評論
打印
An ignominious end
可恥的下場
Professor randall, an illustrious volcanologist, pursued his discipline with a passion that went well beyond ordinary scientific enquiry.
蘭德爾教授是著名的火山學家，他從事這門學科的熱情遠遠超過普通的科學調查。
He even had to park his car out in the street, as his garage was stacked up to the rafters with a multitude of samples of igneous rock.
他甚至不得不把車停在大街上，因為他的車庫里堆滿了各種各樣的火成巖的標本，一直堆到房椽上。
The professor's theories, while highly imaginative, were by no means universally accepted.
教授的理論雖然頗具想像力，但根本沒達到被普遍接受的程度。
In particular, he found himself rebutted on a wide range of issues by one of his colleagues, professor martin.
特別是他發現同事馬丁教授在很多問題上反駁他。
This, of course, was just what might be expected in the world we live in.
當然，這是我們在自己生存的世界里意料之中的事情。
What was not to be expected was just how much professor randall's fury would be ignited.
意想不到的是蘭德爾教授的怒火被點燃的程度。
He was fond of calling his detractor illiterate, denouncing his scientific theories as illegitimate and illusive.
他喜歡把他的惡意批評者稱作文盲，公然抨擊他的科學理論是非法的，迷惑人的。
Making use of a kind of poetic imagery one would not ordinarily expect from a scientist, he wrote: “those ignorant comments do nothing to illustrate, let alone illuminate, the fundamental principles at stake, they convey an image of a reality that is akin to an illusion.”
他用人們一般認為科學家不會使用的如詩般形象的語言寫道：“那些無知的評論無法說明，更不用說闡明所爭論的基本原則。它們傳達的是真實情況的映象，類似于幻覺。”
Professor martin did his best to ignore this stream of invective but then , one day, he found his laboratory on fire, the flames illuminating the evening sky,
馬丁教授盡量不理會這一連串的惡語謾罵，但是，有一天，他發現自己的實驗室著火了，火焰照亮了夜空。
his lifetime's work had been incinerated, professor randall, the perpetrator of this ignoble act, at first pleaded ignorance, but soon confessed, confronted with the weight of the evidence.
他一生的工作成果都被燒成了灰燼。這起卑鄙事件的作惡者蘭德爾教授起初借口說不知道，但很快就迫于證據的壓力承認了。
He found himself indicted for arson and attemptedd murder, his career came to an abrupt and ignominious end.
他被指控犯有縱火罪和謀殺未遂。他的事業突然間落了個可恥的下場。
When he finally killed himself he was in a state of extreme distress.
他最后自殺的時候，已經處于極度痛苦的狀態。
His suicide note was all but illegible.
他自殺前留的字條幾乎無法辨認。
This sad tale is by no means an imaginary example, it is a fitting illustration of the principle that it can be dangerous to allow fame to go to one's head.
這個悲慘的故事決不是一個虛構的例子。它是一個合適的例證來證明這個道理：如果允許讓名譽占據一個人的頭腦，那是很危險的。
