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1、最低等的动物马克.吐温 我一直在研究（所谓的）低等动物的特点和习性，把它们与人类的特点和习性进行对比。我发现研究的结果使我感到羞愧。因为它使我不得不背弃原来坚信不移的达尔文理论：“人是从低等动物上升进化的”。这一理论应该让位给另一个更为正确的新理论，这个更为正确的新理论将命名为“人是从高等动物堕落退化的 ”。 在得出这一令人不愉快的结论过程中，我没有作任何猜想、揣测或臆断，而是运用通常所谓的科学方法。这就是说，我把每一个自动呈现出来的假想放到真正的实验中进行严格的检验根据检验的结果决定取舍，我验证并确定每一个步骤之后，再顺次处理下一个步骤。这些实验是在伦敦动物园进行的，付出了好几个月费力耗神的
2、劳动。 在具体叙述一次实验之前，我想先提出几点，看来在这里提出来比放在后面更为合适，这样做有利于讲清问题。从整个实验中概括出令我满意的以下几点： 1.人类是一个独特的物种。由于气候、环境等条件，在肤色、身材、智力等方面显示出细微的差异。但是它是一个独立的物种，不会与其他任何物种互相混淆。 2.四足动物是一个独特的科。这个科在肤色、体积和食物选择等方面显示出差异，但它是一个独立的科。 The Lowest AnimalBy: Mark Twain.I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the lower animals (so-c
3、alled), and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man. I find the result humiliating to me. For it obliges me to renounce my allegiance to the Darwinian theory of the Ascent of Man from the Lower Animals; since it now seems plain to me that the theory ought to be vacated in favor of a
4、 new and truer one, this new and truer one to be named the Descent of Man from the Higher Animals.In proceeding toward this unpleasant conclusion I have not guessed or speculated or conjectured, but have used what is commonly called the scientific method. That is to say, I have subjected every postu
5、late that presented itself to the crucial test of actual experiment, and have adopted it or rejected it according to the result. Thus I verified and established each step of my course in its turn before advancing to the next. These experiments were made in the London Zoological Gardens, and covered
6、many months of painstaking and fatiguing work.Before particularizing any of the experiments, I wish to state one or two things, which seem to more properly belong in this place than further along. This, in the interest of clearness. The massed experiments established to my satisfaction certain gener
7、alizations, to wit:1.That the human race is of one distinct species. It exhibits slight variations (in color, stature, mental caliber, and so on) due to climate, environment, and so forth; but it is a species by itself, and not to be confounded with any other.2.That the quadrupeds are a distinct fam
8、ily, also. This family exhibits variations (in color, size, food preferences, and so on; but it is a family by itself).3.其他的科鸟、鱼、昆虫、爬虫等也或多或少地各有特点。他们处在一个系列之中。 他们是一个生物链中的各个环节，从高等动物一直到最底层的人类。 我的实验中有一些是很奇怪的。我在阅读资料时看到一件事：多年前在我们的大平原上一些猎人组织了出猎野牛，用以款待一位英国伯爵，并为他的肉库提供一些新鲜肉食。这次行猎收获不错。他们打死了72头野牛，吃了其中一头的一部分肉，抛弃了
9、71头，任其腐烂。为了确定蟒蛇和伯爵的区别，我把7 头小牛赶到关蟒蛇的笼子里。这个感恩不尽的爬虫立即把其中一头撕碎后吞了下去，然后心满意足地往后一躺。它对其余的小牛不再感兴趣了。我对其他蟒蛇也作了试验，得到的结果都是同样。这证实了一位伯爵和一条蟒蛇的区别是：伯爵是残忍的，而蟒蛇不是。伯爵凶狠地消灭了对他无用的东西，而蟒蛇并没有。看来说明蟒蛇不是伯爵的后代，而伯爵是蟒蛇的后代，而且在转变过程中丢失了蟒蛇的许多特性。 我了解有许多人积敛的钱财超过他们的消费能力多达数百万金，但仍狂热地渴望获得更多的财富。他们肆无忌惮的榨取那些无知无能的人们那份可怜的食物，使他们自己的贪欲得到部分的满足。我向100种
10、不同的野生或驯服的动物提供了积存大量食物的机会，但它们之中没有一个愿意这样做。松鼠、蜜蜂以及某些飞鸟是储存食物的，但它们储存到足够维持一个冬天的数量就停止了。无论用诚实或哄骗的办法都无法说服它们再多储存一些。蚂蚁为了维护它们摇摇欲坠的名声，假装正在储存食物的样子，但我没有受骗，我是了解蚂蚁的。3.That the other families (the birds, the fishes, the insects, the reptiles, etc.) are more or less distinct, also. They are in the procession. They are
11、links in the chain, which stretches down from the higher animals to man at the bottom.Some of my experiments were quite curious. In the course of my reading I had come across a case where, many years ago, some hunters on our Great Plains organized a buffalo hunt for the entertainment of an English e
12、arl. They had charming sport. They killed seventy-two of those great animals; and ate part of one of them and left the seventy-one to rot. In order to determine the difference between an anaconda and an earl (if any) I caused seven young calves to be turned into the anacondas cage. The grateful rept
13、ile immediately crushed one of them and swallowed it, then lay back satisfied. It showed no further interest in the calves, and no disposition to harm them. I tried this experiment with other anacondas; always with the same result. The fact stood proven that the difference between an earl and an ana
14、conda is that the earl is cruel and the anaconda isnt; and that the earl wantonly destroys what he has no use for, but the anaconda doesnt. This seemed to suggest that the anaconda was not descended from the earl. It also seemed to suggest that the earl was descended from the anaconda, and had lost
15、a good deal in the transition.I was aware that many men who have accumulated more millions of money than they can ever use have shown a rabid hunger for more, and have not scrupled to cheat the ignorant and the helpless out of their poor servings in order to partially appease that appetite. I furnis
16、hed a hundred different kinds of wild and tame animals the opportunity to accumulate vast stores of food, but none of them would do it. The squirrels and bees and certain birds made accumulations, but stopped when they had gathered a winter s supply, and could not be persuaded to add to it either honestly or by chicane. In order to bolster up a totteri
