加拉帕戈斯群岛（2006）（2）

The Galapagos was the perfect base
在此地袭击南美来的西班牙货船非常有利
for raids on Spanish galleons carrying gold from South America
但是抢劫对加拉帕戈斯来说并不新鲜
But piracy is nothing new to Galapagos
军舰鸟正寻找目标实施抢劫
frigatebirds looking for plunder
在这些悬崖峭壁上是数以千计的鸟巢
In these cliffs are the nests of hundreds of thousands of seabirds
这么多鸟儿聚集在一起，很快争端开始出现
With so much traffic, it’s not long before something gets into trouble
这是一只海燕
A storm petrel
又一只军舰鸟飞过来
But another frigate is in there like a shot
然后又一只
and another
两只，三只白头鸟
two, three white headed juveniles
它们一起袭击黑头鸟
They harried the all black male
逼着它丢弃嘴里叼着的燕子
forcing it to drop the petrel
军舰鸟名声很坏，但并不完全因为它们就想要这么干
Frigates have a fearsome reputation but the odds are not all in their favor
如果它们自己入海捕食的话，长翅膀就会沾上过多的水
If they ditch in the sea their long wings can get critically waterlogged
每一次入海捕食，都有淹死的危险
With every swoop, they risk drowning
在军舰鸟的领地里，雄鸟一个个都鼓起了红色喉囊
In the colony, the males inflate their extraordinary red-throat pouches
它们想要吸引正在天上飞的雌鸟
They are trying to be irresistible to females passing overhead
它得手了！
He’s got one
雌鸟很快住了进来，整理起雄鸟的巢
She soon settles in and tidies up his nest
雄鸟则非常小心地看着
He watches over her very carefully
毕竟周围都是做强盗的鸟
After all, he is surrounded by pirates
另一支雄鸟想来抢夺
Another male tries to muscle in
现在雌鸟加入了
Now she joins in
雌鸟已经做出选择，它帮助雄鸟驱逐外来者
She’s already made her choice and helps drive the newcomer away
它的搭档没有浪费时间
Her partner wastes no more time
等完事后，雌鸟就把头靠在舒适的“枕头”上轻松一下
And when it’s all over she gets a rest on a comfortable pillow
与世隔绝，这里正是海盗们寻找安宁的理想所在
Hidden away from the rest of the world this is a place for pirates to find peace
第二波来加拉帕戈斯的人，不是为了掠夺过往的船只
The next wave of people came to Galapagos not to plunder passing ships
而是为了掠夺岛屿本身的财富
but for the riches of the islands themselves
在偏西方向
In the far west
克伦威尔潜流与巨大的洋流碰撞，从而变成一股上升流 从深海带来了新的潮流
the deep Cromwell current collides with the massive islands and rises bringing nutrients from the abyss deep
这里是赤道附近的海洋里物产最丰富的地方之一
These are some of the richest seas on the equator
但是，并非这些鱼吸引了这些人前来此地
But it wasn’t fish that draw people to these waters
这是抹香鲸
A sperm whale
它们可以潜入三千多米深的海底去捕食鱿鱼
They dive to over 3,000 feet for squid
那里深的连赤道上阳光也无法照下去
It’s so deep even the equatorial sun is completely shut out
所以，抹香鲸用回声定位的方法来捕食
So they find their food via echo-location
它们如今受到了保护
Today, they are protected
在我们眼里是美丽的巨大生物
We see them as beautiful giants
但在不久以前，情况却大为不同
But not so long ago, the view was very different
它们被当作怪物，遭到想要牟利的人猎杀
These were monsters to be killed for profit
是“鲸油热”和“海中怪兽”搏斗的故事
It was the rush for whale oil and stories of battles with Levithians of the deep
引起了全世界对加拉帕戈斯群岛的广泛关注
that brought the Galapagos to the attention of the world at large
但岛屿被发现后，付出代价的并不仅仅只有鲸
But it wasn’t just the whales that were paying the price of discovering
有一样东西，海盗和捕鲸者都想得到
There was one thing that pirates and whalers all wanted –
新鲜食物
fresh food
脂肪含量丰富，体型又巨大，使得龟成为船上最好的供给
Their rich fat, their giant size made tortoises perfect for the ship’s larder
在两百年内，有超过二十万只被掠走
In 200 years over 200,000 were taken
在一些岛上，龟已经销声匿迹了
On some islands tortoises were completely wiped out
悲中有喜的是
But out of the tragedy came some good
随着更多的人来到加拉帕戈斯
As more people came to Galapagos
岛屿的位置开始变得更清楚
a clearer picture of the islands began to appear
每一座岛屿都取了名字
Each got its own name
一些地方仍然被认为是非常可怕的
Some parts were still deemed infernal
另一些地方则用于抛锚
But others had sheltered places to anchor
或者提供修船的关键原料，木材
or a few trees – vital timber for repairing ships
尽管仍然被认为被施了魔法，但地图上的轮廓已经越来越清楚
Though still enchanted, the islands took on more recognizable shapes,
所标注的位置也越来越精确了
More accurately fixed on a map
是该了解这些岛屿了
It was a start of coming to understand them
当雄伟的贝格尔号♥于1835年9月15号♥抵达加拉帕戈斯的时候
When His Majesty’s Ship Beagle reached the Galapagos on the 15, Sep. 1835
这是他返程前最后一分钟的停留
It was a last minute stop before a long journey home
这艘给南美洲绘制地图的船，已经在海上航行了三年多
She had been charting the coast of south America for more than 3 years
现在还有五星期的时间
She now had just 5 weeks
来给这些不为人知的岛屿绘制一张精确的现代地图
to make a modern and accurate map of this little known outpost
但这次并非又一次普普通通的着陆
But this was much more than just another landfall
历史的进程将因此而改变
It was to change the course of history
在船上是博物学家查尔斯·达尔文
On board, was naturalist Charles Darwin
不是我们熟悉的那个睿智、蓄着花白大胡子的达尔文
not the wise, grey beareded Darwin we know so well
而是年轻、敏感、才26岁的达尔文
but young, impressionable, just 26
他起初看到这个地方，让人望而却步
At first, he saw the place much as those before him. Nothing could be less inviting
没有什么比这更荒凉、更可怕的了
Nothing more rough and horrid
漆黑的岩石，被悬在正空的太阳晒的滚烫 空气因此也变得无比地闷热
The black rocks heated by the rays of the vertical sun give to the air a closer sultry feeling
如同烤炉一样
like a stove
但很快，他就有所发现
But he soon began to see more
他脚下坚硬的地面仿佛昨天才刚形成
The very ground on which he was walking seemed solidified only yesterday
像是大海在最汹涌澎湃的时候凝固了
It looks like the sea petrified in its most boisterous moments
在贝格尔号♥，他一直埋头
On the Beagle, his head had been buried in
在读一本浮游争议的新书，《地质学原理》
a new and controversial book, called ‘Principles of Geology’
这本书描述了物质世界在自然力的作用下 永远处在不断的变化中
which described a physical world constantly changing molded by nature’s forces
就在几星期前，在南美洲他遇到了一场地震
And just weeks before, in South America he had been caught in an earthquake
他所读的和所经历的激发了他的灵感
Inspired by what he had read and experienced
年轻而富有想象力的心灵激发了他的热情
fired up by a young and fertile mind
他看到了一个完全不同的加拉帕戈斯
He was opening his eyes to a very different Galapagos
在别人认为是一个阴森可怕，一成不变的地方
Where others had seen it as hellish, ancient and unchanging
查尔斯·达尔文却看到了一个全新的世界
Charles Darwin saw a brand-new land
这个世界就是由一种至今仍然活跃着的力量所创造
made fresh from the depths of the ocean by forces still very alive today
在他脚下
right beneath him
他是对的
He was right.
在西边，费尔南迪纳岛的正下面是一个火山热点
In the west, right under the island of Fernandina is a volcanic hotspot
在这里，岛屿一个接一个地诞生
Here, constantly, islands are being born
但他没有看到的是，当岛屿诞生之后
But what he couldn’t see was that as each island is created,
它们就在漂移的大洋板块上被送离火山热点
it is carried off that hotspot on shifting oceanic plates
犹如被放置在传输带上
as though on a conveyer belt
岛屿在缓慢地移♥动♥，每年几英寸
They move slowly, a couple of inches a year
但在地质学上，这种速度是相当惊人的
But in geological terms, that is staggeringly fast
从达尔文发现时到现在，它们已经向东南方向移♥动♥了35英尺
Since Darwin saw them, they have now moved about 35 feet further to the southeast
当贝格尔号♥按计划穿过加拉帕戈斯群岛时
As HMS Beagle moved methodically through the archipelago
达尔文不知道这些，它们正在绘制地图的岛屿正在移♥动♥
Darwin had no idea that the islands they were mapping were moving
他也不知道这种移♥动♥多么重要
or how important that movement was
随着岛屿不断地移♥动♥，它们也发生了变化
As the islands go on their journey, they change
它们变得不再那样地可怕
They become a touch less infernal
一些开始出现绿色，另一些变得平坦而干燥
Some turn green. Others become flat and dry
每座岛屿都随着稍有温差的洋流漂移
Each is also carried into a slightly different mix of ocean currents
英尺每座岛屿都各有稍异的气候
and so gets a slightly different climate
结果是每座岛屿都拥有了独一无二的特点
The result is that each island ends up with its own unique character
贝格尔号♥经过一座最遥远的岛屿，原来也是最独特的
One of the most remote islands the Beagle passed is also the most unusual
在遥远的东北方向是热诺维萨岛
In the far northeast is Genovesa
岛上熔岩覆盖，偏僻而荒芜
remote, barren, lava-clad
有上百万只海鸟在此筑巢
and home to a million seabirds
这些鸟在遥远的太平洋上觅食
The birds forage far out in the Pacific Ocean
但是每天在躲过军舰鸟的四面夹击后
but every day once they run the gauntlet of frigate birds
它们便返回到碎石堆，回到它们的巢穴
they return to this battered rock, to their nests
在悬崖峭壁的后面
Behind the cliff
适当的熔岩冷却到适当的温度
just the right type of lava has cooled in just the right way
正好形成一座由无数狭小的隧♥道♥和裂缝组成的迷宫
to form a labyrinth of tiny tubes and cracks
其大小刚好能让加拉帕戈斯海燕钻进来
into the perfect size for Galapagos storm petrels
没有人知道它们是怎样知道哪一个石缝是它们的巢
Nobody knows how they find which crack is theirs
当它们往地面俯冲之后，便开始逆风飞行
But as they swoop over the ground they turn upwind
看起来它们是嗅着气味回家的
so it’s thought they smell their way home
不管是怎样找到回家的路，这都已经是奇迹了
However they find their way it’s a miracle
一路从东太平洋的中部飞回到一只小小的蛋所在的地方
From the middle of the Pacific to a single tiny egg
但是，也就是现在，是它们最容易受到攻击的时候
But it’s just now that they are most vulnerable
这是一只短耳猫头鹰
A short-eared owl
海燕在空中的飞行速度很快
The petrels are too quick in the air
猫头鹰体型由于太大，无法一路追踪到海燕狭窄的洞穴里面
and the owl too big to follow them deep inside their tiny tunnels
所以猫头鹰的办法是，在海燕进出洞穴的时候出击
So its best chance is to grab a bird coming in or out
首先，猫头鹰用它锐利的眼光观察到一个活动的洞穴的入口
First, it uses its sharp eyesight to spot an entrance to an active burrow
它并不马上追踪海燕，而是飞到海燕洞穴的外面
It doesn’t go for a petrel straight away but positions itself just outside
它像猫一样，悄悄地接近猎物
It creeps closer, more cat than owl
它全神贯注
It listens
海燕飞走了