演讲MP3+双语文稿:探索那些迷人又危险的地方

00:00

00:00

MP3下载

https://online2.tingclass.net/lesson/shi0529/10000/10387/tedyp131.mp3

https://image.tingclass.net/statics/js/2012

听力课堂TED音频栏目主要包括TED演讲的音频MP3及中英双语文稿，供各位英语爱好者学习使用。本文主要内容为演讲MP3+双语文稿:探索那些迷人又危险的地方，希望你会喜欢！

【演讲者及介绍】Ella Al-Shamahi

Ella Al-Shamahi古人类学家，擅长在不稳定、敌对和有争议的地区的洞穴中寻找化石。在她的业余时间，她是一个单口相声演员。

【演讲主题】科学家们没有探索的迷人又危险的地方

【中英文字幕】

翻译者 Yu Xie 校对者 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.

我有一些不太想承认的尴尬的事情。在17岁的时候，作为一名发明家，我决定去大学学习进化论，这样我就可以毁灭掉它。

00：26

(Laughter)

（笑声）

00：28

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

如你们所见，我失败了。我失败得彻彻底底，现在更是成为了一名进化生物学家。

00:33

(Applause)

（掌声）

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.

我现在是一名古人类学研究者，也是一名国家地理探索者，专攻那些掩埋在山洞以及不稳定、有争议地区里的化石。我们都知道，如果我是一个男性而不是女性的话，以上内容就不是一份职业简述，而是一种炫耀的谈资。

00:52

(Laughter)

（笑声）

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，我并没有一颗冒险的热血之心。我并不是痴迷于肾上腺素。我只是会查看地图。

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.

开创性的探索科学并没有那么多，尤其是在一个政局动荡的地区上。现在我正在这里一个分支上做着探索，并且认为如果我们在如此广袤的星球上没有做任何前沿科学的探索，这绝对是一种悲剧。所以，对于学科的探索而言，地理因素成了一个问题。

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.

当我还是本科生的时候，我就被反复告知人类、智人甚至是更早的人种，都是通过埃及的西奈半岛离开的非洲。

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.

你们也许能从我的口音中听出我是英国人，但实际上，我的祖先来自阿拉伯，我总是不耐其烦地说在外表上我真的很像阿拉伯人。我可以非常的热情，比如，“你真棒！我爱死你了！”但是在内里，我又十分像英国人，所以每个人都在令我烦躁。

02:15

(Laughter)

（笑声）

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.

这些都是实话。事实上，我的家人是从也门到达的阿拉伯。我也知道那一条路，巴布-埃尔-阿姆德布, 并不是很难跨越的。我以前也总是在自问一个很简单的问题：如果新大陆猴子的祖先都能够用某种方法穿越大西洋，那为什么人类不能越过那一小段水？但问题是，相比于欧洲，我们并没有对也门做过充分的研究，也就相当于这是一次对于处女地的探索。但是加上它的地理位置，这将是一场纯粹的探索之旅，太令人激动了，为此我内心充满了许多问题。我们是什么时候第一次开始使用巴布-埃尔-阿姆德布这一条路的？另外，除了我们之外，还有哪些人种去了也门？我们会找到还未发现的新人种吗？并且最后证明了，我并不是唯一一个注意到也门研究潜力的人。还有其他的学者也在关注这个地区。但不幸的是，由于政局动荡，他们退出了研究，于是我进去了。我在寻找洞穴，因为洞穴是最原始的居住地。而且如果当你在如此炎热的天气下去寻找化石，洞穴是化石出现概率最高的地方。

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.

但接着，就在我计划飞去也门的前几天，也门局势急剧变糟，内战升级为地区冲突，首都机场被炸。

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个决定：我必须在英国出生，成为一名英国人。这一个我一生中最好的决定，其实和我没有太大关系。但是现在……我的家族中有幸存者逃了出来，而其他人就处在被随时炸死的危境下，给你发来一条让你对自己的存在感到厌恶的消息。这场战争持续了4年，并将再持续四年，而且引出了人道主义危机。也门出现了饥荒，一场人为制造的饥荒。这是一场人为制造而非自然的饥荒，是一场完全由人类制造的灾难，联合国已经发出警告，这场饥荒将可能成为近百年来最恶劣的一次。而这场战争让我前所未有的看得清清楚楚，没有任何一个地区、任何一个人应该被遗忘。

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.

于是我加入了一些团队，并在一些不稳定的地区组建了新的合作。但是我仍渴望回到也门，我对于也门有着非常强烈的个人情感。我一直在思考着能在也门做些什么，在思考一个能够让公众知道也门的现状的项目。我计划了很多，但是总在失败，有的是因为太过于危险。因为诚实地说，对于一支西方的研究团队而言，也门基本上没有一个安全的地方。

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，我被告知一个也门的岛屿，索科特拉岛，只要你去了，就会发现那里是安全的。后来我发现，在这座岛上，有一些当地以及国际的研究机构仍在工作。这让我感到非常激动，因为请看一下，索科特拉岛与非洲的距离有多近！那时我们对于人类登陆那座岛屿的时间毫无头绪。但是索科特拉岛，你们中的一部分也许知道，但是是出于完全不同的原因。你们也许是通过印度洋加拉帕戈斯而知道的，也许是因为作为地球上生物多样性最复杂的地区之一而知道的它。但我们在越来越多的信息中发现，这个地区以及生活在其中的人们实际上处于中东政局，以及气候变化的危险前线。这些认知让索科特拉岛成为了我也门项目的研究重点。

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，我想组建起一支庞大的多学科协作的团队。我们想通过步行、骆驼和独桅帆船等方式穿越这些群岛，对这个地方进行完整的检查。而这项举措仅仅在1999年实行过一次。这并不是一件容易完成的事情。我们非常需要一个勘察报告，让我先来为并不熟悉英式英语的观众们解释一下，recce就像是探险考察，或者说是侦察。我认为一个没有侦察人员的大型考察跟第一次约会前没有悄悄看过对方脸书一样。

07:31

(Laughter)

（笑声）

07:32

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

也就是说，这样虽然是可以的，但是这是明智的吗？

07:35

(Laughter)

（笑声）

07:39

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

这些笑声里夹杂着一些已然明了的声音。

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.

庆幸的是，我们的勘察部队对于不安定的地区非常熟悉，老实说，因为我们要抵达也门与索马里亚中间的地区，这一点就凸现得尤为重要。在募集了包括副省长在内的一百万次援助后，我们终于踏上了探索之路，尽管用的是一艘穿行在印度洋海盗水域的，拿这个当作厕所的用木头巩固过的货船。

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，我发现在海盗水域中相比于我身处 的蟑螂成灾时候的，那种强烈的刺激，那种当我在甲板下，地板又黑并且还在移动的情况下，更加放松。

08:54

(Audience moans)

（观众惊讶惋惜的声音）

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.

我们在船上又航行了三天，才慢慢地看到了陆地。在经历了三年的失败，我终于真实地看到了也门。

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.

开始探索的心情是无法形容的。就像是你从吉普车上跳下来或者说你从船上往上看的时候内心中相信着有那么一种可能性，尽管渺小但是存在，你就要找到能够增加甚至改变人们对于自我以及祖先的认识的一些东西。这种心情无法比拟。很多科学家都有这样的体验，但在政局动荡的地区中几乎没有。因为西方科学家不被鼓励，甚至被禁止在不稳定的地区进行工作。

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，有一点需要注意的是：研究丛林的科学家，研究深洞穴的科学家，献身于火箭以及载人火箭的科学家怎么办呢？但显然，在不稳定的地区工作被认为是高度危险的。这是一种武断的想法。在座的各位有谁没在各式各样的冒险故事中成长的吗？绝大多数的英雄其实都是科学家和学者。科学在于探索未知，在于全球性的探索，尽管危机重重。那从何时起这种科学不能在不稳定地区开展的观念深入人心的呢？

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.

我并不是说所有的科学家都应该外出到危险的地方进行探索研究。这并不是什么狂热的的号召。但事情是这样：对于那些完成了自己的研究，并清楚安全规定，接受了专业训练的研究者，要让他们停止去阻止想要参与研究的人。加上，一个国家的某些地区正处于战时状态，并不能代表整个国家的形势。我并不是在提倡我们应该进入那些战区。但是伊拉克库迪斯坦的情况与费卢杰的情况完全不同。

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.

实际上，经历了好几个月，我仍没有进入也门，而是另外一个团队接纳了我。格雷姆·巴克教授的团队其实研究的是伊拉克库迪斯坦地区，他们那时正在挖掘沙尼达尔的洞穴。在距今几十年前，研究人员从沙尼达尔洞穴中发现了尼安德特人种，命名为沙尼达尔一号（Shanidar 1）。通过BBC/PBS的电视系列节目，我们才将沙尼达尔一号公布于众在这里我想将这位尼安德特人，即内德（Ned）介绍给你们。接下来是关于内德最酷的一点。研究发现内德其实受了重伤。如果没有其他尼安德特人的帮助，他所受的伤则是致命的。而这一发现也就证明了，至少对于那个时期的尼安德特人，他们与现在的我们很像，他们会帮助那些没有自理能力的同类。

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.

内德是一名来自伊拉克的尼安德特人。那我们还漏了什么信息呢？有什么重要的科学发现因为我们无意寻找而错过呢？顺便一提，这些地方是值得被赋予希望的，是值得被探索与研究的。其实我认为对于这些地方的考查研究有助于当地的发展，这些发现能够成为当地自豪感的源泉。

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.

同时这一发现将我引向了第二个问题：为什么科学具有地域性的问题。实际上，我们并没有参与当地的研究。我并没有忘记，在古人类研究领域，我们研究人类的起源，但是我们的科学家背景太单一。而这些地方充斥着大量的想要合作的学生和学者。并且事实是，对于他们来说，他们会更少的考虑安全问题。我们经常忘记，对他们来说，这不是一个充满危险的环境，对他们来说，这里是家园。以我的经验来说，在不稳定的地区里，当地协作者的参与往往会带来更加重要的发现，而这正是我们希望在索科特拉岛所做的事情。

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,

他们将索科特拉岛称为地球上最像外星球的地方，而我自己、利昂·麦卡伦、马丁·埃德斯特罗姆以及里斯·斯威茨-琼斯知道其中缘由。大家看看这个地方。这些地方并不是荒蛮之地、也不是没有价值的地方，它们是未来科学探索的前沿阵地。在这座岛上90%的爬行动物，以及37%的植物品种是地球上独一无二的

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.

这里还有其他的东西。在索科特拉岛居住的人们有一部分仍居住在洞穴，这一发现真的令人热血澎湃，因为这些发现意味着，如果洞穴是这个世纪主要的居住地点，也许它早在几千年前就是了。但是我们需要例如化石、石器等的数据去证明这一点，于是我们的侦察团队就像艾哈迈德·阿拉克比一样，与其他来自国际和当地的科学家、人类学家、说书人结成了一个团队，我们急切地想要在还没有太迟之前为这个地方寻求一个突破口。

15:34

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

而现在，我们需要做的是重新进入这个大型的探索中。因为科学，具有地域性的问题。

15:45

You guys have been a really lovelyaudience. Thank you.

你们真是一群可爱的观众。谢谢聆听。

15:48

(Applause)

（鼓掌）