经济学人453:航海家 Mau piailug

 　　Obituary;Mau Piailug

　　讣告；Mau Piailug

　　Pius Mau Piailug, master navigator, died on July 12th, aged¹ 78

　　庇护Mau piailug ，航海家，于七月十二日逝世，终年78岁

　　In the spring of 1976 Mau Piailug offered to sail a boat from Hawaii to Tahiti. The expedition, covering 2,500 miles, was organised by the Polynesian Voyaging Society to see if ancient seafarers could have gone that way, through open ocean. The boat was beautiful, a double-hulled canoe named Hokule'a, or “Star of Gladness” (Arcturus to Western science). But there was no one to captain her. At that time, Mau was the only man who knew the ancient Polynesian art of sailing by the stars, the feel of the wind and the look of the sea. So he stepped forward.

　　1976年春天，Mau Piailug驾着一只小船从夏威夷驶到塔希提，这次远足航程2500海里，是由玻利尼西亚航海团体组织的，目的是为了看看远古的航海员能不能进入浩渺大洋，能走得多远，他们为此特别制造了一只名叫“哈古乐”（即欢乐之星，或是天文学上说的大角星)的双壳小船。可是为哈古乐找船长却并不容易，当时世界上只有Mau Piailug懂得古老的玻利尼西航海术,即通过感受星星、风和海的颜色状态来航行。所以他承担了这个任务，驾着哈古乐，从夏威夷航海，到达了塔希提。

　　As a Micronesian he did not know the waters or the winds round Tahiti, far south-east. But he had an image of Tahiti in his head. He knew that if he aimed for that image, he would not get lost. And he never did. More than 2,000 miles out, a flock of small white terns skimmed past the Hokule'a heading for the still invisible Mataiva Atoll, next to Tahiti. Mau knew then that the voyage was almost over.

　　Mau Piailug生长在西太平洋密克罗尼西亚，并不知道南太平洋塔希提岛的风是什么样子的，可是他在脑子里有个塔希提的映像，他知道只要朝着那个映像走，就不会迷路。航行了两千多海里了，他看到一群白色的小燕鸥飞快地飞过哈古尔，他知道它们是要飞向塔希提边上的马太瓦环礁，以此判断出他们快到达目的地了。

　　On that month-long trip he carried no compass, sextant or charts. He was not against modern instruments on principle. A compass could occasionally be useful in daylight; and, at least in old age, he wore a chunky watch. But Mau did not operate on latitude³, longitude⁴, angles, or mathematical calculations of any kind. He walked, and sailed, under an arching web of stars moving slowly east to west from their rising to their setting points, and knew them so well—more than 100 of them by name, and their associated stars by colour, light and habit—that he seemed to hold a whole cosmos⁵ in his head, with himself, determined⁶, stocky and unassuming, at the nub of the celestial⁷ action.

　　在那一个月的航行里，他没有带指南针，没有六分仪，也没有任何图纸，他并不是个反对使用现代仪器的人，白天里指南针偶尔也能用下，年纪大的时候他也开始戴个笨笨的手表。不过，他不使用经度、纬度、角度等，也不做任何数学计算，行走，或航海，就在苍穹之下，头顶是东升西落慢慢移动的星星，他熟悉星星，能说出100多个星星的名字，每个颗星的位置、颜色、亮度，他的脑子里似乎装着整个宇宙，那个宇宙，与性格坚定、身材健壮结实、为人谦逊的他，就是这次航行的核心。

　　Sharing breadfruit

　　分享面包果

　　Setting out on an ocean voyage, with water in gourds⁸ and pounded tubers tied up in leaves, he would point his canoe into the right slant⁹ of wind, and then along a path between a rising star and an opposite, setting one. With his departure star astern and his destination star ahead, he could keep to his course. By day he was guided by the rising and setting sun but also by the ocean herself, the mother of life. He could read how far he was from shore, and its direction, by the feel of the swell¹⁰ against the hull². He could detect shallower water by colour, and see the light of invisible lagoons¹¹ reflected in the undersides of clouds. Sweeter-tasting fish meant rivers in the offing; groups of birds, homing in the evening, showed him where land lay.

　　出海时，葫芦里装着饮水，叶子上系着干粮，他让小船和风形成一个固定的角度，沿着一颗升起的星星，和对面一颗正落下的星星形成的直线航行，白天有时候靠太阳指方向，有时候靠大海这生命的母亲指方向，通过船身感受水流，判断海岸的方向和距离，通过海水的颜色判断水深，通过天上云底的反光判断远方的礁湖。如果鱼的味道比平常甜点，就意味着淡水河离这里不远，如果傍晚有鸟群回家，就指示陆地的方向。

　　He began to learn all this as a baby, when his grandfather, himself a master navigator, held his tiny body in tidal pools to teach him how waves and wind blew differently from place to place. Later came intensive memorising of the star-compass, a circle of coral pebbles¹³, each pebble¹² a star, laid out in the sand round a palm-frond boat. This was not dilettantism¹⁴, but essential study; on tiny Satawal Atoll, where he spent his life, deep-sea fishing out in the Pacific was necessary to survive.

　　Mau Piailug的祖父是一名航海家，从小，祖父把小小的他绑在潮汐湖里，让他体会不同的地方拍打着的浪和风，体会各地风浪的区别。等他长大一点，就让他记星图，用一圈珊瑚石，每个代表一颗星星，画一只棕榈叶形状的船，船边上摆着这些珊瑚石，这些并不是玩玩，而是基本的学习。在他生活的萨它瓦尔礁岛上，他们靠到太平洋捕深海鱼维生。

　　Nonetheless, the old ways were changing fast. After Mau, at 18, was made a palu or initiated¹⁵ navigator, hung with garlands and showered with yellow turmeric to show the knowledge he had gained, no other Pacific islander was initiated for 39 years. Alone, he went out in his boat with the proper incantations to the spirits of the ocean, with proper “magical protection” against the evil octopus¹⁶ that lurked¹⁷ in the waters between Pafang and Chuuk, and with the wisdom never to get lost—or only once, when he was wrecked¹⁸ by a typhoon and spent seven months, with his crew, waiting to be rescued from an uninhabited island.

　　然而，旧日的方式在飞快地变化，在他18岁的时候，他成了一名“巴鲁”（世传航海家），戴着花环，姜黄沐身以表示他学到的知识，那时候，他是39年以来第一名巴鲁。他独自航行，带着合适的海神祝语，带着合适的神秘保护，让小船免遭潜伏在pafang到楚克之间的毒章鱼陷害。因为他的智慧，他从没在海上迷过路，只有一次遇到台风，和他的队友一起被困在无人的岛上，等了七个月，才等到救援。

　　As a palu, however, he could not allow his skills to die with him. He was duty-bound to pass them on. Hence his agreement to captain the Hokule'a. That voyage, which proved that the migration¹⁹ of peoples from the south and west to Hawaii was not accident, but probably a deliberate act of superlative sea- and starcraft, transformed the self-image of Hawaiians; and it changed Mau's life. Suddenly, he was in demand as a teacher. Patiently, pointer in hand, one leg tucked under him, he would explain the star compass to new would-be navigators; but he allowed them to write it down. He knew they could never keep it all in their heads, as he had.

　　巴鲁不能让自己的航海技能身后无传，他有责任将技能传给他人，所以才答应做哈古乐的船长。哈古乐那次航行，证明人类从南部和西部向夏威夷迁徙并不是一次偶然，很可能是一场做了充分准备、使用了最高深的航海知识和占星知识的行为。哈古乐此行，改变了夏威夷人的形象，也改变了Mau的人生，使他突然就成了一名老师，手执教鞭，单脚盘地，对这些可能成为航海家的新学生解释星盘，他允许学生做笔记，因为他们不可能全都像他一样能够将星盘牢记在心。

　　Much of what he knew, of course, was secret. The secrecy²⁰ was serious: when he spoke²¹ of spirits, his smiling face became deadly sober and even scared. To a very few students, he passed on “The Talk of the Sea” and “The Talk of the Light”. By doing so, he broke a rule that Micronesian knowledge should remain in those islands only. It seemed to him, though, that Polynesians and Micronesians were one people, united by the vast ocean which he, and they, had crisscrossed for millennia²² in their tiny boats.

　　当然这些东西有很多是严肃的秘密，当他说到灵魂的时候，微笑的脸顿时冷静下来，甚至显得很神圣，他只教很少的学生“和大海交谈”，“和光线交流”，并且在教学生这些秘密的时候，他打破了密克罗尼西亚知识不外传的规矩，因为在他看来，玻利尼西亚人和密克罗尼西亚人是一家人，联结着他们是的他们千百年来驾小舟穿行过无数次的广阔海洋。

　　In 2007 the people of Hawaii gave him a present of a double-hulled canoe, the Alingano Maisu. Maisu means “ripe breadfruit blown from a tree in a storm”, which anyone may eat. The breadfruit was Mau's favourite tree anyway: tall and light, with a twisty grain excellent for boat-building, sticky latex for caulking²³, and big starchy fruit which, fermented²⁴, made the ideal food for an ocean voyage. But maisu also referred to easy, communal²⁵ sharing of something good: like the knowledge of how to sail for weeks out on the Pacific, without maps, going by the stars.

　　2007年，夏威夷人民送给他一个礼物，一艘双船身小船，Alingano Maisu，Maisu在当地语言指"在风暴中长出的面包果",每个人都能吃。面包果树也是Mau最喜欢的树，高大，轻爽，卷曲的果实适合造船，粘稠的乳胶适合堵缝蛇，富含淀粉的果实经过发酵，最适于做航海的食物。Maisu还指公司平易地分享好东西，比如不用地图，而利用星星在太平洋航行几个星期的知识。

1 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

2 hull   

n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳

参考例句：

• The outer surface of ship's hull is very hard.船体的外表面非常坚硬。
• The boat's hull has been staved in by the tremendous seas.小船壳让巨浪打穿了。

3 latitude   

n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区

参考例句：

• The latitude of the island is 20 degrees south.该岛的纬度是南纬20度。
• The two cities are at approximately the same latitude.这两个城市差不多位于同一纬度上。

4 longitude   

n.经线，经度

参考例句：

• The city is at longitude 21°east.这个城市位于东经21度。
• He noted the latitude and longitude,then made a mark on the admiralty chart.他记下纬度和经度，然后在航海图上做了个标记。

5 cosmos   

n.宇宙；秩序，和谐

参考例句：

• Our world is but a small part of the cosmos.我们的世界仅仅是宇宙的一小部分而已。
• Is there any other intelligent life elsewhere in the cosmos?在宇宙的其他星球上还存在别的有智慧的生物吗？

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 celestial   

adj.天体的；天上的

参考例句：

• The rosy light yet beamed like a celestial dawn.玫瑰色的红光依然象天上的朝霞一样绚丽。
• Gravity governs the motions of celestial bodies.万有引力控制着天体的运动。

8 gourds   

n.葫芦( gourd的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Dried gourds are sometimes used as ornaments. 干葫芦有时用作饰品。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The villagers use gourds for holding water. 村民们用葫芦盛水。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 slant   

v.倾斜，倾向性地编写或报道；n.斜面，倾向

参考例句：

• The lines are drawn on a slant.这些线条被画成斜线。
• The editorial had an antiunion slant.这篇社论有一种反工会的倾向。

10 swell   

vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强

参考例句：

• The waves had taken on a deep swell.海浪汹涌。
• His injured wrist began to swell.他那受伤的手腕开始肿了。

11 lagoons   

n.污水池( lagoon的名词复数 )；潟湖；（大湖或江河附近的）小而浅的淡水湖；温泉形成的池塘

参考例句：

• The Islands are by shallow crystal clear lagoons enclosed by coral reefs. 该群岛包围由珊瑚礁封闭的浅水清澈泻湖。 来自互联网
• It is deposited in low-energy environments in lakes, estuaries and lagoons. 它沉淀于湖泊、河口和礁湖的低能量环境中，也可于沉淀于深海环境。 来自互联网

12 pebble   

n.卵石，小圆石

参考例句：

• The bird mistook the pebble for egg and tried to hatch it.这只鸟错把卵石当蛋，想去孵它。
• The pebble made a ripple on the surface of the lake.石子在湖面上激起一个涟漪。

13 pebbles   

[复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The pebbles of the drive crunched under his feet. 汽车道上的小石子在他脚底下喀嚓作响。
• Line the pots with pebbles to ensure good drainage. 在罐子里铺一层鹅卵石，以确保排水良好。

14 dilettantism   

n.业余的艺术爱好，浅涉文艺，浅薄涉猎

参考例句：

• Their exchange of views usually remained within the limits of a pensive dilettantism. 但是他们彼此的思想交流通常只局限在对于艺术趣味的一般性思考上。 来自辞典例句

15 initiated   

n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入

参考例句：

• He has not yet been thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of computers. 他对计算机的奥秘尚未入门。
• The artist initiated the girl into the art world in France. 这个艺术家介绍这个女孩加入巴黎艺术界。

16 octopus   

n.章鱼

参考例句：

• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。
• One octopus has eight tentacles.一条章鱼有八根触角。

17 lurked   

vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The murderers lurked behind the trees. 谋杀者埋伏在树后。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Treachery lurked behind his smooth manners. 他圆滑姿态的后面潜伏着奸计。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

18 wrecked   

adj.失事的，遇难的

参考例句：

• the hulk of a wrecked ship 遇难轮船的残骸
• the salvage of the wrecked tanker 对失事油轮的打捞

19 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

20 secrecy   

n.秘密，保密，隐蔽

参考例句：

• All the researchers on the project are sworn to secrecy.该项目的所有研究人员都按要求起誓保守秘密。
• Complete secrecy surrounded the meeting.会议在绝对机密的环境中进行。

21 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

22 millennia   

n.一千年，千禧年

参考例句：

• For two millennia, exogamy was a major transgression for Jews. 两千年来，异族通婚一直是犹太人的一大禁忌。
• In the course of millennia, the dinosaurs died out. 在几千年的时间里，恐龙逐渐死绝了。

23 caulking   

n.堵缝；敛缝；捻缝；压紧v.堵（船的）缝( caulk的现在分词 )；泥…的缝；填塞；使不漏水

参考例句：

• Plumbers caulk joints in pipe with lead,string or a caulking compound. 管子工用铅、绳子或专用填隙材料使管子的接头不漏水。 来自辞典例句
• Older windows and doors require maintenance -- scraping, painting and caulking. 旧门窗需要一系列维护，诸如，刮磨，上漆，勾缝。 来自互联网

24 fermented   

v.（使）发酵( ferment的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）激动；骚动；骚扰

参考例句：

• When wine is fermented, it gives off gas. 酒发酵时发出气泡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His speeches fermented trouble among the workers. 他的演讲在工人中引起骚动。 来自辞典例句

25 communal   

adj.公有的，公共的，公社的，公社制的

参考例句：

• There was a communal toilet on the landing for the four flats.在楼梯平台上有一处公共卫生间供4套公寓使用。
• The toilets and other communal facilities were in a shocking state.厕所及其他公共设施的状况极其糟糕。