TED演讲:达顿解释达尔文主义的美的理论(4)

The other great principle of evolution is sexual selection, and it operates very differently.

进化的另一大原则是性选择，它运作的方式则大相径庭。

The peacock's magnificent tail is the most famous example of this.

孔雀那华丽的尾巴就是最著名的例子。

It did not evolve for natural survival.

这不是为了自然生存而进化出来的。

In fact, it goes against natural survival.

实际上，这与自然生存相违背。

No, the peacock's tail results from the mating choices made by peahens.

不，孔雀的尾巴是雌孔雀交配选择的结果。

It's quite a familiar story. It's women who actually push history forward.

这是个大家耳熟能详的故事。实际上是女性推动了历史前进。

Darwin himself, by the way, had no doubts that the peacock's tail was beautiful in the eyes of the peahen.

顺便说一句，达尔文本人也毫不怀疑孔雀的尾巴在雌孔雀眼中是美丽的。

He actually used that word. Now, keeping these ideas firmly in mind,

他事实上用过“美”这个词。现在，把这些牢记在心，

we can say that the experience of beauty is one of the ways that evolution has of arousing and sustaining interest or fascination¹,

我们可以确定美的体验是进化用来激发和维持兴趣、魅力

even obsession², in order to encourage us toward making the most adaptive decisions for survival and reproduction.

甚至是痴迷的方式之一，是为了鼓励我们做出最有利于生存和繁衍的决策。

Beauty is nature's way of acting³ at a distance, so to speak.

可以说，美是自然用来间接运作的方式，

I mean, you can't expect to eat an adaptively beneficial landscape.

人们并不指望可以吃一个利于适应性的风景。

It would hardly do to eat your baby or your lover.

也不会想吃你的孩子或你的爱人。

So evolution's trick is to make them beautiful,

因此，进化的方式是让他们看起来赞，

to have them exert a kind of magnetism⁴ to give you the pleasure of simply looking at them.

让他们散发出一种吸引力，让你仅仅是看着他们就觉得超爽的。

1 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。

2 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

3 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

4 magnetism   

n.磁性，吸引力，磁学

参考例句：

• We know about magnetism by the way magnets act.我们通过磁铁的作用知道磁性是怎么一回事。
• His success showed his magnetism of courage and devotion.他的成功表现了他的胆量和热诚的魅力。