2020年经济学人 北极探险(1)

There is "lockdown". And then there is lockdown.

船只“封锁”。国家封锁。

Those who have spent the past weeks allowed out only to exercise and visit the shops

那些在过去几周只被允许出去锻炼和逛商店的人

might spare a thought for the passengers and crew of Polarstern (Pole Star), pictured above.

可能会想到上图中极星号上的乘客和船员。

Polarstern is an icebreaker belonging to the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine¹ Research, in Germany,

极星号是一艘破冰船，所属德国阿尔弗雷德韦格纳极地和海洋研究所，

and her ship's company are in a different class of lockdown entirely². Their vessel³ is afloat in the pack ice of the Arctic Ocean,

而船上的同伴则完全处于另一种级别的禁闭中。他们的船漂浮在北冰洋的浮冰中，

and communications are so minimal⁴ as to preclude⁵ phone calls, let alone Zoom⁶. Only pictureless messages and emails are possible.

通讯设备极少，无法打电话，更别提使用Zoom视频了。能用的只有不带图片的短信和邮件。

Polarstern is the location of MOSAIC⁷, the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory⁸ for the Study of Arctic Climate.

极星号是北极气候研究多学科漂移观测站（MOSAIC）所在地。

She sailed from Tromso, in Norway, on September 20th 2019 and travelled to a point at latitude⁹ 85 degrees North.

2019年9月20日，她从挪威特罗姆瑟触发，航行到北纬85度的一个点。

Here, mimicking¹⁰ the first high-Arctic voyage, made in 1893 by Fridtjof Nansen, a Norwegian explorer,

模仿挪威探险家弗里德乔夫·南森在1893年进行的第一次高北极航行，

her captain fixed¹¹ her into an ice floe¹² that carried her along at about 7km/h, courtesy of an ocean current called the transpolar drift stream.

船长把她固定在一块浮冰上，借助一股被称为“跨极漂流”的洋流，让她以每小时7公里的速度向前移动。

Her closest approach to the pole itself, 156km, was on February 24th.

2月24日是她离极点最近的时间，距离为156米。

Things have not, however, gone according to plan. The idea was for a revolving¹³ cast of 300 scientists each to spend two months on board.

然而，事情并没有按照计划进行。原计划是让300名科学家轮班各在船上待两个月。

This would have permitted specialists in the study of different seasons and conditions—winter or summer ice, say—to be there at the appropriate moment,

这样就可以让研究不同季节和环境的专家在合适的时间到达那里，比如冬或夏冰，

and would also have had the benefit of protecting everyone from cabin fever.

而且还能保护每个人远离幽居病。

A planned rotation¹⁴ in April had, though, to be cancelled.

不过，计划在4月进行的轮换已被取消。

Norway, the new shipmates' intended departure point, had closed its borders in response to covid-19.

为应对covid-19疫情，新船员的预定出发地——挪威已经关闭了边境。

That left the original company with no liberation date. Eventually, two transfer ships with the newbies on board sailed from Bremerhaven, in Germany.

这使得原来的同伴没有了解放之日。最终，两艘载着这些新船员的转运船从德国不莱梅港启航。

And on May 17th Polarstern broke free from her icy prison and headed south to meet them off the coast of Svalbard.

5月17日，极星号从冰封的监狱中挣脱出来，向南前往斯瓦尔巴特群岛海岸与他们会合

On June 8th she began the return trip, and arrived back at her original piece of ice (which had moved) on June 17th,

6月8日，她开始返航之旅，6月17日，她回到了原来那块冰的位置（这块冰已经移动了），

to resume drifting with it until she breaks free in September, in the Fram Strait between Greenland and Svalbard.

继续随它漂流，直到9月，在格陵兰岛和斯瓦尔巴特群岛之间的弗拉姆海峡获得解放。

The coronavirus has not changed MOSAIC's objectives, however.

但疫情没有改变MOSAIC的目标。

These are to study the structure of Arctic ice and how this changes with the seasons,

MOSAIC的目标是研究北极冰的结构以及其结构如何随着季节而变化，

and to look at the air above that ice, the water below and the creatures living in that water—and, indeed, in the ice itself. All of these are interlinked.

并观察冰层上的空气、冰下的水以及水中生活着的生物——事实上，还有生活在冰里的生物。所有这些都是相互联系的。

They also link the place with the wider world, for the Arctic is both a recorder and a driver of climate change.

他们还将北极与更广阔的世界联系起来，因为北极既是气候变化的记录者，也是气候变化的推动者。

It is a recorder because the visible difference between ice and water,

它是记录者，因为冰和水的明显区别

and the obvious relationship between global temperatures and the amount of ice around,

以及全球气温和周围冰量之间的明显关系，

mean together that the ice's waxing and waning¹⁵ shows in an easily graspable way how things are changing.

两者都意味着冰的消长变化简易地表明了事物是如何变化的。

1 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

2 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

3 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

4 minimal   

adj.尽可能少的，最小的

参考例句：

• They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
• I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家，所以我的花费很小。

5 preclude   

vt.阻止，排除，防止；妨碍

参考例句：

• We try to preclude any possibility of misunderstanding.我们努力排除任何误解的可能性。
• My present finances preclude the possibility of buying a car.按我目前的财务状况我是不可能买车的。

6 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。

7 mosaic   

n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的

参考例句：

• The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
• The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。

8 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。

9 latitude   

n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区

参考例句：

• The latitude of the island is 20 degrees south.该岛的纬度是南纬20度。
• The two cities are at approximately the same latitude.这两个城市差不多位于同一纬度上。

10 mimicking   

v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的现在分词 )；酷似

参考例句：

• She's always mimicking the teachers. 她总喜欢模仿老师的言谈举止。
• The boy made us all laugh by mimicking the teacher's voice. 这男孩模仿老师的声音，逗得我们大家都笑了。 来自辞典例句

11 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

12 floe   

n.大片浮冰

参考例句：

• Two penguins are standing on ice floe.两只企鹅站在一块浮冰上。
• Somehow the seal manages to reach a tiny ice floe.不知何故，海豹设法到达了一块小浮冰上。

13 revolving   

adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想

参考例句：

• The theatre has a revolving stage. 剧院有一个旋转舞台。
• The company became a revolving-door workplace. 这家公司成了工作的中转站。

14 rotation   

n.旋转；循环，轮流

参考例句：

• Crop rotation helps prevent soil erosion.农作物轮作有助于防止水土流失。
• The workers in this workshop do day and night shifts in weekly rotation.这个车间的工人上白班和上夜班每周轮换一次。

15 waning   

adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡

参考例句：

• Her enthusiasm for the whole idea was waning rapidly. 她对整个想法的热情迅速冷淡了下来。
• The day is waning and the road is ending. 日暮途穷。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》