TED演讲:论生物多样性(4)

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in the way you go watching for birds with binoculars³.  就像你用双筒望远镜来观鸟一样。

What will we find as we map the living world, as, finally, we get this underway seriously?  那么，假如我们真的去对现实世界中的生物进行测序，将会带来什么？

As we move past the relatively⁴ gigantic mammals, birds, frogs and plants to the more elusive⁵ insects and other small invertebrates⁶ and then beyond, 从大型哺乳动物到鸟类到青蛙到植物一直到昆虫以及其他非脊椎动物，

to the countless⁷ millions of organisms in the invisible living world, 再到无数的肉眼不可见的生物，

enveloped⁸ and living within humanity? 它们就在人体内发展、生存？

Already what were thought to be bacteria for generations have been found to compose, instead, two great domains⁹ of microorganisms: 过去科学家曾认定是细菌的生物现在的发现则显示，它们实际上是由两种微生物组成的:

true bacteria and one-celled organisms the archaea,  即真细菌和单细胞的古细菌，

which are closer than other bacteria to the eukaryota, the group that we belong to.  它比其他的细菌更接近真核生物，人也是真核生物。

Some serious biologists, and I count myself among them,  一些严肃的科学家，包括我，

have begun to wonder that among the enormous and still unknown diversity of microorganisms,  就开始怀疑，在多元与未知的微生物世界中，

one might just might find aliens among them.  也许还能找到外星生物的存在。

True aliens, stocks that arrived from outer space.  我说的是真正的外星生物，来自外太空的生物。

They've had billions of years to do it,  它们有数十亿年时间到达地球，

but especially during the earliest period of biological evolution on this planet.  特别是地球上出现生物进化的原始阶段。

We do know that some bacterial¹⁰ species that have earthly origin are capable of almost unimaginable extremes of temperature and other harsh changes in environment,  我们知道，有些发源自地球的细菌竟然可以在极端的温度下生存,也能适应非常恶劣的环境变化，

including hard radiation strong enough and maintained long enough to crack the Pyrex vessels¹¹ around the growing population of bacteria.  包括经受足以穿透Pyrex玻璃箱的强辐射的作用,这个在细菌的家族里很常见。

There may be a temptation to treat the biosphere¹² holistically¹³ and the species that compose it as a great flux¹⁴ of entities¹⁵ hardly worth distinguishing one from the other.  也许有些人会走捷径，用一种整体的视角来看待整个生物圈,将其中的物种看成是个体的流动,无须区分出它们之间的细微差别。

But each of these species, even the tiniest Prochlorococci,are masterpieces of evolution. 但是每一个这样的物种，即使是最细小的原绿球菌，都是进化之杰作。

Each has persisted for thousands to millions of years.  它们都在地球上存活了千百万年。

Each is exquisitely¹⁶ adapted to the environment in which it lives,  都能很好的融入到其生活环境当中，

interlocked with other species to form ecosystems¹⁷ upon which our own lives depend in ways we have not begun even to imagine.  并且与其他的物种相互作用，构成我们赖以生存的生态系统,而这些我们十年前还未曾想象得到。

We will destroy these ecosystems and the species composing them at the peril¹⁸ of our own existence and unfortunately we are destroying them with ingenuity¹⁹ and ceaseless energy.  假如我们破坏这些生态系统以及生活于其间的物种,我们终将自食其果,可悲的是，我们罔若无知，肆无忌惮的继续这样的行为。

My own epiphany as a conservationist came in 1953, while a Harvard graduate student,  我的灵光一现出现在1953年，那时我是哈佛大学的一位研究生，

searching for rare ants found in the mountain forests of Cuba,  我去古巴的大山和森林里寻找罕见的蚂蚁种类，

ants that shine in the sunlight metallic²⁰ green or metallic blue, according to species, and one species, I discovered, metallic gold.  这些蚂蚁在阳光照射之下会发光,金属绿、金属蓝，甚至是黄金的颜色。

I found my magical ants, but only after a tough climb into the mountains where the last of the native Cuban forests hung on, 经过一段艰难的山地跋涉，我终于找到了我的神奇蚂蚁，那里也是古巴仅存的一块原始森林地带，

and were then and still are being cut back.  但后来，直到现在，那片森林不断遭受砍伐。

I realized then that these species and a large part of the other unique, marvelous animals and plants on that island and this is true of practically every part of the world, 我意识到像这些蚂蚁以及那个岛上生活的其他独特且多姿的动植物，这对于世界任何一个地方都是一样的,

which took millions of years to evolve, are in the process of disappearing forever.  经过数百万年的进化，才有今天，但它们一旦消失，就有可能永远不会再次出现了。

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