評(píng)論
打印
The other great principle of evolution is sexual selection, and it operates very differently.
進(jìn)化的另一大原則是性選擇，它運(yùn)作的方式則大相徑庭。
The peacock's magnificent tail is the most famous example of this.
孔雀那華麗的尾巴就是最著名的例子。
It did not evolve for natural survival.
這不是為了自然生存而進(jìn)化出來(lái)的。
In fact, it goes against natural survival.
實(shí)際上，這與自然生存相違背。
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選擇的結(jié)果。
It's quite a familiar story. It's women who actually push history forward.
這是個(gè)大家耳熟能詳?shù)墓适?。?shí)際上是女性推動(dòng)了歷史前進(jìn)。
Darwin himself, by the way, had no doubts that the peacock's tail was beautiful in the eyes of the peahen.
順便說(shuō)一句，達(dá)爾文本人也毫不懷疑孔雀的尾巴在雌孔雀眼中是美麗的。
He actually used that word. Now, keeping these ideas firmly in mind,
他事實(shí)上用過(guò)“美”這個(gè)詞?，F(xiàn)在，把這些牢記在心，
we can say that the experience of beauty is one of the ways that evolution has of arousing and sustaining interest or fascination,
我們可以確定美的體驗(yàn)是進(jìn)化用來(lái)激發(fā)和維持興趣、魅力
even obsession, in order to encourage us toward making the most adaptive decisions for survival and reproduction.
甚至是癡迷的方式之一，是為了鼓勵(lì)我們做出最有利于生存和繁衍的決策。
Beauty is nature's way of acting at a distance, so to speak.
可以說(shuō)，美是自然用來(lái)間接運(yùn)作的方式，
I mean, you can't expect to eat an adaptively beneficial landscape.
人們并不指望可以吃一個(gè)利于適應(yīng)性的風(fēng)景。
It would hardly do to eat your baby or your lover.
也不會(huì)想吃你的孩子或你的愛(ài)人。
So evolution's trick is to make them beautiful,
因此，進(jìn)化的方式是讓他們看起來(lái)贊，
to have them exert a kind of magnetism to give you the pleasure of simply looking at them.
讓他們散發(fā)出一種吸引力，讓你僅僅是看著他們就覺(jué)得超爽的。
