2008年英译汉全文
（仍在修改中，有错误请指正）
In his autobiography, he points out that he always experienced much difficulty in expressing himself clearly and concisely, but 46) he believes that this very difficulty may have had the compensating advantage of forcing him to think long and intently about every sentence, and thus enabling him to detect errors in reasoning and in his own observations. He disclaimed the possession of any great quickness of apprehension or wit, such as distinguished Huxley. 47) He asserts, also, that his power to follow a long and purely abstract train of thought was very limited, for which reason he felt certain that he never could have succeeded with mathematics. His memory, too, he described as extensive, but hazy. So poor in one sense was it that he never could remember for more than a few days a single date or a line of poetry. 48) On the other hand, he did not accept as well founded the charge made by some of his critics that, while he was a good observer, he had no power of reasoning. This, he thought, could not be true, because the "Origin of Species" is one long argument from the beginning to the end, and has convinced many able men. No one, he submits, could have written it without possessing some power of reasoning. He was willing to assert that "I have a fair share of invention, and of common sense or judgment, such as every fairly successful lawyer or doctor must have, but not, I believe, in any higher degree."49) He adds humbly that perhaps he was "superior to the common run of men in noticing things which easily escape attention, and in observing them carefully."
在自传中，他表示自己总是很难简洁明了地表达自我。但他相信，这种难处反而给他带来了好处。这迫使他长时间专注思考每一个句子，从而能发现自己推理和观察中的错误。他承认自己不像伟大的赫胥黎那样反应敏捷、理解力强、机智过人。他还断言，自己对一长串抽象理论的理解能力有限；有鉴于此，他曾深信自己不可能在数学方面取得成功。他对自己记忆力的描述是“广博而模糊”。从某个方面来说，甚至是很糟糕——对于某个重要日期或一行诗句，他过不了几天就会忘掉。另一方面，一些批评家指责他尽管善于观察，但没有推理能力。他认为这种指责毫无依据。他认为这不是真的，因为《物种起源》从头到尾就是个长篇论证，而且说服了很多有才华的人。他认为，没有推理能力的人可写不出这本书。他愿意声称“我具有一定的创造力和一般的常识或判断力，像每个成功的律师和医生必须具备的能力一样；但我相信，我的能力不比他们更强。”他谦虚地补充道，或许他“比普通人强一点的地方在于，我能注意到易被忽视的东西，并仔细观察它们”。
Writing in the last year of his life, he expressed the opinion that in two or three respects his mind had changed during the preceding twenty or thirty years. Up to the age of thirty or beyond it poetry of many kinds gave him great pleasure. Formerly, too, pictures had given him considerable, and music very great, delight. In 1881, however, he said: "Now for many years I cannot endure to read a line of poetry; I have tried lately to read Shakespeare, and found it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me. I have also almost lost my taste for pictures or music. Music generally sets me thinking too energetically of what I have been at work on, instead of giving me pleasure. I retain some taste for fine scenery, but it does not cause me the exquisite delight which it formerly did." 50) Darwin was convinced that the loss of these tastes was not only a loss of happiness, but might possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character,
他在生命中的最后一年里写道，在过去的二三十年里，他的思想在两三个方面有了改变。到三十岁或更晚些时候，各种诗歌给他带来了极大的欢乐。过去，绘画能带给他相当程度的欢乐，音乐则给了他无穷的乐趣。但到了1881年，他说：“很多年来，我连一行诗都读不进去了。我最近试着读莎士比亚，却发现它相当乏味，让我作呕。我对音乐和绘画也快失去兴趣了。音乐往往让我积极思考手头的事情，而不能给我乐趣。我对美妙的风景画尚有一丝好感，但它已不能像从前那样给我无上欢乐。”达尔文确信，失去这些兴趣不仅是失去乐趣，还可能损害智力，甚至可能有损品德。
