《星球之戰(zhàn)》At-War-with-the-Planet原文及翻譯

1、1. People live in two worlds. Like all living things, we inhabit this natural world, created over the Earth's 5-billion-year history by physical, chemical, and biological processes. The other world is our own creation: homes, cars, farms, factories, laboratories, food, clothing, books, paintings

2、, music, poetry. We accept responsibility for events in our own world, but not for what occurs in the natural one. Its storms, droughts, and floods are "acts of God", free of human control and exempt8 from our responsibility.人類生活在兩個世界中。和所有的生物一樣,我們生存在這個經(jīng)過50多億年物理、化學、生物變化所形成的地球上,即自然世界。另外一個世界則

3、源于人類的創(chuàng)造,如家庭、汽車、農(nóng)場、工廠、實驗室、食物、服裝、書籍、繪畫、音樂、詩歌等。我們?yōu)槿祟愂澜缢l(fā)生的一切承擔責任,卻對自然世界的變化無能為力。風暴、干旱、洪水等都是上帝的“手筆”,人類無法控制,也無須負責。2. Now, on a planetary scale, this division has been breached. With the appearance of a continent-sized hole in the Earth's protective ozone layer and the threat of global warming, even dr

4、oughts, floods, and heat waves may become unwitting acts of man.但如今,從全球的角度看,這個界限已被打破。對地球起保護作用的臭氧層出現(xiàn)空洞,全球變暖威脅人類,甚至干旱、洪水、熱電波等都可能是人類的無心之過。3. Like the Creation, the portending global events are cosmic: they change the relationship between the planet Earth and its star, the sun. The sun's powerful in

5、fluence on the Earth is exerted by two forces: gravity and solar radiation. Gravity is a nearly steady force that fixes the planet's path around the sun. Solar radiationlargely visible and ultraviolet lightis a vast stream of energy that bathes the Earth's surface, fluctuating from day to ni

6、ght and season to season. Solar energy fuels the energy- requiring processes of life; it creates the planet's climate and governs the gradual evolution and the current behavior of its huge and varied population of living things. We have been tampering with this powerful force, unaware, like the

7、Sorcerer's Apprentice, of the potentially disastrous consequences of our actions.正如宇宙的建立,這種預示性的全球事件是影響深遠的。它們改變了地球與它的恒星太陽之間的關(guān)系。太陽通過兩種力量對地球發(fā)揮重要作用：重力和太陽輻射。重力是一種使地球軌道繞太陽轉(zhuǎn)的穩(wěn)定力量。太陽輻射大部分為可見光和紫外線是沐浴著地球表層的取之不盡、用之不竭的能量,它會隨時間和季節(jié)的變化而波動。太陽能為生命進程提供必需的能量：它創(chuàng)造了地球上的氣候并掌管著龐大而多樣的生物群的逐漸進化和當前的行為。我們一直在濫用這股強大的力量,就像傳說中的

8、魔術(shù)師的徒弟一樣,并沒有意識到我們的這種行為很可能會導致災難性的后果。4. We have become accustomed to the now mundane image of the Earth as seen from the first expedition to the moon a beautiful blue sphere decorated by swirls of fleecy clouds. It is a spectacularly natural object; at that distance, no overt signs of human activity a

9、re visible. But this image, now repeatedly thrust before us in photographs, posters, and advertisements, is misleading. Even if the global warming catastrophe never materializes, and the ozone hole remains an esoteric, polar phenomenon, already human activity has profoundly altered global conditions

10、 in ways that may not register on the camera. Everywhere in the world, there is now radioactivity that was not there before, the dangerous residue of nuclear explosions and the nuclear power industry; noxious fumes of smog blanket every major city; carcinogenic synthetic pesticides have been detecte

11、d in mother's milk all over the world; great forests have been cut down, destroying ecological niches and their resident species.自從人類第一次登月起,我們就一直習慣于如今這平常無奇的地球景象一個被裝點著旋渦狀白云的藍色星球。這真是個壯觀的自然天體。隔著那么遠的距離,人類活動的明顯痕跡無法被察覺。但這種曾無數(shù)次展現(xiàn)在照片、海報和廣告上的景象都是誤導。即使全球變暖這種災害永不發(fā)生,即使臭氧層空洞仍然只是一種深奧的極地現(xiàn)象,人類活動已極大地改變了地球條件,這些也許

12、是用照相機拍不出來的。世界的每個角落都出現(xiàn)了由核爆炸和核能工業(yè)的危險剩余物質(zhì)所產(chǎn)生的輻射現(xiàn)象,那是從前不存在的；煙霧的有害烈焰籠罩在世界大都市的上空；各地都有報道發(fā)現(xiàn)母乳中有致癌的合成殺蟲劑的成分；大片大片的森林被砍伐,摧毀了生態(tài)小環(huán)境,也毀滅了生存在其中的物種。5. Clearly, we need to understand the interaction between our two worlds: the natural ecosphere, the thin global skin of air, water, and soil and the plants and animals

13、 that live in it, and the man-made technospherepowerful enough to deserve so grandiose a term. The technosphere has become sufficiently large and intense to alter the natural processes that govern the ecosphere. And in turn, the altered ecosphere threatens to flood our great cities, dry up our bount

14、iful farms, contaminate our food and water, and poison our bodies catastrophically diminishing our ability to provide for basic human needs. The human attack on the ecosphere has instigated an ecological counterattack. The two worlds are at war.顯而易見,我們需要認識這兩個世界間的相互作用：一個是稀薄的地表空氣、水、土壤和植物、動物們賴以存在的生態(tài)圈；另

15、一個是人造技術(shù)圈它龐大的力量完全配得上這一稱號。如此龐大和強烈的技術(shù)圈已經(jīng)改變了控制自然圈的自然進程。接著,被改變了的生態(tài)圈也已淹沒我們的城市,耗盡豐厚的農(nóng)場資源,污染食物和水源,并毒害我們的身體使我們削弱了供應人類基本需求的能力。人類對生態(tài)圈侵害已遭到生態(tài)圈的反擊。兩大世界正處于交戰(zhàn)狀態(tài)。6. The two spheres in which we live are governed by very different laws. One of the basic laws of the ecosphere can be summed up as "Everything is co

16、nnected to everything else." This expresses the fact that the ecosphere is an elaborate network, in which each component part is linked to many others. Thus, in an aquatic ecosystem a fish is not only a fish, the parent of other fish. It is also the producer of organic waste that nourishes micr

17、oorganisms and ultimately aquatic plants; the consumer of oxygen produced photosynthetically by the plants; the habitat of parasites; the fish hawk's prey. The fish is not only, existentially, a fish, but also an element of this network, which defines its functions. Indeed, in the evolutionary s

18、ense, a good part of the networkthe microorganisms and plants, for example preceded the fish, which could establish itself only because it fitted properly into the preexisting system.我們所居住的兩個世界分別受控于不同的規(guī)律。生態(tài)圈最基本的規(guī)律可概括為“萬物都互相聯(lián)系”。這說明生態(tài)圈是一個精密的網(wǎng)絡,其間的每個成員都與其他成員相聯(lián)系。因此,在海洋生態(tài)系統(tǒng)中,魚不僅是魚,也不僅是其他魚的生育者；它還充當有機廢料的生產(chǎn)

19、者,而這些有機廢料滋養(yǎng)著微生物甚至水生植物；它又是由植物光合作用生成的氧氣的消耗者；它也是寄生蟲的棲息地和魚鷹的獵食對象。魚并不僅僅是孤立的魚,它也是網(wǎng)絡上的一個要素并限制網(wǎng)絡的效用。的確,從進化論的角度上看,網(wǎng)絡中的很多成員,比如微生物和植物,都先于魚而存在。但正因為魚能適應這一業(yè)已存在的系統(tǒng),它才得以立足。7. In the technosphere, the component partsthe thousands of different man-made objects have a very different relation to their surroundings. A c

20、ar, for example, imposes itself on the neighborhood rather than being defined by it; the same car is sold for use on the densely packed Los Angeles freeways or in a quiet country village. It is produced solely as a salable objecta commoditywith little regard for how well it fits into either sphere:

21、the system of transportation or the environment. It is true, of course, that all cars must have a width that is accommodated by the traffic lanes, and must have proper brakes, lights, and horn, and so on. But as every resident of Los Angeles or New York knows, in recent years their crowded streets a

22、nd highways have been afflicted with longer and longer limousines, designed to please the buyer and profit the producer, but hardly suitable to their habitat. 在技術(shù)圈中,成員們即眾多形形色色的人造物體之間相對于它們的環(huán)境來說關(guān)系也不一樣。例如,汽車立于社區(qū)卻不受其限制；同型的汽車可以奔馳在熙熙攘攘的洛杉磯高速公路上,也可以行駛在安靜的鄉(xiāng)村小路上。汽車被生產(chǎn)出來就是為了出售,就是一種商品,無須考慮它適合于外界條件：交通系統(tǒng)或環(huán)境。當然,所

23、有汽車都需要一定寬度的交通通道,并要有合適的閘、燈、喇叭等。但正如洛杉磯或紐約的每個居民所知道的那樣,近年來,擁擠的街道和高速公路全都充塞著長龍般的小轎車。而這些小轎車的設計只求迎合買者并使生產(chǎn)商獲利,卻很少考慮與環(huán)境相宜。8. Defined so narrowly, it is no surprise that cars have properties that are hostile to their environment. The new cars were successfully designed to carry people more comfortably at highe

24、r speed; but no attention was paid to an essential component in their habitatthe people themselves, and their requirement for clean, smog-free air.若只為迎合買者和生產(chǎn)商,汽車具有不利于環(huán)境的性能也就不足為奇了。人們成功地設計出了既舒適又快捷的新型汽車,卻從不考慮環(huán)境中的必備要素人類本身和他們對清潔的、無煙空氣的需求。9. Even a part of the technosphere as close to nature as the farm s

25、uffers from the same sort of clash with the environment. As a man-made object, the farm is designed for the sole purpose of producing crops. Guided by that purpose, after World War II agronomists41urged42the increasingly heavy application of chemical nitrogen fertilizer. Yields rose, but not in prop

26、ortion to the rate of fertilizer application; year by year, less and less of the applied fertilizer was taken up by the crop and progressively more drained through the soil into groundwater, in the form of nitrate that contaminated rivers, lakes, and water supplies. Nitrogen fertilizer is a commodit

27、y sold with the narrow purpose of raising yields and manufactured with the even narrower purpose of increasing the chemical industry's profits. When inorganic nitrogen fertilizer was introduced in the 1950s, little or no attention was paid to its ecological behavior in the soil/water system or t

28、o the harmful effects of elevated nitrate levels in drinking water. 就連技術(shù)圈中如此接近自然的農(nóng)場也遭受到同樣的與環(huán)境的沖突。作為人造物體,農(nóng)場的唯一目的是生產(chǎn)農(nóng)作物。為此,二戰(zhàn)后農(nóng)學家們大力提倡增加化學氮肥料的投入量。產(chǎn)量提高了,卻與肥料投入量不成正比；年復一年,莊稼吸收到的肥料日益減少,投入的肥料大都通過土壤流失到地下水中,并以硝酸鹽的形式污染河流、湖泊和淡水供應。僅僅為了提高產(chǎn)量而出售氮肥料,甚至單單為了提高化學工業(yè)的利潤而生產(chǎn)氮肥料。20世紀50年代引進無機氮肥料時,人們就很少考慮其在土壤/水系統(tǒng)中的生態(tài)情況和飲用水中

29、硝酸鹽比重提高的危害作用。10. The second law of ecology"Everything has to go somewhere"together with the first, expresses the fundamental importance of cycles in the ecosphere. In the aquatic ecosystem, for example, the participating chemical elements move through closed cyclical processes. As they res

30、pire, fish produce carbon dioxide, which in turn is absorbed by aquatic plants and is used, photosynthetically, to produce oxygen which the fish respire. The fish excrete nitrogen-containing organic compounds in their waste; when the waste is metabolized by aquatic bacteria and molds, the organic ni

31、trogen is converted to nitrate; this, in turn, is an essential nutrient for the aquatic algae; these, ingested by the fish, contribute to their organic waste, and the cycle is complete. In such a closed, circular system, there is no such thing as "waste" everything that is produced in one

32、part of the cycle "goes somewhere" and is used in a later step.第二條生態(tài)規(guī)律“任何事物都會轉(zhuǎn)化成其他事物”與第一條合起來,體現(xiàn)出自然圈中循環(huán)的重要性。例如在水域生態(tài)系統(tǒng)中,參與其中的化學元素通過封閉的循環(huán)流程來運行。魚呼吸時產(chǎn)生二氧化碳,接下來,二氧化碳被水生植物吸收并用于光合作用生成魚呼吸需要的氧氣。魚分泌出含氮的有機化合物廢料；當廢料被水生細菌和霉分解時,有機氮就轉(zhuǎn)化為硝酸鹽；依次下來,硝酸鹽又是水生藻類的必要營養(yǎng)品；水生藻類被魚吸收后會促成其產(chǎn)生有機廢料,這個循環(huán)到此完成。在這個封閉的循環(huán)系統(tǒng)中,沒有真正

33、的“廢料”,循環(huán)中產(chǎn)生的任何事物都會轉(zhuǎn)化為他物并在下一步被利用。 11. The technosphere, in contrast, is dominated by linear processes. Crops and the animals to which they are fed are eaten by people; their waste is flushed into the sewer system, altered in composition but not in amount at a treatment plant, and the residue is dumpe

34、d into rivers or the ocean as wastewhich upsets the natural aquatic ecosystem. Uranium is mined, processed into nuclear fuel which, in generating power, becomes highly radioactive waste that must be carefully guardedineffectually thus farfrom contaminating the environment for thousands of years. The

35、 energy sources that now power the technosphere are mostly fossil fuels66, stores that, once depleted, will never be renewed. The end result of this linear process is air pollution and the threat of global warming. Thus, in the technosphere goods are converted, linearly, into waste: crops into sewag

36、e; uranium into radioactive residues; petroleum and chlorine into dioxin; fossil fuels into carbon dioxide. In the technosphere, the end of the line is always waste, an assault on the cyclical processes that sustain the ecosphere.與生態(tài)圈相反,技術(shù)圈是由線性流程決定的。農(nóng)作物和以它們?yōu)樯膭游锉蝗耸秤?；而它們的廢物被沖進下水道,經(jīng)處置后成分發(fā)生了改變但數(shù)量沒有變化,然

37、后殘余部分被倒入河流或海洋中,因此這部分廢物便打亂了自然水域生態(tài)系統(tǒng)。鈾經(jīng)開采后被加工成用于生產(chǎn)能源的原子燃料,然后變成放射性極強的核廢料。為防污染環(huán)境,這些核廢料必須被認真保管長達數(shù)千年。但迄今為止,保管工作一直效果不佳?，F(xiàn)在技術(shù)圈運作的能源主要是礦物燃料,一旦用完,永不再生。線性流程的最終后果就是空氣污染和全球變暖的威脅。所以,在技術(shù)圈中,物質(zhì)被直線性地轉(zhuǎn)化為廢物：農(nóng)作物轉(zhuǎn)化為污物；鈾成為放射性殘余物；礦物燃料成為二氧化碳。在技術(shù)圈中,直線末段永遠是廢物,是對生態(tài)圈循環(huán)流程的一種侵害。12. The third informal law of ecology is "Nature

38、 knows best." The ecosystem is consistent with itself; its numerous components are compatible with each other and with the whole. Such a harmonious structure is the outcome of a very long period of trial and errorthe 5 billion years of biological evolution. The biological sector of the ecospher

39、ethe biosphere is composed of living things that have survived this test because of their finely tuned adaptation to the particular ecological niche that they occupy. Left to their own devices, ecosystems are conservative; the rate of evolution is very slow, and temporary changes, such as an overpop

40、ulation of rabbits, for example, are quickly readjusted by the wolves. 第三條規(guī)律即“自然深知一切”。生態(tài)系統(tǒng)內(nèi)部和諧；各組成部分間相容并共存于一體。經(jīng)過50億年這一相當長時期生物進化的反復嘗試,終于成就了如此和諧的結(jié)構(gòu)。生態(tài)圈的生物部分生物圈由經(jīng)受過考驗的生物構(gòu)成。它們經(jīng)過準確的調(diào)整后能適應自身居住的特殊生態(tài)小環(huán)境。若生態(tài)小環(huán)境不被外界打擾,它們將幾乎保持不變,進化速度十分緩慢。即使有暫時的變化,比如說兔子的激增,也會很快被狼群重新調(diào)整。13. In contrast to the ecosphere, the techn

41、osphere is composed of objects and materials that reflect a rapid and relentless process of change and variation. In less than a century, transport has progressed from the horse-drawn carriage, through the Model T Ford, to the present array of annually modified cars and aircraft. In a not much longe

42、r period, writing instruments have evolved from the quill pen to the typewriter and now the word processor. Synthetic organic chemistry began innocuously enough about 150 years ago with the laboratory production of a common natural substanceureabut soon departed from this imitative approach to produ

43、ce a huge array of organic compounds never found in nature and, for that reason, often incompatible with the chemistry of life. Nylon, for example, unlike a natural polymer such as cellulose, is not biodegradablethat is, there is no enzyme in any known living organism that can break it down. As a re

44、sult, when it is discarded into the ecosphere, nylon, like plastics generally, persists. Thus, oceanographers now find in their collecting nets bits of orange, blue, and white nylon and larger pieces jammed in the digestive tracts of dead turtlesthe residue of nylon marine cordage. In the technosphe

45、re, nylon is a useful new commodity; in the ecosphere, nylon, untested by evolution, is a harmful intruder. 與生態(tài)圈相反,技術(shù)圈是由現(xiàn)線性流程決定的。在不到一個世紀的時間里,交通工具不斷更新,從馬車、T型福特汽車到如今每年不斷更新的汽車和飛機。在不長的一段時間里,書寫工具便從羽毛筆變成了打字機,直至現(xiàn)在的文字處理器。150年前普通自然物質(zhì)尿素的實驗生產(chǎn)意味著人工合成工業(yè)的開端,但很快人們就從這條模仿型的道路轉(zhuǎn)移到生產(chǎn)一系列自然界中從未有過的有機合成物,因此導致與生命化學極不相容。例如尼龍

46、,它不會像植物纖維那樣的天然聚合物一樣可以進行生物分解也就是說,在現(xiàn)存的有機生物中還沒發(fā)現(xiàn)哪種酶可以分解尼龍。所以,若尼龍被遺棄到生態(tài)圈,它就會像塑料一樣永存。因此,海洋學家目前發(fā)現(xiàn)在他們的打撈網(wǎng)中有不少橙色、藍色和白色的尼龍,在死海龜?shù)南览镆部ㄖ罅看媚猃埨K索的殘留物。在技術(shù)圈中,尼龍是一種有用的新商品；但在生態(tài)圈中,尼龍沒有經(jīng)過進化的檢驗,是一個有害的侵犯者。14. "Nature knows best" is shorthand for the view that during the several billion years in which they ha

47、ve evolved, living things have created a limited but self-consistent array of substances and reactions that are essential to life. The petrochemical industry has departed from these restrictions, producing thousands of new man-made substances. Since they are based on the same fundamental patterns of

48、 carbon chemistry as the natural compounds, the new ones are often readily accepted into biochemical processes. They therefore can play an insidious, destructive role in living things. In effect, the petrochemical industry produces substances thatlike the fantasies of human society invaded by look-a

49、like but dangerous alienscunningly enter the chemistry of life, and attack it.“自然深知一切”是一個概括。在他們進化的幾十億年里,有生命的東西創(chuàng)造了一系列對生命至關(guān)重要的有限但獨立的物質(zhì)和反應。石油化學制品工業(yè)已經(jīng)脫離了這些限制,生產(chǎn)出數(shù)以萬計的新型人造物質(zhì)。既然他們基于與自然合成物相同的碳化學工業(yè)的基本模式,這些新的物質(zhì)往往被認為屬于生物化學流程。因此他們就對有生命物質(zhì)發(fā)揮了一種暗中為害的作用。事實上,石油化學制品工業(yè)生產(chǎn)出的物質(zhì)就像貌似人類卻極其危險的外星人入侵人類社會一樣狡猾地進入生命化學并對其進行進攻。15.

50、 Finally, it is useful to compare the ecosphere and the technosphere with respect to the consequences of failure. In the ecosphere, this is expressed by the idea that "there is no such thing as a free lunch," meaning that any distortion of an ecological cycle, or the intrusion of an incomp

51、atible component (such as a toxic chemical), leads unavoidably to harmful effects. At first glance, the technosphere appears to be extraordinarily free of mistakesthat is, a technological process or product that failed not because of some unanticipated accident but because it was unable to do what i

52、t was designed to do. Yet nearly every modern technology has grave faults, which appear not as a failure to accomplish its designed purpose but as a serious impact on the environment. Cars usually run very well, but produce smog; power plants efficiently generate electricity, but also emit dangerous

53、 pollutants; modern chemical farming is very productive but contaminates groundwater with nitrate and wildlife and people with pesticides. Even the spectacular nuclear disasters at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl were far less serious as technical failures than they were in their ecological effects.

54、 Regarded only as a failure in the plant's function, the accident at Chernobyl amounts to a serious but local fire that destroyed the plant. But the resultant release of radioactivity threatens many thousands of people all over Europe with cancer.最后,有必要從失敗的后果上對生態(tài)圈和技術(shù)圈進行比較。在生態(tài)圈里,人們用“沒有免費的午餐”來表達這一

55、點,意思是說,任何對生態(tài)圈的扭曲,或者是不相容成分的侵入(比如說有毒化學物),都會不可避免地導致惡果。乍一看來,技術(shù)圈好像完全沒有錯誤,也就是說,技術(shù)進程或產(chǎn)品的失敗并非源于某種不可預料的事故,而是由于無法做到預期中的事。幾乎每種現(xiàn)代技術(shù)都有缺陷,但這種缺陷看起來不是無法完成預期目的的失敗,而是其對環(huán)境的嚴重影響。汽車總能照常行駛,但它卻產(chǎn)生煙霧；電站能有效地發(fā)電,卻會放射出危險的污染物；現(xiàn)代化學農(nóng)業(yè)卓有成效,但隨之而來的硝酸鹽污染了地下水,殺蟲劑危害了野生動物和人類。即使發(fā)生在三里島和切爾諾貝利的壯觀的核災難相對于其所造成的生態(tài)影響來說,也只是一個并不太嚴重的技術(shù)失敗。若僅僅被視為工廠運作的

56、失敗,切爾諾貝利事故充其量也就相當于當?shù)匕l(fā)生的一次破壞了工廠的嚴重大火。但隨之釋放出來的輻射,卻使整個歐洲數(shù)以千計的人面臨患上癌癥的威脅。16. A free lunch is really a debt. In the technosphere, a debt is an acknowledged but unmet costthe mortgage on a factory building, for example. Such a debt is tolerable because the technosphere is a system of production, whichif i

57、t functions properly generates goods that represent wealth potentially capable of repaying the debt. In the technosphere, debts are repaid from within and, at least in theory, are always capable of being paid off, or, in some cases, canceled. In contrast, when the debts represented by environmental

58、pollution are created by the technosphere and transferred to the ecosphere, they are never canceled; damage is unavoidable. The debts represented by the radioactivity disseminated from the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, and by the toxic chemicals that enveloped Bhopal, have not been canceled. These

59、debts were merely transferred to the victims, and are paid as they sicken and die.免費的午餐實際上是一種債務。在技術(shù)圈中,債務是指已承認但尚未歸還的欠款比如說抵押在建筑上的押金。這種欠款可以忍受,因為技術(shù)圈是個生產(chǎn)系統(tǒng),如果正常工作,生產(chǎn)的產(chǎn)品便代表著財富,日后定能還清欠款。在技術(shù)領(lǐng)域,債務從內(nèi)部被償還,至少在理論上總能還清或者有時會被消除。相反,當債務以技術(shù)圈制造的環(huán)境污染的形式出現(xiàn),然后又轉(zhuǎn)嫁到生態(tài)圈時,這種債務將永遠無法消除。造成破壞是不可避免的。切爾諾貝利核事故泄漏的放射性物質(zhì)和彌漫在博帕爾的有毒化學物都是無法消除的債務。它們只是被轉(zhuǎn)嫁給其受害者,并以其受害者病亡的形式得以償還。17. Since they inhabit both worlds, people are caught in the clash between the ecosphere and the technosphere. What we call the "environmental crisis" the array of critical unsolved problems ranging from local t