经济学人209:永恒的守护者-荒野的未来

 　　Nature conservation

　　保护自然

　　The constant gardener

　　永恒的守护者

　　The future of wilderness¹

　　荒野的未来

　　Sep 17th 2011 | from the print edition

　　Rambunctious² Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World. By Emma Marris. Bloomsbury; 224 pages; $25 and ?20. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk

　　书名：《喧闹的花园：在人类统领的世界里保护自然》 作者：艾玛?马里斯。布鲁斯堡出版社出版。224页。售价25美元或20英镑。可从Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk购买。

　　WHEN the Scottish-born American naturalist³, John Muir, encountered a pristine⁴ wilderness where the soaring mountains touched the open sky, birds sang in the pine trees and fish spawned⁵ in the free-flowing rivers, he was determined⁶ to protect it from over-exploitation by the settlers who succeeded the native American presence. Muir fought to ensure that the Yosemite Valley in California became a national park, and he succeeded in 1890. The concept of preserving nature from man’s interference proved both powerful and enduring: almost a century later the Wilderness Act of 1964 empowered states to designate protected land. In “Rambunctious Garden” Emma Marris outlines why the concept of wilderness is flawed.

　　当年，苏格兰裔的美国自然主义者约翰?缪尔邂逅了一片原生态荒原。那里的山峰高高耸立，直入云霄，松林间鸟儿浅唱低吟，溪流里鱼儿繁衍生息，见此美好景象，他下定决心要保护那片土地，以免其遭到继原住民之后占据此地的移民过度开发。为了让它——加利福利亚优胜美地山谷成为国家公园，他不懈努力，终于在1890年申请成功。保护自然免受人类行为干扰这一观念影响深远：几乎一个世纪以后的1964年，荒野法案面世，授权美国各州指定土地加以保护。在《喧闹的花园》一书中，艾玛?马里斯却阐述了为什么这个关于荒野的观点是有缺陷的。

　　The journey begins in Hawaii, where biologists are toiling⁷ to remove species that have been introduced to the islands over the centuries since James Cook’s party landed there in 1778. Invaders⁸ such as purple-flowered Asian melastome and strawberry guava threaten to overrun delicate Hawaiian natives such as thornless roses and delicate tree ferns. Yet even if all the invaders were removed, it would only return the islands to the state into which the Polynesians, who inhabited them for at least 1,000 years before Cook’s arrival, had shaped them.

　　作者从夏威夷下笔，1778年詹姆斯?库克带领的探险队登上夏威夷群岛，此后数百年间外来物种被移植到了此岛，生物学家们为移除它们费尽了心思。包括亚洲紫色野牡丹和草莓番石榴在内的外来物种肆意繁殖，威胁了脆弱的本地物种，如无刺玫瑰和树厥的生长。然而即使将这些外来物种清除殆尽，夏威夷群岛也只能退回到波利维亚人定居时期，库克船长到来之前，他们已在此地生存了上千年。

　　Even theoretically, returning Hawaii to a prehuman existence would be impossible. Ecosystems¹⁰ change over time, with or without the involvement of mankind, so no one can tell what Hawaii “should” look like. And mankind’s influence on his environment is now such that he has changed the composition of the atmosphere over the past few centuries, so the effects of humanity can never be completely removed.

　　即使是从理论上来说，将夏威夷岛还原成有人类居住之前的状态也是不可能的。不管有没有人类的影响，生态系统都会随时间演变，因此没有人可以说出夏威夷“应该”是什么样的。人类对其所处环境的影响是如此巨大，几个世纪以来连大气层的构成都发生了改变，因此人类的影响永远也无法消除。

　　Ms Marris traces the emergence¹¹ of a “wilderness cult” that she believes affects efforts to restore habitats to a previous form. She argues that early American environmentalists, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, have been misread as its champions. Although Emerson described “essences unchanged by man; space, the air, the river, the leaf”, he also wrote of the “perfect exhilaration” of “crossing a bare common, in snow puddles¹² at twilight¹³, under a clouded sky”. And when Thoreau became determined to get away from it all in 1845, he retired¹⁴ to Walden Pond, a mere¹⁵ mile-and-a-half away from the nearest village. Preserving nature, Ms Marris writes, is a relatively¹⁶ recent preoccupation.

　　马里斯女士在书中追溯了“荒野崇拜”的起源，并称正是这种崇拜激发了复原居住地的行动。她认为，拉尔夫?瓦尔多?爱默生和亨利?大卫?梭罗等早期美国环境保护论者都被误读为了荒野崇拜的信奉者。虽然爱默生曾描绘过“不受人类纷扰的自然精髓：空间、大气、河流、树叶”，他也刻画过“黄昏时分，在缀满云朵的天空下，行走于坑洼的雪地上，穿越一片荒原”的“无上欣喜”。而当1845年梭罗坚决要离世隐居时，他选择了瓦尔登湖，一个离周边最近的村落仅有一英里半的地方。马里斯女士写道，保护自然，相对而言是近代的紧急要务。

　　Perhaps, but it has a longer history than the author fully¹⁷ acknowledges. A struggle between those who would remove man from a landscape and those who think we should actively¹⁸ manage the environment has existed since at least the 1930s. When the first global environmental organisation¹⁹ was established in 1948, it was called the International Union for the Protection of Nature: the organisation renamed itself in 1956, replacing “protection” with “conservation” in its title, because its members had grasped that people play an important role in shaping the natural world.

　　也许保护自然这一观念的产生比作者所认识到的还要早。早在上世纪三十年代或者更早时，就有人争辩应该对风景区进行隔离保护还是采取积极措施规划保护这个问题。1948年全球第一个环境组织成立了，当时名为国际自然保卫联盟（International Union for the Protection of Nature），1956年该组织更名，将名字中的“保卫”替换成了“保护”，因为联盟成员领会到了人类在自然世界的发展中所扮演角色的重要性。

　　Ms Marris’s book is an insightful analysis of the thinking that informs nature conservation. The author outlines the concepts of “re-wilding” habitats by introducing species that have been lost, of the “assisted migration” carried out by foresters who prepare for climate change by planting trees at the current limits of their ranges (and, indeed, the gardeners who transplant cuttings and seedlings²⁰ from one part of the planet to another). She describes how ecosystems can be designed: nesting birds can be encouraged to breed on a site by manipulating it to suit them, for example. And nature can flourish in areas that are not wild, such as city roof-gardens.

　　马里斯这本著作为保护自然背后的思考提供了一份卓有见地的分析。作者通过介绍那些已经灭绝的物种引出了“原始化”栖息地的观念，还提到了“辅助性迁移”的观念，比如林务员为应对气候变化栽种树木以促进当地林木多样性（当然，还有园艺家们做出的努力，他们通过扦插移植和幼苗移植将一处的植物带向地球另一端的某处）。她还描述了设计生态系统的方法：比如改造一块地方的环境，使之能吸引筑巢的鸟儿在那里孵化幼鸟。还有，非原生态的环境中也可以充满勃勃生机，比如城市里的屋顶花园。

　　There are many reasons to value the natural world. Some people want to prevent certain species from becoming extinct, others to ensure the diversity of an ecosystem⁹, to make use of clean air and water or to revel²¹ in the beauty of a landscape. Happily for both mankind and the natural world, Ms Marris concludes, many such causes can be aligned²².

　　珍惜自然环境的动因有很多。有些人是为了防止某个物种灭亡，还有些人是为了确保生态系统的多样性，或者为了能呼吸到清洁空气，喝到清洁水，抑或是为了充分享受自然美景。马里斯女士总结道，令人高兴的是，不管是对人类还是对自然环境，许多此类的动因是殊途同归的。

1 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

2 rambunctious   

adj.喧闹的；粗鲁的

参考例句：

• Their rambunctious son always got into trouble.他们那个不受管束的儿子老是惹麻烦。
• It's not the chirping,rambunctious play that they did when they first arrived.他们现在已经不像刚开始见面那会儿，总是冲着对方乱叫，或者在玩耍时动作粗暴。

3 naturalist   

n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者)

参考例句：

• He was a printer by trade and naturalist by avocation.他从事印刷业，同时是个博物学爱好者。
• The naturalist told us many stories about birds.博物学家给我们讲述了许多有关鸟儿的故事。

4 pristine   

adj.原来的，古时的，原始的，纯净的，无垢的

参考例句：

• He wiped his fingers on his pristine handkerchief.他用他那块洁净的手帕擦手指。
• He wasn't about to blemish that pristine record.他本不想去玷污那清白的过去。

5 spawned   

（鱼、蛙等）大量产（卵）( spawn的过去式和过去分词 )； 大量生产

参考例句：

• The band's album spawned a string of hit singles. 这支乐队的专辑繁衍出一连串走红的单曲唱片。
• The computer industry has spawned a lot of new companies. 由于电脑工业的发展，许多新公司纷纷成立。

6 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

7 toiling   

长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉

参考例句：

• The fiery orator contrasted the idle rich with the toiling working classes. 这位激昂的演说家把无所事事的富人同终日辛劳的工人阶级进行了对比。
• She felt like a beetle toiling in the dust. She was filled with repulsion. 她觉得自己像只甲虫在地里挣扎，心中涌满愤恨。

8 invaders   

入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They prepared to repel the invaders. 他们准备赶走侵略军。
• The family has traced its ancestry to the Norman invaders. 这个家族将自己的世系追溯到诺曼征服者。

9 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

10 ecosystems   

n.生态系统( ecosystem的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There are highly sensitive and delicately balanced ecosystems in the forest. 森林里有高度敏感、灵敏平衡的各种生态系统。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Madagascar's ecosystems range from rainforest to semi-desert. 马达加斯加生态系统类型多样，从雨林到半荒漠等不一而足。 来自辞典例句

11 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。

12 puddles   

n.水坑， （尤指道路上的）雨水坑( puddle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The puddles had coalesced into a small stream. 地面上水洼子里的水汇流成了一条小溪。
• The road was filled with puddles from the rain. 雨后路面到处是一坑坑的积水。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 twilight   

n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期

参考例句：

• Twilight merged into darkness.夕阳的光辉融于黑暗中。
• Twilight was sweet with the smell of lilac and freshly turned earth.薄暮充满紫丁香和新翻耕的泥土的香味。

14 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

15 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

16 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

17 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

18 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

19 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

20 seedlings   

n.刚出芽的幼苗( seedling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Ninety-five per cent of the new seedlings have survived. 新栽的树苗95%都已成活。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• In such wet weather we must prevent the seedlings from rotting. 这样的阴雨天要防止烂秧。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

21 revel   

vi.狂欢作乐，陶醉；n.作乐，狂欢

参考例句：

• She seems to revel in annoying her parents.她似乎以惹父母生气为乐。
• The children revel in country life.孩子们特别喜欢乡村生活。

22 aligned   

adj.对齐的，均衡的

参考例句：

• Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard.务必使搁架与橱柜顶端对齐。