于是,在學(xué)術(shù)團(tuán)體里和科學(xué)報(bào)刊中產(chǎn)生了相信者和懷疑者,這兩派人無(wú)休止地爭(zhēng)論著。
The monster question inflamed all minds.
怪物問(wèn)題激動(dòng)著人們。
During this memorable campaign, journalists making a profession of science battled with those making a profession of wit,
自以為懂科學(xué)的新聞?dòng)浾吆鸵幌蜃砸詾槎嗖诺奈娜碎_(kāi)起火來(lái),他們?cè)谶@次值得紀(jì)念的筆戰(zhàn)中花費(fèi)了不少的墨水!
spilling waves of ink and some of them even two or three drops of blood, since they went from sea serpents to the most offensive personal remarks.
甚至有幾個(gè)人還流了兩三滴血,因?yàn)橛腥税厌槍?duì)大海蛇的筆鋒移向一些態(tài)度傲慢的家伙身上了。
For six months the war seesawed.
在六個(gè)月當(dāng)中,爭(zhēng)論繼續(xù)著。
With inexhaustible zest, the popular press took potshots at feature articles from theGeographic Institute of Brazil,
彼此有理,各執(zhí)一詞。當(dāng)時(shí)流行的小報(bào)都興致勃勃地刊登爭(zhēng)論的文章,它們不是攻擊巴西地理學(xué)院、
the Royal Academy of Science in Berlin, the British Association, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., at discussions in The Indian Archipelago,
柏林皇家科學(xué)院、不列顛學(xué)術(shù)聯(lián)合會(huì)或華盛頓斯密孫學(xué)院發(fā)表的權(quán)威論文,就是駁斥印度群島報(bào)、
in Cosmos published by Father Moigno, in Petermann's Mittheilungen,and at scientific chronicles in the great French and foreign newspapers.
摩亞諾神父的宇宙雜志、皮德曼的消息報(bào)里面的討論和法國(guó)及其他各國(guó)大報(bào)刊的科學(xué)新聞。
When the monster's detractors cited a saying by the botanist Linnaeus that nature doesn't make leaps, witty writers in the popular periodicals parodied it,
這些多才的作家故意曲解反對(duì)派也常引證的林奈的一句話:
maintaining in essence that nature doesn't make lunatics, and ordering their contemporaries never to give the lie to nature by believing in krakens,
大自然不制造蠢東西;懇求大家不要相信北海的大怪魚、
sea serpents, Moby Dicks, and other all-out efforts from drunken seamen.
大海蛇、莫比·狄克和瘋狂的海員們臆造出來(lái)的其它怪物的存在,不要因此而否定了大自然。