2020年经济学人 环球航海家马文·克里默(1)

Marvin Creamer, geographer¹ and circumnavigator, died on August 12th, aged² 104.

马文·克里默是一名地理学家和环球航海家，他于8月12日去世，享年104岁。

When Francis Drake rounded the globe in 1577 to 80, he took an astrolabe, compass and cross-staff with him. As Ferdinand Magellan, the first known circumnavigator, started out in 1519, he had at least an astrolabe and compass. But when Marvin Creamer set sail from Cape³ May, New Jersey⁴ in 1982, into thick overcast⁵ and a howling gale⁶, on a voyage of 30,000 miles requiring nearly a year at sea, he carried, to his delight, no instruments at all.

当弗朗西斯·德雷克在1577至1580年环游地球时，他随身携带了星盘、指南针和十字测天仪。费迪南德·麦哲伦是世界上第一个著名的环球航海家，1519年，他开始环游地球时，至少带了一个星盘和指南针。1982年，马文·克雷默从新泽西的五月角起航，开始了一次长达3万英里、需要在海上将近一年时间的航行，他遇上了一场狂风暴雨，而让他高兴的是，他根本没有带任何仪器。

Well, to be quite accurate, there were a few. He had an hour-glass, the only time-keeper, to mark the watches of his small crew. Down in the bilge, in a duffel bag, were a radio, sextant, compass and clock, in case of emergency. His wife Blanche, with whom he had had months of lively discussions about this voyage— she dead against him sailing off, he, at 66, desperate to go—had insisted on this. But he had had it sealed by the navy, intending never to get those “toys” out, and never did. Lastly, there was a transmitter somewhere on the Globe Star to give the little cutter-rigged sloop’s position regularly to the coast guard. But it did not tell him where he was, and that was vital.

更精确一点的话，他带了一些仪器。他带了一个沙漏，这个唯一的计时器，来作为他的小团队的手表。舱底的一个行李袋里装着收音机、六分仪、指南针和时钟，以备不时之需。几个月来，他一直在和妻子布兰奇热烈地讨论这次航行——她强烈反对他航行，而66岁的他则不顾一切地想去——妻子坚持让他带上这些东西。但他已经让海军封印了它，打算永远不把那些“玩具”拿出来，后来也确实没有拿出来。最后，在“地球之星”的某个地方有一个发射机，它定期向海岸警卫队发送这艘小单桅帆船的位置信息。但是克雷默收不到这个信息，这很重要。

He was going by the stars. The ancient sailors he so admired, the Vikings and Chinese traders, as well as more modern Polynesians, had gone the same way. None of them, as far as was known, had circled the globe; but it seemed to him that they might have made predictable landfalls, setting a course and then returning again. He meant to prove, and never had much doubt—5%, perhaps—that they could also have got further. Endurance or fame were not the point of this endeavour, which even he admitted looked insane. It was the intellectual challenge of finding out how the ancients might have done it.

他要随着星星航行。他所崇拜的古代水手、维京人和中国商人，以及现代的波利尼西亚人，都走了同样的路。就目前所知，他们都没有完成环绕地球的航行；但在他看来，他们可能已经完成了，确定了路线，然后再返回。他想要证明，也从未怀疑——也许有5%——他们可能走得更远。他的这次航行并不是为了展现耐力或出名，就连他自己也承认，这简直是疯了。它是为了找出古人可能是如何做到这一点的，这是一次智力上的挑战。

1 geographer   

n.地理学者

参考例句：

• His grandfather is a geographer.他的祖父是一位地理学家。
• Li Siguang is a famous geographer.李四光是一位著名的地理学家。

2 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。

3 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

4 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

5 overcast   

adj.阴天的，阴暗的，愁闷的；v.遮盖，（使）变暗，包边缝；n.覆盖，阴天

参考例句：

• The overcast and rainy weather found out his arthritis.阴雨天使他的关节炎发作了。
• The sky is overcast with dark clouds.乌云满天。

6 gale   

n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等）

参考例句：

• We got our roof blown off in the gale last night.昨夜的大风把我们的房顶给掀掉了。
• According to the weather forecast,there will be a gale tomorrow.据气象台预报，明天有大风。