演講MP3+雙語文稿:探索那些迷人又危險的地方

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聽力課堂TED音頻欄目主要包括TED演講的音頻MP3及中英雙語文稿，供各位英語愛好者學(xué)習(xí)使用。本文主要內(nèi)容為演講MP3+雙語文稿:探索那些迷人又危險的地方，希望你會喜歡！

【演講者及介紹】Ella Al-Shamahi

Ella Al-Shamahi古人類學(xué)家，擅長在不穩(wěn)定、敵對和有爭議的地區(qū)的洞穴中尋找化石。在她的業(yè)余時間，她是一個單口相聲演員。

【演講主題】科學(xué)家們沒有探索的迷人又危險的地方

【中英文字幕】

翻譯者 Yu Xie 校對者 JingdanNiu

00：12

So I've got something that I'm slightlyembarrassed to admit to. At the age of 17, as a creationist, I decided to go touniversity to study evolution so that I could destroy it.

我有一些不太想承認(rèn)的尷尬的事情。在17歲的時候，作為一名發(fā)明家，我決定去大學(xué)學(xué)習(xí)進(jìn)化論，這樣我就可以毀滅掉它。

00：26

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

00：28

I failed. I failed so spectacularly thatI'm now an evolutionary biologist.

如你們所見，我失敗了。我失敗得徹徹底底，現(xiàn)在更是成為了一名進(jìn)化生物學(xué)家。

00:33

(Applause)

（掌聲）

00:36

So I'm a paleoanthropologist, I'm aNational Geographic Explorer specializing in fossil hunting in caves inunstable, hostile and disputed territories. And we all know that if I was a guyand not a girl, that wouldn't be a job description, that would be a pick-upline.

我現(xiàn)在是一名古人類學(xué)研究者，也是一名國家地理探索者，專攻那些掩埋在山洞以及不穩(wěn)定、有爭議地區(qū)里的化石。我們都知道，如果我是一個男性而不是女性的話，以上內(nèi)容就不是一份職業(yè)簡述，而是一種炫耀的談資。

00:52

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

00:54

Now, here's the thing. I do not have adeath wish. I'm not an adrenaline junkie. I just looked at a map.

有件事我需要澄清一下，我并沒有一顆冒險的熱血之心。我并不是癡迷于腎上腺素。我只是會查看地圖。

01:02

See, frontline exploratory science does nothappen as much in politically unstable territories. Now I'm going to go out ona limb here and say that it is a tragedy if we're not doing frontlineexploratory science in a huge portion of the planet. And so science has ageography problem.

開創(chuàng)性的探索科學(xué)并沒有那么多，尤其是在一個政局動蕩的地區(qū)上?，F(xiàn)在我正在這里一個分支上做著探索，并且認(rèn)為如果我們在如此廣袤的星球上沒有做任何前沿科學(xué)的探索，這絕對是一種悲劇。所以，對于學(xué)科的探索而言，地理因素成了一個問題。

01:32

And so as an undergraduate, I wasrepeatedly told that humans, be they ourselves, homo sapiens, or earlierspecies, that we left Africa via the Sinai of Egypt.

當(dāng)我還是本科生的時候，我就被反復(fù)告知人類、智人甚至是更早的人種，都是通過埃及的西奈半島離開的非洲。

02:00

I'm English, as you can probably tell frommy accent, but I am actually of Arab heritage, and I always say that I'm very,very Arab on the outside. You know, I can really be passionate. Like,"You're amazing! I love you!" But on the inside, I'm really English,so everybody irritates me.

你們也許能從我的口音中聽出我是英國人，但實際上，我的祖先來自阿拉伯，我總是不耐其煩地說在外表上我真的很像阿拉伯人。我可以非常的熱情，比如，“你真棒！我愛死你了！”但是在內(nèi)里，我又十分像英國人，所以每個人都在令我煩躁。

02:15

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

02:20

It's true. And the thing is, my family areArab from Yemen, and I knew that that channel, Bab-el-Mandeb, is not that muchof a feat to cross. And I kept asking myself this really simple question: ifthe ancestors to New World monkeys could somehow cross the Atlantic Ocean, whycouldn't humans cross that tiny stretch of water? But the thing is, Yemen,compared to, let's say, Europe, was so understudied that it was something akinto near virgin territory. But that, along with its location, made the sheerpotential for discovery so exciting, and I had so many questions. When did wefirst start using Bab-el-Mandeb? But also, which species of human besidesourselves made it to Yemen? Might we find a species as yet unknown to science?And it turned out, I wasn't the only one who had noticed Yemen's potential.There was actually a few other academics out there. But sadly, due to politicalinstability, they moved out, and so I moved in. And I was looking for caves:caves because caves are the original prime real estate. But also because ifyou're looking for fossils in that kind of heat, your best bet for fossilpreservation is always going to be caves.

這些都是實話。事實上，我的家人是從也門到達(dá)的阿拉伯。我也知道那一條路，巴布-埃爾-阿姆德布, 并不是很難跨越的。我以前也總是在自問一個很簡單的問題：如果新大陸猴子的祖先都能夠用某種方法穿越大西洋，那為什么人類不能越過那一小段水？但問題是，相比于歐洲，我們并沒有對也門做過充分的研究，也就相當(dāng)于這是一次對于處女地的探索。但是加上它的地理位置，這將是一場純粹的探索之旅，太令人激動了，為此我內(nèi)心充滿了許多問題。我們是什么時候第一次開始使用巴布-埃爾-阿姆德布這一條路的？另外，除了我們之外，還有哪些人種去了也門？我們會找到還未發(fā)現(xiàn)的新人種嗎？并且最后證明了，我并不是唯一一個注意到也門研究潛力的人。還有其他的學(xué)者也在關(guān)注這個地區(qū)。但不幸的是，由于政局動蕩，他們退出了研究，于是我進(jìn)去了。我在尋找洞穴，因為洞穴是最原始的居住地。而且如果當(dāng)你在如此炎熱的天氣下去尋找化石，洞穴是化石出現(xiàn)概率最高的地方。

03:48

But then, Yemen took a really sad turn forthe worse, and just a few days before I was due to fly out to Yemen, the civilwar escalated into a regional conflict, the capital's airport was bombed andYemen became a no-fly zone.

但接著，就在我計劃飛去也門的前幾天，也門局勢急劇變糟，內(nèi)戰(zhàn)升級為地區(qū)沖突，首都機(jī)場被炸。

04:08

Now, my parents made this decision before Iwas born: that I would be born British. I had nothing to do with the bestdecision of my life. And now ... Now the lucky ones in my family have escaped,and the others, the others are being been bombed and send you WhatsApp messagesthat make you detest your very existence. This war's been going on for fouryears. It's been going on for over four years, and it has led to a humanitariancrisis. There is a famine there, a man-made famine. That's a man-made famine,so not a natural famine, an entirely man-made famine that the UN has warnedcould be the worst famine the world has seen in a hundred years. This war hasmade it clear to me more than ever that no place, no people deserve to get leftbehind.

我的父母在我未出生前便做出了一個決定：我必須在英國出生，成為一名英國人。這一個我一生中最好的決定，其實和我沒有太大關(guān)系。但是現(xiàn)在……我的家族中有幸存者逃了出來，而其他人就處在被隨時炸死的危境下，給你發(fā)來一條讓你對自己的存在感到厭惡的消息。這場戰(zhàn)爭持續(xù)了4年，并將再持續(xù)四年，而且引出了人道主義危機(jī)。也門出現(xiàn)了饑荒，一場人為制造的饑荒。這是一場人為制造而非自然的饑荒，是一場完全由人類制造的災(zāi)難，聯(lián)合國已經(jīng)發(fā)出警告，這場饑荒將可能成為近百年來最惡劣的一次。而這場戰(zhàn)爭讓我前所未有的看得清清楚楚，沒有任何一個地區(qū)、任何一個人應(yīng)該被遺忘。

05:13

And so I was joining these other teams, andI was forming new collaborations in other unstable places. But I was desperateto get back into Yemen, because for me, Yemen's really personal. And so I kepttrying to think of a project I could do in Yemen that would help highlight whatwas going on there. And every idea I had just kept failing, or it was just toohigh-risk, because let's be honest, most of Yemen is just too dangerous for aWestern team.

于是我加入了一些團(tuán)隊，并在一些不穩(wěn)定的地區(qū)組建了新的合作。但是我仍渴望回到也門，我對于也門有著非常強(qiáng)烈的個人情感。我一直在思考著能在也門做些什么，在思考一個能夠讓公眾知道也門的現(xiàn)狀的項目。我計劃了很多，但是總在失敗，有的是因為太過于危險。因為誠實地說，對于一支西方的研究團(tuán)隊而言，也門基本上沒有一個安全的地方。

05:47

But then I was told that Socotra, a Yemeniisland, was safe once you got there. In fact, it turned out there was a fewlocal and international academics that were still working there. And that gotme really excited, because look at Socotra's proximity to Africa. And yet wehave no idea when humans arrived on that island. But Socotra, for those of youwho know it, well, let's just say you probably know it for a completelydifferent reason. You probably know it as the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean,because it is one of the most biodiverse places on this earth. But we were alsogetting information that this incredibly delicate environment and its peoplewere under threat because they were at the frontline of both Middle Easternpolitics and climate change. And it slowly dawned on me that Socotra was myYemen project.

但是突然，我被告知一個也門的島嶼，索科特拉島，只要你去了，就會發(fā)現(xiàn)那里是安全的。后來我發(fā)現(xiàn)，在這座島上，有一些當(dāng)?shù)匾约皣H的研究機(jī)構(gòu)仍在工作。這讓我感到非常激動，因為請看一下，索科特拉島與非洲的距離有多近！那時我們對于人類登陸那座島嶼的時間毫無頭緒。但是索科特拉島，你們中的一部分也許知道，但是是出于完全不同的原因。你們也許是通過印度洋加拉帕戈斯而知道的，也許是因為作為地球上生物多樣性最復(fù)雜的地區(qū)之一而知道的它。但我們在越來越多的信息中發(fā)現(xiàn)，這個地區(qū)以及生活在其中的人們實際上處于中東政局，以及氣候變化的危險前線。這些認(rèn)知讓索科特拉島成為了我也門項目的研究重點(diǎn)。

06:52

And so I wanted to put together a hugemultidisciplinary team. We wanted to cross the archipelago on foot, camel anddhow boat to conduct a health check of this place. This has only been attemptedonce before, and it was in 1999. But the thing is, that is not an easy thing topull off. And so we desperately needed a recce, and for those of you who aren'tfamiliar with British English, a recce is like a scouting expedition. It's likea reconnaissance. And I often say that a really big expedition without a recceis a bit like a first date without a Facebook stalk.

因此，我想組建起一支龐大的多學(xué)科協(xié)作的團(tuán)隊。我們想通過步行、駱駝和獨(dú)桅帆船等方式穿越這些群島，對這個地方進(jìn)行完整的檢查。而這項舉措僅僅在1999年實行過一次。這并不是一件容易完成的事情。我們非常需要一個勘察報告，讓我先來為并不熟悉英式英語的觀眾們解釋一下，recce就像是探險考察，或者說是偵察。我認(rèn)為一個沒有偵察人員的大型考察跟第一次約會前沒有悄悄看過對方臉書一樣。

07:31

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

07:32

Like, it's doable, but is it wise?

也就是說，這樣雖然是可以的，但是這是明智的嗎？

07:35

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

07:39

There's a few too many knowing laughs inthis room.

這些笑聲里夾雜著一些已然明了的聲音。

07:42

Anyway, so then our recce team thankfullywere no strangers to unstable places, which, let's be honest, is kind ofimportant because we were trying to get to a place between Yemen and Somalia,And after calling in what felt like a million favors, including to the deputygovernor, we finally found ourselves on the move, albeit on a wooden cementcargo ship sailing through pirate waters in the Indian Ocean with this as a toilet.

慶幸的是，我們的勘察部隊對于不安定的地區(qū)非常熟悉，老實說，因為我們要抵達(dá)也門與索馬里亞中間的地區(qū)，這一點(diǎn)就凸現(xiàn)得尤為重要。在募集了包括副省長在內(nèi)的一百萬次援助后，我們終于踏上了探索之路，盡管用的是一艘穿行在印度洋海盜水域的，拿這個當(dāng)作廁所的用木頭鞏固過的貨船。

08:14

And also, I genuinely discovered that I amgenuinely less stressed by pirate waters than I am with a cockroach infestationthat was so intense that at one point I went belowdeck, and the floor was blackand it was moving.

并且，我發(fā)現(xiàn)在海盜水域中相比于我身處 的蟑螂成災(zāi)時候的，那種強(qiáng)烈的刺激，那種當(dāng)我在甲板下，地板又黑并且還在移動的情況下，更加放松。

08:54

(Audience moans)

（觀眾驚訝惋惜的聲音）

09:32

So we were sailing on that cement cargoship for three days, and then we slowly started seeing land. And after threeyears of failing, I was finally seeing Yemen.

我們在船上又航行了三天，才慢慢地看到了陸地。在經(jīng)歷了三年的失敗，我終于真實地看到了也門。

09:46

And there is no feeling on earth like thatstart of an expedition. It's this moment where you jump out of a jeep or youlook up from a boat and you know that there's this possibility, it's small butit's still there, that you're about to find something that could add to orchange our knowledge of who we are and where we come from. There is no feelinglike it on earth, and it's a feeling that so many scientists have but rarely inpolitically unstable places. Because Western scientists are discouraged orall-out barred from working in unstable places.

開始探索的心情是無法形容的。就像是你從吉普車上跳下來或者說你從船上往上看的時候內(nèi)心中相信著有那么一種可能性，盡管渺小但是存在，你就要找到能夠增加甚至改變?nèi)藗儗τ谧晕乙约白嫦鹊恼J(rèn)識的一些東西。這種心情無法比擬。很多科學(xué)家都有這樣的體驗，但在政局動蕩的地區(qū)中幾乎沒有。因為西方科學(xué)家不被鼓勵，甚至被禁止在不穩(wěn)定的地區(qū)進(jìn)行工作。

10:28

But here's the thing: scientists specializein the jungle. Scientists work in deep cave systems. Scientists attachthemselves to rockets and blow themselves into outer space. But apparently,working in an unstable place is deemed too high-risk. It is completelyarbitrary. Who here in this room wasn't brought up on adventure stories? And mostof our heroes were actually scientists and academics. Science was about goingout into the unknown. It was about truly global exploration, even if there wererisks. And so when did it become acceptable to make it difficult for science tohappen in unstable places?

但是，有一點(diǎn)需要注意的是：研究叢林的科學(xué)家，研究深洞穴的科學(xué)家，獻(xiàn)身于火箭以及載人火箭的科學(xué)家怎么辦呢？但顯然，在不穩(wěn)定的地區(qū)工作被認(rèn)為是高度危險的。這是一種武斷的想法。在座的各位有誰沒在各式各樣的冒險故事中成長的嗎？絕大多數(shù)的英雄其實都是科學(xué)家和學(xué)者。科學(xué)在于探索未知，在于全球性的探索，盡管危機(jī)重重。那從何時起這種科學(xué)不能在不穩(wěn)定地區(qū)開展的觀念深入人心的呢？

11:17

And look, I'm not saying that all scientistsshould go off and start working in unstable places. This isn't some gung-hocall. But here's the thing: for those who have done the research, understandsecurity protocol and are trained, stop stopping those who want to. Plus, justbecause one part of a country is an active war zone doesn't mean the wholecountry is. I'm not saying we should go into active war zones. But IraqiKurdistan looks very different from Fallujah.

我并不是說所有的科學(xué)家都應(yīng)該外出到危險的地方進(jìn)行探索研究。這并不是什么狂熱的的號召。但事情是這樣：對于那些完成了自己的研究，并清楚安全規(guī)定，接受了專業(yè)訓(xùn)練的研究者，要讓他們停止去阻止想要參與研究的人。加上，一個國家的某些地區(qū)正處于戰(zhàn)時狀態(tài)，并不能代表整個國家的形勢。我并不是在提倡我們應(yīng)該進(jìn)入那些戰(zhàn)區(qū)。但是伊拉克庫迪斯坦的情況與費(fèi)盧杰的情況完全不同。

11:52

And actually, a few months after I couldn'tget into Yemen, another team adopted me. So Professor Graeme Barker's team wereactually working in Iraqi Kurdistan, and they were digging up Shanidar Cave.Now, Shanidar Cave a few decades earlier had unveiled a Neanderthal known asShanidar 1. Now, for a BBC/PBS TV series we actually brought Shanidar 1 tolife, and I want you guys to meet Ned, Ned the Neanderthal. Now here's thecoolest thing about Ned. See, it turned out that Ned was severely disabled. Hewas in fact so disabled that there is no way he could have survived without thehelp of other Neanderthals. And so this was proof that, at least for thispopulation of Neanderthals at this time, Neanderthals were like us, and theysometimes looked after those who couldn't look after themselves.

實際上，經(jīng)歷了好幾個月，我仍沒有進(jìn)入也門，而是另外一個團(tuán)隊接納了我。格雷姆·巴克教授的團(tuán)隊其實研究的是伊拉克庫迪斯坦地區(qū)，他們那時正在挖掘沙尼達(dá)爾的洞穴。在距今幾十年前，研究人員從沙尼達(dá)爾洞穴中發(fā)現(xiàn)了尼安德特人種，命名為沙尼達(dá)爾一號（Shanidar 1）。通過BBC/PBS的電視系列節(jié)目，我們才將沙尼達(dá)爾一號公布于眾在這里我想將這位尼安德特人，即內(nèi)德（Ned）介紹給你們。接下來是關(guān)于內(nèi)德最酷的一點(diǎn)。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)內(nèi)德其實受了重傷。如果沒有其他尼安德特人的幫助，他所受的傷則是致命的。而這一發(fā)現(xiàn)也就證明了，至少對于那個時期的尼安德特人，他們與現(xiàn)在的我們很像，他們會幫助那些沒有自理能力的同類。

12:58

Ned's an Iraqi Neanderthal. So what elseare we missing? What incredible scientific discoveries are we not makingbecause we're not looking? And by the way, these places, they deservenarratives of hope, and science and exploration can be a part of that. In fact,I would argue that it can tangibly aid development, and these discoveriesbecome a huge source of local pride.

內(nèi)德是一名來自伊拉克的尼安德特人。那我們還漏了什么信息呢？有什么重要的科學(xué)發(fā)現(xiàn)因為我們無意尋找而錯過呢？順便一提，這些地方是值得被賦予希望的，是值得被探索與研究的。其實我認(rèn)為對于這些地方的考查研究有助于當(dāng)?shù)氐陌l(fā)展，這些發(fā)現(xiàn)能夠成為當(dāng)?shù)刈院栏械脑慈?/p>

13:25

And that brings me to the second reason whyscience has a geography problem. See, we don't empower local academics, do we?Like, it's not lost on me that in my particular field of paleoanthropology westudy human origins, but we have so few diverse scientists. And the thing is,these places are full of students and academics who are desperate tocollaborate, and the truth is that for them, they have fewer security issuesthan us. I think we constantly forget that for them it's not a hostileenvironment; for them it's home. I'm telling you, research done in unstableplaces with local collaborators can lead to incredible discoveries, and that iswhat we are hoping upon hope to do in Socotra.

同時這一發(fā)現(xiàn)將我引向了第二個問題：為什么科學(xué)具有地域性的問題。實際上，我們并沒有參與當(dāng)?shù)氐难芯?。我并沒有忘記，在古人類研究領(lǐng)域，我們研究人類的起源，但是我們的科學(xué)家背景太單一。而這些地方充斥著大量的想要合作的學(xué)生和學(xué)者。并且事實是，對于他們來說，他們會更少的考慮安全問題。我們經(jīng)常忘記，對他們來說，這不是一個充滿危險的環(huán)境，對他們來說，這里是家園。以我的經(jīng)驗來說，在不穩(wěn)定的地區(qū)里，當(dāng)?shù)貐f(xié)作者的參與往往會帶來更加重要的發(fā)現(xiàn)，而這正是我們希望在索科特拉島所做的事情。

14:24

They call Socotra the most alien-lookingplace on earth, and myself, Leon McCarron, Martin Edström and RhysThwaites-Jones could see why. I mean, look at this place. These places, they'renot hellholes, they're not write-offs, they're the future frontline of scienceand exploration. 90 percent of the reptiles on this island, 37 percent of theplant species exist here and nowhere else on earth,

他們將索科特拉島稱為地球上最像外星球的地方，而我自己、利昂·麥卡倫、馬丁·埃德斯特羅姆以及里斯·斯威茨-瓊斯知道其中緣由。大家看看這個地方。這些地方并不是荒蠻之地、也不是沒有價值的地方，它們是未來科學(xué)探索的前沿陣地。在這座島上90%的爬行動物，以及37%的植物品種是地球上獨(dú)一無二的

15:01

And there's something else. People onSocotra, some of them still live in caves, and that is really exciting, becauseit means if a cave is prime real estate this century, maybe it was a fewthousand years ago. But we need the data to prove it, the fossils, the stonetools, and so our scouting team have teamed up with other scientists,anthropologists and storytellers, international as well as local, like AhmedAlarqbi, and we are desperate to shed a light on this place before it's toolate.

這里還有其他的東西。在索科特拉島居住的人們有一部分仍居住在洞穴，這一發(fā)現(xiàn)真的令人熱血澎湃，因為這些發(fā)現(xiàn)意味著，如果洞穴是這個世紀(jì)主要的居住地點(diǎn)，也許它早在幾千年前就是了。但是我們需要例如化石、石器等的數(shù)據(jù)去證明這一點(diǎn)，于是我們的偵察團(tuán)隊就像艾哈邁德·阿拉克比一樣，與其他來自國際和當(dāng)?shù)氐目茖W(xué)家、人類學(xué)家、說書人結(jié)成了一個團(tuán)隊，我們急切地想要在還沒有太遲之前為這個地方尋求一個突破口。

15:34

And now, now we just somehow need to getback for that really big expedition, because science, science has a geographyproblem.

而現(xiàn)在，我們需要做的是重新進(jìn)入這個大型的探索中。因為科學(xué)，具有地域性的問題。

15:45

You guys have been a really lovelyaudience. Thank you.

你們真是一群可愛的觀眾。謝謝聆聽。

15:48

(Applause)

（鼓掌）