為紀念達爾文這位影響世界的科學家誕辰200周年，英國政府在一月底提名將達爾文故居寫入世界自然遺產，如果被批準，達爾文故居和故居附近的森林、田野和池塘將和金字塔和巨石陣一起，成為世界自然遺產并可以得到妥善的保護。

達爾文故居（簡稱為Down House）位于肯特郡，在這里達爾文寫出了享謄世界的《物種起源》一書，達爾文經常在故居附近的河岸采集野生蘭花并拿進溫室完成培養，他還經常在河邊的泥地附近素描昆蟲食用的植物圖樣，而肯特的池塘邊也留下了他觀察種子發芽成長的身影。

達爾文的重重孫表示，將故居列入世界自然遺產將有助于保護故居不被英國日益加速的城市化影響。雖然當年達爾文選擇這里時，這里人跡罕至，但今天，這里已經是喧鬧的小城市了。如果可以被選為自然遺產，這里將可以得到更好地保護。

DARWIN'S HOME NOMINATED AS WORLD HERITAGE SITE

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of the scientist who changed the world, the government will today nominate Charles Darwin's home in Kent, and the nearby woodlands, fields and ponds that have been called his landscape laboratory, as a world heritage site.

The designation, if accepted, will place Down House, the home where Darwin wrote On The Origin Of Species - in his study with an angled mirror to check for unwelcome visitors at the front door - beside the Pyramids and Stonehenge in the world's treasury of monuments to human genius.

The heritage site, near the village of Downe, would encompass the banks where Darwin gathered wild orchids to propagate and study in his glasshouses, the bog where he drew tiny insect-eating plants, and the pond where he collected mud to see what seeds would sprout.

（Source: Guardian News，英國使館文化教育處提供）