lesson 10

John Scopes was playing tennis when a group of businessmen called him to the town gathering place, Robinson‘s drugstore. They asked if he would be willing to be indicted [in‘dait] (起诉 for teaching 起诉) 起诉 evolution. Though he could not remember actually teaching Darwin's theory, Scopes believed in evolution and agreed to the plan.
The trial began on July 10, 1925. "The town was filled with men and women," John Scopes later wrote. "Everything I did was likely to be noted(famous)." But over the next two weeks nobody paid much attention to the defendant(被告 Attorneys [ə‘tə:ni】 被告). 】 被告 for both sides hogged the spotlight in the overheated courtroom. In the words of historian Kevin Tierney, "Scopes was being used. He was completely willing to be used. But essentially the case had been taken over by the big names."
It all began when the state of Tennessee passed a law making it a crime to teach evolution in public schools. A new organization called the American Civil Liberties Union responded immediately. The ACLU placed an ad inviting a teacher to help test the law in the courts. Dayton was in an economic slump(衰退 slump(衰退), and the town‘s movers and shakers 衰退), thought a sensational trial would put Dayton "on the map."
The trial quickly became a media focus. John Scopes was to have Clarence Darrow, America‘s top criminal lawyer 刑事律师 , defend him. The famous politician and anti-evolutionist, William Jennings Bryan, volunteered to assist the prosecution(起诉 起诉). 起诉 Reporters from all over the country flocked to Dayton, including an announcer from Chicago's radio. It would be the first live broadcast of a trial in American history.
i. Charles Darwin(1809-1882): British, world famous naturalist and biologist;originator of the theory of man’s evolution by natural selection; his best known works: Origin of Species(1859).
For Scopes, the trial had been an ordeal [ɔ:‘di:l】 (折 折 磨). When it was all over, he gave up teaching aarship to the University of Chicago, received a master‘s degree in geology(地质 地质 学) and took a job as an engineer in Venezuela [vene‘zweilə]委内瑞拉-- where no one had ever heard of him.
The trial ended in a conviction(宣告有罪 The judge 宣告有罪). 宣告有罪 imposed a fine of $100 and John Scopes spoke for the first time. "Your honor," he said, "I feel that I have been convicted of violating an unjust statute [ˈ stætju:t]法令； 法令； 法规. 法规 I will continue in the future, as I have in the past, to oppose this law in any way I can."
2. Background Information about the Trial
John Thomas Scopes came to Tennessee [tɛnɪ‘si]fresh out of ɛ ɪ college. In the spring of 1925, he had just completed his first year as science teacher and part-time football coach at the high school in the little town of Dayton代顿 美国俄 代顿(美国俄 代顿 亥俄州西南部城市) 亥俄州西南部城市 Ohio [əu‘haiəu]. Scopes planned to return home to Kentucky [ken‘tʌkɪ]肯塔基 ʌ ɪ 肯塔基for the 肯塔基 summer. But in his words, "a beautiful blonde" distracted him and he stayed for another week hoping for a date. The decision changed his
ii.The Process of Natural Selection:
“As many more individuals of each species are born than can possibly survive, and as, consequently, there is a frequently recurring struggle for existence, it follows that any being, if it vary however slightly in any manner profitable to itself, under the complex and sometimes varying conditions of life, will have a better chance of surviving, and thus be naturally selected. From the strong principle of inheritance, any selected variety will tend to propagate [‘prɔpəɡeit] (繁殖 繁殖) ɔ ɡ 繁殖 its new and modified form.”
In 1960 the defendant returned to the scene of his “crime” when the movie version of the trial, Stanley Kramer‘s Inherit the Wind(风的传播), premiered [prɪ‘mɪə】首映 at a Dayton drive-in露天电影院 . In the ɪ ɪ 】 露天电影院 film he is jailed for his beliefs. In 1967 John Scopes summed up his life in his autobiography, Center of the Storm. “A man‘s fate, shaped by heredity【hə‘redɪti:] (遗传 and environment 遗传) 【 ɪ 遗传 and an accident," he wrote, "is often stranger than anything the imagination may produce."
I. Background Information 1. Charles Darwin & his The Origin of Species [‘spiʃiz】 ʃ 】 2. Background Information about the Trial 3. Specific Information about the persons involved 4. American governing system