TED2008
Richard Preston: The mysterious lives of giant trees
理查德·普雷斯顿与巨人树
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科普作家理查德·普雷斯顿将向我们介绍这个星球上最巨大的生物之一——太平洋西北部巨大的红杉。虽然由一颗细小的种子成长起来，它们却支撑着巨大的生态系统。时至今日，这些生态系统的大部分仍然是一个谜。
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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加州北部海岸有着一片片雨林——
00:23
temperate rainforests -- where it can rain more than 100 inches a year.
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温带雨林——每年降水量超过25400毫米。
00:28
This is the realm of the Coast Redwood tree.
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这就是海岸红杉的领域。
00:32
Its species name is Sequoia sempervirens.
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它的学名为Sequoia sempervirens。
00:35
Sequoia sempervirens is the tallest living organism on Earth.
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它是地球上最大的生命机体。
00:39
The range of the species goes up to as much as 380 feet tall.
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这个物种可高达116米
00:44
That's 38 stories tall.
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相当于38层楼的高度。
00:46
These are trees that would stand out in midtown Manhattan.
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若放在曼哈顿中城，这些巨杉将鹤立其中。
00:50
Nobody knows how old the oldest living Coast Redwoods are
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没有人知道最老的海岸红杉有多大岁数
00:54
because nobody has ever drilled into any of them
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因为没有人试过钻开他们
00:56
to count their annual growth rings, and, in any case,
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去数他们的年轮
00:59
the centers of the oldest individuals appear to be hollow.
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并且这些最古老的树木的中心似乎是空的。
01:03
But it's believed that the oldest living Redwoods
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但是人们普遍认为最老的红杉
01:06
are perhaps 2,500 years old -- roughly the age of the Parthenon --
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有2500岁——几乎跟帕台农神庙一样古老了
01:12
although it's also suspected that there may be individual trees
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不过还有人怀疑
01:15
that are older than that.
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有比这更古老的红杉。
01:17
You can see the range of the Coast Redwoods. It's here, in red.
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你可以看到海岸红杉的领域，就在红色的区域里。
01:21
The largest individuals of this species,
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这个物种最巨型的个体，他们之中的“无畏战舰”，
01:23
the dreadnoughts of their kind, live just on the north coast of California,
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就生活在加州北部海岸，
01:28
where the rain is really intense.
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那里雨量十分充沛。
01:31
In recent historic times, about 96 percent of the Coast Redwood forest
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在近代历史时期，96%的海岸红杉林木
01:37
was cut down, especially in a series of bursts of intense liquidation logging,
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被砍伐，特别是在70年代到90年代早期发生的严重的森林砍伐，
01:44
clear-cutting that took place in the 1970s through the early 1990s.
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毁灭性的森林开垦活动中。
01:50
Even so, about four percent of the primeval Redwood rainforest remains intact,
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尽管如此，还是有4%的原始红杉雨林保留了下来
01:58
wild and now protected -- entirely protected --
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它们未受人类文明践踏，而且现在被保护了起来——全面地被保护起来
02:02
in a chain of small parks strung out like pearls
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它们被保护于沿着加州北海岸
02:05
along the north coast of California, including Redwood National Park.
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珠连起来的一些小公园里，包括红杉国家公园。
02:09
But curiously, Redwood rainforests, the fragments that we have left,
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但奇怪的是，剩下的红杉雨林
02:14
to this day remain under-explored.
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直到今天还未被充分开发。
02:17
Redwood rainforest is incredibly difficult to move through,
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在红杉雨林里行走十分困难，困难得令人难以置信
02:22
and even today, individual trees are being discovered
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时至今日，新的红杉仍不断地被发现
02:25
that have never been seen before, including, in the summer of 2006,
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包括发现于2006夏的世界最高之树——
02:29
Hyperion, the world's tallest tree.
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亥帕龙神（Hyperion,希腊神话中一巨人之名），世界上最高的树。
02:32
I'm going to do a little Gedanken experiment.
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我想做一个小小的想象实验
02:35
I'm going to ask you to imagine what a Redwood really is as a living organism.
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让你们去想象一下，一棵红杉作为一个生命体究竟是什么东西
02:39
And, Chris, if I could have you up here? I have a tape measure.
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克里斯，你能站到舞台上来么？我有一把卷尺
02:47
It's a kind loaner from TED.
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是从TED借来的。
02:49
And Chris, if you could take the end of that tape measure?
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克里斯，拿着卷尺的头好么?
02:53
We're going to show you what the diameter
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我们将要向你们展示
02:55
at breast height of a big Redwood is.
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一棵大型红杉在我们胸部高度位置的直径大小
02:58
Unfortunately, this tape isn't long enough -- it's only a 25-foot tape.
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很遗憾，这卷尺不够长——只有7.6米长。
03:07
Chris, could you extend your arm out that way? There we go. OK.
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克里斯，你能向那边伸出你的手臂么？就这样，好了。
03:12
And maybe about here, about 30 feet, is the diameter of a big Redwood.
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大概就是这么多，9.1米左右，就是一颗大型红杉的直径。
03:20
Now, let your imagination go upward into space.
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现在，然你的想象力向天空延伸
03:23
Think about this tree, rising upward into Redwood space, 325 feet,
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想象一下这棵树，耸立至红杉林的99米高，
03:33
32 stories, an individual living organism articulating its forms
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32层楼的高度——这就是一棵红杉
03:38
upward into space over long periods of time.
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长期逐渐成长至天际的体型
03:42
The Redwood species seems to exist in another kind of time:
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红杉这种植物似乎存在于另一种时间体系中
03:47
not human time, but what we might call Redwood time.
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不是人类的时间标准，而我们更愿意称其为“红杉时间”
03:51
Redwood time moves at a more stately pace than human time.
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“红杉时间”以比人类时间更宏伟的节奏流逝着
03:56
To us, when we look at a Redwood tree, it seems to be motionless and still,
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对我们来说，当我们看着一棵红杉树，它似乎一动不动
04:01
and yet Redwoods are constantly in motion,
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但实际上它不停地在运动
04:04
moving upward into space, articulating themselves
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向上生长，展现着自己
04:09
and filling Redwood space over Redwood time, over thousands of years.
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在几千年的红杉时间之中填满了整个红杉树林。
04:14
Plant this small seed, wait 2,000 years, and you get this:
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将这颗小种子播种下去，等待两千年，然后就有了这个：
04:18
the Lost Monarch.
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“失落的君王”。
04:20
It dwells in the Grove of Titans on the north coast,
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它坐落于北部海岸的“泰坦丛林”，
04:22
and was discovered in 1998.
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1998年我们发现了它。
04:25
And yet, when you look at the base of a Redwood tree,
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另外，当你看着一棵红杉树的树桩时，
04:27
you're not seeing the organism.
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你所看到的不是一个完整的生物。
04:29
You're like a mouse looking at the foot of an elephant,
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你会像一只老鼠，看着一只大象的腿，
04:32
and most of the organism is overhead, unseen.
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而这个生物的大部分就在你头顶上，你却无法看到。
04:35
I became very interested, and I wrote about a couple.
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我变得饶有兴致，并记录了一对夫妇在这里的生活。
04:39
Steve Sillett and Marie Antoine are the principal explorers
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史蒂夫·西莱特 和 马莉·安东尼 是 主要的
04:42
of the Redwood forest canopy. They're world-class athletes,
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红杉林树冠探险者。他们是世界级的运动员，
04:45
and they also are world-class forest ecology scientists.
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他们还是世界级的森林生态科学家。
04:51
Steve Sillett, when he was a 19-year-old college student
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当史蒂夫还是一个19岁的里德大学的学生时，
04:54
at Reed College, had heard that the Redwood forest canopy
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就听说过红杉林的树冠层
04:58
is considered to be a so-called Redwood desert.
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被称为一个红杉沙漠。
05:01
That is to say, at that time it was believed
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换句话说，在那个时候，人们相信
05:03
that there was nothing up there except the branches of Redwood trees.
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在那里除了红杉树枝外什么都没有。
05:07
And with a friend of his, he took it upon himself to free-climb a Redwood
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之后他与他的一个朋友毅然试着徒手攀爬一棵红杉
05:10
without ropes or any equipment to see what was up there.
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而没有用任何绳子或装备，想看一下在上面究竟有什么。
05:13
He climbed up a small tree next to this giant Redwood,
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他爬上了这棵巨型红杉旁的一棵小树，
05:16
and then he leaped through space and grabbed a branch with his hands,
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然后腾空一跃，用双手抓住了一根树枝，
05:22
and ended up hanging, like catching a bar of a trapeze.
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然后悬挂在那，就像抓住秋千的横杠一样。
05:25
And then, from there, he climbed directly up the bark
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接着，从那里他直接从树皮爬了上去
05:28
until he got to the top of the tree.
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直到他到了树顶。
05:30
His friend, a guy named Marwood Harris, was following behind.
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他的朋友玛沃德·查尔斯跟在他后面。
05:34
Neither one of them had noticed that there was
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两个人都没有注意到，
05:36
a Yellow Jacket wasp's nest the size of a bowling ball
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一个保龄球大小的黄蜂巢
05:40
hanging from the branch that Steve had jumped into.
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就挂在史蒂夫跳过去的那根树枝上。
05:42
And when Marwood made the jump, he was covered with wasps
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当玛沃德跳过去的时候，他立刻就被黄蜂包围了
05:46
stinging him in the face and eyes. He nearly let go.
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黄蜂叮咬他的脸跟眼睛。他差点就放手了。
05:50
He would have fallen to his death, being 75 feet above the ground.
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如果从上面高达23米的地方摔下来，他肯定就摔死了。
05:53
But they made it to the top, and what they found
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但他们成功地到了顶，而他们看到的
05:55
was not a Redwood desert, but a lost world --
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不是一个红杉沙漠，而是一个失落的世界——
05:58
a kind of three-dimensional labyrinth in the air, filled with unknown life.
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一个空中三围迷宫，里面充满了不为人知的生命。
06:02
Now, I had been working on other topics:
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我一直都在研究其它的课题：
06:06
the emergence of infectious diseases,
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传染病的诞生
06:09
which come out of the natural ecosystems of the Earth,
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它们源于地球的自然生态系统，
06:12
make a trans-species jump, and get into humans.
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跨越种族，传染给人类。
06:15
After three books on this, it got to be a bit much, in a way.
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我写过三本关于此课题的书之后，觉得在某种程度上有点过火了。
06:19
My wife and I adore our children.
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我和我妻子很喜欢我们的孩子
06:22
And I began climbing trees with my kids as just something to do with them,
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然后我开始和我的孩子们爬树，以此和他们一起做些事，
06:27
using the so-called arborist climbing technique,
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我们采用了被称为树艺师的爬树技巧，
06:30
with ropes. You use ropes to get yourself up into the crown of a tree.
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还有绳子。你要用绳子帮你爬到树冠。
06:34
Children are incredibly adept at climbing trees.
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难以置信地，孩子们十分擅长爬树。
06:37
That's my son, Oliver.
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那是我的儿子奥利弗。
06:39
They don't seem to suffer from the same fear of heights that humans do.
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他们似乎一点也不畏高——不像人类那样畏高。
06:43
(Laughter)
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（笑声）
06:47
If ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, then children
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如果个体发生机理会再现种系发生的话，那么孩子们
06:51
are somewhat closer to our roots as primates in the arboreal forest.
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就有点接近我们生活在树上的灵长类祖先了。
06:56
Humans appear to be the only primates that I know of
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在我所知道的所有灵长类动物中，似乎只有人类
07:00
that are afraid of heights.
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是畏高的。
07:02
All other primates, when they're scared,
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其他所有的灵长动物在它们害怕的时候，
07:04
they run up a tree, where they feel safe.
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就爬上一棵树，在那里他们感到很安全。
07:07
We camped overnight in the trees, in tree boats.
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我们在树林里或树舟上宿营过夜，
07:11
This is my daughter Laura, then 15, looking out of a tree boat.
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这是我女儿罗拉，那时她15岁，正从树舟往外看。
07:14
She's, by the way, tied in with a rope so she can't fall.
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顺便提一下，她身上帮着绳子，所以她不会掉下去。
07:19
Looking out of a tree boat in the morning and hearing birdsong
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在清晨向外望去，听着鸟儿的歌唱
07:22
coming in three dimensions around us.
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全方位地围绕着我们。
07:24
We had been visited in the night by flying squirrels,
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有时在夜晚一些鼯鼠会造访我们，
07:27
who don't seem to recognize humans for what they are
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他们似乎不认得人类
07:30
because they've never seen them in the canopy before.
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因为他们从来没有在树冠上面见过人类。
07:32
And we practiced advanced techniques like sky-walking,
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我们还练习了一些高级技巧，如“天空行走”
07:35
where you can move from tree to tree through space,
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你可以在空中从一棵树走到另一棵树，
07:38
rather like Spiderman.
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像蜘蛛侠一样。
07:40
It became a writing project.
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这变成了我的一个写作计划。
07:42
When Steve Sillett gets up into a big Redwood, he fires an arrow,
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当史蒂夫爬上一棵大红杉之后，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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箭上绑着鱼线，之后鱼线缠住了树上的一根树枝，
07:49
and then you ascend up a rope which has been dragged into the tree by the line.
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然后你可以爬上那根鱼线拖着的绳子，
07:53
You ascend 30 stories.
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直上30层楼高。
07:55
There are two people climbing this tree, Gaya,
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有两个人正爬着这棵树——盖亚（Gaia，希腊神话中的大地女神），
07:58
which is thought to be one of the oldest Redwoods. There they are.
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它被认为是最古老的红杉之一。那是他们两人。
08:01
They are only one-seventh of the way up that tree.
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他们只到了树身的1/7处，
08:05
You do feel a sense of exposure.
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你一定有一丝刺眼的感觉。
08:07
There is a small person right down there on the ground.
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就在下面有个小人。
08:10
You feel like you're climbing a wall of wood.
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你会觉得你在爬一堵树墙，
08:12
But then you enter the Redwood canopy,
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然而你却来到了树冠层，
08:14
and it's like coming through a layer of clouds.
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那感觉就像穿越一个云层。
08:17
And all of a sudden, you lose sight of the ground,
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突然之间，你再也看不见地面了，
08:20
and you also lose sight of the sky,
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天空也看不见了，
08:22
and you're in a three-dimensional labyrinth in the air
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你身处于一个空中三维迷宫
08:25
filled with hanging gardens of ferns growing out of soil,
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里面悬着一丛丛由土壤长出来的蕨类植物，
08:28
which is populated with all kinds of small organisms.
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而土里生活着各式各样的生物。
08:32
There are epiphytes, plants that grow on trees.
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这是附生植物，一种长在树上的植物。
08:35
These are huckleberry bushes.
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这些是越橘丛。
08:37
Many species of mosses, and then all sorts of lichens just plastering the tree.
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很多种类的苔藓，还有各种的地衣贴在了树上。
08:43
When you get near the top of the tree, you feel like you can't fall --
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当你接近树顶的时候，你觉得你不可能掉下去——
08:46
in fact, it's difficult to move.
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实际上，上面寸步难行。
08:48
You're worming your way through branches which are crowded
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你只能像虫子一样在茂密的树枝里慢慢向前蠕动
08:51
with living things that don't occur near the ground.
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而树枝间充满了在地面上不会出现的生物。
08:54
It's like scuba diving into a coral reef,
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这感觉就像潜入一个珊瑚礁，
08:56
except you're going upward instead of downward.
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只是你现在是向上走而不是向下潜。
08:58
And then the trees tend to flare out into platform-like areas at the top.
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这些树会向外伸展，在顶部形成一个平台。
09:02
Maria's sitting on one of them.
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玛丽亚坐在其中的一个上。
09:04
These limbs could be five to six hundred years old.
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这些大树枝可能有五六百岁了。
09:06
Redwoods grow very slowly in their tops.
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红杉的顶部生长得很慢。
09:09
They also have a feature: thickets of huckleberry bushes
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他们还有另外一个特点：一簇簇的越橘丛
09:12
that grow out of the tops of Redwood trees
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从红杉顶长出来，
09:14
that are technically known as huckleberry afros,
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我们专门称其为“越橘爆炸头”，
09:17
and you can sit there and snack on the berries while you're resting.
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当你休息的时候，你可以坐在那，品尝这些浆果。
09:21
Redwoods have an enormous surface area that extends upward into space
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红杉树向外延伸的表面积很巨大
09:26
because they have a propensity to do something called reiteration.
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因为他们有我们称之为“横向生长”的倾向。
09:30
A Redwood is a fractal. And as they put out limbs,
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红杉是一种不规则的生物。随着他们的枝干向外伸展，
09:34
the limbs burst into small trees, copies of the Redwood.
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这些枝干会爆芽，长成小的红杉树。
09:39
Now, here we see a reiteration in Chronos, one of the older Redwoods.
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现在我们看到的是一棵侧苗，它长在名为“克罗诺斯”（Cronus,希腊神话中的时间之神）这棵年长的红杉上。
09:43
This reiteration is a huge flying buttress
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这棵侧木像一个巨型飞拱
09:47
that comes out the tree itself.
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从这棵树里长出来。
09:49
This buttress is less than halfway up the tree.
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这个树垛不到树身的一半。
09:52
And then it bursts into a forest of Redwoods.
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然后它萌发出一片红杉林。
09:55
This particular extra trunk is a meter across at the base
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这根特别的额外树干在它底座那有一米宽
10:00
and extends upward for 150 feet.
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向上伸至46米。
10:02
It's as big as any of the biggest trees east of the Mississippi River,
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它跟任何一株在密西西比河东岸最大的树一样高大，
10:06
and yet it's only a minor feature on Chronos.
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却只是克罗诺斯上的一个小特征而已。
10:09
This three-dimensional map of the crown structure of a Redwood named Iluvatar,
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这张是名为“伊卢瓦塔”（Illuvatar,托尔金魔戒三部曲中的众生之父）的红杉其树冠结构的三维图，
10:15
made by Steve Sillett, Marie Antoine and their colleagues, gives you an idea.
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由史蒂夫，玛丽·安东尼，以及他们的同事绘制，它能让你更好理解一些。
10:19
What you're seeing here is a hierarchical schematic development
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你现在看到的是一个分层发展模式的示意图，
10:23
of the trunks of this tree as it has elaborated itself over time into six layers of fractal,
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它展现了这棵树的树枝是怎样慢慢地长出六层复合树枝结构的，
10:29
of trunks springing from trunks springing from trunks.
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以及树枝怎样从树枝中长出来。
10:34
I asked Steve to put a human being in this to give a sense of scale.
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我让史蒂夫将一个人放到那里好让大家感受一下它的大小.
10:39
There's the person, right there. The person is waving to us.
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那个人就在那。他在向我们招手。
10:44
I've wanted to ask Craig Venter if it would be possible to insert
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我曾想问克雷格·文特尔可不可以
10:50
a synthetic chromosome into a human
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将一条人工合成的染色体植入人体
10:52
so that we could reiterate ourselves if we wanted to.
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好让我们能随心所欲地侧生。
10:56
And if we were able to reiterate, then the fingers of our hand
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如果我们能够做到的话，那么我们的手指
10:59
would be people who looked like us,
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就可以长成像我们一样的人了，
11:03
and they would have people on their hands and so on.
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而在他们的手指也会长出很多人，如此下去。
11:06
And if we had Redwood-like biology,
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又如果我们有红杉般的生理机制，
11:08
we would have six layers of people on our hands, as it were.
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可以说，我们的手就能长出六层的人。
11:12
And it would be a lovely thing to be able to wave to someone
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如果能够让我们所有的手指上的人们同时向某人挥手的话
11:14
and have all our reiterations wave at the same time.
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那将是多么可爱啊。
11:18
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
11:20
To reiterate the point, let's go closer into Iluvatar.
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重申一下这一点，让我们走近伊路瓦塔。
11:26
We're looking at that yellow box.
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我们现在看到那个黄色的盒子。
11:29
And this hallucinatory drawing shows you --
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这张幻觉般的图画向你展现——
11:31
everything you see in this drawing is Iluvatar.
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在这张图画里你看到的所有东西就是伊路瓦塔。
11:35
These are millennial structures -- portions of the tree
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这些是千年结构——
11:38
that are believed to be more than 1,000 years old.
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那些被认为超过1000岁的部分。
11:40
There are four humans in this shot -- one, two, three, four.
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在这张照片里有四个人——一，二，三，四。
11:48
And there's also something that I want to show you.
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我还有一些东西给你们展示一下。
11:51
This is a flying buttress.
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这是一个飞拱。
11:54
Redwoods grow back into themselves as they expand into space,
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红杉向周围空间延伸的时候同时也向自身生长，
11:58
and this flying buttress is a limb shot out of that small trunk,
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这个飞拱就是那根小树干长出的一根树枝，
12:01
going back into the main trunk and fusing with it.
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它向主干生长，与之糅合。
12:04
Flying buttresses, just as in a cathedral, help strengthen the crown of the tree
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这些飞拱，正如在一座大教堂里一样，强化了树冠
12:08
and help the tree exist longer through time.
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也让这些树活得更久。
12:12
The scientists are doing all kinds of experiments in these trees.
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科学家在这些树上做着各种各样的实验。
12:16
They've wired them like patients in an ICU.
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他们将树像重症护理病房的病人一样用铁丝环绕起来。
12:19
They're finding out that Redwoods can move moisture out of the air
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他们发现红杉可以吸收空气中的水分
12:22
and down into their trunks,
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至它们的树干里，
12:24
possibly all the way into their root systems.
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很有可能一路送到它们的根部系统。
12:26
They also have the ability to put roots anywhere in the tree itself.
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他们还有能力将自己的根放到树内的任何地方。
12:30
If a portion of a Redwood is rotting,
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如果红杉有一部分在腐烂，
12:32
the Redwood will send roots into its own form
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红杉就会将这些根收回体内
12:35
and draw nutrients out of itself as it falls apart.
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在它溃坏的同时吸收其营养。
12:39
If we had Redwood-like biology, if we got a touch of gangrene in our arm
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如果我们有红杉一般的生理机制，如果我们的手臂有某处坏死了
12:43
then we could just, you know,
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你知道，那么我们就可以，
12:45
extract the nutrients extract the nutrients and the moisture out of it until it fell off.
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吸收这部分的营养跟水分直至其脱落。
12:50
Canopy soil can occur up to a meter deep,
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树冠的泥土可以有一米厚，
12:53
hundreds of feet above the ground, and there are organisms in this soil
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离地面几百英尺，里面还有很多生物
12:57
that have, as yet, no names.
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至今为止都还没有名字。
12:59
This is an unnamed species of copepod. A copepod is a crustacean.
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这是一个还没被命名的桡足类动物。桡足类动物属甲壳纲。
13:04
These copepods are a major constituent of the oceans,
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这些桡足类是海洋里的一种主要动物，
13:09
and they are a major part of the diet of grazing baleen whales.
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他们也是须鲸的主要食粮。
13:13
What they're doing in the Redwood forest canopy soil
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关于他们在离海洋几百英尺高的红杉林树冠的土壤里做着什么
13:17
hundreds of feet above the ocean, or how they got there,
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或他们是怎么到达那里的，
13:20
is completely unknown.
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我们完全不知道。
13:22
There are some interesting theories
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有些有趣的理论
13:24
that, if I had time, I would tell you about.
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如果我有时间的话，我会告诉你们的。
13:26
But as you go and you look closer at a tree,
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不过当你走近一棵树并仔细看看，
13:28
what you see is, you see increasing complexity.
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你看到的将越来越复杂。
13:31
We're looking at the very top of Gaya, which is thought to be the oldest Redwood.
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我们现在所看的是盖亚的树顶，它被认为是最古老的红杉。
13:35
Gaya may be 3,000 to 5,000 years old,
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盖亚可能有3000到5000岁，
13:40
no one really knows, but its top has broken off
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没有人真正知道，不过它的树顶曾经折断过
13:43
and it's been rotting back now.
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现在它在往内腐烂。
13:45
This little Japanese garden-like creation probably took 700 years
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这棵像是小型日本花园盆栽的树可能花了700年
13:51
to form in its complexity that we see right now.
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才形成我们现在看到的复杂结构。
13:55
As you look at a tree, it takes a magnifying glass to see a giant tree.
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当你“看”一棵树时，你需要一副放大镜来真正“看到”一棵巨型树。
14:00
I have to show you something unfortunately very sad
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在这个讲座快要结束的此刻
14:03
at the conclusion of this talk.
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我要向你们展示一些不幸的东西。
14:05
The Eastern Hemlock tree has often been described as the Redwood of the East.
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加拿大铁杉经常被描述为“东方的红杉”。
14:09
And we're moving in a full circle now.
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而我们现在正在一个完整的循环之中。
14:11
In the 1950s, a small organism appeared in Richmond, Virginia,
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20世纪50年代，一种小型生物出现在弗吉尼亚州的里士满，
14:16
called the Hemlock woolly adelgid.
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它们被称作铁杉球蚜。
14:18
It made a trans-species jump out of some other organism in Asia,
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它们越过一些亚洲其它的物种，
14:22
where it was living on Hemlock trees in Asia.
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之前它们生活在亚洲的铁杉树上。
14:25
When it moved into its new host, the Eastern Hemlock tree,
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当它们进驻它们新的宿主——加拿大铁杉，
14:29
it escaped its predators, and the new tree had no resistance to it.
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它们避离了他们的天敌，而这种新树对其毫无抵抗力。
14:33
The Eastern Hemlock forest is being considered in some ways
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在某种程度上,加拿大铁杉树林被认为是
14:37
the last fragments of primeval rainforest east of the Mississippi River.
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密西西比河东部原始雨林的最后一部分。
14:42
I hadn't even known that there were rainforests in the east,
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我以前并不知道东部原来还有雨林，
14:45
but in Great Smoky Mountains National Park
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不过在大烟山国家公园里
14:48
it can rain up to 100 inches of rain a year.
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每年雨量可达到25400毫米。
14:53
And in the last two to three summers, these invasive organisms,
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而且在最近两到三个夏天里，这些侵略性生物，
15:00
this kind of Ebola of the trees, as it were,
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有如扩散在树木中的“埃博拉病毒”，
15:03
has swept through the primeval Hemlock forest of the east,
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已经横扫了东部整个的原始铁杉林，
15:07
and has absolutely wiped it out. I climbed there this past summer.
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使它们完全灭绝。去年夏天我去那里进行爬树之旅。
15:12
This is Great Smoky Mountains National Park,
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这是大烟山国家公园，
15:14
and the Hemlocks are dead as far as the eye can see.
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而眼睛所及之处的铁杉均已死去。
15:19
And what we're seeing is not just the potential death
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而且我们现在看着的并不仅仅是
15:22
of the Eastern Hemlock species --
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加拿大铁杉灭绝的可能——
15:25
that is to say, its extinction from nature due to this invading parasite --
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换句话说，它们将灭绝于这种侵略性的寄生体——
15:29
but we're also seeing the death of an incredibly complex ecosystem
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我们看到的更是一个令人难以置信般复杂的生态系统的死去
15:34
for which these trees are merely the substrate
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因为这些树是一个基座，
15:37
for the aerial labyrinth of the sky that exists in their crowns.
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一个支撑着那些长在树冠上空中生态迷宫的基座。
15:43
It's absolutely heartbreaking to see.
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看到这些实在是令人心碎。
15:46
One of the things that is just -- I almost can't conceive it --
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而有件事情我几乎无法理解——
15:50
is the idea that the national news media hasn't picked this up at all,
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国家的新闻媒体居然对这毫不关心，
15:54
and this is the devastation of one of the most important ecosystems in North America.
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尽管这意味着北美最重要生态系统之一的毁灭。
16:02
What can the Redwoods tell us about ourselves?
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红杉树又能告诉我们关于我们自己的什么呢？
16:05
Well, I think they can tell us something about human time.
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我想，它们可以告诉我们一些关于人类时间的东西。
16:08
The flickering, transitory quality of human time
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人类时间的转瞬即逝
16:13
and the brevity of human life -- the necessity to love.
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以及人类生命的短暂——它告诉我们爱的需要。
16:18
But we're different from trees, and they can also teach us
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但我们跟树不一样,他们还教会我们
16:20
something about ourselves in the differences that we have.
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我们自己身上存在哪些不同点。
16:23
We are human, and we have the capacity to love,
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我们是人类，我们可以爱，
16:26
we have the capacity to wonder, and we have a sort of
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我们可以询问，我们还有一种
16:30
boundless curiosity, a restless inquisitiveness
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无边的好奇心，以及永不休止的求知欲
16:35
that so suits us as primates, I think.
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我想，这些跟我们作为灵长类是多么匹配啊。
16:38
And at least for me, personally, the trees have taught me
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而对我个人来说，这些树木至少教会了我
16:42
an entirely new way of loving my children.
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一种全新的去爱我的孩子的方式。
16:45
Exploring with them the forest canopy
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与他们一起在树冠里探险
16:47
has been one of the most lovely things of my existence on Earth.
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是我生命里最美好的事情之一。
16:51
And I think that one of the happiest things is the sense that
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我又想，另外一件最快乐的事情，就是
16:56
with my children I've been able to introduce them
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我可以向他们介绍
16:59
into the very small circle of humans who are lucky enough,
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这些十分幸运，
17:03
or possibly stupid enough, to still climb trees.
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或者说，十分愚蠢的，仍在爬着树的人们。
17:07
Thank you very much.
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非常感谢你们。
17:09
(Applause)
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（掌声）
17:20
Chris Anderson: I think at a previous TED,
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克里斯·安德森：我想到了之前的一个TED讲座，
17:23
I think it was Nathan Myhrvold who told me that it was thought that
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我想那是纳森·梅尔沃德，他告诉我
17:27
because these trees are like, 2,000 years and older,
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这些树大概有2000岁或更老，
17:30
on many of them there are ecosystems where there are species
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而很多棵树本身就是一个独特生态系统
17:33
that are not found anywhere on the Earth
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里面有着无法在别处找到的物种，
17:35
except on that one tree. Is that correct?
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除非在仅仅的那一棵红杉身上。是么？
17:38
Richard Preston: Yes, that is correct. I mentioned Hyperion, the world's tallest tree.
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理查德·普雷斯顿：是的。我提到了亥帕龙神，这棵世界上最高的树。
17:43
And I was a member of a climbing team that made the first climb of it, in 2006.
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在2006年，我是首个爬这棵树的攀登队的成员之一。
17:48
And while we were climbing Hyperion, Marie Antoine spotted
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当我们在爬亥帕龙神的时候，马莉·安东尼发现
17:52
an unknown species of golden-brown ant about halfway up the trunk.
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一种未知的金棕蚁在树干的半腰处。
17:58
Ants are not known to occur in Redwood trees, curiously enough,
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据我们所知，蚁类不会出现在红杉树上，这很奇怪，
18:01
and we wondered whether this ant, this species of ant,
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我们疑惑，是否这个蚂蚁，或这种蚂蚁，
18:04
was only endemic to that one tree, or possibly to that grove.
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只在这棵树或它所在的那个树丛里才特有。
18:08
And in subsequent climbs they could never find that ant again,
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而在接下来的攀登中他们再也找不到那只蚂蚁了，
18:11
and so no specimens have ever been collected.
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所以，我们没能收集到标本。
18:13
We don't know what it is -- we just know it's there.
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我们不知道那是什么，我们只知道他们在那里。
18:17
CA: So, you have to wonder when, you know,
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CA：那么，我们需要询问的是
18:19
if some other species than us was recording the stories that mattered on Earth,
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是否有着其它一些物种在记录着地球上那些重要的故事，
18:25
you know, our stories are about Iraq and war and politics and celebrity gossip.
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正如你知道的，对于我们的故事，那就是伊拉克和战争和政治，以及关于名人的闲话。
18:31
You've just told us a different story of this tragic arms race that's happening,
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你刚才告诉了我们一个与众不同的故事，如果这些可悲的军备竞赛继续下去，
18:35
and maybe whole ecosystems gone forever.
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那么地球所有的生态系统都会永远毁灭。
18:38
It's an amazing sense of wonder you've given me,
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你给了我一种惊异的感觉，
18:40
and a sense of just how fragile this whole thing is.
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并让我了解到了这整个系统是多么的脆弱。
18:43
RP: It is fragile, and you know, I think about emerging human diseases --
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RP:她是脆弱的，你知道，我想到了新兴的人类疾病——
18:47
parasites that move into the human species.
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那些能感染人类的寄生生物。
18:50
But that's just a very small facet
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但相对于全世界各个生态系统的物种入侵这个更大的问题来说，
18:53
of a much greater problem of invasions of species worldwide,
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那只是很小的一个方面，
18:57
all through the ecosystems, and you know, the Earth itself --
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你知道，地球本身——
18:59
CA: Partly caused by us, inadvertently.
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CA：部分原因是我们造成的，并且是无意的。
19:02
RP: Caused by humans. Caused by the movement of humans.
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RP：因人类而起，因人类的行为而起。
19:05
You can think of the Earth's biosphere as a palace,
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你可以联想一下，地球的生物圈是一个宫殿，
19:10
and the continents are rooms in the palace,
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而各大陆是宫殿里的房间，
19:13
and the islands are small rooms.
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岛屿则是其中小房间。
19:15
But lately, the doors of the palace have been flung open,
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可是最近，这个宫殿内的门被猛然甩开，
19:19
and the walls are coming down.
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里面的墙也正在坍塌。
19:22
CA: Richard Preston, thank you very much, I think.
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CA：理查德·雷斯顿，非常感谢。
19:24
RP: Thank you.
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RP：谢谢。
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