These fortuitous and unusual conditions can go some way towards explaining the monumental scale of Needham's achievements. If you want to be clear about the innovative nature of his work, however, then it must be seen in the context of the European academic world in the early part of this century.
這些可遇而不可求的條件，或許能解釋評者所謂「經天緯地」之作的產生背景，但要說明李約瑟志業的「昂首天外」，還得回到廿世紀上半葉的歐洲學界。