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The scientific community was transfixed.
整個科學界驚呆了
For decades the coelacanth had been touted as a possible transitional form between fish and tetrapods,
幾十年來，腔棘魚一直被奉為魚和四足動物之間的過渡型物種
but no one had really known enough about it. It existed only as a fossil.
不過，當時無人對它有足夠了解，人們只把它當成是一種活化石
Smith proclaimed the coelacanth a transitional form
Smith聲稱腔棘魚就是過渡型物種
and as proof he announced that it would actually walk on the bottom of the sea.
為了自圓其說，他提出它應該能在海底行走
I have no doubt that this fish crawls about on the bottom quite easily.
我完全肯定這種魚能在海底輕松地爬行
Yes, the Professor says the fish is a kind of ancestor of man. Poor fish.
是的，教授說這種魚就是人類的一個祖先，可憐的魚
But he knew he would have to find one alive and walking to prove the coelacanth was the elusive transitional form.
可是他很清楚他必須找到另一條活著且能行走的腔棘魚，以證明腔棘魚確實是難得一見的過渡型物種
He looked for 13 years until another one was found, and it didn't walk - it swam.
他尋找了13年，最后終于找到了一條，但它不會行走，只會游泳
It was just another fish.
它只是一條魚
Well it was thrown out. There were quite a lot of nasty letters send to J.L.B. too
它被完全否定了，J.L.B.Smith收到了很多寫滿污言穢語的信件
to say that he was having a daydream.
說他簡直是白日做夢
There were still no transitional forms,
看來還是沒有過渡型物種
nothing to show that a fish with fins had walked over land and evolved into our first ancestor with legs,
沒有什么能說明長著鰭的魚為何會爬到陸地上，進化成我們最早的長著腿的祖先
nothing to silence the creationists and there it rested for 30 years.
也沒有什么能堵住神創論者們的嘴，這個問題擱置了30多年。
