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爱德华威尔逊《给梭罗的一封信》中英文互译•,爰德华威尔逊生于年当今国际生物学界的翘楚,美•Edward O.Wilson,1929国国家科学院院士,世界上最具影响力的科学家之一,生物社会学”之父、生物多样性”概念的提出者《自然》杂志对他的评价是既是世界级的科学家,也是伟大的写作者威尔逊擅长著述,可称最具文采的科学家被灭绝的本是可拯救的,威尔逊对生命的未来并未绝望他坚信,人类对自然的生命之爰可以勾勒出一个可持续的未来本文节选自其著作《生命的未来》的序言The Futureof LifeA Letterto ThoreauExcerpt《给梭罗的一封信》节选By Edward
0.Wilson文/爰德华威尔逊•I understandwhy youcame toWalden Pond;your wordsare clearenoughon thatscore.Granted,you chosethis spotprimarily tostudy nature.Butyou couldhave donethat aseasily andfar morecomfortably...我了解你为什么要到瓦尔登湖畔来居住,对此,你说得够明白了没错儿,你选择这个地点为的是研究大自然但是你大可更轻松地去观察大自然……Here iswhat Ibelieve happened.You soughtenlightenment andfulfillmentthe OldTestament way,by reductionof materialexistence to thefundamentals.When youstripped youroutside obligationsto thesurvivableminimum,you placedyour trainedand veryactive mindin anunendurablevacuum.And thisis theessence of the matter:in orderto fillthevacuum,you discoveredthe humanproclivity toembrace the naturalworld.以下是我的推论你渴慕神灵,因此你试图把物质生活降到最基本的水平,以寻求事物的真谛以及《旧约圣经》的实践之道当你将身外的牵绊降低到最少时,你那训练有素且敏锐的心灵,顿时落入无法忍受的真空之中而这就是事物的本质为了要填补这份真空,你发现了人类的天性——拥抱大自然You searchedfor essenceat Waldenand,whether successfulin yourownmind ornot,you hitupon anethic witha solidfeel toit:nature isours toexploreforever;it isour crucibleand refuge;it isour naturalhome;it isallthese things.Save it,you said:in wildnessis thepreservation ofthe world.你来到瓦尔登湖寻求人生精义,不论在你心里认为是否成功,你都谈到了一项感触很深的道理大自然永远能供我们探索,它既是对我们的考验,也是我们的避难所,它是我们天生的家园,它就是一切救救它吧,你说过,保护世界就在于保护它的野性Now,in closingthis letter,I amforced toreport badnews.I putit offtillthe end.The naturalworld inthe year2001is everywheredisappearingbefore oureyes—cut topieces,mowed down,plowed under;gobbled upzreplacedby humanartifacts.这封信写到尾声,现在,我不得不报告坏消息了我拖到最后再说年,大自2001然在你我眼前随处消失——被切碎、摧毁、犁耕、攫取、取代,这一切都是人类所为No onein yourtime couldimagine adisaster of this magnitude.Little morethana billionpeople werealive inthe1840s.They wereoverwhelminglyagricultural,and fewfamilies neededmore thantwo orthree acrestosurvive.The Americanfrontier wasstill wideopen.And faraway oncontinentstothesouth,up greatrivers,beyond unclimbedmountainranges,stretched unspoiledequatorial forestsbrimming withthe maximumdiversityof life.你那个时代的人,恐怕想象不出规模这等宏大的破坏年代,地球人口只有184010亿多一些他们绝大多数以务农为生,少数人家只需要两三英亩的土地就可以生活当时美国境内还有很辽阔的土地未开垦美国以南的几块大陆上,那些大河流域上游、难以攀越的高山上,长满未经破坏的热带雨林,里面的生物多样性丰富至极These wildernessesseemed asunattainable andtimeless asthe planetsandstars.That couldnot last,because themood ofWestern civilizationisAbrahamic.The explorersand colonistswere guidedby abiblical prayer:May wetake possessionofthisland thatGod hasprovided andlet itdripmilk andhoney intoour mouths,forever.当时这些野生生物仿佛天上的星辰难以企及,永远存在但是由于西方文明的情感是亚伯拉罕式的,这种情况注定不会长久探险家和殖民者遵守的都是《圣经》里的祈祷让我们拥有上帝所赐给我们的流淌着奶与蜜的美地,直到永远The raceis nowon betweenthe technoscientificforces thatare destroyingtheliving environmentand thosethat canbe harnessedto saveit.We areinsidea bottleneckof overpopulationand wastefulconsumption.If theraceis won,humanity canemerge infar bettercondition thanwhen itentered,and withmost ofthe diversityof lifestill intact.目前,有两股科技力量正在相互竞争之中,一股是摧毁生态环境的科技力量,另一股则是拯救生态环境的科技力量我们正处在人口过多以及过度消费的瓶颈之中如果这场竞争后者得胜,人类将会进入有史以来最佳的生存状态,而且生物多样性也大致还能保留;Henry,my friendthank youfor puttingthe firstelement ofthat ethicinplace.Now it is upto usto summona moreencompassing wisdom.Theliving worldis dying;thenaturaleconomy iscrumbling beneathour busyfeet.We havebeen tooself-absorbed toforesee thelong-termconsequences ofour actions,and wewill suffera terribleloss unlessweshake offour delusionsand movequickly toa solution.Science andtechnologyled usinto thisbottleneck.Now scienceand technologymusthelp usfind ourway throughand out.亨利,吾友!谢谢你率先提出这项伦理的第一要义如今,轮到我们来总结一条更全面的智慧生物世界正在步向衰亡,自然正在你我繁忙的脚下崩溃我们人类一向太过热衷于自己的想法,以至于没有预见到我们的行为所造成的长远影响,人类要是再不甩开自己的幻觉,快速谋求解决之道,将来可要损失惨重了现在,科技一定得帮助我们找寻出路,走出困境You oncesaid thatold deeds are forold people,and newdeedsarefornew.I thinkthat inhistorical perspectiveit isthe otherway around.Youwere thenew andwe arethe old.Can wenow bethe wiserFor you,hereat WaldenPond,the lamentationofthemourning doveand thegreen frogst-r-r-oonk!across thepredawn waterwere thetrue reasonfor savingthisplace.For us,itisan exactknowledge ofwhat thattruth is,all thatit implies,and howto employit tobest effect.So,two truths.We willhave themboth,you andI andall thosenow andforever tocome whoaccept thestewardshipof nature.你曾说过,老习惯适合老人,新行为适合新人但我认为,就历史的角度看来情况恰恰相反你是新人,我们是老人然而,我们现在还能变得更智慧些吗?对于居住在瓦尔登湖畔的你来说,野鸽子的晨间哀歌,青蛙划破黎明水面的呱呱声,就是挽救这片大地的真正理由对于我们,挽救它则是为了准确掌握事实,探究事实所隐含的意义,以及如何运用事实以达成最佳效果所以,共有两种事实,你、我以及所有现在的和后来的人,只要接受大自然的主宰,便都会得到。
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