over.

Daniel Dennett, 他也改变了阵线

Sir David Attenborough, he's come over.

David Attenborough爵士，他也加入了进来

Anybody else out there? Come on in.

其他人呢？都来吧

The water is lovely.

水是多么的好啊

(Applause)

（掌声）

And now we've got to look to the future.

现在我们来展望未来

Ultimately one of three things is going to happen.

最终，至少以下三样事之一将会发生

Either they will go on for the next 40 years, 50 years, 60 years.

在今后的四十年，五十年，乃至六十年，他们或许会说

"Yeah well we don't talk about that. Let's talk about something interesting."

我们不想去说它，我们来说其他有趣的事吧

That would be very sad.

这会是一个令人伤心的结果

The second thing that could happen

第二种可能发生的是

is that some young genius will arrive,

一些年轻的天才降临了

and say, "I've found it.

并且说：“我找到了”

It was not the savanna, it was not the water, it was this!"

不是草原，不是水中，是这个！

No sign of that happening either.

目前来看，这种可能性还没有发生的迹象

I don't think there is a third option.

我不认为有第三种可能性

So the third thing that might happen is

所以第三种可能发生的事是

a very beautiful thing.

一个非常美丽的事

If you look back at the early years of the last century,

如果你回首看看上个世纪初叶

there was a stand-off, a lot of bickering and bad feeling

当时有很多分歧，争论，和怨气

between the believers in Mendel,

在孟德尔的支持者

and the believers in Darwin.

和达尔文的信徒之间

It ended with a new synthesis:

这样的争论在新的综合概念下终止了

Darwin's ideas and Mendel's ideas

达尔文的理论和孟德尔的设想

blending together.

融合在一起

And I think the same thing will happen here.

我想，相同点事情将会发生

You'll get a new synthesis.

你们将会得到一个全新的综合概念

Hardy's ideas and Darwin's ideas

Hardy的设想和达尔文的理论

will be blended together.

将会融汇在一起

And we can move forward from there,

之后我们以此为契机

and really get somewhere.

最终到达一个

That would be a beautiful thing.

充满了美丽事物的地方

It would be very nice for me if it happened soon.

对我来说，越快越好

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Because I'm older now than George Burns was when he said,

因为我比George Burns当时说

"At my age, I don't even buy green bananas."

“在我现在的年纪，我已经不买青香蕉了”的时候年纪还要大

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So if it's going to come and it's going to happen,

所有这是会发生的

what's holding it up?

有什么阻力呢？

I can tell you that in three words.

我可以用三个词来告诉你

Academia says no.

学术界说不

They decided in 1960,

他们在1960年就决定了

"That belongs with the UFOs and the yetis."

“水生说是和幽浮，雪人一类的”

And it's not easy to change their minds.

想要改变他们的想法是很不容易的

The professional journals

学术期刊

won't touch it with a barge pole.

根本不去触及

The textbooks don't mention it.

课本提都不提

The syllabus doesn't mention even the fact that we're naked,

教学大纲根本就不提我们的裸露皮肤

let alone look for a reason to it.

更不用说究其原委了

"Horizon," which takes its cue from the academics,

Horizon只知道跟随学术界

won't touch it with a barge pole.

根本不去触及

So we never hear the case put for it,

所有我们从来就没有机会接触到（水生说）

except in jocular references

除了用作反面教材的参考资料中

to people on the lunatic fringe.

引用的伪科学

I don't know quite where this diktat comes from.

我不知道如此的勒令是从哪里而来

Somebody up there

从那些高高在上的一群人里

is issuing the commandment,

发布了这个戒律

"Thou shalt not believe in the aquatic theory.

“汝不可信水生说”

And if you hope to make progress in this profession,

如果你想要在该领域有所发展的话

and you do believe it, you'd better keep it to yourself,

如果你相信水生说，你最好守口如瓶

because it will get in your way."

因为这会阻碍你

So I get the impression that some parts

所以我有种感觉

of the scientific establishment

有些科学界机构

are morphing into a kind of priesthood.

演变成了一种祭司制度

But you know, that makes me feel good,

但你要知道，这让我感觉良好

because Richard Dawkins has told us

因为Richard Dawkins告诉过我们

how to treat a priesthood.

应该如何对待祭祀制度

(Laughter)

（笑声）

He says, "Firstly, you've got to refuse to give it

他说：“首先，你要拒绝给他

all the excessive awe and reverence

一切的畏惧与崇敬

it's been trained to receive."

这是他们惯于接受的

Right. I'll go ahead with that.

好，我会这样做的

And secondly, he says,

其次，他说

"You must never be afraid to rock the boat."

“你不要怕去摇晃船只（打破现状，找麻烦）”

I'll go along with that too.

我也会这样做的

Thank you very much.

非常感谢

(Applause)

（掌声）