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RichardPreston_2008-_巨人树_
The north coast of California has rainforests -- temperate rainforests -- where it can rain more than 100 inches a year. 加州北部海岸有着一片片雨林—— 温带雨林——每年降水量超过25400毫米。
rainforests:n.(热带)雨林; temperate:adj.温和的;适度的;有节制的;
This is the realm of the Coast Redwood tree. 这就是海岸红杉的领域。
realm:n.领域,范围;王国; Redwood:n.红木树,[林]红杉;红树木材;
Its species name is Sequoia sempervirens. 它的学名为Sequoia sempervirens。
species:n.[生物]物种;种类; Sequoia:n.红杉(产于美国加州);
Sequoia sempervirens is the tallest living organism on Earth. 它是地球上最大的生命机体。
organism:n.生物;有机体;有机组织;(尤指)微生物;
The range of the species goes up to as much as 380 feet tall. 这个物种可高达116米
That's 38 stories tall. 相当于38层楼的高度。
These are trees that would stand out in midtown Manhattan. 若放在曼哈顿中城,这些巨杉将鹤立其中。
midtown:n.市中心区;商业区和住宅区的中间地区;adj.市中心区的;位于市中心区的;
Nobody knows how old the oldest living Coast Redwoods are because nobody has ever drilled into any of them to count their annual growth rings, and, in any case , the centers of the oldest individuals appear to be hollow . 没有人知道最老的海岸红杉有多大岁数 因为没有人试过钻开他们 去数他们的年轮 并且这些最古老的树木的中心似乎是空的。
Redwoods:n.红木树,[林]红杉;红树木材; annual:n.年报;年鉴;年刊;adj.每年的;年度的;一年的; in any case:无论如何; individuals:n.[经]个人;[生物]个体(individual的复数); hollow:n.孔; v.挖; adj.中空的; v.彻底;
But it's believed that the oldest living Redwoods are perhaps 2,500 years old -- roughly the age of the Parthenon -- although it's also suspected that there may be individual trees that are older than that. 但是人们普遍认为最老的红杉 有2500岁——几乎跟帕台农神庙一样古老了 不过还有人怀疑 有比这更古老的红杉。
roughly:adv.粗糙地;概略地; Parthenon:n.帕台农神殿(希腊用以祭祀雅典娜女神的神庙); suspected:v.怀疑;不信任;(suspect的过去分词和过去式)
You can see the range of the Coast Redwoods. It's here, in red. 你可以看到海岸红杉的领域,就在红色的区域里。
The largest individuals of this species, the dreadnoughts of their kind, live just on the north coast of California, where the rain is really intense . 这个物种最巨型的个体,他们之中的“无畏战舰”, 就生活在加州北部海岸, 那里雨量十分充沛。
dreadnoughts:n.厚呢大衣;无畏战舰; intense:adj.强烈的;紧张的;非常的;热情的;
In recent historic times, about 96 percent of the Coast Redwood forest was cut down, especially in a series of bursts of intense liquidation logging , clear-cutting that took place in the 1970s through the early 1990s. 在近代历史时期,96%的海岸红杉林木 被砍伐,特别是在70年代到90年代早期发生的严重的森林砍伐, 毁灭性的森林开垦活动中。
historic:adj.有历史意义的;历史上著名的; especially:adv.尤其;特别;格外;十分; series:n.系列,连续;[电]串联;级数;丛书; bursts:[天]爆发;破裂(burst的第三人称单数); liquidation:n.清算;偿还;液化;清除; logging:n.伐木作业;v.把…载入正式记录;记录;采伐;(log的现在分词) clear-cutting:皆伐(clear-cut的现在分词);
Even so, about four percent of the primeval Redwood rainforest remains intact , wild and now protected -- entirely protected -- in a chain of small parks strung out like pearls along the north coast of California, including Redwood National Park . 尽管如此,还是有4%的原始红杉雨林保留了下来 它们未受人类文明践踏,而且现在被保护了起来——全面地被保护起来 它们被保护于沿着加州北海岸 珠连起来的一些小公园里,包括红杉国家公园。
primeval:adj.原始的;初期的(等于primaeval); intact:adj.完整的;原封不动的;未受损伤的; strung out:有吸毒瘾的,因吸毒而身体虚弱的; pearls:n.珍珠;像珍珠之物;(pearl的复数) National Park:n.国家公园;
But curiously , Redwood rainforests, the fragments that we have left, to this day remain under-explored. 但奇怪的是,剩下的红杉雨林 直到今天还未被充分开发。
curiously:adv.好奇地;奇妙地; fragments:n.碎片(fragment的复数);片断;[计]分段;v.破碎(fragment的三单形式);打碎; to this day:至今;
Redwood rainforest is incredibly difficult to move through, and even today, individual trees are being discovered that have never been seen before, including, in the summer of 2006, 在红杉雨林里行走十分困难,困难得令人难以置信 时至今日,新的红杉仍不断地被发现 包括发现于2006夏的世界最高之树——
incredibly:adv.难以置信地;非常地;
Hyperion , the world's tallest tree. 亥帕龙神（Hyperion,希腊神话中一巨人之名）,世界上最高的树。
Hyperion:n.亥伯龙神(泰坦神族的一员);
I'm going to do a little Gedanken experiment. 我想做一个小小的想象实验
I'm going to ask you to imagine what a Redwood really is as a living organism. 让你们去想象一下,一棵红杉作为一个生命体究竟是什么东西
And, Chris, if I could have you up here? I have a tape measure . 克里斯,你能站到舞台上来么？我有一把卷尺
tape measure:n.卷尺;皮尺;
It's a kind loaner from TED. 是从TED借来的。
loaner:n.债权人;代替品;
And Chris, if you could take the end of that tape measure? 克里斯,拿着卷尺的头好么?
We're going to show you what the diameter at breast height of a big Redwood is. 我们将要向你们展示 一棵大型红杉在我们胸部高度位置的直径大小
diameter:n.直径;对径;放大率;放大倍数;
Unfortunately , this tape isn't long enough -- it's only a 25-foot tape. 很遗憾,这卷尺不够长——只有7.6米长。
Unfortunately:adv.不幸地;
Chris, could you extend your arm out that way? There we go. OK. 克里斯,你能向那边伸出你的手臂么？就这样,好了。
extend:vt.延伸; vi.延伸;
And maybe about here, about 30 feet, is the diameter of a big Redwood. 大概就是这么多,9.1米左右,就是一颗大型红杉的直径。
Now, let your imagination go upward into space. 现在,然你的想象力向天空延伸
imagination:n.想象;想象力;创造力;想象的事物; upward:adj.向上的;上升的;adv.向上;
Think about this tree, rising upward into Redwood space, 325 feet, 32 stories, an individual living organism articulating its forms upward into space over long periods of time. 想象一下这棵树,耸立至红杉林的99米高, 32层楼的高度——这就是一棵红杉 长期逐渐成长至天际的体型
articulating:v.清晰地发(音); adj.发音清晰的;
The Redwood species seems to exist in another kind of time: not human time, but what we might call Redwood time. 红杉这种植物似乎存在于另一种时间体系中 不是人类的时间标准,而我们更愿意称其为“红杉时间”
Redwood time moves at a more stately pace than human time. “红杉时间”以比人类时间更宏伟的节奏流逝着
stately:adj.庄严的;堂皇的,宏伟的;
To us, when we look at a Redwood tree, it seems to be motionless and still, and yet Redwoods are constantly in motion, moving upward into space, articulating themselves and filling Redwood space over Redwood time, over thousands of years. 对我们来说,当我们看着一棵红杉树,它似乎一动不动 但实际上它不停地在运动 向上生长,展现着自己 在几千年的红杉时间之中填满了整个红杉树林。
motionless:adj.静止的;不运动的; constantly:adv.不断地;时常地;
Plant this small seed, wait 2,000 years, and you get this: the Lost Monarch . 将这颗小种子播种下去,等待两千年,然后就有了这个: “失落的君王”。
Monarch:n.君主,帝王;最高统治者;
It dwells in the Grove of Titans on the North Coast, and was discovered in 1998. 它坐落于北部海岸的“泰坦丛林”, 1998年我们发现了它。
dwells:vi.居住;存在于;细想某事; Grove:n.小树林;果园; Titans:n.泰坦巨神;(美)大力神Ⅱ型洲际导弹(Titan的复数);
And yet, when you look at the base of a Redwood tree, you're not seeing the organism. 另外,当你看着一棵红杉树的树桩时, 你所看到的不是一个完整的生物。
You're like a mouse looking at the foot of an elephant, and most of the organism is overhead , unseen . 你会像一只老鼠,看着一只大象的腿, 而这个生物的大部分就在你头顶上,你却无法看到。
at the foot of:在…(山)脚下;在…的下部; overhead:n.开销;经常费用;经常开支;adj.头上方的;地面以上的;adv.在头上方;在空中 unseen:adj.看不见的,未看见的;未经预习的;n.(事前未看过原文的)即席翻译;
I became very interested, and I wrote about a couple. 我变得饶有兴致,并记录了一对夫妇在这里的生活。
Steve Sillett and Marie Antoine are the principal explorers of the Redwood forest canopy . They're world-class athletes , and they also are world-class forest ecology scientists. 史蒂夫·西莱特 和 马莉·安东尼 是 主要的 红杉林树冠探险者。他们是世界级的运动员, 他们还是世界级的森林生态科学家。
principal:adj.主要的;资本的;n.首长;校长;资本;当事人; explorers:n.探险者;勘探者;考察者;(explorer的复数) canopy:n.天篷;华盖;遮篷;苍穹;vt.用天蓬遮盖;遮盖; world-class:n.世界级;adj.世界级的; athletes:n.运动员;身强体健的人(athlete的复数形式);
Steve Sillett, when he was a 19-year-old college student at Reed College, had heard that the Redwood forest canopy is considered to be a so-called Redwood desert. 当史蒂夫还是一个19岁的里德大学的学生时, 就听说过红杉林的树冠层 被称为一个红杉沙漠。
Reed:n.芦笛;[植]芦苇;芦苇杆;[乐]舌簧; so-called:adj.所谓的;号称的;
That is to say , at that time it was believed that there was nothing up there except the branches of Redwood trees. 换句话说,在那个时候,人们相信 在那里除了红杉树枝外什么都没有。
That is to say:就是;即;换言之;
And with a friend of his, he took it upon himself to free-climb a Redwood without ropes or any equipment to see what was up there. 之后他与他的一个朋友毅然试着徒手攀爬一棵红杉 而没有用任何绳子或装备,想看一下在上面究竟有什么。
He climbed up a small tree next to this giant Redwood, and then he leaped through space and grabbed a branch with his hands, and ended up hanging, like catching a bar of a trapeze . 他爬上了这棵巨型红杉旁的一棵小树, 然后腾空一跃,用双手抓住了一根树枝, 然后悬挂在那,就像抓住秋千的横杠一样。
giant:n.巨人;伟人;巨兽;adj.巨大的;特大的 leaped:v.跳跃;急速移动;剧增;突然移动; grabbed:v.抓住;攫取;抓住,夺得;(grab的过去分词和过去式) trapeze:n.秋千;吊架;
And then, from there, he climbed directly up the bark until he got to the top of the tree. 接着,从那里他直接从树皮爬了上去 直到他到了树顶。
directly:adv.直接地;立即;马上;正好地;坦率地;conj.一…就; bark:n.树皮; v.(狗)吠叫;
His friend, a guy named Marwood Harris, was following behind. 他的朋友玛沃德·查尔斯跟在他后面。
Neither one of them had noticed that there was a Yellow Jacket wasp's nest the size of a bowling ball hanging from the branch that Steve had jumped into. 两个人都没有注意到, 一个保龄球大小的黄蜂巢 就挂在史蒂夫跳过去的那根树枝上。
And when Marwood made the jump, he was covered with wasps stinging him in the face and eyes. He nearly let go. 当玛沃德跳过去的时候,他立刻就被黄蜂包围了 黄蜂叮咬他的脸跟眼睛。他差点就放手了。
wasps:n.[昆]黄蜂;[昆]胡蜂(wasp的复数形式);马蜂; stinging:v.刺;蜇;叮;(使)感觉刺痛;激怒;使不安;(sting的现在分词)
He would have fallen to his death, being 75 feet above the ground. 如果从上面高达23米的地方摔下来,他肯定就摔死了。
But they made it to the top, and what they found was not a Redwood desert, but a lost world -- a kind of three-dimensional labyrinth in the air, filled with unknown life. 但他们成功地到了顶,而他们看到的 不是一个红杉沙漠,而是一个失落的世界—— 一个空中三围迷宫,里面充满了不为人知的生命。
three-dimensional:adj.三维的;立体的;真实的; labyrinth:n.迷宫;[解剖]迷路;难解的事物;
Now, I had been working on other topics: the emergence of infectious diseases , which come out of the natural ecosystems of the Earth, make a trans-species jump, and get into humans. 我一直都在研究其它的课题: 传染病的诞生 它们源于地球的自然生态系统, 跨越种族,传染给人类。
emergence:n.出现,浮现;发生;露头; infectious:adj.传染的;传染性的;易传染的; diseases:n.[医]病(disease的复数);[医]疾病;[植保]病害;疾病种类; ecosystems:n.生态系统(ecosystem的复数);
After three books on this, it got to be a bit much , in a way. 我写过三本关于此课题的书之后,觉得在某种程度上有点过火了。
a bit much:有点过火;过分;不应当;
My wife and I adore our children. 我和我妻子很喜欢我们的孩子
And I began climbing trees with my kids as just something to do with them, using the so-called arborist climbing technique , with ropes. You use ropes to get yourself up into the crown of a tree. 然后我开始和我的孩子们爬树,以此和他们一起做些事, 我们采用了被称为树艺师的爬树技巧, 还有绳子。你要用绳子帮你爬到树冠。
technique:n.技巧,技术;手法; crown:王冠
Children are incredibly adept at climbing trees. 难以置信地,孩子们十分擅长爬树。
adept:adj.熟练的;擅长…的;n.内行;能手;
That's my son, Oliver. 那是我的儿子奥利弗。
They don't seem to suffer from the same fear of heights that humans do. 他们似乎一点也不畏高——不像人类那样畏高。
(Laughter) （笑声）
If ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny , then children are somewhat closer to our roots as primates in the arboreal forest. 如果个体发生机理会再现种系发生的话,那么孩子们 就有点接近我们生活在树上的灵长类祖先了。
recapitulates:vi.概括;重述要点;摘要;vt.概括;重述要点;摘要; phylogeny:n.种系发生,[生物]系统发生;语发展史; somewhat:n.几分;某物;adv.有点;多少;几分;稍微; primates:n.灵长类; arboreal:adj.树木的;栖息在树上的;
Humans appear to be the only primates that I know of that are afraid of heights. 在我所知道的所有灵长类动物中,似乎只有人类 是畏高的。
All other primates, when they're scared, they run up a tree, where they feel safe. 其他所有的灵长动物在它们害怕的时候, 就爬上一棵树,在那里他们感到很安全。
We camped overnight in the trees, in tree boats. 我们在树林里或树舟上宿营过夜,
overnight:adj.夜间的; v.在夜间; n.(美)前一天的晚上;
This is my daughter Laura, then 15, looking out of a tree boat. 这是我女儿罗拉,那时她15岁,正从树舟往外看。
She's, by the way , tied in with a rope so she can't fall. 顺便提一下,她身上帮着绳子,所以她不会掉下去。
by the way:顺便说一下;
Looking out of a tree boat in the morning and hearing birdsong coming in three dimensions around us. 在清晨向外望去,听着鸟儿的歌唱 全方位地围绕着我们。
birdsong:n.鸟鸣声; dimensions:n.规模,大小;
We had been visited in the night by flying squirrels , who don't seem to recognize humans for what they are because they've never seen them in the canopy before. 有时在夜晚一些鼯鼠会造访我们, 他们似乎不认得人类 因为他们从来没有在树冠上面见过人类。
squirrels:n.松鼠;v.代理经营;把…分解成;(squirrel的第三人称单数和复数) recognize:v.认识;认出;辨别出;承认;意识到;
And we practiced advanced techniques like sky-walking, where you can move from tree to tree through space, rather like Spiderman . 我们还练习了一些高级技巧,如“天空行走” 你可以在空中从一棵树走到另一棵树, 像蜘蛛侠一样。
advanced:adj.先进的; v.前进; (advance的过去式和过去分词形式) techniques:n.技巧;技艺;工艺;技术;(technique的复数) Spiderman:n.高空作业的建筑工人;
It became a writing project. 这变成了我的一个写作计划。
When Steve Sillett gets up into a big Redwood, he fires an arrow, which trails a fishing line , which gets over a branch in the tree, and then you ascend up a rope which has been dragged into the tree by the line. 当史蒂夫爬上一棵大红杉之后,他向外射出一箭, 箭上绑着鱼线,之后鱼线缠住了树上的一根树枝, 然后你可以爬上那根鱼线拖着的绳子,
trails:n.山径;踪迹(trail的复数)vt.拖尾(trail的第三人称单数); fishing line:n.钓丝; ascend:vi.上升;登高;追溯;vt.攀登,上升;
You ascend 30 stories. 直上30层楼高。
There are two people climbing this tree, Gaya, which is thought to be one of the oldest Redwoods. There they are. 有两个人正爬着这棵树——盖亚（Gaia,希腊神话中的大地女神）, 它被认为是最古老的红杉之一。那是他们两人。
They are only one-seventh of the way up that tree. 他们只到了树身的1/7处,
You do feel a sense of exposure . 你一定有一丝刺眼的感觉。
exposure:n.暴露;显露;揭露;面临;
There is a small person right down there on the ground. 就在下面有个小人。
You feel like you're climbing a wall of wood. 你会觉得你在爬一堵树墙,
But then you enter the Redwood canopy, and it's like coming through a layer of clouds. 然而你却来到了树冠层, 那感觉就像穿越一个云层。
layer:n.层,层次; vt.把…分层堆放; vi.形成或分成层次;
And all of a sudden , you lose sight of the ground, and you also lose sight of the sky, and you're in a three-dimensional labyrinth in the air filled with hanging gardens of ferns growing out of soil, which is populated with all kinds of small organisms . 突然之间,你再也看不见地面了, 天空也看不见了, 你身处于一个空中三维迷宫 里面悬着一丛丛由土壤长出来的蕨类植物, 而土里生活着各式各样的生物。
all of a sudden:突然地,出乎意料地; lose sight of:忽略;不再看见; ferns:n.蕨类;[植]蕨类植物(fern的复数形式); populated:v.生活于; organisms:n.[生物]生物体(organism的复数);[生物]有机体;
There are epiphytes , plants that grow on trees. 这是附生植物,一种长在树上的植物。
epiphytes:n.[植]附生植物(epiphyte的复数);
These are huckleberry bushes . 这些是越橘丛。
huckleberry:n.[植]黑果木;越橘类植物; bushes:n.灌木;荒野;林区;(bush的复数)
Many species of mosses , and then all sorts of lichens just plastering the tree. 很多种类的苔藓,还有各种的地衣贴在了树上。
mosses:n.[植]苔藓,藓类;[植]苔藓植物(moss的复数); lichens:n.[植]地衣(lichen的复数);地衣类;v.使长满地衣(lichen的三单形式); plastering:n.石膏工艺;灰泥墙面;v.涂以灰泥(plaster现在进行式);
When you get near the top of the tree, you feel like you can't fall -- in fact, it's difficult to move. 当你接近树顶的时候,你觉得你不可能掉下去—— 实际上,上面寸步难行。
You're worming your way through branches which are crowded with living things that don't occur near the ground. 你只能像虫子一样在茂密的树枝里慢慢向前蠕动 而树枝间充满了在地面上不会出现的生物。
worming:n.龟裂;虫的爬行动作;v.蠕动;爬行(worm的ing形式); occur:v.发生;出现;存在于;出现在;
It's like scuba diving into a coral reef , except you're going upward instead of downward . 这感觉就像潜入一个珊瑚礁, 只是你现在是向上走而不是向下潜。
scuba:n.水肺;水中呼吸器; diving:n.潜水;跳水;跳水运动;v.下潜;跳水;潜水;(dive的现在分词) coral:n.珊瑚;珊瑚虫;adj.珊瑚的;珊瑚色的; reef:礁,礁脉 downward:adj.下降的;向下的;adv.同"downwards";
And then the trees tend to flare out into platform-like areas at the top. 这些树会向外伸展,在顶部形成一个平台。
flare:vt.使闪耀; vi.闪耀,闪光; n.闪光,闪耀;
Maria's sitting on one of them. 玛丽亚坐在其中的一个上。
These limbs could be five to six hundred years old. 这些大树枝可能有五六百岁了。
limbs:n.[解剖]四肢(limb的复数);
Redwoods grow very slowly in their tops. 红杉的顶部生长得很慢。
They also have a feature: thickets of huckleberry bushes that grow out of the tops of Redwood trees that are technically known as huckleberry afros, and you can sit there and snack on the berries while you're resting. 他们还有另外一个特点:一簇簇的越橘丛 从红杉顶长出来, 我们专门称其为“越橘爆炸头”, 当你休息的时候,你可以坐在那,品尝这些浆果。
thickets:n.[林]灌木丛;丛林;错综复杂; grow out of:产生于;因长大而丢弃;长得太高大; snack:n.点心;小吃;快餐;易办到的事;v.吃点心(或快餐、小吃); berries:n.浆果;莓;(berry的复数)
Redwoods have an enormous surface area that extends upward into space because they have a propensity to do something called reiteration . 红杉树向外延伸的表面积很巨大 因为他们有我们称之为“横向生长”的倾向。
enormous:adj.庞大的,巨大的;凶暴的,极恶的; extends:v.使伸长;扩大;扩展;延长;使延期;(extend的第三人称单数) propensity:n.倾向,习性;癖好,偏爱; reiteration:n.重复;反复;重说;
A Redwood is a fractal . And as they put out limbs, the limbs burst into small trees, copies of the Redwood. 红杉是一种不规则的生物。随着他们的枝干向外伸展, 这些枝干会爆芽,长成小的红杉树。
fractal:n.不规则碎片形; burst into:闯入;情绪的突然发作;
Now, here we see a reiteration in Chronos , one of the older Redwoods. 现在我们看到的是一棵侧苗,它长在名为“克罗诺斯”（Cronus,希腊神话中的时间之神）这棵年长的红杉上。
Chronos:期;时间;
This reiteration is a huge flying buttress that comes out the tree itself. 这棵侧木像一个巨型飞拱 从这棵树里长出来。
flying buttress:n.飞扶壁;
This buttress is less than halfway up the tree. 这个树垛不到树身的一半。
And then it bursts into a forest of Redwoods. 然后它萌发出一片红杉林。
This particular extra trunk is a meter across at the base and extends upward for 150 feet. 这根特别的额外树干在它底座那有一米宽 向上伸至46米。
extra:adj.额外的:n.额外的事物:adv.额外:另外:
It's as big as any of the biggest trees east of the Mississippi River, and yet it's only a minor feature on Chronos. 它跟任何一株在密西西比河东岸最大的树一样高大, 却只是克罗诺斯上的一个小特征而已。
minor:adj.未成年的; n.未成年人; vi.副修;
This three-dimensional map of the crown structure of a Redwood named Iluvatar, made by Steve Sillett, Marie Antoine and their colleagues , gives you an idea. 这张是名为“伊卢瓦塔”（Illuvatar,托尔金魔戒三部曲中的众生之父）的红杉其树冠结构的三维图, 由史蒂夫,玛丽·安东尼,以及他们的同事绘制,它能让你更好理解一些。
structure:n.结构;构造;建筑物;vt.组织;构成;建造; colleagues:n.同事;同行(colleague的复数);
What you're seeing here is a hierarchical schematic development of the trunks of this tree as it has elaborated itself over time into six layers of fractal, of trunks springing from trunks springing from trunks. 你现在看到的是一个分层发展模式的示意图, 它展现了这棵树的树枝是怎样慢慢地长出六层复合树枝结构的, 以及树枝怎样从树枝中长出来。
hierarchical:adj.分层的;等级体系的; schematic:adj.图解的;概要的;n.原理图;图解视图; elaborated:详尽的; v.详细地说明(elaborate的过去式和过去分词); layers:n.层;表层;层次;阶层;v.把…分层堆放;(layer的第三人称单数和复数)
I asked Steve to put a human being in this to give a sense of scale . 我让史蒂夫将一个人放到那里好让大家感受一下它的大小.
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;
There's the person, right there. The person is waving to us. 那个人就在那。他在向我们招手。
I've wanted to ask Craig Venter if it would be possible to insert a synthetic chromosome into a human so that we could reiterate ourselves if we wanted to. 我曾想问克雷格·文特尔可不可以 将一条人工合成的染色体植入人体 好让我们能随心所欲地侧生。
Venter:n.腹部;腹面;母; synthetic:adj.综合的;合成的,人造的;n.合成物; chromosome:n.[遗][细胞][染料]染色体(形容词chromosomal,副词chromosomally); reiterate:vt.重申;反复地做;
And if we were able to reiterate, then the fingers of our hand would be people who look like us, and they would have people on their hands and so on. 如果我们能够做到的话,那么我们的手指 就可以长成像我们一样的人了, 而在他们的手指也会长出很多人,如此下去。
And if we had Redwood-like biology , we would have six layers of people on our hands, as it were . 又如果我们有红杉般的生理机制, 可以说,我们的手就能长出六层的人。
biology:n.(一个地区全部的)生物;生物学; as it were:可以说是,似乎就是;好像;
and it would be a lovely thing to be able to wave to someone and have all our reiterations wave at the same time . 如果能够让我们所有的手指上的人们同时向某人挥手的话 那将是多么可爱啊。
reiterations:n.反复;重复;重申;(英)[印]反面印刷; at the same time:同时;另一方面;与此同时;
(Laughter) (笑声)
To reiterate the point, let's go closer into Iluvatar. 重申一下这一点,让我们走近伊路瓦塔。
We're looking at that yellow box. 我们现在看到那个黄色的盒子。
And this hallucinatory drawing shows you -- everything you see in this drawing is Iluvatar. 这张幻觉般的图画向你展现—— 在这张图画里你看到的所有东西就是伊路瓦塔。
hallucinatory:adj.引起幻觉的;
These are millennial structures -- portions of the tree that are believed to be more than 1,000 years old. 这些是千年结构—— 那些被认为超过1000岁的部分。
millennial:adj.一千年的;千禧年的; structures:n.结构; v.建造(structure的第三人称单数形式); portions:n.部分; v.把…分成若干份(或部分); (portion的第三人称单数和复数)
There are four humans in this shot -- one, two, three, four. 在这张照片里有四个人——一,二,三,四。
And there's also something that I want to show you. 我还有一些东西给你们展示一下。
This is a flying buttress. 这是一个飞拱。
Redwoods grow back into themselves as they expand into space, and this flying buttress is a limb shot out of that small trunk, going back into the main trunk and fusing with it. 红杉向周围空间延伸的时候同时也向自身生长, 这个飞拱就是那根小树干长出的一根树枝, 它向主干生长,与之糅合。
expand:v.扩张;使膨胀;详述;发展;张开,展开; fusing:n.熔断,熔化; v.熔化;
Flying buttresses , just as in a cathedral , help strengthen the crown of the tree and help the tree exist longer through time. 这些飞拱,正如在一座大教堂里一样,强化了树冠 也让这些树活得更久。
buttresses:n.桥墩(buttress的复数); cathedral:n.大教堂;
The scientists are doing all kinds of experiments in these trees. 科学家在这些树上做着各种各样的实验。
They've wired them like patients in an ICU. 他们将树像重症护理病房的病人一样用铁丝环绕起来。
patients:n.接受治疗者,病人;(patient的复数)
They're finding out that Redwoods can move moisture out of the air and down into their trunks, possibly all the way into their root systems. 他们发现红杉可以吸收空气中的水分 至它们的树干里, 很有可能一路送到它们的根部系统。
moisture:n.水分;湿度;潮湿;降雨量;
They also have the ability to put roots anywhere in the tree itself. 他们还有能力将自己的根放到树内的任何地方。
If a portion of a Redwood is rotting, the Redwood will send roots into its own form and draw nutrients out of itself as it falls apart. 如果红杉有一部分在腐烂, 红杉就会将这些根收回体内 在它溃坏的同时吸收其营养。
nutrients:营养盐;[食品]营养素;
If we had Redwood-like biology, if we got a touch of gangrene in our arm then we could just, you know, extract the nutrients extract the nutrients and the moisture out of it until it fell off. 如果我们有红杉一般的生理机制,如果我们的手臂有某处坏死了 你知道,那么我们就可以, 吸收这部分的营养跟水分直至其脱落。
gangrene:n.[外科]坏疽;vi.生坏疽;腐败;vt.使生坏疽; extract:v.提取;取出;摘录;榨取;n.汁;摘录;榨出物;选粹;
Canopy soil can occur up to a meter deep, hundreds of feet above the ground, and there are organisms in this soil that have, as yet , no names. 树冠的泥土可以有一米厚, 离地面几百英尺,里面还有很多生物 至今为止都还没有名字。
as yet:至今仍;
This is an unnamed species of copapod. A copapod is a crustacean . 这是一个还没被命名的桡足类动物。桡足类动物属甲壳纲。
unnamed:adj.无名的;未命名的;未提及的; crustacean:adj.甲壳纲的;n.甲壳纲动物;
These copapods are a major constituent of the oceans, and they are a major part of the diet of grazing baleen whales. 这些桡足类是海洋里的一种主要动物, 他们也是须鲸的主要食粮。
constituent:n.构成要素;选民;成分;adj.组成的;构成的; grazing:n.牧场;草场;v."graze"的现在分词; baleen:n.鲸须;
What they're doing in the Redwood forest canopy soil hundreds of feet above the ocean, or how they got there, is completely unknown. 关于他们在离海洋几百英尺高的红杉林树冠的土壤里做着什么 或他们是怎么到达那里的, 我们完全不知道。
There are some interesting theories that, if I had time, I would tell you about. 有些有趣的理论 如果我有时间的话,我会告诉你们的。
But as you go and you look closer at a tree, what you see is, you see increasing complexity . 不过当你走近一棵树并仔细看看, 你看到的将越来越复杂。
complexity:n.复杂性;难以理解的局势
We're looking at the very top of Gaya, which is thought to be the oldest Redwood. 我们现在所看的是盖亚的树顶,它被认为是最古老的红杉。
Gaya may be 3,000 to 5,000 years old, no one really knows, but its top has been broken off and it's been rotting back now. 盖亚可能有3000到5000岁, 没有人真正知道,不过它的树顶曾经折断过 现在它在往内腐烂。
This little Japanese garden-like creation probably took 700 years to form in its complexity that we see right now. 这棵像是小型日本花园盆栽的树可能花了700年 才形成我们现在看到的复杂结构。
creation:n.创造,创作;创作物,产物;
As you look at a tree, it takes a magnifying glass to see a giant tree. 当你“看”一棵树时,你需要一副放大镜来真正“看到”一棵巨型树。
magnifying glass:n.放大镜;
I have to show you something unfortunately very sad at the conclusion of this talk. 在这个讲座快要结束的此刻 我要向你们展示一些不幸的东西。
at the conclusion of:在…终了时,当…完结时;
The Eastern Hemlock tree has often been described as the Redwood of the East. 加拿大铁杉经常被描述为“东方的红杉”。
Eastern:adj.东方的;向东的;东部的;东方国家的;n.东方人;东正教信徒; Hemlock:n.铁杉;毒芹属植物;毒胡萝卜; described:v.描述;形容;把…称为;做…运动;(describe的过去分词和过去式)
And we're moving a full circle now. 而我们现在正在一个完整的循环之中。
In the 1950s, a small organism appeared in Richmond , Virginia , called the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid. 20世纪50年代,一种小型生物出现在弗吉尼亚州的里士满, 它们被称作铁杉球蚜。
Richmond:n.里士满(美国弗吉尼亚首府); Virginia:adj.弗吉尼亚州的; Woolly:adj.羊毛的;模糊的;似羊毛的;n.羊;毛织衣服;
It made a trans-species jump out of some other organism in Asia, where it was living on Hemlock trees in Asia. 它们越过一些亚洲其它的物种, 之前它们生活在亚洲的铁杉树上。
When it moved into its new host, the Eastern Hemlock tree, it escaped its predators , and the new tree had no resistance to it. 当它们进驻它们新的宿主——加拿大铁杉, 它们避离了他们的天敌,而这种新树对其毫无抵抗力。
predators:n.捕食性动物;实行弱肉强食的人(或机构);掠夺者;(predator的复数) resistance:n.电阻;抵抗;阻力;抗力;
The Eastern Hemlock forest is being considered in some ways the last fragments of primeval rainforest east of the Mississippi River. 在某种程度上,加拿大铁杉树林被认为是 密西西比河东部原始雨林的最后一部分。
I hadn't even know that there were rainforests in the east, but in Great Smoky Mountains National Park it can rain up to 100 inches of rain a year. 我以前并不知道东部原来还有雨林, 不过在大烟山国家公园里 每年雨量可达到25400毫米。
Smoky:adj.冒烟的;烟熏味的;熏着的;呛人的;烟状的;
And in the last two to three summers, these invasive organisms, this kind of Ebola of the trees, as it were, has swept through the primeval Hemlock forest of the east, and has absolutely wiped it out. I climbed there this past summer. 而且在最近两到三个夏天里,这些侵略性生物, 有如扩散在树木中的“埃博拉病毒”, 已经横扫了东部整个的原始铁杉林, 使它们完全灭绝。去年夏天我去那里进行爬树之旅。
invasive:adj.侵略性的;攻击性的; Ebola:n.埃博拉病毒; swept:v.扫除(sweep的过去式和过去分词);adj.扫频的; absolutely:adv.绝对地;完全地;
This is Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the Hemlocks are dead as far as the eye can see. 这是大烟山国家公园, 而眼睛所及之处的铁杉均已死去。
Hemlocks:n.铁杉;毒芹;毒胡萝卜;毒胡萝卜精;(hemlock的复数) as far as:至于…;
And what we're seeing is not just the potential death of the Eastern Hemlock species -- that is to say, its extinction from nature due to this invading parasite -- 而且我们现在看着的并不仅仅是 加拿大铁杉灭绝的可能—— 换句话说,它们将灭绝于这种侵略性的寄生体——
potential:n.潜能;可能性;[电]电势;adj.潜在的;可能的;势的; extinction:n.绝种; invading:v.武装入侵;侵略;侵犯;涌入;干扰(invade的现在分词) parasite:n.寄生虫;食客;
but we're also seeing the death of an incredibly complex ecosystem for which these trees are merely the substrate for the aerial labyrinth of the sky that exists in their crowns . 我们看到的更是一个令人难以置信般复杂的生态系统的死去 因为这些树是一个基座, 一个支撑着那些长在树冠上空中生态迷宫的基座。
merely:adv.仅仅,只不过;只是; substrate:n.基质;基片;底层(等于substratum);酶作用物; aerial:adj.从飞机上的;空中的;空气中的;地表以上的;n.天线; crowns:n.王冠(crown的复数形式);v.使…成王(crown的第三人称单数形式);
It's absolutely heartbreaking to see. 看到这些实在是令人心碎。
heartbreaking:adj.令人心碎的;使人悲痛的;
One of the things that is just -- I almost can't conceive it -- is the idea that the national news media hasn't picked this up at all, and this is the devastation of one of the most important ecosystems in North America . 而有件事情我几乎无法理解—— 国家的新闻媒体居然对这毫不关心, 尽管这意味着北美最重要生态系统之一的毁灭。
conceive:v.想出;想象;构想;设想;怀孕; media:n.媒体;媒质(medium的复数);血管中层;浊塞音;中脉; devastation:n.毁坏,荒废; North America:n.北美洲;
What can the Redwoods tell us about ourselves? 红杉树又能告诉我们关于我们自己的什么呢？
Well, I think they can tell us something about human time. 我想,它们可以告诉我们一些关于人类时间的东西。
The flickering , transitory quality of human time and the brevity of human life -- the necessity to love. 人类时间的转瞬即逝 以及人类生命的短暂——它告诉我们爱的需要。
flickering:adj.扑动的; v.闪现; (flicker的现在分词) transitory:adj.短暂的,暂时的;瞬息的; brevity:n.简洁,简短;短暂,短促;
But we're different from trees, and they can also teach us something about ourselves in the differences that we have. 但我们跟树不一样,他们还教会我们 我们自己身上存在哪些不同点。
We are human, and we have the capacity to love, we have the capacity to wonder, and we have a sort of boundless curiosity , a restless inquisitiveness that so suits us as primates, I think. 我们是人类,我们可以爱, 我们可以询问,我们还有一种 无边的好奇心,以及永不休止的求知欲 我想,这些跟我们作为灵长类是多么匹配啊。
capacity:n.能力;容量;资格,地位;生产力; boundless:adj.无限的;无边无际的; curiosity:n.好奇,好奇心;珍品,古董,古玩; restless:adj.焦躁不安的;不安宁的;得不到满足的; inquisitiveness:n.好奇;爱打听别人隐私;
And at least for me, personally , the trees have taught me an entirely new way of loving my children. 而对我个人来说,这些树木至少教会了我 一种全新的去爱我的孩子的方式。
personally:adv.个人;亲自;本人;就本人而言;
Exploring with them the forest canopy has been one of the most lovely things of my existence on Earth. 与他们一起在树冠里探险 是我生命里最美好的事情之一。
Exploring:v.探索:考察:探查;(explore的现在分词)
And I think that one of the happiest things is the sense that with my children I've been able to introduce them to the very small circle of humans who are lucky enough, or possibly stupid enough, to still climb trees. 我又想,另外一件最快乐的事情,就是 我可以向他们介绍 这些十分幸运, 或者说,十分愚蠢的,仍在爬着树的人们。
Thank you very much. 非常感谢你们。
(Applause) （掌声）
Chris Anderson: I think at a previous TED, 克里斯·安德森:我想到了之前的一个TED讲座,
previous:adj.以前的;早先的;过早的;adv.在先;在…以前;
I think it was Nathan Myhrvold who told me that it was thought that because these trees are like, 2,000 years and older, and many of them are ecosystems that are species that are not found anywhere on the Earth except on that one tree. Is that correct? 我想那是纳森·梅尔沃德,他告诉我 这些树大概有2000岁或更老, 而很多棵树本身就是一个独特生态系统 里面有着无法在别处找到的物种, 除非在仅仅的那一棵红杉身上。是么？
Richard Preston : Yes, that is correct. I mentioned Hyperion, the world's tallest tree. 理查德·普雷斯顿:是的。我提到了亥帕龙神,这棵世界上最高的树。
Preston:n.(城)普雷斯顿;(男名)普雷斯顿;
And I was a member of a climbing team that made the first climb of it, in 2006. 在2006年,我是首个爬这棵树的攀登队的成员之一。
And while we were climbing Hyperion, Marie Antoine spotted an unknown species of golden-brown ant about halfway up the trunk. 当我们在爬亥帕龙神的时候,马莉·安东尼发现 一种未知的金棕蚁在树干的半腰处。
spotted:adj.有花点的;有斑点的;v.看见;看出;发现;让步;(spot的过去分词和过去式)
Ants are not known to occur in Redwood trees, curiously enough, and we wondered whether this ant, this species of ant, was only endemic to this one tree, or possibly to that grove. 据我们所知,蚁类不会出现在红杉树上,这很奇怪, 我们疑惑,是否这个蚂蚁,或这种蚂蚁, 只在这棵树或它所在的那个树丛里才特有。
endemic:adj.地方性的;风土的;n.地方病;
And in subsequent climbs they could never find that ant again, and so no specimens have ever been collected. 而在接下来的攀登中他们再也找不到那只蚂蚁了, 所以,我们没能收集到标本。
subsequent:adj.后来的,随后的; specimens:n.[试验]试样,[图情]样本(specimen的复数);
We don't know what it is -- we just know it's there. 我们不知道那是什么,我们只知道他们在那里。
CA: So, you have to wonder when, you know, if some other species than us was recording the stories that mattered on Earth, you know, our stories are about Iraq and war and politics and celebrity gossip . CA:那么,我们需要询问的是 是否有着其它一些物种在记录着地球上那些重要的故事, 正如你知道的,对于我们的故事,那就是伊拉克和战争和政治,以及关于名人的闲话。
politics:n.政治;钩心斗角;政治观点;v.(贬)从事政治活动;(politic的第三人称单数) celebrity:n.名人;名声; gossip:n.流言蜚语;闲聊;喜欢传播流言蜚语的人;v.传播流言蜚语;说三道四;
You've just told us a different story of this tragic arms race that's happening, and maybe whole ecosystems gone forever. 你刚才告诉了我们一个与众不同的故事,如果这些可悲的军备竞赛继续下去, 那么地球所有的生态系统都会永远毁灭。
tragic:adj.悲剧的;悲痛的,不幸的; arms race:n.军备竞赛;
It's an amazing sense of wonder you've given me, and a sense of just how fragile this whole thing is. 你给了我一种惊异的感觉, 并让我了解到了这整个系统是多么的脆弱。
fragile:adj.脆的;易碎的;
RP: It is fragile, and you know, I think about emerging human diseases -- parasites that move into the human species. RP:她是脆弱的,你知道,我想到了新兴的人类疾病—— 那些能感染人类的寄生生物。
emerging:adj.新兴的;v.出现,浮现,露出;暴露;(emerge的现在分词) parasites:n.[基医]寄生虫;[生物]寄生生物(parasite的复数);
But that's just a very small facet of a much greater problem of invasions of species worldwide , all through the ecosystems, and you know, the Earth itself -- 但相对于全世界各个生态系统的物种入侵这个更大的问题来说, 那只是很小的一个方面, 你知道,地球本身——
facet:n.面;方面;小平面;vt.在…上琢面; invasions:n.武装入侵;侵略;侵犯;涌入;干预;(invasion的复数) worldwide:adj.全世界的;adv.在世界各地;
CA: Partly caused by us, inadvertently . CA:部分原因是我们造成的,并且是无意的。
inadvertently:adj.非故意地,无心地;
RP: Caused by humans. Caused by the movement of humans. RP:因人类而起,因人类的行为而起。
You can think of the Earth's biosphere as a palace, and the continents are rooms in the palace, and the islands are small rooms. 你可以联想一下,地球的生物圈是一个宫殿, 而各大陆是宫殿里的房间, 岛屿则是其中小房间。
biosphere:n.生物圈; continents:n.[地理]大陆,大洲(continent复数);
But lately, the doors of the palace have been flung open, and the walls are coming down. 可是最近,这个宫殿内的门被猛然甩开, 里面的墙也正在坍塌。
flung:vt.挥动(fling的过去式及过去分词形式);
CA: Richard Preston, thank you very much, I think. CA:理查德·雷斯顿,非常感谢。
RP: Thank you. RP:谢谢。