TED2008
Richard Preston: The mysterious lives of giant trees
聽理查‧普賴斯頓講述參天大樹
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科學作家理查‧普賴斯頓就世界上最大的生物之一——美國太平洋西北岸的大樹——做了一番精彩演說，合抱之木，起於累土，如今它們已經可以支撐起一整個龐大的生態系統，並且至今對我們來說仍是未解之謎。
Richard Preston - Writer
Richard Preston wrote The Hot Zone, a classic look at the Ebola virus and the scientists who fight it. His wide-ranging curiosity about science and people has led him to cover a dizzying list of topics, with a lapidary attention to detail and an ear for the human voice. Full bio
Richard Preston wrote The Hot Zone, a classic look at the Ebola virus and the scientists who fight it. His wide-ranging curiosity about science and people has led him to cover a dizzying list of topics, with a lapidary attention to detail and an ear for the human voice. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:18
The north coast of California has rainforests --
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美國加州北部有許多片雨林——
00:23
temperate rainforests -- where it can rain more than 100 inches a year.
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溫帶雨林——這區每年降雨量超過100英寸（約25400毫米）。
00:28
This is the realm of the Coast Redwood tree.
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這裡可謂是海岸紅杉之鄉。
00:32
Its species name is Sequoia sempervirens.
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它們的學名叫做Sequoia sempervirens （紅杉）。
00:35
Sequoia sempervirens is the tallest living organism on Earth.
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紅杉是地球上最高的有機體，
00:39
The range of the species goes up to as much as 380 feet tall.
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有些紅杉可以高達380英尺（約116米），
00:44
That's 38 stories tall.
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那是38層樓高。
00:46
These are trees that would stand out in midtown Manhattan.
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它們要是聳立在曼哈頓足以傲視群雄了。
00:50
Nobody knows how old the oldest living Coast Redwoods are
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這些老樹具體多少歲了沒人知道，
00:54
because nobody has ever drilled into any of them
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因為它們仍未被人砍伐過，
00:56
to count their annual growth rings, and, in any case,
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所以它們有幾圈年輪也就不得而知了。
00:59
the centers of the oldest individuals appear to be hollow.
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這些樹的樹幹似乎是中空的，
01:03
But it's believed that the oldest living Redwoods
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然而它們卻是公認的最老的紅杉。
01:06
are perhaps 2,500 years old -- roughly the age of the Parthenon --
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估計有2500歲了吧，差不多和帕德嫩神廟一樣老了。
01:12
although it's also suspected that there may be individual trees
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不過也有可能還存在
01:15
that are older than that.
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比這更老的樹。
01:17
You can see the range of the Coast Redwoods. It's here, in red.
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大家可以看到紅杉的分佈情況，就在這些紅色的區域內。
01:21
The largest individuals of this species,
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而這些龐然大物中的龐然大物，
01:23
the dreadnoughts of their kind, live just on the north coast of California,
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可謂樹中之王，就生長在這加州北岸，
01:28
where the rain is really intense.
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因為這裡雨水豐沛。
01:31
In recent historic times, about 96 percent of the Coast Redwood forest
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然而近代以來，有96%的紅杉
01:37
was cut down, especially in a series of bursts of intense liquidation logging,
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遭到砍伐，特別是在20世紀70年代到90年代之間的
01:44
clear-cutting that took place in the 1970s through the early 1990s.
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大規模砍伐期間。
01:50
Even so, about four percent of the primeval Redwood rainforest remains intact,
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即便如此，仍有4%的原始紅杉雨林倖免於難，
01:58
wild and now protected -- entirely protected --
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它們仍屬野生，並且受到保護——絕對周密的保護。
02:02
in a chain of small parks strung out like pearls
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它們的所在地建起了大大小小的公園，在加州北岸連成一片，就像一串珍珠。
02:05
along the north coast of California, including Redwood National Park.
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其中包括紅杉國家公園。
02:09
But curiously, Redwood rainforests, the fragments that we have left,
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但是說來奇怪，這些僅存的紅杉雨林
02:14
to this day remain under-explored.
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至今仍然未被探索。
02:17
Redwood rainforest is incredibly difficult to move through,
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在雨林中行走異常艱難，
02:22
and even today, individual trees are being discovered
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時至今日，還不斷有新的紅杉被發現，
02:25
that have never been seen before, including, in the summer of 2006,
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其中包括世界上最高的樹，“許珀里翁”（希臘神話中一巨人名）
02:29
Hyperion, the world's tallest tree.
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也是在2006年才被發現。
02:32
I'm going to do a little Gedanken experiment.
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我們來做個小小的想像實驗，
02:35
I'm going to ask you to imagine what a Redwood really is as a living organism.
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大家在腦中想像一下一棵巨大的活生生的紅杉，
02:39
And, Chris, if I could have you up here? I have a tape measure.
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克里斯，你能上來一下嗎？我有把捲尺，
02:47
It's a kind loaner from TED.
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從TED借來的，
02:49
And Chris, if you could take the end of that tape measure?
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克里斯，你能幫我拿著捲尺的一頭嗎？
02:53
We're going to show you what the diameter
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我們來看看
02:55
at breast height of a big Redwood is.
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一顆紅杉在在其腰部以上的樹幹直徑有多大。
02:58
Unfortunately, this tape isn't long enough -- it's only a 25-foot tape.
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可惜這把尺不夠長，它最多只有25英尺（7.6米），
03:07
Chris, could you extend your arm out that way? There we go. OK.
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克里斯，你能往你那邊張開手臂嗎？恩，對，就這樣，
03:12
And maybe about here, about 30 feet, is the diameter of a big Redwood.
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差不多就是這麼長，大約30英尺（9.1米），就是一棵大型紅杉的直徑。
03:20
Now, let your imagination go upward into space.
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現在我們換個方向想像，大家往高處想像，
03:23
Think about this tree, rising upward into Redwood space, 325 feet,
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想像一下這棵大樹，直指雲霄，高325英尺（約99米），
03:33
32 stories, an individual living organism articulating its forms
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大約32層樓那麼高，一個生命體在漫長的時光中
03:38
upward into space over long periods of time.
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逐漸長成參天大樹。
03:42
The Redwood species seems to exist in another kind of time:
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這些紅杉似乎不屬於我們的時空，
03:47
not human time, but what we might call Redwood time.
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他們不屬於人類的時代，也想該叫“紅杉時代，”
03:51
Redwood time moves at a more stately pace than human time.
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它們的時光更加亙古而雋永，
03:56
To us, when we look at a Redwood tree, it seems to be motionless and still,
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對我們來說，我們看著一棵紅杉，它似乎紋絲不動，
04:01
and yet Redwoods are constantly in motion,
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但是事實上它們卻無時無刻的在動，
04:04
moving upward into space, articulating themselves
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向不斷上伸展，
04:09
and filling Redwood space over Redwood time, over thousands of years.
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在它們的時空中譜寫自己的歷史，歷經千年。
04:14
Plant this small seed, wait 2,000 years, and you get this:
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種下這顆小種子，等待兩千年，便有了這顆參天大樹——
04:18
the Lost Monarch.
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失落的帝王。
04:20
It dwells in the Grove of Titans on the north coast,
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它存在這北岸的巨型樹林中，
04:22
and was discovered in 1998.
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直到1998年被人揭開面紗。
04:25
And yet, when you look at the base of a Redwood tree,
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然而，你看那古木的樹樁，
04:27
you're not seeing the organism.
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那彷彿不是一個人在看一整棵樹，
04:29
You're like a mouse looking at the foot of an elephant,
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而是一隻老鼠在看象的腿。
04:32
and most of the organism is overhead, unseen.
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大部份軀幹都在頭頂之上，視野之外。
04:35
I became very interested, and I wrote about a couple.
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最初爬上紅杉樹冠層一探究竟的是一對夫妻。
04:39
Steve Sillett and Marie Antoine are the principal explorers
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史蒂夫‧西列特和瑪麗‧安東尼是紅杉林頂層的最先探索者。
04:42
of the Redwood forest canopy. They're world-class athletes,
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他們可以世界一流的運動員，
04:45
and they also are world-class forest ecology scientists.
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也是一流的森林生態學家。
04:51
Steve Sillett, when he was a 19-year-old college student
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史蒂夫‧西列特還是個19歲的裡德學院的學生時
04:54
at Reed College, had heard that the Redwood forest canopy
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就聽人們說紅杉的頂層上
04:58
is considered to be a so-called Redwood desert.
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就像一個“紅杉沙漠”一樣，
05:01
That is to say, at that time it was believed
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那個時候人家認為
05:03
that there was nothing up there except the branches of Redwood trees.
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紅杉頂上除了樹枝什麽都沒有。
05:07
And with a friend of his, he took it upon himself to free-climb a Redwood
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於是他就和一個朋友一起徒手爬上了一棵紅杉
05:10
without ropes or any equipment to see what was up there.
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不靠任何繩索或工具，他們要去一探究竟。
05:13
He climbed up a small tree next to this giant Redwood,
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他從大紅杉旁邊的小樹開始爬，
05:16
and then he leaped through space and grabbed a branch with his hands,
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然後騰空一躍，抓住了大樹的一根樹枝，
05:22
and ended up hanging, like catching a bar of a trapeze.
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就這樣懸空掛在樹上，像抓著鞦韆的繩子似的，
05:25
And then, from there, he climbed directly up the bark
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然後他就這麼直接沿著樹幹爬上去了，
05:28
until he got to the top of the tree.
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一直爬到樹頂。
05:30
His friend, a guy named Marwood Harris, was following behind.
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而他朋友，馬伍德‧哈裡斯則緊隨其後。
05:34
Neither one of them had noticed that there was
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但是他們誰都沒有注意到
05:36
a Yellow Jacket wasp's nest the size of a bowling ball
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有個保齡球大小的黃蜂巢
05:40
hanging from the branch that Steve had jumped into.
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就掛在史蒂夫抓住的樹枝上，
05:42
And when Marwood made the jump, he was covered with wasps
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於是馬武德一跳過去就馬上被黃蜂包圍了，
05:46
stinging him in the face and eyes. He nearly let go.
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它們瘋狂的叮咬他的臉和眼睛。他幾乎要抓不住了，
05:50
He would have fallen to his death, being 75 feet above the ground.
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要是從這離地75英尺（約23米）的高處掉下去肯定就沒命了。
05:53
But they made it to the top, and what they found
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然而他們卻毅然登上了樹頂，他們看到的
05:55
was not a Redwood desert, but a lost world --
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根本不是什麽“紅杉沙漠”，而是別有洞天，
05:58
a kind of three-dimensional labyrinth in the air, filled with unknown life.
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那是一座空中的立體迷宮，裏面全是不知名的生物，
06:02
Now, I had been working on other topics:
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插一句題外話，我也做一些其他方面的研究，
06:06
the emergence of infectious diseases,
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包括傳染病的來源，
06:09
which come out of the natural ecosystems of the Earth,
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它們最初都是來自於生態系統的，
06:12
make a trans-species jump, and get into humans.
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這些病從一個物種傳播到另一個物種，
06:15
After three books on this, it got to be a bit much, in a way.
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在寫了三本書之後，這有些令人厭煩了。
06:19
My wife and I adore our children.
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我和我妻子都很喜歡我們的孩子，
06:22
And I began climbing trees with my kids as just something to do with them,
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於是我開始和孩子們一起爬樹，也算是和他們共度好時光，
06:27
using the so-called arborist climbing technique,
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我們用一種“樹木專家”的方式爬樹，
06:30
with ropes. You use ropes to get yourself up into the crown of a tree.
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我們用繩子一路爬上樹冠。
06:34
Children are incredibly adept at climbing trees.
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孩子們都很會爬樹，
06:37
That's my son, Oliver.
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這是我兒子，奧利弗，
06:39
They don't seem to suffer from the same fear of heights that humans do.
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他們一點都沒有人類的懼高症。
06:43
(Laughter)
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（觀眾笑聲）
06:47
If ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, then children
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如果能窺一斑而知全豹，
06:51
are somewhat closer to our roots as primates in the arboreal forest.
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那麼孩子在樹上似乎更加接近我們的靈長類祖先。
06:56
Humans appear to be the only primates that I know of
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據我所知，人類是靈長類動物中
07:00
that are afraid of heights.
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唯一怕高的。
07:02
All other primates, when they're scared,
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其他的靈長類，只要一害怕，
07:04
they run up a tree, where they feel safe.
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就立馬上樹，然後他們就覺得安全了。
07:07
We camped overnight in the trees, in tree boats.
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我們在樹上搭建“樹船”用來在樹上過夜，
07:11
This is my daughter Laura, then 15, looking out of a tree boat.
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這是我女兒，蘿拉，那時候只有15歲，照片裡她正從“樹船”上往外張望，
07:14
She's, by the way, tied in with a rope so she can't fall.
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順便說一句，她身上是綁著繩子的，所以她不會掉下去。
07:19
Looking out of a tree boat in the morning and hearing birdsong
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清晨在這樣的“樹船”裡醒來，聆聽清脆的鳥鳴，
07:22
coming in three dimensions around us.
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全方位的環繞在我們四周是多麼美妙。
07:24
We had been visited in the night by flying squirrels,
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有時候晚上會有鼯鼠造訪，
07:27
who don't seem to recognize humans for what they are
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它們還不認識我們人類，
07:30
because they've never seen them in the canopy before.
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因為他們從沒在樹冠上見過我們。
07:32
And we practiced advanced techniques like sky-walking,
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我們還練就了“空中漫步”的本領，
07:35
where you can move from tree to tree through space,
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也就是在空中從一棵樹走到另一棵樹，
07:38
rather like Spiderman.
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就像蜘蛛人一樣。
07:40
It became a writing project.
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這已經成了我寫作計劃的一部份。
07:42
When Steve Sillett gets up into a big Redwood, he fires an arrow,
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在史蒂夫‧西列特爬上一棵大紅杉以後，他向外射出一箭，
07:46
which trails a fishing line, which gets over a branch in the tree,
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箭上纏著釣魚線，勾在樹枝上。
07:49
and then you ascend up a rope which has been dragged into the tree by the line.
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釣魚線拖著一根繩子勾在樹上，然後他再沿著繩子爬上去，
07:53
You ascend 30 stories.
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一直爬30層樓那麼高，
07:55
There are two people climbing this tree, Gaya,
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這裡兩個人正在爬這棵樹，名叫蓋亞（希臘神話中的地母），
07:58
which is thought to be one of the oldest Redwoods. There they are.
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這是世界上最老的樹之一。他們就在那裡。
08:01
They are only one-seventh of the way up that tree.
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到這裡他們才爬了整棵樹的七分之一，
08:05
You do feel a sense of exposure.
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你真的會覺得大開眼界。
08:07
There is a small person right down there on the ground.
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這裡地上有個人，看上去很小，
08:10
You feel like you're climbing a wall of wood.
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這樣似乎是在爬一堵高牆，
08:12
But then you enter the Redwood canopy,
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然而一旦進入了紅杉的樹冠層，
08:14
and it's like coming through a layer of clouds.
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感覺就像進入了雲中一般，
08:17
And all of a sudden, you lose sight of the ground,
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突然之間就看不見地面了，
08:20
and you also lose sight of the sky,
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同時也看不見天空，
08:22
and you're in a three-dimensional labyrinth in the air
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你仿佛置身于空中的立體迷宮
08:25
filled with hanging gardens of ferns growing out of soil,
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從土中蕨類植物懸空掛著，
08:28
which is populated with all kinds of small organisms.
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裏面有各種各樣的微小生物，
08:32
There are epiphytes, plants that grow on trees.
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包括生長在樹上的複生植物，
08:35
These are huckleberry bushes.
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這是越橘叢，
08:37
Many species of mosses, and then all sorts of lichens just plastering the tree.
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還有各種苔蘚和貼在樹上的地衣，
08:43
When you get near the top of the tree, you feel like you can't fall --
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快要到達樹頂的時候，你會恍惚覺得似乎不會掉下去，
08:46
in fact, it's difficult to move.
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而事實上，你是寸步難行。
08:48
You're worming your way through branches which are crowded
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只能在茂密的樹叢中蠕動著步伐，
08:51
with living things that don't occur near the ground.
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周圍充滿了地面上從沒見過的生物，
08:54
It's like scuba diving into a coral reef,
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就像在珊瑚礁中潛水一樣，
08:56
except you're going upward instead of downward.
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只不過你是在向上走而不是向下游。
08:58
And then the trees tend to flare out into platform-like areas at the top.
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最後樹的頂層會一下子展開一個空中平臺，
09:02
Maria's sitting on one of them.
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瑪利亞就坐在這樣一個平臺上，
09:04
These limbs could be five to six hundred years old.
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這些樹枝估計有五、六百歲了，
09:06
Redwoods grow very slowly in their tops.
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紅杉的樹頂生長的很慢，
09:09
They also have a feature: thickets of huckleberry bushes
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他們還有一個特點：就是茂密的越橘叢
09:12
that grow out of the tops of Redwood trees
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會在紅杉樹頂長出來。
09:14
that are technically known as huckleberry afros,
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我們專門把它稱作“越橘爆炸頭”，
09:17
and you can sit there and snack on the berries while you're resting.
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你可以舒服的坐在那兒小歇片刻，品嘗幾顆漿果，
09:21
Redwoods have an enormous surface area that extends upward into space
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紅杉可以向外延伸，新的部份表面積巨大並且向上生長。
09:26
because they have a propensity to do something called reiteration.
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因為他們有這種“自我複製”的傾向。
09:30
A Redwood is a fractal. And as they put out limbs,
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紅杉呈不規則形狀。它們向外伸展的時候，
09:34
the limbs burst into small trees, copies of the Redwood.
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這些新的樹枝會長成新的小樹，就像大樹的複製品。
09:39
Now, here we see a reiteration in Chronos, one of the older Redwoods.
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現在我們看到的是一棵克洛諾斯（希臘神話中的時間之神），最老的紅杉之一`，的側苗，
09:43
This reiteration is a huge flying buttress
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這棵側苗是一株巨大的飛扶壁，
09:47
that comes out the tree itself.
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從樹中長出來。
09:49
This buttress is less than halfway up the tree.
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這個樹垛還沒長到整棵樹的一半，
09:52
And then it bursts into a forest of Redwoods.
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就長成了一片紅杉林。
09:55
This particular extra trunk is a meter across at the base
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在這個奇特的樹幹底部直徑可達一米之寬。
10:00
and extends upward for 150 feet.
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高150英尺（約46米）。
10:02
It's as big as any of the biggest trees east of the Mississippi River,
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密西西比河以東最大的樹也不過如此，
10:06
and yet it's only a minor feature on Chronos.
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而這只是“克洛諾斯”的一株側苗。
10:09
This three-dimensional map of the crown structure of a Redwood named Iluvatar,
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這是史蒂夫、瑪麗和他們的同事一起繪製的一幅立體的紅杉樹冠層地圖，這棵樹叫“伊露維塔”（魔戒中的眾生之父），
10:15
made by Steve Sillett, Marie Antoine and their colleagues, gives you an idea.
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從這裡面我們就能看出來紅杉的這種特性。
10:19
What you're seeing here is a hierarchical schematic development
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我們現在看到的一個階段性生長的示意圖，
10:23
of the trunks of this tree as it has elaborated itself over time into six layers of fractal,
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這棵樹的樹幹漸漸長出了六層樹枝結構，
10:29
of trunks springing from trunks springing from trunks.
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樹枝上長出樹枝，新的樹枝上長出樹枝。
10:34
I asked Steve to put a human being in this to give a sense of scale.
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我讓史蒂夫在這張圖上放置一個人來顯示其大小比例，
10:39
There's the person, right there. The person is waving to us.
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大家看，這裡有一個人，正向我們招手。
10:44
I've wanted to ask Craig Venter if it would be possible to insert
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我想過要問克萊格·凡特是不是能
10:50
a synthetic chromosome into a human
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在人類體內注射合成的紅杉染色體，
10:52
so that we could reiterate ourselves if we wanted to.
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這樣我們就也能進行“自我複製”了。
10:56
And if we were able to reiterate, then the fingers of our hand
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而我們一旦能夠自我複製，那麼我們的手指
10:59
would be people who looked like us,
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就會長成像我們一樣的人，
11:03
and they would have people on their hands and so on.
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而且他們的手指上耶會再長出人，
11:06
And if we had Redwood-like biology,
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而且如果我們有這種“紅杉機制”，
11:08
we would have six layers of people on our hands, as it were.
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我們手上就會有六重複製體，
11:12
And it would be a lovely thing to be able to wave to someone
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他們之間還能互相打招呼，是不是很有趣
11:14
and have all our reiterations wave at the same time.
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他們還能同時一起打招呼呢。
11:18
(Laughter)
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（觀眾笑聲）
11:20
To reiterate the point, let's go closer into Iluvatar.
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爲了重申這一點，我們來仔細看一看伊露維塔，
11:26
We're looking at that yellow box.
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大家看那個黃色的方框，
11:29
And this hallucinatory drawing shows you --
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這張虛擬圖展示的，
11:31
everything you see in this drawing is Iluvatar.
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就是伊露維塔的全貌。
11:35
These are millennial structures -- portions of the tree
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這些都是所謂的“千年部份”——樹上的這些部份
11:38
that are believed to be more than 1,000 years old.
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都有超過一千年的歷史了。
11:40
There are four humans in this shot -- one, two, three, four.
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這張圖里一共有四個人——一，二，三，四，
11:48
And there's also something that I want to show you.
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我還有一些東西要展示給大家，
11:51
This is a flying buttress.
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這是一個飛扶壁，
11:54
Redwoods grow back into themselves as they expand into space,
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紅杉在向上生長的同時也會向內生長，
11:58
and this flying buttress is a limb shot out of that small trunk,
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這個飛扶壁就是那根小樹枝上長出的一個分支，
12:01
going back into the main trunk and fusing with it.
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漸漸長回到主樹幹並與之連結。
12:04
Flying buttresses, just as in a cathedral, help strengthen the crown of the tree
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這些飛扶壁，就像教堂裡的扶牆一樣，促使樹冠茁壯成長，
12:08
and help the tree exist longer through time.
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也使整棵樹得以存活更久。
12:12
The scientists are doing all kinds of experiments in these trees.
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科學家在這些樹上做了各種實驗，
12:16
They've wired them like patients in an ICU.
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他們把這些樹像病人一樣用電線纏起來，
12:19
They're finding out that Redwoods can move moisture out of the air
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他們發現紅杉會吸取空氣中的水分，
12:22
and down into their trunks,
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然後在樹幹內進行輸送，
12:24
possibly all the way into their root systems.
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可能一路送到根部。
12:26
They also have the ability to put roots anywhere in the tree itself.
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他們還能夠把根置於樹中的任何位置。
12:30
If a portion of a Redwood is rotting,
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如果一棵樹有一部份腐爛了，
12:32
the Redwood will send roots into its own form
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這棵樹就會把它的根轉移到別的地方去，
12:35
and draw nutrients out of itself as it falls apart.
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同時把養分從這壞死的部份中抽出來。
12:39
If we had Redwood-like biology, if we got a touch of gangrene in our arm
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如果我們有這種“紅杉機制”，我們要是手臂上長了壞疽，
12:43
then we could just, you know,
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我們就會，你知道，
12:45
extract the nutrients extract the nutrients and the moisture out of it until it fell off.
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把裏面的養料和水分抽出來然後它就自己脫落。
12:50
Canopy soil can occur up to a meter deep,
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樹冠層的泥土可以有一米之厚，
12:53
hundreds of feet above the ground, and there are organisms in this soil
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在距離地面數百英尺的高處，這些土壤里充滿了各種有機體，
12:57
that have, as yet, no names.
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而且還是未知的生物。
12:59
This is an unnamed species of copepod. A copepod is a crustacean.
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這是一種尚未命名的橈足類動物，屬於甲殼類動物。
13:04
These copepods are a major constituent of the oceans,
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這種是海洋生物的重要組成部份，
13:09
and they are a major part of the diet of grazing baleen whales.
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他們也是鬚鯨的主要食物來源。
13:13
What they're doing in the Redwood forest canopy soil
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它們在距離海平面數百英尺的地方做什麽？
13:17
hundreds of feet above the ocean, or how they got there,
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它們又是怎麼跑到上面去的？
13:20
is completely unknown.
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這些都還不得而知。
13:22
There are some interesting theories
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為此出現了各種有意思的理論，
13:24
that, if I had time, I would tell you about.
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如果我有時間的話就和大家說說。
13:26
But as you go and you look closer at a tree,
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不過你仔細觀察一棵樹的時候，
13:28
what you see is, you see increasing complexity.
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你會發現它變得越來越複雜。
13:31
We're looking at the very top of Gaya, which is thought to be the oldest Redwood.
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這棵樹名叫蓋亞，目前認為是最老的樹，大家看它的頂端，
13:35
Gaya may be 3,000 to 5,000 years old,
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它估計有3000到5000歲了，
13:40
no one really knows, but its top has broken off
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具體幾歲沒人知道，但是可以看到它的頂部曾遭到過破壞，
13:43
and it's been rotting back now.
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所以它現在正向內腐爛，
13:45
This little Japanese garden-like creation probably took 700 years
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這個像微型日本花園一樣的結構要歷經700年才得以長成
13:51
to form in its complexity that we see right now.
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我們眼前這般紛繁複雜的局面。
13:55
As you look at a tree, it takes a magnifying glass to see a giant tree.
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你看一棵樹的時候，要拿放大鏡才能看清一棵參天大樹。
14:00
I have to show you something unfortunately very sad
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在結束我的講話前，
14:03
at the conclusion of this talk.
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要給大家看一些令人傷心的內容。
14:05
The Eastern Hemlock tree has often been described as the Redwood of the East.
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加拿大鐵杉常被稱作東方的紅杉，
14:09
And we're moving in a full circle now.
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現在正處於一個完整的循環之中。
14:11
In the 1950s, a small organism appeared in Richmond, Virginia,
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上世紀50年代，維吉尼亞州的里奇蒙市出現了一種微小的生物，
14:16
called the Hemlock woolly adelgid.
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叫做鐵杉球蚜。
14:18
It made a trans-species jump out of some other organism in Asia,
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它是從一些亞洲的物種演化而來，
14:22
where it was living on Hemlock trees in Asia.
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它之前生長在亞洲的鐵杉樹上。
14:25
When it moved into its new host, the Eastern Hemlock tree,
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而它一旦寄居到它的新宿主，加拿大鐵杉，
14:29
it escaped its predators, and the new tree had no resistance to it.
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它就避開了所有的天敵，而這種新的宿主有對其毫無抵抗力，
14:33
The Eastern Hemlock forest is being considered in some ways
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加拿大鐵杉林是被認為是
14:37
the last fragments of primeval rainforest east of the Mississippi River.
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密西西比河以東最後一片原始雨林，
14:42
I hadn't even known that there were rainforests in the east,
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我還不知道東部有雨林，
14:45
but in Great Smoky Mountains National Park
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但在大煙山國家公園，
14:48
it can rain up to 100 inches of rain a year.
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每年的降雨量有100英寸（約25400公厘），
14:53
And in the last two to three summers, these invasive organisms,
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在近兩三年的夏天，這些入侵的生物
15:00
this kind of Ebola of the trees, as it were,
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就像樹中的“伊波拉”病毒一樣，
15:03
has swept through the primeval Hemlock forest of the east,
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橫掃整片東部的鐵杉林，
15:07
and has absolutely wiped it out. I climbed there this past summer.
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給它帶來了滅絕之災。我也曾經在夏天爬過那裡的樹。
15:12
This is Great Smoky Mountains National Park,
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這就是大煙山國家公園，
15:14
and the Hemlocks are dead as far as the eye can see.
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而我們現在眼前看到的部份都已經不復存在了。
15:19
And what we're seeing is not just the potential death
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我們看到的不僅是加拿大鐵杉的大片死亡，
15:22
of the Eastern Hemlock species --
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也就是說，
15:25
that is to say, its extinction from nature due to this invading parasite --
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由於寄生物入侵而從自然界消失，
15:29
but we're also seeing the death of an incredibly complex ecosystem
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同時這一個極其複雜的生態系統也就此毀滅，
15:34
for which these trees are merely the substrate
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而這些樹正是這個系統的基礎，
15:37
for the aerial labyrinth of the sky that exists in their crowns.
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它們支撐著這些樹冠的迷宮，
15:43
It's absolutely heartbreaking to see.
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這太令人心碎了。
15:46
One of the things that is just -- I almost can't conceive it --
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有些事情我簡直不敢相信，
15:50
is the idea that the national news media hasn't picked this up at all,
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我們國家的新聞媒體居然對此不為所動，
15:54
and this is the devastation of one of the most important ecosystems in North America.
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整個北美最重要的生態系統就要滅絕了啊！
16:02
What can the Redwoods tell us about ourselves?
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從這些紅杉中我們對自身能悟道什麽呢?
16:05
Well, I think they can tell us something about human time.
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我想是關於人類的時間吧，
16:08
The flickering, transitory quality of human time
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相比之下人類的時間是多麼稍縱即逝，
16:13
and the brevity of human life -- the necessity to love.
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人類生命有多短暫，真愛就有多珍貴。
16:18
But we're different from trees, and they can also teach us
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但是我們畢竟不是樹，而我們也可以從這區別中學到
16:20
something about ourselves in the differences that we have.
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很多東西。
16:23
We are human, and we have the capacity to love,
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我們作為人類，有愛的能力，
16:26
we have the capacity to wonder, and we have a sort of
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我們可以向這個世界多問幾個“這是什麽”、“爲什麽”，
16:30
boundless curiosity, a restless inquisitiveness
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我們有著無垠的求知慾，我們對於未知總是如饑似渴，
16:35
that so suits us as primates, I think.
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所以我們才是靈長類，我想是這樣。
16:38
And at least for me, personally, the trees have taught me
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至少對我來說，這些樹讓我找到了
16:42
an entirely new way of loving my children.
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一種新的方式來愛我的孩子。
16:45
Exploring with them the forest canopy
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我他們一起探索森林的樹冠層，
16:47
has been one of the most lovely things of my existence on Earth.
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我覺得這是世界上讓我最快樂的事情。
16:51
And I think that one of the happiest things is the sense that
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而且最開心的事情就是
16:56
with my children I've been able to introduce them
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我能讓孩子們認識
16:59
into the very small circle of humans who are lucky enough,
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一小搓至今還在堅持“爬樹事業”的“人類”，
17:03
or possibly stupid enough, to still climb trees.
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他們很幸運，或者說很“傻”。
17:07
Thank you very much.
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謝謝大家。
17:09
(Applause)
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（掌聲）
17:20
Chris Anderson: I think at a previous TED,
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克里斯‧安德森：在以前的一次TED演講裡，
17:23
I think it was Nathan Myhrvold who told me that it was thought that
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納森‧馬爾伍德和我說，他認為
17:27
because these trees are like, 2,000 years and older,
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因為這些樹將近甚至超過兩千歲，
17:30
on many of them there are ecosystems where there are species
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並且它們很多本身就是一個小型生態系統，
17:33
that are not found anywhere on the Earth
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這樣一個特定的系統在地球上也只有在
17:35
except on that one tree. Is that correct?
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這一棵樹上存在，這麼說對嗎？
17:38
Richard Preston: Yes, that is correct. I mentioned Hyperion, the world's tallest tree.
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理查‧普賴斯頓：對，我剛才提到許珀里翁，世界上最高的樹，
17:43
And I was a member of a climbing team that made the first climb of it, in 2006.
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我還在2006年參加了首次爬上這棵樹的小隊，
17:48
And while we were climbing Hyperion, Marie Antoine spotted
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當時我們在爬樹的時候，瑪麗‧安東尼
17:52
an unknown species of golden-brown ant about halfway up the trunk.
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爬到一半在樹幹上看到一種金棕相間的螞蟻，
17:58
Ants are not known to occur in Redwood trees, curiously enough,
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而我們知道螞蟻一般是不會在紅杉上出現的，
18:01
and we wondered whether this ant, this species of ant,
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於是我們就非常好奇這隻螞蟻，或者這個種類的螞蟻，
18:04
was only endemic to that one tree, or possibly to that grove.
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是不是只有這棵樹上才有，或者是不是只有這片樹林才有，
18:08
And in subsequent climbs they could never find that ant again,
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然而之後我們就再也沒有找到過那螞蟻了。
18:11
and so no specimens have ever been collected.
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所以我們也沒有收集標本。
18:13
We don't know what it is -- we just know it's there.
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我們不知道那是什麽螞蟻，我們只知道它存活在那裡。
18:17
CA: So, you have to wonder when, you know,
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克里斯：所以你不得不發出這樣的疑問，
18:19
if some other species than us was recording the stories that mattered on Earth,
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是不是除了我們人類還有其他物種在記錄著地球上發生的種種重要故事。
18:25
you know, our stories are about Iraq and war and politics and celebrity gossip.
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我們的故事就是伊拉克和戰爭和政治和名人八卦之類的，
18:31
You've just told us a different story of this tragic arms race that's happening,
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你才剛跟我們說完一個關於正在發生的可悲軍備賽的故事，
18:35
and maybe whole ecosystems gone forever.
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也許整個生態系統已經不復存在了。
18:38
It's an amazing sense of wonder you've given me,
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你讓我感到耳目一新，
18:40
and a sense of just how fragile this whole thing is.
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同時也讓我感到這整個系統是多麼的脆弱。
18:43
RP: It is fragile, and you know, I think about emerging human diseases --
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理查：它真的很脆弱，試想一下新出現的人類疾病，
18:47
parasites that move into the human species.
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有寄生蟲侵入人類。
18:50
But that's just a very small facet
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不過那對於全世界範圍內的物種侵略來說
18:53
of a much greater problem of invasions of species worldwide,
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只是一個很小的層面
18:57
all through the ecosystems, and you know, the Earth itself --
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比起整個生態系統，和整個地球。
18:59
CA: Partly caused by us, inadvertently.
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克里斯：其中一部份也是我們不經意間造成的。
19:02
RP: Caused by humans. Caused by the movement of humans.
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理查：是人類造成的，特別是人類的遷徙。
19:05
You can think of the Earth's biosphere as a palace,
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你可以把地球的生物圈想像成一座宮殿，
19:10
and the continents are rooms in the palace,
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而五大洲就是其中的一個個房間，
19:13
and the islands are small rooms.
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島嶼則是小房間。
19:15
But lately, the doors of the palace have been flung open,
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但是後來這座宮殿的大門被打開，
19:19
and the walls are coming down.
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宮殿的墻頃刻之間倒下。
19:22
CA: Richard Preston, thank you very much, I think.
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克里斯：理查‧普賴斯頓，非常感謝你。
19:24
RP: Thank you.
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理查：謝謝。
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Richard Preston - WriterRichard Preston wrote The Hot Zone, a classic look at the Ebola virus and the scientists who fight it. His wide-ranging curiosity about science and people has led him to cover a dizzying list of topics, with a lapidary attention to detail and an ear for the human voice.
Why you should listen
Richard Preston is one of the only humans to have climbed Hyperion, a nearly 380-foot redwood tree that is the tallest living thing on Earth. Hyperion was discovered by explorer Michael Taylor while Preston was writing his latest full-length book, The Wild Trees.
His earlier book The Hot Zone sold millions of copies, spawned a movie, and made the Ebola virus horrifyingly familiar. The book is part of his Dark Biology trilogy, which includes the novel The Cobra Event and The Demon in the Freezer, a look at the bioterror implications of smallpox. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker. His latest book, Panic in Level Four, is a collection of reportage on a wonderful range of topics, from mathematical geniuses to trees to one of the most shocking medical conditions you can imagine. (This is the book that was passed around the TED offices with the note, "Don't read the final chapter while eating.")
Richard Preston | Speaker | TED.com