The Trial That Rocked the World全文及翻译(2)

"There is never a duel with the truth," he roared. "The truth always wins -- and we are not afraid of it. The truth does not need Mr. Bryan. The truth is eternal, immortal and needs no human agency to support it! "

When Malone finished there was a momentary hush. Then the court broke into a storm of applause that surpassed that for Bryan. But although Malone had won the oratorical duel with Bryan, the judge ruled against permitting the scientists to testify for the defence.

When the court adjourned, we found Dayton's streets swarming with strangers. Hawkerscried their wares on every corner. One shop announced: DARWIN IS RIGHT – INSIDE. (This was J. R. Darwin's everything to Wear Store.) One entrepreneur rented a shop window to display an ape. Spectators paid to gaze at it and ponderwhether they might be related.

"The poor brute cowered in a corner with his hands over his eyes, ” a reporter noted, "afraid it might be true. "

H. L. Mencken wrote sulphurous dispatches sitting in his Pants with a tan blowing on him, and there was talk of running him out of town for referring to the local citizenry as yokels . Twenty-two telegraphists were sending out 165 000 words a day on the trial.

高级英语 第三版 第一册课文The Trial That Rocked the World全文及翻译单词注释 短语注释

Because of the heat and a fear that the old court's floor might collapse, under the weight of the throng, the trial was resumed outside under the maples. More than 2 000 spectators sat on wooden benches or squattedon the grass, perched on the tops of parked cars or gawked from windows.

Then came the climax of the trial. Because of the wording of the anti-evolution law, the

prosecution was forced to take the position that the Bible must be interpreted literally. Now Darrow sprang his trump card by calling Bryan as a witness for the defence. The judge looked startled. "We are calling him as an expert on the Bible," Darrow said. "His reputation as an authority on Scripture is recognized throughout the world."

Bryan was suspicious of the wily Darrow, yet he could not refuse the challenge. For year s he had lectured and written on the Bible. He had campaigned against Darwinism in Tennessee even before passage of the anti-evolution law. Resolutely he strode to the stand, carrying a palm fan like a sword to repel his enemies.

Under Darrow's quiet questioning he acknowledged believing the Bible literally, and the crowd punctuated his defiant replies with fervent "Amens".

Darrow read from Genesis: "And the evening and the morning were the first day." Then he asked Bryan if he believed that the sun was created on the fourth day. Bryan said that he did.

"How could there have been a morning and evening with-out any sun?" Darrow enquired.

Bryan mopped his bald dome in silence. There were sniggers from the crowd, even among the faithful. Darrow twirled his spectacles as he pursued the questioning. He asked if Bryan believed literally in the story of Eve. Bryan answered in the affirmative.

"And you believe that God punished the serpent by condemning snakes for ever after to crawl upon their bellies?"

"I believe that."

"Well, have you any idea how the snake went before that time?"

The crowd laughed, and Bryan turned livid. His voice rose and the fan in his hand shook in anger.

"Your honor," he said. "I will answer all Mr. Darrow's questions at once. I want the world to know that this man who does not believe in God is using a Tennessee court to cast slurs on Him..."

"I object to that statement,” Darrow shouted. “ I am examining you on your tool ideas that no intelligent Christian on earth believes."

高级英语 第三版 第一册课文The Trial That Rocked the World全文及翻译单词注释 短语注释

The judge used his gavel to quell the hubbuband adjourned court until next day.

Bryan stood forlornly alone. My heart went out to the old warrior as spectator s pushed by him to shake Darrow's hand.

The jury were asked to consider their verdict at noon the following day. The jurymen retired to a corner of the lawn and whispered for just nine minutes. The verdict was guilty. I was fined 100 dollars and costs.

Dudley Field Malone called my conviction a "victorious defeat." A few southern papers, loyal to their faded champion, hailed it as a victory for Bryan. But Bryan, sad and exhausted, died in Dayton two days after the trial.

I was offered my teaching job back but I declined. Some of the professors who had come to testify on my be-half arranged a scholarship for me at the University of Chicago so that I could pursue the study of science. Later I became a geologist for an oil company.

Not long ago I went back to Dayton for the first time since my trial 37 years ago. The little town looked much the same to me. But now there is a William Jennings Bryan University on a hill-top over looking the valley.

There were other changes, too. Evolution is taught in Tennessee, though the law under which I was convicted is still on the books. The oratorial storm that Clarence Darrow and Dudley Field Malone blew up in the little court in Dayton swept like a fresh wind through the schools and legislative offices of the United States, bringing in its wake a new climate of intellectual and academic freedom that has grown with the passing years.