TED中英官方演讲稿-StewartBrand_2013终止灭绝的黎明。你准备好了吗.docx

1.Now, extinction is a different kind of death. 物種滅絕是一種不一樣的死亡2.Its bigger. 它的規模更大3.We didnt really realize that until 1914, when the last passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, died at the Cincinnati zoo. 但直到 1914 年，當最後一隻旅鴿 —— 一隻名叫瑪莎的母鳥 ——在辛辛那提動物園中去世時， 我們才瞭解到這份震撼4.This had been the most abundant bird in the world thatd been in North America for six million years. 牠們曾是世界上數量最多的鳥類 存活於北美洲六百萬年5.Suddenly it wasnt here at all. 突然間就消失了6.Flocks that were a mile wide and 400 miles long used to darken the sun. 旅鴿鳥群曾達 1 英里寬並綿延 400 英里 甚至可以遮蔽太陽7.Aldo Leopold said this was a biological storm, a feathered tempest. 阿爾多．李奧帕德曾如此形容： 這是一場生物風暴、一場飛羽旋風8.And indeed it was a keystone species that enriched the entire eastern deciduous forest, from the Mississippi to the Atlantic, from Canada down to the Gulf. 牠們也確實是關鍵物種 盤踞美東的落葉林 從密西西比河到大西洋 從加拿大一路到墨西哥灣9.But it went from five billion birds to zero in just a couple decades. 但從五十億隻歸零卻只花了數十年的時間10.What happened? 發生什麼事呢？11.Well, commercial hunting happened. 嗯，發生了商業性的獵殺12.These birds were hunted for meat that was sold by the ton, and it was easy to do because when those big flocks came down to the ground, they were so dense 這種鳥類被獵殺並成噸地賣入肉品市場 牠們成群的飛行，讓獵殺易如反掌 當牠們接近地面時，數百名獵人13.that hundreds of hunters and netters could show up and slaughter them by the tens of thousands. 可以輕而易舉地從如此密集的鳥群中 獵殺到成千上萬的獵物14.It was the cheapest source of protein in America. 牠們曾是美國最廉價的蛋白質來源15.By the end of the century, there was nothing left but these beautiful skins in museum specimen drawers. 到 19 世紀末葉，牠們就從地球上消失了 只剩披蓋華羽的標本躺在博物館中16.Theres an upside to the story. 但這故事仍有光明的一面17.This made people realize that the same thing was about to happen to the American bison, and so these birds saved the buffalos. 這讓人類意識到同樣的狀況 也將發生在美洲水牛身上 所以這些鳥的滅絕救了水牛18.But a lot of other animals werent saved. 但仍有許多我們保護不及的動物19.The Carolina parakeet was a parrot that lit up backyards everywhere. 卡羅萊納長尾鸚鵡曾是點亮每家後院的嬌客20.It was hunted t