第5章 敲石头的人 The Stone-Breakers · 第6讲S2

1. 达尔文在《物种起源》里算出地质过程花了3亿多年，为什么这个具体的数字会让当时的学者大吃一惊？
2. 讲稿里说达尔文的观点是 'flying in the face of accepted wisdom'，这里的 accepted wisdom 具体指的是当时学术界关于地球年龄的哪种普遍看法？
3. 达尔文后来为什么要把这个3亿年的结论从书的第三版里 'withdrew'（撤掉）？这跟开尔文勋爵有什么关系吗？
4. 为什么讲稿里说开尔文勋爵的出现对科学进步是一件 '遗憾的事'？他到底做错了什么导致地球年龄估算离真相越来越远？
5. 文中提到德国科学家赫尔姆霍茨用 'wooden' 和 'dejectedly' 来形容自己在开尔文身边的感觉，这侧面说明了开尔文在智力上有什么特点？

1. Why did Darwin's specific calculation of over 300 million years for geological processes shock scholars at that time?
2. What exactly did the 'accepted wisdom' about the age of the earth refer to in the scientific community back then, as mentioned in the phrase 'flying in the face of accepted wisdom'?
3. Why did Darwin withdraw the 300-million-year conclusion from the third edition of his book? Was it related to Lord Kelvin?
4. Why does the text say Lord Kelvin's involvement was a 'regrettable thing' for scientific progress? What exactly did he do wrong that made the age estimate further from the truth?
5. The text mentions that German scientist Helmholtz described feeling 'wooden' and 'dejectedly' beside Kelvin. What does this imply about Kelvin's intellectual characteristics?

1 00:00:05,140 --> 00:00:11,440 在 19 世纪中,许多学者认为地球有几百亿年纪, 2 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:16,740 也许有几十亿年纪,但可能并不是这样。 3 00:00:17,620 --> 00:00:20,160 学者认为,有知识的人, 4 00:00:20,340 --> 00:00:23,080 知识渊博的人,可以泛指学术界。 5 00:00:23,380 --> 00:00:27,280 到了十九世纪中叶,学术界或者说科学界, 6 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:31,700 大部分人都认为地球至少也有几百万年的历史。 7 00:00:31,700 --> 00:00:36,320 perhaps even some tens of millions of years old 甚至有 8 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:40,760 可能是几千万年 but probably not more than that 但估计 9 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:45,600 也就是这样了不可能更久 So it came as a surprise when 10 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:50,680 in 1859 in On the Origin of Species Charles Darwin 11 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:54,380 announced that the geological processes that created 12 00:00:54,380 --> 00:00:58,080 the world and area of southern England stretching 13 00:00:58,080 --> 00:00:59,180 across Kent, 14 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:04,720 Surrey and Sussex had taken by his calculations 306, 15 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:09,780 662,400 years to complete 16 00:01:10,770 --> 00:01:13,510 所以到了 1859 年达尔文在 17 00:01:13,750 --> 00:01:14,370 物种起源 18 00:01:14,450 --> 00:01:18,190 这本书里面提出 The geological processes that 19 00:01:18,190 --> 00:01:23,150 created the worldworld 是英国南部的包括 Cant, 20 00:01:23,230 --> 00:01:28,630 Surrey 和 S ussex 这几个地方的一片林地统称为 world 21 00:01:29,330 --> 00:01:34,310 形成这一片灵地的地质历史过程根 22 00:01:34,690 --> 00:01:41,590 据他的估计的话花了三亿多年才完成当人们听到他提 23 00:01:41,590 --> 00:01:46,310 出这一点的时候大家都大吃一惊因为大家根本没有想 24 00:01:46,310 --> 00:01:51,570 到居然用亿来算因为之前想的顶多也就是几千万年吧 25 00:01:51,570 --> 00:01:52,430 The 26 00:01:53,170 --> 00:01:56,730 assertion was remarkable partly for being so 27 00:01:56,730 --> 00:02:00,570 arrestingly specific but even more for flying in the 28 00:02:00,570 --> 00:02:03,350 face of accepted wisdom about the age of the 29 00:02:03,350 --> 00:02:05,360 earthremarkable 30 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:06,700 引人注目 31 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:11,700 值得人关注达尔文提出的这个观点之所以让人大吃一 32 00:02:11,700 --> 00:02:15,900 惊恐怕有两个原因一个是 partly 有一部分原因是 33 00:02:15,900 --> 00:02:17,700 being so arrestingly specific 34 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:20,060 就是他非常的确切 35 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:25,100 都具体到百位数了据说达尔文这个人非常喜欢很确切 36 00:02:25,100 --> 00:02:25,780 的数字 37 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:30,540 在他后来发表的一份研究报告里面他宣称自己发现在 38 00:02:30,540 --> 00:02:37,880 英国乡下的土壤中每亿英亩地平均有五万三千七百六 39 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:40,640 十七条蚯蚓精确到个位数 40 00:02:41,490 --> 00:02:46,450 一方面是由于这么的精确但是精确并不等于准确 41 00:02:47,370 --> 00:02:52,930 Arrestingly,arrest 是逮捕抓住的意思那 arresting 42 00:02:52,930 --> 00:02:57,210 指的是抓住人的注意力也就是 remarkably specific 43 00:02:58,050 --> 00:03:01,770 and even more for flying in the face of accepted wisdom 44 00:03:01,770 --> 00:03:05,890 about the age of the earth 另一方面可能更大的原因更 45 00:03:05,890 --> 00:03:11,550 主要的原因是因为 it challenges 它直接就挑战了 the 46 00:03:11,550 --> 00:03:16,530 acceptedaccepted 指的是大家公认的 w isdom about the 47 00:03:16,530 --> 00:03:21,050 age of the earth 就是大家当时公认的对地球年龄的看 48 00:03:21,050 --> 00:03:22,230 法 It 49 00:03:22,870 --> 00:03:27,010 proved so contentious that Darwin withdrew it from the 50 00:03:27,010 --> 00:03:30,770 third edition of the bookcontentious 我们看一下动词 51 00:03:30,770 --> 00:03:31,950 content The 52 00:03:31,980 --> 00:03:35,940 firm is too small to contend against large 53 00:03:35,940 --> 00:03:38,740 international companies 这个是抗争的意思 54 00:03:38,740 --> 00:03:43,400 contentcontentious means causing argument 他的这个 55 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:48,500 观点太惹人争议所以后来他在自己书的第三版的时候 56 00:03:48,500 --> 00:03:54,120 就把这个给 withdrew 就把它抽掉了撤掉不写了 The 57 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:55,940 problem at its heart remained 58 00:03:56,740 --> 00:04:00,950 虽然表面上没有矛盾因为把它删掉了但实际上这个问 59 00:04:00,950 --> 00:04:02,560 题的核心依然存在 60 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:06,960 Darwin and his geological friendsneeded the earth to 61 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:10,140 be old but no one could figure out a way to make it 62 00:04:10,140 --> 00:04:14,640 sofigure out means to come up with a way 没有人能够想出 63 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:19,760 一个办法 to make it old 也就是去证明他到底有多老地 64 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:24,980 球的历史到底有多久 Unf ortunately for Darwin and for 65 00:04:24,980 --> 00:04:27,560 progress the question came to the attention of the 66 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:32,260 great Lord Kelvin 然而对于达文本人以及对整个科学 67 00:04:32,260 --> 00:04:37,360 进步都是非常遗憾的一件事使这个问题引起了伟大的 68 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:42,400 开尔文心学的注意引起了他的注意反而对于整个科学 69 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:46,800 的 progress 是一件遗憾的事情这说明这个 Lord Kelvin 70 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:52,140 不但没有把地球的年龄算得更精确一点反而离真实的 71 00:04:52,140 --> 00:04:53,520 年龄越来越远了 72 00:04:54,020 --> 00:04:58,520 现在我们再来看一下作者在括号里面对 Kelvin 的更多 73 00:04:58,520 --> 00:04:59,820 的信息补充 74 00:05:05,900 --> 00:05:11,220 这个 Lord Kelvin 他毫无疑问是非常伟大的不过在当时 75 00:05:11,220 --> 00:05:14,980 他只不过是一个 plain William Thompson 他还不是 Lord 76 00:05:14,980 --> 00:05:16,840 Kelvin 他只是 William Thompson, 77 00:05:17,100 --> 00:05:18,780 只是一个非常朴素, 78 00:05:18,860 --> 00:05:21,980 非常普通的一个 William Thompson He 79 00:05:22,180 --> 00:05:25,980 wouldn't be elevated to the peerage until 1892, 80 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:30,540 when he was 68 years old and nearing the end of his career 81 00:05:30,540 --> 00:05:35,660 他一直要到 1892 年,等到他 68 岁, 82 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:41,360 在自己整个职业生涯快要结束的时候才会被 elevated 83 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:45,220 to the peerage Elevate 我们之前有见过我还说过这个 84 00:05:45,220 --> 00:05:49,880 Elevator 可以指的是扶手电梯这个 Elevate 就是被提 85 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:55,260 升到某一个程度的意思它一直要到 1892 年才会被提升 86 00:05:55,260 --> 00:06:00,120 到这个爵位当然我们不会这样直接这么直译而是应该 87 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:05,040 这样说一直要到 1892 年才被授予爵位 But 88 00:06:05,710 --> 00:06:08,670 I shall follow the convention here of using the name 89 00:06:08,670 --> 00:06:09,830 retroactively 90 00:06:10,470 --> 00:06:14,650 Retroactive means effective from a particular date in 91 00:06:14,650 --> 00:06:21,530 the past 从过去某一个时刻算起比如说 They received a 92 00:06:21,530 --> 00:06:24,450 pay increase retroactive to last January 93 00:06:25,310 --> 00:06:31,670 他获得 ……（后略，完整文稿见视频页字幕）