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JanePoynter_2009X-_在生态圈2中的生活_
I have had the distinct pleasure of living inside two biospheres. 我十分荣幸地 在两个生态圈中生活过。
distinct:adj.明显的;独特的;清楚的;有区别的;
Of course we all here in this room live in Biosphere 1. 当然,在这间屋子里的人都在生态圈1里。
Biosphere:n.生物圈;
I've also lived in Biosphere 2. 我还曾在生态圈2里生活过。
And the wonderful thing about that is that I get to compare biospheres. 这其中最美妙的事是,我可以比较这两个生态圈。
compare:v.比较;对比;n.比较;
And hopefully from that I get to learn something. 借此我希望能从中学到一些知识。
So what did I learn? Well, here I am inside Biosphere 2, making a pizza. 那么我们学到了什么？好吧, 这是我在生态圈2里做披萨。
So I am harvesting the wheat, in order to make the dough . 我正在收割小麦,这样我才有材料做面团。
dough:n.生面团;金钱;
And then of course I have to milk the goats and feed the goats in order to make the cheese. 当然我也必须挤好羊奶 以及饲养山羊,这样我才能做出奶酪。
It took me four months in Biosphere 2 to make a pizza. 在生态圈2里我花了4个月才做出一个披萨。
Here in Biosphere 1, well it takes me about two minutes, because I pick up the phone and I call and say, "Hey, can you deliver the pizza?" 在生态圈1里,这只会用掉我2分钟。 因为我只用打个电话,说, “嘿,你能给我送个披萨过来吗？“
So Biosphere 2 was essentially a three-acre, entirely sealed, miniature world that I lived in for two years and 20 minutes. 所以生态圈2是, 一个由三个圆顶组成的, 完全封闭的小天地 我在那里生存了2年又20分钟。
essentially:adv.本质上;本来; miniature:adj.微型的,小规模的;n.缩图;微型画;微型图画绘画术;vt.是…的缩影;
(Laughter) 笑
Over the top it was sealed with steel and glass, underneath it was sealed with a pan of steel -- essentially entirely sealed. 顶端是被钢铁和玻璃封起来的。 底端是被一堆铁封闭的。 关键的是这是完全封闭的。
Over the top:adj.过多的;言过其实的;夸大其词的; underneath:prep.在…的下面;在…的支配下;n.下面;底部;adj.下面的;底层的;
So we had our own miniature rainforest , a private beach with a coral reef . 所以我们有我们自己的迷你雨林, 带珊瑚礁的私人海滩。
rainforest:n.(热带)雨林; coral:n.珊瑚;珊瑚虫;adj.珊瑚的;珊瑚色的; reef:礁,礁脉
We had a savanna , a marsh , a desert. 我们有一个热带稀树草原,一个沼泽,一个沙漠。
savanna:n.[生态]热带草原;热带的稀树大草原; marsh:n.沼泽;湿地;adj.沼泽的;生长在沼泽地的;
We had our own half-acre farm that we had to grow everything. 我们有一个半英亩大的农场,足以生产任何产品。
half-acre:半英亩;
And of course we had our human habitat , where we lived. 当然,我们也有我们的原住民,我们就住在那。
habitat:n.[生态]栖息地,产地;
Back in the mid-'80s when we were designing Biosphere 2, we had to ask ourselves some pretty basic questions. 当我们在80年代中期设计生态圈2的时候 我们必须问到自己很多基础问题。
I mean, what is a biosphere? 我指的是,什么是一个生态圈。
Back then, yes, I guess we all know now that it is essentially the sphere of life around the Earth, right? 在那个年代,是的,现在我想我们都知道 那是一个在地球上提供生命关键元素的圈子,对吗？
Well, you have to get a little more specific than that if you're going to build one. 恩,如果我们要造一个的话就必须比那定义得再明确一点。
specific:adj.特殊的,特定的;明确的;详细的;[药]具有特效的;n.特性;细节;特效药;
And so we decided that what it really is is that it is entirely materially closed -- that is, nothing goes in or out at all, no material -- and energetically open, which is essentially what planet Earth is. 所以我们决定了,最必要的 就是必须完全封闭, 意味着,无进无出,无材料, 以及能量性的开放。 就像地球一样。
materially:adv.实质地;物质上;极大地; energetically:adv.精力旺盛地;有力地;
This is a chamber that was 1/400th the size of Biosphere 2 that we called our Test Module . 这是一个只有生态圈2的1/400大小的密室。 我们把这个叫做我们的实验模型。
chamber:n.(身体或器官内的)室,膛; adj.室内的; vt.把…关在室内; Module:n.模块;组件;单元;
And the very first day that this fellow, John Allen, walked in, to spend a couple of days in there with all the plants and animals and bacteria that we'd put in there to hopefully keep him alive, the doctors were incredibly concerned 就在那第一天,这为同志,乔阿伦, 走了进去,在那花了几天, 和我们放进去的植物,动物,细菌一起 这样做是希望能保住他的性命。 医生十分担心
bacteria:n.[微]细菌; incredibly:adv.难以置信地;非常地; concerned:adj.有关的;关心的;v.关心;与…有关;(concern的过去时和过去分词)
that he was going to succumb to some dreadful toxin , or that his lungs were going to get choked with bacteria or something, fungus . 他会感染上一些十分致命的病毒, 也许他的肺会被细菌或别的东西呛到,比如说菌类植物。
succumb:vi.屈服;死;被压垮; dreadful:adj.可怕的;糟透的,令人不快的; toxin:n.毒素;毒质; choked:adj.堵塞的; v.使窒息; (choke的过去分词和过去式) fungus:n.真菌,霉菌;菌类;
But of course none of that happened. 但是这些当然都没发生。
And over the ensuing few years, there were great sagas about designing Biosphere 2. 在接下来的几年里, 有着不少关于生态圈2设计的传奇。
ensuing:adj.接著发生的;v.跟着发生(ensue的ing形式); sagas:萨迦(尤指古代挪威或冰岛讲述冒险经历和英雄业绩的长篇故事)(saga的名词复数);
But by 1991 we finally had this thing built. 但是在1991年 我们终于建成了这个东西。
finally:adv.终于;最终;(用于列举)最后;彻底地;
And it was time for us to go in and give it a go. 同时也到了我们进入的时间 去尝试一下。
We needed to know, is life this malleable ? 我们想知道, 生命是可延续的吗？
malleable:adj.可锻的;可塑的;有延展性的;易适应的;
Can you take this biosphere, that has evolved on a planetary scale , and jam it into a little bottle, and will it survive? 你能把这个生态圈 放大成一个星球大小, 或是压缩成一个瓶子大小, 它还能存活吗？
evolved:v.(使)逐渐形成;进化;进化形成;(evolve的过去分词和过去式) planetary:adj.行星的; scale:n.规模;比例;鳞;刻度;天平;数值范围;v.衡量;攀登;剥落;生水垢;
Big questions. 最大的问题是,
And we wanted to know this both for being able to go somewhere else in the universe -- if we were going to go to Mars, for instance , would we take a biosphere with us, to live in it? 我们想知道这能不能在 宇宙另外的地方建成,比如,我们要去火星的时候, 我们可以带上生态圈在里面生活吗？
instance:n.实例;情况;建议;v.举...为例;
We also wanted to know so we can understand more about the Earth that we all live in. 我们也想知道我们可以更了解我们所 赖以生存的地球。
Well, in 1991 it was finally time for us to go in and try out this baby. 好吧,在1991年,我们终于住了进去 去体验一下我们工作的结晶。
Let's take it on a maiden voyage . 让我们进行一次旅行。
maiden:adj.未婚的,处女的;初次的;n.少女;处女; voyage:v.航行;远行;(尤指)远航;n.航行;(尤指)航海;
Will it work? Or will something happen that we can't understand and we can't fix, thereby negating the concept of man-made biospheres? 这能成功吗？会不会有 我们还不了解或不能修复的事情发生？ 从而导致人造生态圈的计划由此报废？
thereby:adv.从而,因此;在那附近;在那方面; negating:vt.否定;取消;使无效;vi.否定;否认;无效;n.对立面;反面; man-made:adj.人造的;人工的;合成的;
So eight of us went in: four men and four women. 所以我们8个人进去了,4男4女。
More on that later. 以后会更多。
(Laughter) 笑
And this is the world that we lived in. 这就是我们生活的世界。
So, on the top, we had these beautiful rainforests and an ocean, and underneath we had all this technosphere, we called it, which is where all the pumps and the valves and the water tanks and the air handlers , and all of that. 在上层,我们有 美丽的雨林和海洋。 在地,我们有我们所称的科学空间。 在那里进行着所有的 抽水,储水,空气循环,以及相关活动。
rainforests:n.(热带)雨林; pumps:n.[机]泵; v.用泵送; valves:n.[机]阀门; v.装阀于…; handlers:n.操作者;经理人;陶器工人(handler的复数);
One of the Biospherians called it " garden of Eden on top of an aircraft carrier ." 其中的一个生态圈建筑被叫做 “在空气储存器上的伊甸园“
garden of Eden:na.(《圣经》中所说亚当和夏娃所住的)伊甸园; aircraft carrier:航母;
And then also we had the human habitat of course, with the laboratories , and all of that. 当然我们也有原住民, 也有实验室,诸如此类。
laboratories:n.实验室;(laboratory的复数)
This is the agriculture. 这是我们的农业空间。
It was essentially an organic farm. 实际上就是一个有机农场。
organic:adj.有机的;不使用化肥的;绿色的;有机物的;n.分子有机体;
The day I walked into Biosphere 2, 我走进生态圈2的那一天,
I was, for the first time, breathing a completely different atmosphere than everybody else in the world, except seven other people. 我第一次 呼吸着和世界所有人都 不一样的大气。 除了另外和我同行的7人。
atmosphere:n.大气;气氛;气压;风格;
At that moment I became part of that biosphere. 从那一时刻开始我成了那个生态圈的一部分。
And I don't mean that in an abstract sense; 我这可不是抽象地说说而已。
abstract:n.摘要; adj.抽象的; vt.摘要; vi.做摘要;
I mean it rather literally . 而是有十分具体的意思。
literally:adv.按字面:字面上:确实地:
When I breathed out, my CO2 fed the sweet potatoes that I was growing. 当我呼出空气的时,二氧化碳 供养着我种植的红薯。
And we ate an awful lot of the sweet potatoes. 而且我们吃了无数的红薯。
(Laughter) 笑
And those sweet potatoes became part of me. 而且那些红薯 又变成了我身体的一部分。
In fact, we ate so many sweet potatoes 实际上,我们吃了如此多的红薯,
I became orange with sweet potato. 我变成了带红薯的橙子。
I literally was eating the same carbon over and over again . 我实际上在一次又一次的吃着同样的碳水化合物。
carbon:n.[化学]碳;碳棒;复写纸;adj.碳的;碳处理的; over and over again:adv.一再地;反复不断地;
I was eating myself in some strange sort of bizarre way. 说地奇怪点,我在不停地吃我自己。
bizarre:adj.奇异的(指态度,容貌,款式等);
When it came to our atmosphere, however, it wasn't that much of a joke over the long term, because it turned out that we were losing oxygen, quite a lot of oxygen. 但从长远看来,这个问题在生态圈中提出的时候,无论无何, 可不仅仅是个笑话, 问题是,我们在失去氧气,数量可观的氧气。
And we knew that we were losing CO2. 而且我们也知道我们在丢失二氧化碳。
And so we were working to sequester carbon. 所以我们努力固碳。
sequester:v.隔离(避免陪审团与公众接触);
Good lord -- we know that term now. 感谢上帝,我们现在知道了这个术语。
lord:n.(英国)贵族,大人,大臣;v.使成贵族;作威作福;
We were growing plants like crazy . 我们像疯了样种植。
like crazy:拼命地;发疯似的;
We were taking their biomass , storing them in the basement, growing plants, going around, around, around, trying to take all of that carbon out of the atmosphere. 我们把那些生物肥料移到地下室,分类储存, 不停地种植植物,不停地种, 争取把生态圈里多余的碳化物排出去。
biomass:n.(单位面积或体积内的)[生态]生物量;
We were trying to stop carbon from going into the atmosphere. 我们同时也阻止碳化物进入这个生态圈。
We stopped irrigating our soil, as much as we could. 我们尽可能的灌溉我们的土壤。
irrigating:v.进行喷灌(irrigate的ing形式);n.灌溉;
We stopped tilling, so that we could prevent greenhouse gasses from going into the air. 我们停止翻土,从而我们可能预防温室气体进入空气。
greenhouse:n.温室;暖房;
But our oxygen was going down faster than our CO2 was going up, which was quite unexpected , because we had seen them going in tandem in the test module. 但我们却比增加二氧化碳的速度更快的失去了氧气, 这可不是预料中的。 因为我们在测试模型里可没这样。
unexpected:adj.意外的,想不到的; tandem:n.串联;串座双人自行车;adj.串联的;adv.一前一后地;纵排地;
And it was like playing atomic hide-and-seek . 这就像和原子在躲猫猫一样。
atomic:adj.原子的,原子能的;微粒子的; hide-and-seek:捉迷藏游戏
We had lost seven tons of oxygen. 我们已经失去了7吨的氧气。
And we had no clue where it was. 而且我们一点都不清楚藏哪了。
clue:n.提示;迹象;(纵横填字谜、游戏或问题的)提示词语;v.提示;为…提供线索;
And I tell you, when you lose a lot of oxygen -- and our oxygen went down quite far; it went from 21 percent down to 14.2 percent -- my goodness, do you feel dreadful. 让我告诉你,当你丢失了很多氧气时-- 就像我们失去了很多氧气一样, 从21%降到到14.2%-- 天哪,你感觉像死了一样。
I mean we were dragging ourselves around the Biosphere. 我指的是,当我们在这个生态圈里时。
And we had sleep apnea at night. 我们睡觉时会窒息。
apnea:n.[医]窒息,[临床]呼吸暂停;
So you'd wake up gasping with breath, because your blood chemistry has changed. 所以当你喘息着醒来。 因为你的血液的化学结构已经改变了。
gasping:adj.喘气的;痉挛的;v.喘气;渴望(gasp的现在分词);
And that you literally do that. You stop breathing and then you -- (Gasps) -- take a breath and it wakes you up. And it's very irritating . 当你真的成那样的时候。你停止呼吸,然后你-- (喘息) -- 吸一口气,就会惊醒,这十分讨厌。
irritating:adj.惹人生气的;恼人的;使人生气的;v.使烦恼;刺激;(irritate的现在分词)
And everybody outside thought we were dying. 外面的人以为你是快死了。
I mean, the media was making it sound like were were dying. 我是说,媒体让这看起来像死了一样。
media:n.媒体;媒质(medium的复数);血管中层;浊塞音;中脉;
And I had to call up my mother every other day saying, "No, Mum, it's fine, fine. 我不得不每天打电话给我母亲说“没有,妈妈,没问题。
We're not dead. We're fine. We're fine." 我们没有死,我们很好,我们很好。“
And the doctor was, in fact, checking us to make sure we were, in fact, fine. 而且医生实际上在检查我们 来确定我们没有事。
But in fact he was the person who was most susceptible to the oxygen. 但实际上他才识几乎缺氧的那个人。
susceptible:adj.易受影响的;易感动的;容许…的;n.易得病的人;
And one day he couldn't add up a line of figures. 有一天,他几乎不能做简单的算术。
And it was time for us to put oxygen in. 那也就到了我们放氧气进来的时候。
And you might think, well, "Boy, your life support system was failing you. Wasn't that dreadful?" 你也许会在想,看吧, 同学们,你们懂得生命支持系统在杀掉你, 在杀掉你。那不可怕吗？”
life support:adj.保障生命的,维持生命的;
Yes. In a sense it was terrifying . 是的,某一点上,那很可怕。
In a sense:在某种意义上; terrifying:adj.令人恐惧的;骇人的;极大的;v.使害怕,使恐怖;(terrify的现在分词)
Except that I knew I could walk out the airlock door at any time, if it really got bad, though who was going to say, "I can't take it anymore!"? 除了我知道,我可以走出那扇门 任何时刻都可以,假如说事情变的很糟糕 不过,谁会说“我不行了！”？
airlock:n.气闸;气塞;
Not me, that was for sure. 显然不会是我。
But on the other hand , it was the scientific gold of the project, because we could really crank this baby up, as a scientific tool, and see if we could, in fact, find where those seven tons of oxygen had gone. 但是另一方面,这又是黄金般的科学实验。 因为我们真的可能把这攻破, 像一个科学难题一样, 看看我们能否找到 那七吨氧气到底去哪了。
on the other hand:另一方面; scientific:adj.科学的,系统的; crank:n.曲柄;奇想;adj.易怒的;vt.装曲柄;
And we did indeed find it. 而且我们如愿所偿。
And we found it in the concrete . 不过我们是在水泥里找到的。
concrete:n.混凝土;adj.混凝土制的;确实的,具体的;vt.用混凝土覆盖
Essentially it had done something very simple. 十分简单,
We had put too much carbon in the soil in the form of compost . 我们以堆肥的模式在土壤里存储了太多碳。
compost:n.堆肥;混合物;vt.堆肥;施堆肥;
It broke down; it took oxygen out of the air; it put CO2 into the air; and it went into the concrete. 它分解了,把空气中的氧气带走了。 把二氧化碳放在空气中,然后它又混入了水泥里。
Pretty straightforward really. 其实十分简单。
straightforward:adj.简单的;坦率的;明确的;径直的;adv.直截了当地;坦率地;
So at the end of the two years when we came out, we were elated , because, in fact, although you might say we had discovered something that was quite "uhh," 所以在最后的两年里, 当我们出去的时候,我们都十分高兴。 因为,实际上,尽管你会说 我们就发现了一个无关紧要的问题,
elated:adj.兴高采烈的;得意洋洋的;v.使兴奋(elate的过去式和过去分词);
when your oxygen is going down, stopped working, essentially, in your life support system, that's a very bad failure. 当你们的氧气下降, 停止了工作,关键的事,在你的生存系统里, 那是十分失败的。
Except that we knew what it was. And we knew how to fix it. 除非我们知道是怎么一回事,以及我们知道如何修复。
And nothing else emerged that really was as serious as that. 而且再没别的问题, 像那么严重的问题发生。
emerged:v.(从隐蔽处或暗处)出现;暴露;露出真相;显现;(emerge的过去分词和过去式)
And we proved the concept, more or less . 我们多多少少证明了这个构思可行。
more or less:或多或少;
People, on the other hand, was a different subject. 人类,在另一方面,就是另外一回事了。
We were -- yeah I don't know that we were fixable . 我们--我就不知道我们是不是可修复的。
fixable:adj.可固定的;可确定的;可装置的;
We all went quite nuts, I will say. 我会说我们都变的有点傻了。
And the day I came out of Biosphere 2, 当我们从生态圈2中走出来
I was thrilled I was going to see all my family and my friends. 我十分害怕去见我的家庭和朋友。
thrilled:adj.非常兴奋; v.使非常兴奋; (thrill的过去分词和过去式)
For two years I'd been seeing people through the glass. 两年来,我都是通过玻璃来看人。
And everybody ran up to me. 而且所有的人都朝我涌来。
And I recoiled . They stank ! 我被吓了一跳,他们臭死了！
recoiled:vi.畏缩;弹回;报应;n.畏缩;弹回;反作用; stank:n.池塘;水沟;小水坝;v.发出恶臭(stink的过去式);
People stink ! 人类臭死了！
stink:n.恶臭;吵闹;争吵;v.有臭味;令人厌恶;
We stink of hairspray and underarm deodorant , and all kinds of stuff . 我们发臭因为我们喷了发胶和掖下除臭剂, 以及其他所有的产品。
hairspray:n.头发定型剂; underarm:adj.腋下的;低手的;adv.用低手; deodorant:adj.除臭的;防臭的;n.除臭剂; stuff:n.东西:物品:基本特征:v.填满:装满:标本:
Now we had stuff inside Biosphere to keep ourselves clean, but nothing with perfume . 我们在生态圈里有东西保持我们干净。 不过不是用香水。
perfume:n.香水;香味;v.洒香水于…;使…带香味;
And boy do we stink out here. 而且我们在那也不发臭。
Not only that , but I lost touch of where my food came from. 不仅仅是这样, 而且我不知道食物从哪里来的。
only that:只是;要不是;
I had been growing all my own food. 我一直在种植我们自己的粮食。
I had no idea what was in my food, where it came from. 我现在不知道有什么在我的食物里,从哪里来的。
I didn't even recognize half the names in most of the food that I was eating. 我几乎不能认出出一半我吃的是什么。
recognize:v.认识;认出;辨别出;承认;意识到;
In fact, I would stand for hours in the aisles of shops, reading all the names on all of the things. 实际上,我会在商店里站一个来小时, 读着商品上事物的名字。
aisles:n.[建]通道;[建]走廊(aisle的复数);
People must have thought I was nuts. 人们一定以为我傻了。
It was really quite astonishing . 这实在是令人震惊的。
astonishing:adj.令人十分惊讶的;v.使十分惊讶;使吃惊;(astonish的现在分词)
And I slowly lost track of where I was in this big biosphere, in this big biosphere that we all live in. 我渐渐的在 大生态圈中迷失了,在这个大家生活的生态圈中。
track:n.小道;足迹;车辙;轨道;v.追踪;跟踪;
In Biosphere 2 I totally understood that I had a huge impact on my biosphere, everyday, and it had an impact on me, very viscerally , very literally. 我在生态圈2中完全懂得 我每一天都对我的生态圈产生的巨大影响, 同时也对我有着影响, 十分有联系性的,十分具象的。
impact:n.影响;效果;碰撞;冲击力;v.挤入,压紧;撞击;对…产生影响; viscerally:内脏的;位于内脏的;影响内脏的;
So I went about my business: 所以我开办了自己的公司。
Paragon Space Development Corporation , a little firm I started with people while I was in the Biosphere, because I had nothing else to do. 模范空间发展合作社, 一个我在生态圈2中和人们所开办的小公司, 因为我没别的事可做。
Paragon:n.模范;完美之物;优秀之人;adj.完美的; Corporation:n.法人;(大)公司;法人团体;市政委员会;
And one of the things we did was try to figure out: how small can you make these biospheres, and what can you do with them? 其中的一件事情就是 搞清楚我们可以把生态圈做多小。 以及我们可以怎么做。
And so we sent one onto the Mir Space Station . 所以我们向穆里空间站发送了一个,
Space Station:n.太空站;航天站;宇宙空间站;
We had one on the shuttle and one on the International Space Station, for 16 months, where we managed to produce the first organisms to go through complete multiple life cycles in space -- really pushing the envelope of understanding how malleable our life systems are. 我们有一个在飞船里,还有一个在国际空间站里, 16个月来,在那里我们可以生产 第一个在太空的有机产物,一个可以循环多种生命 的产物链。 这对理解 我们的生命系统 的可塑性又进了一大步。
shuttle:n.穿梭班机、公共汽车;梭;梭子;v.频繁往来;往返运送 organisms:n.[生物]生物体(organism的复数);[生物]有机体; multiple:adj.数量多的;多种多样的;n.倍数; envelope:n.信封,封皮;包膜;[天]包层;包迹;
And I'm also proud to announce that you're getting a sneak preview -- on Friday we're going to announce that we're actually forming a team to develop a system to grow plants on the Moon, which is going to be pretty fun. 现在我自豪的宣布, 你们将提前知道 -- 在星期五我们将宣布 我们要组成一个小组 去开发月球上的植物种植系统。 那将是十分有趣。
sneak preview:n.试映;
And the legacy of that is a system that we were designing: an entirely sealed system to grow plants to grow on Mars. 我们设计系统的一个前景是, 在火星上建立一个完全封闭能栽培植物的系统。
legacy:n.遗赠,遗产;
And part of that is that we had to model very rapid circulation of CO2 and oxygen and water through this plant system. 其中我们必须建立的是一个 能十分迅速循环二氧化碳 氧气和水的模型,通过这个植物系统。
circulation:n.流通,传播;循环;发行量;
As a result of that modeling 做这个模型的结果是
As a result:结果;
I ended up in all places, in Eritrea, in the Horn of Africa. 我在所有地方找到了一个叫 厄立特里亚省的地方,在非洲之角那里。
Horn:n.喇叭,号角;角;v.装角于;
Eritrea, formerly part of Ethiopia , is one of those places that is astonishingly beautiful, incredibly stark, and I have no understanding of how people eke out a living there. 厄立特里亚省,前埃塞俄比亚的一部分, 是一个惊人美丽, 光彩四射的地方,但我完全不知道 那里的人是怎样生活的。
formerly:adv.以前;原来; Ethiopia:n.埃塞俄比亚; astonishingly:adv.令人惊讶地; eke:vt.竭力增补;勉强维持;竭力维持;
It is so dry. 那里是那样的干燥。
This is what I saw. 这是我看到的。
But this is also what I saw. 但同时我也看到了这。
I saw a company that had taken seawater and sand, and they were growing a kind of crop that will grow on pure salt water without having to treat it. 我看到一个公司 用海水, 和沙去灌溉。 一种庄稼,一种能成长在纯非淡水,也不同处理的情况下。
seawater:n.海水; salt water:海水的; treat:v.治疗;处理;招待;款待;n.款待;乐事;乐趣;
And it will produce a food crop. 而且这将生产一种食物。
In this case it was oilseed . 那就是油籽。
oilseed:n.含油种子(如花生仁,棉籽等);
It was astonishing. They were also producing mangroves in a plantation . 我被震惊了。他们同时也生产红树林 在一个人工林里。
mangroves:n.[林]红树林(mangrove的复数);红树属植物; plantation:n.种植园;木材林地;人造林;
And the mangroves were providing wood and honey and leaves for the animals, so that they could produce milk and whatnot , like we had in the Biosphere. 而且红树林会提供木材 蜂蜜,和供给动物的树叶, 所以他们可以生产牛奶和诸如此类的产品, 就和我们在生态圈2中一样。
whatnot:n.放古董的架子;不可名状的东西;
And all of it was coming from this: shrimp farms. 并且所有的资源都来自这个,养虾场。
shrimp:n.虾;小虾;矮小的人;vi.捕虾;adj.有虾的;虾制的;
Shrimp farms are a scourge on the earth, frankly, from an environmental point of view . 养虾场是地球的一个祸害, 坦白说,从一个环境的角度来说。
scourge:vt.鞭打;蹂躏;严斥;痛斥;n.鞭;灾祸;鞭子;苦难的根源; point of view:观点;见地;立场;
They pour huge amounts of pollutants into the ocean. 他们往海洋里排放大量的污染。
pour:v.倒; n.流出; (已熔金属的)一次浇注量; pollutants:n.[环境]污染物(pollutant的复数);
They also pollute their next-door neighbors. 同时也污染邻近的庄稼。所以他们救灾对方的池塘里排泄。
next-door:adj.隔壁的;邻家的;adv.邻家;
So they're all shitting each other's ponds , quite literally. 十分形象的。
shitting:v.拉屎;意外地拉屎;非常害怕;(shit的现在分词) ponds:n.[水文]池塘(pond的复数);v.堵成池;筑成池塘(pond的三单形式);
And what this project was doing was taking the effluent of these, and turning them into all of this food. 但是这个项目所做的, 把这些的影响, 全部转化为食物。
effluent:n.污水;流出物;废气;adj.流出的,发出的;
They were literally turning pollution into abundance for a desert people. 他们实际上是把污染转化为资源给沙漠居民。
abundance:n.丰度;丰富;大量;富足;
They had created an industrial ecosystem , of a sense. 他们创造了一种环保工业系统。
industrial:adj.工业的,产业的; n.工业股票; ecosystem:n.生态系统;
I was there because I was actually modeling the mangrove portion for a carbon credit program, under the U.N. 我再那,因为我其实在那建造红树林部分 为检查一个联合国以下的碳化物标准系统。
portion:n.部分;(食物的)一份;分担的责任;v.把…分成若干份(或部分);
Kyoto Protocol system. 京都条约。
Kyoto:n.京都(日本城市); Protocol:n.协议;草案;礼仪;vt.拟定;vi.拟定;
And as I was modeling this mangrove swamp , 就当我在建立红树林沼泽时,
swamp:v.淹没;使不堪承受;使疲于应对;使应接不暇;n.沼泽(地);
I was thinking to myself, "How do you put a box around this?" 我也在思考,“你如何在周围加个盒子？”
When I'm modeling a plant in a box, literally, 当我在一个盒子里建造植物时,实际上,
I know where to draw the boundary . 我知道在哪里画上一个界线。
boundary:n.边界;范围;分界线;
In a mangrove forest like this I have no idea . 但就像这样的红树林,我则完全没有概念。
I have no idea:我没有头绪…;
Well, of course you have to draw the boundary around the whole of the Earth. 不错,当然你也可以把整个地球当一个界线。
And understand its interactions with the entire Earth. 然后在这个界线里与整个地球互动。
interactions:n.[计]交互,相互作用;相互交流;干扰;(interaction复数)
And put your project in that context . 然后你把你的项目放在那里。
context:n.环境;上下文;来龙去脉;
Around the world today we're seeing an incredible transformation , from what I would call a biocidal species , one that -- whether we intentionally or unintentionally -- have designed our systems to kill life, a lot of the time. 我们今天正在全球看到一个惊人的变化。 我这里会叫他生态化物种, 一个无论是故意还是无意 设计的去消灭生命的系统,在很多时间里是这样。
incredible:adj.难以置信的,惊人的; transformation:n.转变;(用于南非)民主改革; species:n.[生物]物种;种类; unintentionally:adv.无意地;非故意地;非存心地;
This is in fact, this beautiful photograph, is in fact over the Amazon . 这看起来是一个美丽的照片, 是在亚马逊河上面照的。
Amazon:亚马逊;古希腊女战士;
And here the light green are areas of massive deforestation . 这里的浅绿色代表着大量的森林退化。
massive:adj.大量的;巨大的,厚重的;魁伟的; deforestation:n.采伐森林;森林开伐;
And those beautiful wispy clouds are, in fact, fires, human-made fires. 而这里美丽的细细云彩 则是,火,人造大火。
wispy:adj.象小束状的,纤细的;脆弱的;
We're in the process of transforming from this, to what I would call a biophilic society, one where we learn to nurture society. 我们在转变这个的过程中, 这我会把它叫做一个生态社会, 一个我们学会培育的社会。
in the process of:在…的过程中; transforming:v.使改变形态;使改变外观(或性质);使改观;(transform的现在分词) nurture:v.养育;培养;养护;支持;
Now it may not seem like it, but we are. 现在看起来还不怎么像,但的确是这样的。
It is happening all across the world, in every kind of walk of life , and every kind of career and industry that you can think of. 这就在全世界发生着, 在所有活着的生命中, 在我们能想象到的所有 事业和工业中,
walk of life:n.行业;阶层;社会地位; career:n.职业;事业;生涯;经历;
And I think often times people get lost in that. 而且我常常认为人们会在那迷失掉。
They go, "But how can I possibly find my way in that? 他们说到“但是我如何才能在那找到我自己的方法？”
It's such a huge subject." 那是一个很大的话题。
And I would say that the small stuff counts. It really does. 但我会说小事情也会有影响,真的。
This is the story of a rake in my backyard . 这是我后花园一个耙子的故事。
rake:vi.搜索;用耙子耙;掠过,擦过;n.耙子;斜度;钱耙;放荡的人,浪子; backyard:n.后院;后庭;
This was my backyard, very early on, when I bought my property. 这是我的后花园, 这是很早了,在我刚买下来的时候。
And in Arizona , of course, everybody puts gravel down. 在亚利桑那州,大家回理所当然的铺上碎石子。
Arizona:n.美国亚利桑那州; gravel:n.碎石;砂砾;vt.用碎石铺;使船搁浅在沙滩上;使困惑;
And they like to keep everything beautifully raked . And they keep all the leaves away. 他们喜欢把所有的地方修葺的十分美丽,而且一直保持着。
raked:adj.倾斜的;
And on Sunday morning the neighbors leaf blower comes out, and I want to throttle them. 每当星期天早上邻居的树叶清理器响起时, 我就想向他们施展琐喉大法。
blower:n.鼓风机,吹风机;吹制工;<俚>爱吹牛的人; throttle:n.节流阀; vt.压制,扼杀; vi.节流,减速;
It's a certain type of aesthetic . 这是一种审美观,
aesthetic:adj.美的;美学的;审美的,具有审美趣味的;
We're very uncomfortable with untidiness . 我们不能容忍不整洁。
untidiness:n.不整洁,不修边幅;凌乱,无条理性;
And I threw away my rake. 但是我丢掉了我的钉耙。
And I let all of the leaves fall from the trees that I have on my property. 而且我让我房产的所有从树上掉下的树叶都留在那。
And over time, essentially what have I been doing? 这一段时间,我做的最关键的事是什么呢？
I've been building topsoil . 我在培育顶级的土壤。
topsoil:n.表层土;上层土;
And so now all the birds come in. And I have hawks. 现在所有的鸟类来的,我还有了老鹰。
And I have an oasis . 我有一个绿洲。
oasis:n.绿洲;舒适的地方;令人宽慰的事物;
This is what happens every spring. For six weeks, six to eight weeks, I have this flush of green oasis. 这就是春天来临的时候,每六个星期一次, 大概每六个到八个星期,我就有一个充满绿色的绿洲。
flush:n.激动,洋溢; v.使齐平; adj.大量的;
This is actually in a riparian area. 这里其实是一个河岸的区域。
riparian:adj.河边的;水滨的;n.河边居民;河岸拥有人;
And all of Tucson could be like this if everybody would just revolt and throw away the rake. 而且所有的图森地区都可以变成这样 如果每个人可以做出改变和丢掉钉耙。
revolt:v.反抗;叛逆;违抗;使惊骇;n.叛乱;起义;违抗; throw away:adj.信口开河的;用后可扔的;n.废品;
The small stuff counts. 滴水石穿。
The Industrial Revolution -- and Prometheus -- has given us this, the ability to light up the world. 工业革命和普罗米修斯, 给我们带来了这个,一个去点亮世界的能力。
Industrial Revolution:n.工业革命;
It has also given us this, the ability to look at the world from the outside. 同时也带来了这个, 一个从外太空来看世界的能力。
Now we may not all have another biosphere that we can run to, and compare it to this biosphere. 也许现在我们都还没有 一个去操控另一个生态圈的能力, 和这个我们所生活的生态圈相比。
But we can look at the world, and try to understand where we are in its context, and how we choose to interact with it. 但是我们可以看着这个世界, 尝试着去理解我们在其中所处的位置, 以及我们如何和她互动。
And if you lose where you are in your biosphere, or are perhaps having a difficulty connecting with where you are in the biosphere, 如果你在这个生态圈找不到你的位置, 或你很难把自己和这个你所存在的 生态圈联系起来,
I would say to you, take a deep breath. 我会跟你说, 深呼吸。
The yogis had it right. 瑜珈士是对的。
yogis:n.瑜珈修行者;瑜珈信徒;沉思或神秘的人;
Breath does, in fact, connect us all in a very literal way. 呼吸的确把我们联系起来, 以一个十分具体的方式。
Take a breath now. 现在深呼吸一下。
And as you breathe, think about what is in your breath. 同时思考一下, 你的呼吸里有什么。
There perhaps is the CO2 from the person sitting next-door to you. 也许里面含有你邻座所呼出的二氧化碳。
Maybe there is a little bit of oxygen from some algae on the beach not far from here. 也许有从这不远沙滩上的 藻类带来的一些氧气。
algae:n.[植]藻类;[植]海藻; on the beach:adj.在海滩上;失业的;潦倒的;退休的;
It also connects us in time. 呼吸也将我们从时间上联系起来。
There may be some carbon in your breath from the dinosaurs. 也许你呼出的空气中含有 从恐龙就存在的碳化物,
There could also be carbon that you are exhaling now that will be in the breath of your great-great-great-grandchildren. 也许你现在呼出的碳化物, 将会出现在你祖祖孙孙 的呼吸中。
exhaling:v.呼气;发散;排出(exhale的现在分词形式);
Thank you. (Applause) 谢谢