[长难句突破]

The goal of all will be to try to explain to a confused and often unenlightened citizenry that there are not two equally valid scientific theories for the origin and evolution of universe and life.

主体句式：The goal of all will be ...

结构分析：本句的宾语是be后面所有的内容，即不定式"to try..."。宾语中explain后面带了两个宾语，第一个是"a confused and often unenlightened citizenry"，第二个是that引导的一个定语从句，对前文作进一步说明。

[全文译文]

Rumor has it that more than 20 books on creationism/evolution are in the publisher's pipelines. A few have already appeared. The goal of all will be to try to explain to a confused and often unenlightened citizenry that there are not two equally valid scientific theories for the origin and evolution of universe and life. Cosmology, geology, and biology have provided a consistent , unified, and constantly improving account of what happened. "Scientific" creationism, which is being pushed by some for "equal time" in the classrooms whenever the scientific accounts of evolution are evil, is based on religion, not science. Virtually all scientists and the majority of nonfunda mentalist religious leaders have come to regard "scientific" creationism as bad science and bad religion.

The first four chapters of Kitcher's book give a very brief introduction to evolution. At appropriate places, he introduces the criticisms of the creationists and provides answers. In the last three chapters, he takes off his gloves and gives the creationists a good beating. He describes their programmes and tactics, and, for those unfamiliar with the ways of creationists, the extent of their deception and distortion may come as an unpleasant surprise. When their basic motivation is religious, one might have expected more Christian behavior.

Kitcher is a philosopher, and this may account, in part, for the clarity and effectiveness of his arguments. The nonspecialist will be able to obtain at least a notion of the sorts of data and argument that support evolutionary theory. The final chapter on the creationists will be extremely clear to all. On the dust jacket of this fine book, Stephen Jay Gould says: "This book stands for reason itself." And so it does-and all would be well were reason the only judge in the creationism/evolution debate.

据说，有20多本关于创世纪论与进化论之争的书即将出版，而且有几本已经面世了。所有这些书的都是试图告诉那些疑虑重重、且常常愚昧无知的广大老百姓：关于宇宙和生命的起源与进化，不可能存在两种同时有效成立的科学理论。宇宙学、地质学、生物学对于所发生的一切已经提供了连贯统一并且不断完善的解释。而"科学"创世纪论--当课堂上讲授进化论时，有些人就想着以"机会均等"为理由来推出该理论--的理论基础是宗教，而非科学。实际上，所有科学家和大多数非原教旨主义宗教领袖们都已将"科学"创世纪论看做是不伦不类的东西。

金切尔这本著作的前四章简单地介绍了进化论。作者在合适的地方对创世纪论者提出了批评且提供了回答。在该书的最后三章中，他毫不留情地对创世纪论者进行了猛烈抨击。他揭露了这些人的纲领和手段，对那些不了解创世纪论者惯用手法的人来说，其欺骗和歪曲事实的程度会让他们感到既气愤又惊讶。由于他们的基本动机带有宗教色彩，人们原本还期待他们会做出更具基督精神的作为。

金切尔是位哲学家，这也许能在部分上说明为何他的观点如此明确而具有说服力。非专业人士至少可以了解支持进化论的各种数据和观点。最后一章关于创世纪论的论述对每一位读者来说都阐述得极为清楚。这部优秀作品的护封上引用了斯蒂芬·杰·古尔德的话，"这本书本身就代表了理性"。的确如此--如果理性是创世纪论和进化论之争的惟一评判标准，那么一切问题就迎刃而解。