为什么应该弃用“进化”而使用“演化”  

Why should we stop translating“evolution”to“进化”and turn to use“演化”in Chinese

作　　者：孙仲夷 张国捷 Zhongyi Sun;Guojie Zhang(Centre for Evolutionary&Organismal Biology,Zhejiang University,Hangzhou 310000,China;Division of Molecular Evolution and Development,University of Vienna,Vienna 1030,Austria)

机构地区：[1]浙江大学生命演化研究中心,杭州310000 [2]维也纳大学分子演化发育系,奥地利维也纳1030

出　　处：《遗传》2025年第1期5-17,共13页Hereditas(Beijing)

基　　金：国家自然科学基金项目(编号:32388102)资助。

摘　　要：虽然达尔文演化论在中国广为流传,但公众乃至部分研究人员对演化论仍存在一些误解。有些是简单的误解,包括认为“进化”的结果是进步,生物总是通过“进化”被更好的形式所取代,人类或灵长类动物代表最先进的生物等。有些是对自然选择的误解,认为生物是以它们的需求为目标而“进化”的,或者所有当前的形态及生物表型都是适应的结果。这些误解在中国的传播部分源于历史上将“evolution”翻译为“进化”而产生的误导性含义,即有方向地向更先进的形式发展。本文总结了现代演化综论之后演化论的主要进展,并讨论了这种误导性翻译如何为理解这些新的理论发展带来了障碍,例如中性或近中性理论、遗传漂变假说、权衡理论以及演化发育领域的许多新概念。因此,我们强烈提倡在教科书和中国生物学研究人员的日常交流中正式重新引入“演化”这一更准确的演化论翻译,期望这一变化有助于纠正公众中一些根深蒂固的错误观念,并最终激发年轻一代对演化论进行概念思考的兴趣。Although Darwinian evolutionary theory has been widely spread in China,several misconceptions about evolution have been persistent among the general public and even the researchers.Some are simple misunderstandings,including evolution results in progress with organisms are always replaced by better forms through evolution,and humans or primates represent the most advanced organisms.Some are misconceptions about natural selection and imply organisms evolved based on what they need or all the current morphologies or biological phenotypes are the results of adaptation.The spread of these misconceptions in China stem partially from the historical misleading translation of“evolution”to“进化”in Chinese,which includes the meaning of progress with direction into more advance form.Here,we summarize major progresses of the evolutionary theory after the Modern Synthesis and discuss how this misleading translation introduces a barrier in understanding of these new theoretical developments,such as neutral or near-neutral theory,genetic drift hypothesis,trade-off theory,and many new concepts in evo-devo field.Looking back at the development of evolutionary theory over the past few hundred years,we emphasize that a series of revolutionary achievements in the last 30 years have brought about fundamental changes in our basic understanding of the evolution of life.Therefore,we strongly advocate a formal re-introducing of“演化”,a more correct translation of evolution,in textbook and in daily communication among Chinese biological researchers.We anticipate that this change will help to correct some of these deep-rooted misconceptions among general public and will ultimately stimulate the interest of younger generation in conceptually thinking of evolutionary theory.

关 键 词：新达尔文主义 演化发育生物学 分子演化理论 演化创新 演化潜力 拓展演化综论 

分 类 号：Q111[生物学—普通生物学]