经济学人15:鳄鱼救助者约翰·瑟布贾纳森

 　　Obituary;John Thorbjarnarson;

　　讣告;约翰·瑟布贾纳森;

　　John Thorbjarnarson,saviour of crocodilesdied， on February 14th, aged¹ 52;

　　鳄鱼救助者约翰·瑟布贾纳森于2月14日去世，英年52岁。

　　THE rippling² fire of the tiger, the cuddliness of the panda, the viridian flash of the green-cheeked parrot, all argue that these most-endangered species should be saved. It's harder to make the case for crocodilians. That bony, hideous³ head, with its unblinking yellow eye; those huge teeth, smelly with fish-debris⁴, overhanging the long, cruel, curling smile; the slithering slide of the white underside down a muddy slope, into the water where those jaws⁵, the strongest in Nature, will smash round the leg of a man and pull him under, thrashing and screaming.

　　所有人都坚决主张，拥有火焰般花纹的虎、让人禁不住想拥抱的熊猫、闪着翠绿光芒的绿颊鹦鹉这些最濒危的物种应得到保护。而保护鳄鱼更困难。鳄鱼——它骨骼突出、头部奇丑、头部有着不眨的黄眼晴，它牙齿巨大，且嵌有难闻的鱼碎片，显出长长的、无情的、撅唇的冷笑，它摇摆着白色的腹部向泥泞的斜坡下滑去，没入水中。在水里，自然界最强壮的生物鳄鱼的嘴会在人四肢反复挣脱和凄漓尖叫中，绞断人的腿并把人拖入水中。

　　John Thorbjarnarson knew he could not end men's fear of crocodilians, hard-wired since hominids first ventured down from the trees into swamps that seethed⁶ with them. But in his 20-odd years working for the Wildlife Conservation Society he did more than anyone else to try. He commended the grace of their straight, silent swimming, their camouflage⁷ mottlings of yellow, grey and olive green, and the jewelled beauty of new, damp hatchlings no bigger than the span of his hand. He stressed their cultural importance, even magic: the dragon of China, bringer of good fortune, and the water god of ancient Egypt who made the grasses green. He extolled⁸ their niceness, snapping them as they basked⁹ companionably on warm mud or on a favourite bank of long grass, the forefoot of one embracing the back of another. Most crocodilians, he reminded people, preferred to dine on fish or molluscs rather than farmers. Most were sensitive, even shy.

　　约翰?瑟布贾纳森知道，自人类首次冒险从树上直接落入鳄鱼渲腾的沼泽中以来，他不可能终结人们对鳄鱼的恐惧。但在他为野生动物保护协会工作的20多年岁月里，他比其他人更勤于冒险。他欣赏鳄鱼那笔直、无声的泳行雅姿，他欣赏鳄鱼那黄色、灰色和橄榄绿相间的伪装斑，他欣赏那如宝石美人般的、刚刚出生、浑身湿漉漉的、与他的手臂等长的幼鳄。他强调鳄鱼文化的重要性，甚至着迷于好运守护神中国龙，使草地变绿的古埃及水神。他称颂鳄鱼的漂亮，当鳄鱼们在暖和的烂泥中懒洋洋地晒太阳，或在舒适的长草坡上，一只鳄鱼的前足趴在另一只鳄鱼的背上时，他拍摄它们。他提醒人们，大多数鳄鱼宁愿吃鱼或软体动物而不愿吃农夫。大多数鳄鱼敏感、甚至胆小。

　　He also warned the world how scarce they were. Before he began to catalogue them as a postgraduate¹⁰, drawing up in 1988 an action plan to save them, all 23 species of crocodilians were threatened or declining. Their numbers had been destroyed by man's hatred¹¹ and the handbag trade. Only a few years ago, exploring the Brazilian Amazon, Mr Thorbjarnarson found black cayman (“a very pretty creature, actually”) hunted indiscriminately, like fish. Patrolling the mouth of the Yangzi in 1997, where swamps had been turned into urban sprawl¹² or rice fields, he counted only 120 Chinese alligators¹⁴ still in the wild. Here he began an intensive strategy of egg-collecting, captive rearing in the Bronx Zoo, and release. To his delight, the alligators from the Bronx remembered what to do.

　　他还向世人发出警告，鳄鱼是多么的稀少。1988年，即在他作为一名研究生起草一份拯救鳄鱼的行动计划而对鳄鱼进行登记分类之前，所有23种鳄鱼都受到威胁或濒危。鳄鱼的数量由于人们对它们的憎恶和鳄鱼皮包交易而减少。仅在几年前，在探险巴西亚马逊河的过程中，约翰?瑟布贾纳森先生发现了被像鱼类一样不分青红皂白地猎杀的美洲黑鳄（他说：“说老实话，它像一位非常漂亮的姑娘”）。在1997年巡查长江入海口（这里已变成杂乱无章的城市拓展区或稻田）的过程中，他估摸仍在野外的仅有120只扬子鳄。于是他在此开始了一项十分细致的扬子鳄蛋收集行动，然后在布朗克斯动物园人工饲养，再放归大自然。令他高兴的是，布朗克斯的扬子鳄还记得如何在野外生存。

　　Crocodilians, he explained, were much more like birds than snakes. They built nests he had to hunt for, poling his punt along sandbanks to find their holes or poking¹⁵ in the forest debris under the trees: a thin, laconic¹⁶, clear-eyed figure as quiet and unobtrusive as the creatures he was trailing. He watched them brood their young, listening for the cheeps that announced the eggs were hatching and carrying the young to water. The Nile crocodile rolled its eggs gently in its teeth to help them hatch. In the WCS labs at the Bronx Zoo he would pull the papery, blood-pink shell from a hatchling and announce: “It's his birthday!” with a father's pride.

　　他解释道，与蛇比起来，鳄鱼明显更像鸟。鳄鱼们构筑他必须得通过寻找才能见到的巢穴，他是通过顺着沙洲划平底船、或是拨弄林中植物沉积物去寻找。他这种安全性差、手段简单、但目的明确的寻找方式一似他正在跟踪的鳄鱼一样，不事声张、不引人注意。他通过注意倾听预示鳄蛋正在破壳和送雏鳄入水时的雏鳄吱叫声，观察鳄鱼孵育雏鳄的过程。尼罗河鳄是通过在其齿腔内轻轻滚动鳄蛋来帮助孵化。在布朗克斯野生动物保护协会的实验室里，他从一个人工孵化的雏鳄身上扯下如纸一样薄的血红色蛋壳，带着父亲般的自豪感宣布：“今天是它的生日！”

　　Massaging¹⁷ a cayman

　　为美洲鳄做按摩

　　Reptiles¹⁸ were never frightening to him, only fun. The little spectacled cayman, mysterious in its glass case in his boyhood bedroom, or so super-still, sitting on his head like a tiny allosaurus with its cool claws in his hair; the pet boa constrictor, in beautiful reticulated loops, swimming across the family pool; the snakes from the bog¹⁹ behind his house in suburban²⁰ Norwood, New Jersey²¹, where he would spend whole days squelching²² and hunting. He retained that obsessiveness²³ and excitement, never growing out of them. His college thesis was on the spectacled cayman; he lived in Gainesville, Florida, where alligators sun on the paths; his favourite work involved drifting, by torchlight, in a silent punt among the vegetation mats of the Mamirauá in Brazil or the llanos of Venezuela, with crocodilians darkly all about him, or looping them up on a six-foot pole to take DNA²⁴ samples from them and massage²⁵ their scaly²⁶ necks. It was while looking for dwarf²⁷ cayman in Uganda in February that he seems to have contracted the malaria²⁸ that killed him.

　　于他而言，爬行类动物一点不可怕，反而是乐趣。小眼镜美洲鳄不可思议地躺在他孩提时代卧室的玻璃箱里，或者像一只把冷僳僳的爪子抓住他头发的小霸王龙，如此安静地坐在他的头上；备受宠爱的大王蟒呈迷人的环状，在他的家用池子里来回游动；在新泽西洲诺伍德郊区，他住房后面的泥塘，是他愿意整天在里面咯吱咯吱行走并猎物的乐土，那里有种种蛇类。他乐此不疲、兴奋异常、从不言弃。他的大学论文就是写的有眼镜状斑纹的美洲鳄；他曾经居住的地方——佛罗里达州的盖恩斯维尔，鳄鱼在小路上晒太阳；借着手电的光亮，划着静行无声的平底船，在巴西的马尔马拉或委内瑞拉的亚诺斯河流植物垫衬的水中漂流，是他所钟爱的工作的一部分，其间，黑色鳄鱼遍及他的四周，或者，把鳄鱼环绕在一个6英尺长的杆子上，以采集它们的DNA样本，然后按摩它们那多鳞的脖子。今年2月，他在乌干达寻找小美洲鳄时，似乎染上了致他于死命的疟疾。

　　He had made a start on his rescue plans, but barely. Thanks to him, the Chinese alligator¹³ and the Orinoco crocodile were just beginning to recover; but the Siamese crocodile and the “amazing” slim-nosed gharial of India were still right on the edge. He struggled to persuade people who lived alongside crocodilians to see them not as pests, but as friends. He tried to train the locals to collect eggs carefully for a cash reward; to hunt and kill only adult males, under legal quotas²⁹, and leave the breeding females; to act as stewards³⁰ of creatures that were precious and useful. Foreign governments usually supported him, but seldom produced much funding.

　　就他的救援计划而言，他作了一个开端，不过这已很不容易了。幸亏有了他，中国扬子鳄和奥里诺科河鳄鱼才得以开始复苏；不过，暹罗鳄和“惊奇”小鼻印度鳄至今还在濒危边缘艰难复苏。他努力说服与鳄鱼在同一生存环境的人们不把它们看成害虫，而是朋友。他努力训练当地人仔细搜集可获得现金奖励的鳄蛋；只根据法定指标捕杀成年雄鳄，并把有繁殖力的雌鳄保留下来；担当起弥足珍贵和切实有效的动物管理员的角色。外国政府通常会支持他，但很少提供大量资金。

　　Primal³¹ fear, too, was hard to eradicate³². When a farm duck was taken at night, or a swimmer disappeared, a crocodile or alligator would usually be blamed. In the popular mind they became huge beasts, invisibly inhabiting any murky³³ stretch of water. Mr Thorbjarnarson would repeat that they were not like that. Most riverine accidents had nothing to do with them. And the only giant crocodile he knew of was the mythical³⁴ kyunpatgyi, after which he was nicknamed by friends in Burma, which with the help of several beers could be seen swimming round a local island and surely with a smile.

　　人们对鳄鱼的原始恐惧太难根除。当一只农田鸭子在夜间消失、或一位游泳者失踪，通常会归咎于鳄鱼或短吻鳄。按大众的思维方式，它们无踪无影地栖息于任何一个阴暗水域，是巨兽。约翰?瑟布贾纳森总是一再重申，它们不像人们认为的那样。河边发生的大部分事故与它们无关。而他所听说的唯一巨鳄只是神话中的kyunpatgyi，之后，他因此被几个缅甸朋友起了绰号，这个叫作kyunpatgyi巨鳄的他， 数杯啤酒下肚， 就能环绕当地的小岛游泳， 就像传说中的巨鳄那样， 还当真地带着微笑。

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 rippling   

起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的

参考例句：

• I could see the dawn breeze rippling the shining water. 我能看见黎明的微风在波光粼粼的水面上吹出道道涟漪。
• The pool rippling was caused by the waving of the reeds. 池塘里的潺潺声是芦苇摇动时引起的。

3 hideous   

adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的

参考例句：

• The whole experience had been like some hideous nightmare.整个经历就像一场可怕的噩梦。
• They're not like dogs,they're hideous brutes.它们不像狗，是丑陋的畜牲。

4 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

5 jaws   

n.口部；嘴

参考例句：

• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
• The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。

6 seethed   

（液体）沸腾( seethe的过去式和过去分词 )； 激动，大怒； 强压怒火； 生闷气(~with sth|~ at sth)

参考例句：

• She seethed silently in the corner. 她在角落里默默地生闷气。
• He seethed with rage as the train left without him. 他误了火车，怒火中烧。

7 camouflage   

n./v.掩饰，伪装

参考例句：

• The white fur of the polar bear is a natural camouflage.北极熊身上的白色的浓密软毛是一种天然的伪装。
• The animal's markings provide effective camouflage.这种动物身上的斑纹是很有效的伪装。

8 extolled   

v.赞颂，赞扬，赞美( extol的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school. 他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Tessenow decried the metropolis and extolled the peasant virtues. 特森诺夫痛诋大都市，颂扬农民的美德。 来自辞典例句

9 basked   

v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的过去式和过去分词 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽

参考例句：

• She basked in the reflected glory of her daughter's success. 她尽情地享受她女儿的成功带给她的荣耀。
• She basked in the reflected glory of her daughter's success. 她享受着女儿的成功所带给她的荣耀。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 postgraduate   

adj.大学毕业后的，大学研究院的；n.研究生

参考例句：

• I didn't put down that I had postgraduate degree.我没有写上我有硕士学位。
• After college,Mary hopes to do postgraduate work in law school.大学毕业后， 玛丽想在法学院从事研究工作。

11 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

12 sprawl   

vi.躺卧，扩张，蔓延；vt.使蔓延；n.躺卧，蔓延

参考例句：

• In our garden,bushes are allowed to sprawl as they will.在我们园子里，灌木丛爱怎么蔓延就怎么蔓延。
• He is lying in a sprawl on the bed.他伸开四肢躺在床上。

13 alligator   

n.短吻鳄(一种鳄鱼)

参考例句：

• She wandered off to play with her toy alligator.她开始玩鳄鱼玩具。
• Alligator skin is five times more costlier than leather.鳄鱼皮比通常的皮革要贵5倍。

14 alligators   

n.短吻鳄( alligator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Two alligators rest their snouts on the water's surface. 两只鳄鱼的大嘴栖息在水面上。 来自辞典例句
• In the movement of logs by water the lumber industry was greatly helped by alligators. 木材工业过去在水上运输木料时所十分倚重的就是鳄鱼。 来自辞典例句

15 poking   

n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• He was poking at the rubbish with his stick. 他正用手杖拨动垃圾。
• He spent his weekends poking around dusty old bookshops. 他周末都泡在布满尘埃的旧书店里。

16 laconic   

adj.简洁的；精练的

参考例句：

• He sent me a laconic private message.他给我一封简要的私人函件。
• This response was typical of the writer's laconic wit.这个回答反映了这位作家精练简明的特点。

17 massaging   

按摩，推拿( massage的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He watched the prisoner massaging his freed wrists. 他看着那个犯人不断揉搓着刚松开的两只手腕。
• Massaging your leg will ease the cramp. 推拿大腿可解除抽筋。

18 reptiles   

n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Snakes and crocodiles are both reptiles. 蛇和鳄鱼都是爬行动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Birds, reptiles and insects come from eggs. 鸟类、爬虫及昆虫是卵生的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

19 bog   

n.沼泽；室...陷入泥淖

参考例句：

• We were able to pass him a rope before the bog sucked him under.我们终于得以在沼泽把他吞没前把绳子扔给他。
• The path goes across an area of bog.这条小路穿过一片沼泽。

20 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

21 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。

22 squelching   

v.发吧唧声，发扑哧声( squelch的现在分词 )；制止；压制；遏制

参考例句：

• I could hear his broken shoes squelching in the water. 我可以听到他的破鞋在水中格喳格喳作响。 来自辞典例句
• The armies got bogged down in the thick squelching mud. 军队都陷入泥沼中，行进时烂泥扑哧作声。 来自互联网

23 obsessiveness   

参考例句：

24 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

25 massage   

n.按摩，揉；vt.按摩，揉，美化，奉承，篡改数据

参考例句：

• He is really quite skilled in doing massage.他的按摩技术确实不错。
• Massage helps relieve the tension in one's muscles.按摩可使僵硬的肌肉松弛。

26 scaly   

adj.鱼鳞状的；干燥粗糙的

参考例句：

• Reptiles possess a scaly,dry skin.爬行类具有覆盖着鳞片的干燥皮肤。
• The iron pipe is scaly with rust.铁管子因为生锈一片片剥落了。

27 dwarf   

n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小

参考例句：

• The dwarf's long arms were not proportional to his height.那侏儒的长臂与他的身高不成比例。
• The dwarf shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. 矮子耸耸肩膀，摇摇头。

28 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

29 quotas   

（正式限定的）定量( quota的名词复数 )； 定额； 指标； 摊派

参考例句：

• In fulfilling the production quotas, John made rings round all his fellow workers. 约翰完成生产定额大大超过他的同事们。
• Quotas of the means of production are allocated by the higher administrative bodies to the lower ones. 物资指标按隶属关系分配。

30 stewards   

（轮船、飞机等的）乘务员( steward的名词复数 )； （俱乐部、旅馆、工会等的）管理员； （大型活动的）组织者； （私人家中的）管家

参考例句：

• The stewards all wore armbands. 乘务员都戴了臂章。
• The stewards will inspect the course to see if racing is possible. 那些干事将检视赛马场看是否适宜比赛。

31 primal   

adj.原始的；最重要的

参考例句：

• Jealousy is a primal emotion.嫉妒是最原始的情感。
• Money was a primal necessity to them.对于他们，钱是主要的需要。

32 eradicate   

v.根除，消灭，杜绝

参考例句：

• These insects are very difficult to eradicate.这些昆虫很难根除。
• They are already battling to eradicate illnesses such as malaria and tetanus.他们已经在努力消灭疟疾、破伤风等疾病。

33 murky   

adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗

参考例句：

• She threw it into the river's murky depths.她把它扔进了混浊的河水深处。
• She had a decidedly murky past.她的历史背景令人捉摸不透。

34 mythical   

adj.神话的；虚构的；想像的

参考例句：

• Undeniably,he is a man of mythical status.不可否认，他是一个神话般的人物。
• Their wealth is merely mythical.他们的财富完全是虚构的。