时差N小时 最危险的物种,人类

What would you say is the deadliest animal on earth—the most dangerous, brutal¹, destructive? The wolf? The tiger? The great white shark? Nope. The best answer is the species known as Homo sapiens—human beings.

你认为世界上最致命的物种是什么——最危险，最残暴，最具毁灭性的物种？狼？老虎？大白鲨？全都不是。最正确的答案是被称为智人种的人类。

Not only do we kill members of other species at a rate unparalleled in the history of the planet, but we do something which is singular in the animal world: we make a point of killing² each other, too.

人类不仅以前所未有的速度杀害其它物种，而且也自相残杀，这种所作所为在动物界中堪称独一无二。

That is, this kind of behavior was thought to be singular until just a few decades ago. It was 1974 when the first hard evidence of intra-species murder was documented in animals other than man—that is, animals going out of their way to find a member of their own species and kill it without immediate³ provocation⁴.

直到几十年以前，这种行为仍被认为是独特的。1974年第一起证据确凿的种内谋杀案件被记录在案，这次案件的凶手是动物而不是人。换而言之，动物用自己的方式寻找同类敌人，在没有直接挑衅的情况下杀掉它。

The species witnessed committing these murders was the chimpanzee, a close relative to human beings. Further observation of primate⁵ behavior has discovered that not only is intra-species murder common, so are such brutalities as rape⁶, battering⁷ of females and infanticide.

那些被目睹犯下谋杀罪行的物种便是猩猩，一个人类的近亲物种。更进一步地观察灵长类动物的行为，就会发现在这个种群里内不仅种内谋杀很常见，连强奸，重伤雌性猩猩，杀婴这类暴行也时有发生。

It seems that the worst traits in human behavior started developing long before human beings per se existed; as primates⁸ we have a very nasty evolutionary⁹ inheritance. Does this mean that war, crime and violence among humans is unavoidable?

这似乎说明在人类开始进化很久以前，这种最糟糕的特质本就存在：作为灵长类动物，我们进化遗传了这种丑恶的特质。那么这意味着人类发起战争，犯罪还有暴力事件是不可避免的吗？

It would not be fair to go that far; but the evidence of violence in those species most closely linked to our own does suggest that humanity will have to work very hard indeed at overcoming its genetic¹⁰ inheritance, if we are going to live in peace—or continue to live.

事态还没有严重到这种地步；但这种与每个人都戚戚相关的暴力证据暗示着人们，要想和平相处，继续活下去的话，就得非常努力地克服自身的基因缺陷。

1 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

2 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

3 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

4 provocation   

n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因

参考例句：

• He's got a fiery temper and flares up at the slightest provocation.他是火爆性子，一点就着。
• They did not react to this provocation.他们对这一挑衅未作反应。

5 primate   

n.灵长类（目）动物，首席主教；adj.首要的

参考例句：

• 14 percent of primate species are highly endangered.14%的灵长类物种处于高度濒危状态。
• The woolly spider monkey is the largest primate in the Americas.绒毛蛛猴是美洲最大的灵长类动物。

6 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

7 battering   

n.用坏，损坏v.连续猛击( batter的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The film took a battering from critics in the US. 该影片在美国遭遇到批评家的猛烈抨击。
• He kept battering away at the door. 他接连不断地砸门。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 primates   

primate的复数

参考例句：

• Primates are alert, inquisitive animals. 灵长目动物是机灵、好奇的动物。
• Consciousness or cerebration has been said to have emerged in the evolution of higher primates. 据说意识或思考在较高级灵长类的进化中已出现。

9 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

10 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。