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Fish murder, octopus Houdinis and smog hackers丨CD电台

Fish murder, octopus Houdinis and smog hackers丨CD电台 中国日报双语新闻
2016-05-24
2
导读:My latest conversation with Jane Goodall in Beijing re


My latest conversation with Jane Goodall in Beijing revolved around a murder mystery.

我和珍妮·古道尔(Jane Goodall)近来在北京见面时谈论起一桩谋杀谜案。


The culprit was an octopus.

罪魁祸首是一只章鱼。


It gave me hope for humanity.

多亏了它,我反而更能信赖人性了。

Cameras showed the cephalopod absconding its tank and scuttling across the floor to the next-door container, where it captured and devoured a fish before returning to its abode — closing the lid behind itself.

摄像头拍到这只章鱼逃出水箱,爬至隔壁鱼缸,风卷残云般吞掉了一只鱼,随后它“亲自”盖上盖子,从犯罪现场重回自己的巢穴。

Creatures without central nervous systems can be murderously clever. Literally.

没有中枢神经系统的动物也能聪明到极其危险的程度,毫不夸张。

The third time I spoke with the inspirational environmentalist, primatologist and United Nations goodwill ambassador in China, she wasn’t who moved me most.

这是我第三次与珍妮交流,她是个具有感召力的环境学家、灵长类动物学家和联合国和平大使,然而她并不是最打动我的人。


It was the kids. And the adults. The people she’d animated.

那些被她鼓舞的孩子、成人们才最让我动容。

The people who’ll right our wrongs.The children will fix what we broke, through ideas and action. Or nobody will.

他们将竭尽所能弥补人们所犯下过错,有勇有谋的孩子们也会用实际行动来修复破损的环境。如果没有他们,世界将失去保护环境的领路人。

The students showing Goodall their environmental science projects seemed like an army rising to fight ecological degradation and its human causes — poverty and greed.

向古道尔展示各自环境科学项目的学生们仿佛一支向生态退化及其成因(贫穷和贪欲)宣战的英姿勃发的军队。

I hope.

我真希望他们就是。

On the fourth day of Beijing’s second red smog alert this winter, I realized more than ever why we need to teach our kids to preserve systems that sustain us. And them.

在北京发布红色雾霾警报的第四天,我比任何时候都更清醒地认识到教育下一代保护生态系统的重要性,为了我们,也是为了他们自己。


Not only by — or when — manning their test tubes.

但绝不能只停留在纸上谈兵。

I saw Goodall explain, years before: “People say to me: ‘Jane ... how can you possibly have hope for the future?’ You just saw my reason for hope on this stage.”

多年以前,古道尔说:“人们问我‘珍妮,你怎么还能对未来抱有希望呢?’我答道,我的答案就在台上。”

The kids.

是孩子们给了她希望。



“We have huge problems ahead of us. So, my question to you is: Can we stop the air pollution in Beijing? Can we do it?”

“虽然目前改善环境步履维艰,但我想问你们:我们能消除北京的空气污染吗?我们能做到吗?”

The crowd cried: “Yes!”

台下喊道:“能!”

I believe they’re right.

我相信他们是对的。

I’ve wondered during airpocalypses — is this a way to live or a way to die?

Another question is fight or flight.

连日的“空气末日”让我沉思,这究竟是人们的活法还是死法?我们该战还是逃?


Many friends have criticized our decision to bring up two children in the Chinese capital, where they were born.

许多朋友指责我不该带我的两个孩子在他们的出生地——北京生活。

We can’t run from our problems. They catch up with you. That’s a lesson I hope to teach my kids.

但我们不能选择逃避,未解决的问题会还纠缠着你,我希望我的孩子能懂得这个道理。


Enter China’s smog hackers.

接下来我们谈谈中国的“雾霾黑客”。

They’re essentially adult versions of children presenting environmental-science projects.

他们就是潜心研究环境科学项目那些孩子的成人版。

One woman hosts workshops teaching people to craft kites with air-pollution sensors linked to lights coded to indicate contamination levels, equipped with SD cards that record data.

一位女士成立了间工作坊专门教授人们制作一种奇特的风筝,这种风筝上装有检测空气污染程度的传感器和记录数据的存储卡。

A more fantastical contraption is a robotic “spider” that scuttles up high-rises to knock on windows to inform residents the heavens are clotted.

更神奇的是一种机械“蜘蛛”,它能爬上高楼,敲敲住户的窗户,告诉他们雾霾来了。


Practical DIY innovations include filters strapped to fans.

实用的DIY发明甚至还包括捆上风扇的过滤器。

Smog hackers don’t merely await change from above. They insist upon innovation from below.

雾霾黑客不仅惦记着改善空气质量,还在脚踏实地坚持创新。


 They become their own white knights, who blue grey skies. Their shining armor is an alloy of imagination and participation.

他们是扫尽雾霾的白衣骑士, 想象力和积极性就是他们闪闪发亮的铠甲。


Goodall’s speech was long before New Zealand’s Inky the octopus famously went Houdini and fled its enclosure to squish through a drainage pipe and return to the ocean last month.

古道尔发表演讲很久后,有一只新西兰章鱼因“越狱”成功一夜成名。它名叫英琪(Inky),上个月爬出水缸,滑入排水管道,直接逃回海洋,消失得无影无踪。


Not bad for a mollusk.

真是软体动物的骄傲啊!


Surely, this suggests hope for the species with the animal kingdom’s most advanced brains.

当然,这也给人类带来了希望,毕竟我们拥有动物界中最发达的大脑。


If Inky can reach the Pacific, we can beat smog.

既然英琪能逃回太平洋,我们也能消灭雾霾。


“Every single one of you is making a difference every single day,” Goodall told the kids.

古道尔告诉孩子们:“每一天,我们每个人都在改变着世界。”


She’s right.

她说得对。


We need today’s youth to fix future challenges.

未来,我们需要年轻一代解决环境问题。


In the meantime, they need us.

但现在,他们需要我们的努力。

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