2022年经济学人 科学世家赫胥黎（2）（在线收听）

And although Julian lived until 1975—leading UNESCO and the London Zoo and mentoring David Attenborough—his life, like his grandfather’s, bore a distinctly Victorian stamp.

尽管朱利安活到了1975年--在世时一直领导着联合国教科文组织和伦敦动物园，且一直指导大卫·爱登堡--但他的人生就像他祖父的一样，带有明显的维多利亚时代印记。

Both Huxleys tried to instil order in the chaotic, confusing world around them.

两位赫胥黎都试图给他们所处的混乱世界注入秩序。

At best, that meant understanding it; at worst, it involved sinister forms of control, as in Julian’s lifelong enthusiasm for eugenics.

往好了说，是了解世界；往坏了说，就是用邪恶的方式掌控世界，朱利安毕生对优生学的热情就是个例子。

Sometimes positive and negative impulses co-existed.

有时，积极和消极的冲动是并存的。

Thomas hailed the end of slavery in America but sneered at racial equality.

托马斯为美国奴隶制的终结而欢呼，但对种族平等嗤之以鼻。

Julian denounced Nazi pseudo-science yet advocated the “semi-compulsory” sterilisation of the disabled almost in the same breath.

朱利安谴责纳粹伪科学，但同时又主张对残疾人进行“半强制性”绝育。

Meanwhile, though they spent their professional lives categorising the natural world, both found themselves obsessed with points at which the scientific method broke down.

与此同时，尽管他们在职业生涯中，一直在对自然界进行分类，但两人都发现自己痴迷于科学无法解释的观念。

Thomas, a renowned rationalist, confessed a fascination with spiritualism.

托马斯是一位著名的理性主义者，却也承认自己对唯心主义很着迷。

Julian embraced palmistry and new-age ideals of cosmic convergence.

朱利安也信奉手相术和宇宙汇聚的新时代理想。

For all their zealous support of evolution, its implications haunted them.

尽管他们热衷于支持进化论，但它的影响一直困扰着他们。

They saw the animal lurking inside man.

他们看到了潜伏在人类体内的兽性。

And the humanity in animals.

也看到了动物身上的人性。

Influenced by Darwin’s interactions with orangutans, Thomas hypothesised that the line between apes and people was etched so thinly that a clever ape could best a dull human.

受达尔文与猩猩互动的影响，托马斯推测类人猿和人类几乎没有区别，聪明的类人猿可以胜过愚钝的人类。

Julian was an early, vociferous campaigner for endangered animals and a founder of the modern conservation movement.

朱利安是早期的濒危动物积极活动家，也是现代保护运动的创始人。

In Guy the Gorilla, he found a creature he adored “perhaps more than anyone”, Ms Bashford writes, and a mind he felt was equal to his own.

巴什福德写道，他对大猩猩盖伊的喜爱“可能超过任何人”，他觉得他的思想和自己的是一样的。

Julian longed to communicate with Guy, but never could.

朱利安渴望与盖伊交流，但从未成功过。

The Huxleys wrote about evolution as a romance, an epic of progress and transformation.

两位赫胥黎把进化论写成了一部传奇故事，一部关于进步和变革的史诗。

In their own lives and observations they also saw the cruelty of science and the bleaker aspects of inheritance: the madness, the sorrow, the chained ape’s pained, silent gaze.

在他们自己的人生和观察结果中，他们也看到了科学的残酷和遗传的阴暗：疯狂、悲伤，被锁链锁住的猿猴痛苦而沉默的凝视。

Both sides, and both men, are painstakingly illuminated by Ms Bashford.

巴什福德对这两方面，以及这两个人都进行了十分仔细的描写。

Balancing scholarly rigour with an eye for the absurd, her book reveals the human drama behind scientific fact.

学术严谨与叙述荒谬相平衡，她的书揭示了科学事实背后的人类戏剧性。