人性有很多弱點，比如懶惰、自私、八怪、貪吃、情緒化、不理性、欺軟怕硬等，但這些不是我們的錯，而是人類遺傳下來的動物性使然。我們需要意識到並接受人性存在弱點的現實，並保持同情，能改則改，能以恰當的方式充分利用就更好了，畢竟戰勝人生，克服弱點實在太難了。比如人是不喜歡聽大道理的，不要執着於跟人講道理，人性是喜歡聽故事，我們要做的是把道理融入故事裡，人就能聽進去了，單純地解釋大道理往往適得其反。Charles Darwin andThe Descent of ManIt’s completely understandable that we are often maddened by what might be called 『normal』 humanity. The way in which emotion so regularly triumphs over careful reasoning; the power of group loyalty, even when the group doesn’t seem to deserve much devotion; the vast mechanisms of status-seeking that drive so much excess consumption; widespread selfishness and indifference to the greater needs of distant others. And we can find ourselves – in the privacy of our heads, or in the occasional late-night outburst – railing against the fools and idiots who (so unfortunately) seem to occupy so many of the prominent places of power, wealth and influence in our world.我們常常為所謂「正常」的人性感到氣惱，這是完全能理解的。總是情緒用事，而非細心理性；對群體忠誠，哪怕所屬群體未必值得如此投入；種種機制引人追求社會地位，並導致太多過度消耗；普遍自私，對遠方同類更重要的需求漠不關心。我們會發現-在腦海的隱秘之處，或是偶爾深夜情緒爆發的時候-自己在痛斥那些身居高位的蠢貨和白痴，偏偏（不幸地）讓他們占據了許多世間財富和權勢匯聚的位置。In such moods, the 19th-century naturalist Charles Darwin has much to say to us. He was born in England in 1809 into a well-to-do and intellectually distinguished family. He was much influenced by visiting, in his twenties, the Galapagos Islands where he could see firsthand species remarkably different from those that existed elsewhere. In later life, he was a quiet, rather withdrawn man (he became the world’s leading expert on barnacles). He achieved worldwide fame for his great workOn the Origin of Species by Natural Selection, but Darwin felt that people had not quite understood the implications of his ideas and in 1871, when he was in his sixties, he brought out a title calledThe Descent of Man.在這樣的情緒下，19世紀的博物學家查爾斯·達爾文有許多話要對我們說。1809年，達爾文出生在英國一個富裕的高知家庭。他二十多歲時到達加拉帕戈斯群島，在那兒親眼見到了許多和外界截然不同的物種，這段經歷對他影響很深。晚年的達爾文是個安靜且頗為內向的人（他成為了世界一流的藤壺專家）。達爾文因其著作《論基於自然選擇的物種起源》享譽世界，但他覺得眾人並未充分理解其理論的含義，於是在1871年，他六十多歲的時候，將書命名為《人類的由來》。Darwin liked to say that he had thought of calling his bookThe Ascent of Man– but that that would suggest some idea of progress, a concept he did not believe in. Rather, what Darwin wanted to do was to show that, despite the obvious technical advances of past centuries, modern people are still fundamentally at exactly the same moral level, or even perhaps a slightly worse level, than their remote ancestors.達爾文曾表示，他本想給書取名為《人類的攀升》，但這會傳達某種變好的暗示，與他的看法相悖。達爾文更想體現的，是現代人類即便在歷經過去幾個世紀的技術進步後，與遠古祖先相比，道德水平根本上講依然毫無提升，甚至還略為不如。Darwin’s big point is that the basic psychological characteristics of human beings evolved to aid survival in the very remote past. At the simplest level, we are (generally) attracted to sweet things because, in the very extended period of early human development, that meant eating wild berries which are great for our health. It’s only been in very recent times that this inbuilt desire has turned against us and given us a craving for manufactured sugar, which, by Darwin’s time, had become a major industrial commodity.達爾文想強調的是，人類的基本心理特徵是在遙遠的過去進化出來輔助生存的。最簡單地說，我們（普遍）受到甜食吸引，是因為在人類早期發展的很長一段時間裡，甜代表吃到了野生漿果，對身體健康好處多多。直到最近的年代，對甜食天生的欲望才開始帶來壞處，讓我們對在達爾文時代就已經成為主要工業產品的批量製造的糖產生嗜好。We also evolved to be highly conscious of our own position within our immediate group, since so much of our early survival – in the past – depended on that; so, today, being 『liked』 feels as if it is a life-or-death issue precisely because, in the past, it precisely was that; it indicated when you would be served when the spoils of the hunt were being distributed.進化也使我們高度關注自己在群體中的地位，這是因為人類早期的生存——過去的時候——仰賴於此；所以，到了今天，受到別人 「喜歡」對人來說仿佛是件生死攸關的大事，畢竟以前就是如此；你在群體中的地位意味着在分發打獵成果時你是先得還是後得。Practically everything – back then – depended on having a mate and reproducing.And so our minds are massively preoccupied by questions of reproduction, even though today, this is not actually central to our own individual survival or even happiness. And, obviously, emotional behaviouris much earlier and much more deeply rooted than elaborate reasoning, which is a very recent and still terribly fragile development in human culture.人類歷史的早期，幾乎一切都仰賴於擁有配偶及繁衍後代。以至於時至今日，我們的大腦依舊充斥着繁衍的煩惱，但繁衍並不是人類個體生存甚至幸福的真正核心。顯然，相比於耗盡心力去理性，情緒性的行為出現的更早，更根深蒂固，理性在人類文化中，出現得很晚，發展依舊脆弱不堪。We can put on clothes and drive in cars, but we’re still carrying – Charles Darwin insists – our primate heritageand that, though disappointing, is not really our fault; it is simply a fact we need to get used to.我們會穿衣及開車，但達爾文堅持認為，我們人類依舊遺傳着靈長類動物（猴子）的本性，即使讓人失望，但真不是我們的錯，只是我們需要習慣這一事實。Charles Darwin teaches us in his great work The Descent of Man to feel compassion for the very large primitive part of who we all are and will always be。達爾文用他的巨作《人類的由來》教導我們，對我們人類當下及未來遺傳的原始人性，始終保持同情。本期譯製團：
翻譯：YS
總校：小良哥
source:The School of Life
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