《天演论》之于近代中国思想革命功不可没，然而《天演论》在严译目标群体———统治阶级和士大夫阶层中却未受待见，严复所期待自上而下的社会改革并未因该书巨大的影响力而实现，严复翻译之道“信达雅”也备受质疑。译者是翻译主体亦是伦理主体，在一定目的驱使下促成原语文化与译语文化的伦理对话，并因意识形态取向与两种文化内诸要素共谋，操纵译作及其引发的伦理走向。译者严复在共谋关系网中不断调整伦理姿态，以期其译作发挥既定之功，然《天演论》流传之“殇”亦揭示了文化共谋的痼疾。

Tianyanlun, or the Theory of Evolution, is an important work to modern Chinese intellectual revolution ,while its target readers who ruled and governed China were not enthusiastic enough to initiate change so that the top-to-bottom social reform was not realized albeit the work’s huge influence. The three-word motto of translation cherished by YAN Fu is also questioned when involving ethical factors. Translators as both translational and ethical subjects driven by certain purpose negotiate between source culture and target culture and collude with both for ideological inclinations, which manipulate translation and its ethical orientation. Yan Fu adjusted himself in the collusive network of translation in ethical senses so as to bring the translation to an intended full play, while the decline of Tianyanlun also disclosed the innate illness of the collusion.