纽约时报 沉寂100多年的“坚忍号”沉船被发现(3)（在线收听）

    The story is ongoing: As natural resources dwindle, global powers are racing to mine new frontiers of the jungles, the oceans, the Arctic north.

    故事还在继续：随着自然资源的减少，全球大国正在竞相开采丛林、海洋和北极北部的新领域。

    Antarctica, the world’s last true wilderness, is protected by a treaty, signed by 42 countries, that imposed a ban on resource extraction from the continent, except for scientific research purposes.

    南极洲是世界上最后一片真正的荒野，受到42个国家签署的一项条约的保护，该条约禁止从南极洲开采资源，除非是为了科学研究目的。

    But nations are jockeying for access to Antarctic fishing, mining and oil reserves.

    但各国都在争夺南极的渔业、矿业和石油储备。

    Even if the treaty remains in place, all is not well at the bottom of the planet.

    即使条约继续生效，地球底部也并非一切都好。

    When Shackleton and his men voyaged to Antarctica, they entered a frozen world.

    当沙克尔顿和他的船员航行到南极洲时，他们进入了一个冰冻的世界。

    Pictures of Endurance, taken by the expedition’s photographer, Frank Hurley, show the great ship iced into place, high and dry on the ocean’s wintry wastes.

    探险队的摄影师弗兰克·赫尔利拍摄的“坚忍号”号的照片显示，这艘巨轮被冰封在原地，在海洋的冬季荒地上高耸着、保持船身干燥。

    The images are iconic; they are also documents of a landscape that is vanishing quickly.

    这些图像是标志性的; 它们也是一种正在迅速消失的景观文件。

    The Great White South is thawing out.

    南极的冰雪正在融化。

    Once, the ice that covered the Weddell Sea made underwater exploration impractical, but in recent months the thickness of that ice has been at some of the lowest levels ever recorded.

    曾经，威德尔海的冰层使得水下勘探变得不切实际，但最近几个月，冰层的厚度达到了有记录以来的最低水平。

    The discovery of Endurance was aided by climate change.

    “坚忍号”的发现得益于气候变化。

    Other old things are emerging from under ice as the planet heats.

    随着地球变暖，其他古老的东西也从冰下冒了出来。

    Researchers are discovering vestiges of lost worlds, preserved by the now-impermanent permafrost, from tools and weapons of early human societies to the corpses of mammoths and wolves that once roamed the Siberian steppe.

    从早期人类社会的工具和武器，到曾经在西伯利亚大草原上游荡的猛犸象和狼的尸体，研究人员正在发现被现在的永久冻土层保存下来的消失世界的遗迹。

    Scientists worry that ancient pathogens may be unleashed along with them — that our next pandemic might be a disease that felled our ancient ancestors.

    科学家们担心，远古的病原体可能会随之释放——我们的下一次疫情可能是一种曾使我们远古祖先灭绝的疾病。

    Graver still is the vast quantity of carbon, trapped in undecayed plant matter for thousands of years, that is released into the atmosphere as permafrost thaws, creating a feedback loop: temperatures rise, soil melts, gases disperse, temperatures rise further.

    更严重的是，大量的碳被困在未腐烂的植物物质中数千年，随着永冻层融化，它们被释放到大气中，形成一个反馈回路: 温度上升，冻层土壤融化，气体扩散，温度进一步上升。

    In Shackleton’s time, the hardiest adventurers — those strivers to the uttermost — made journeys to the poles.

    在沙克尔顿的时代，坚韧不拔的冒险家——他们不断奋斗、毫不松懈——踏上了南极之旅。

    Now, as glaciers dissolve and sea levels rise, the poles may, in effect, journey to us, swamping our shores.

    现在，随着冰川融化和海平面上升，两极实际上可能会向我们移动，淹没我们的海岸。

    When we watch the video of Endurance, we are seeing an artifact of the past, but is it also a portent of the future on our ailing planet?

    当我们观看“坚忍号”的视频时，我们看到的是过去的产物，但这也是我们这个境况不佳的星球上未来的预兆吗？

    To keep this ship afloat may take a heroic effort.

    让这艘船保持航行状态需要付出巨大的努力。