TED演讲:我在太平洋底为珊瑚之死哭泣(1)

The first time I cried underwater was in 2008, the island of Curacao, way down in the southern Caribbean.

我第一次在海底哭泣是在2008年，在库拉索岛，加勒比海南边。

It's beautiful there. I was studying these corals for my PhD,

那里很美。我当时念博士，研究珊瑚礁，

and after days and days of diving on the same reef, I had gotten to know them as individuals.

日复一日地从同一处珊瑚礁潜水下去，我看它们就像一个个人一样。

I had made friends with coral colonies -- totally a normal thing to do.

我跟珊瑚礁群做了朋友——完全正常的事情。

Then, Hurricane Omar smashed them apart and ripped off their skin,

后来，Omar飓风把它们撕得四分五裂，脱了层皮，

leaving little bits of wounded tissue that would have a hard time healing,

只留下一点点残缺的珊瑚组织需要漫长的时间休养生息，

and big patches of dead skeleton that would get overgrown by algae¹.

而死亡的珊瑚礁的骨骼大片大片的被海藻覆盖。

When I saw this damage for the first time, stretching all the way down the reef, I sunk onto the sand in my scuba² gear and I cried.

当我第一次看到这样的惨状，一直蔓延到珊瑚礁底部，潜水服里的我坐在泥沙里哭了起来。

If a coral could die that fast, how could a reef ever survive?

如果珊瑚死的这么突然，这座珊瑚礁何以存活？

And why was I making it my job to try to fight for them?

那么，为什么我要以此为工作目标，为它们努力？

I never heard another scientist tell that kind of story until last year.

我从未听到另一个科学家讲述类似的故事直到去年。

A scientist in Guam wrote, "I cried right into my mask," seeing the damage on the reefs.

一位关岛的科学家写到，“我在我的防护罩里哭了起来，”当他看到珊瑚礁遭受的破坏时。

Then a scientist in Australia wrote, "I showed my students the results of our coral surveys, and we wept."

接着一位澳大利亚的科学家写到，“我向我的学生展示了我们珊瑚调查的结果，我们都哭泣了。”

Crying about corals is having a moment, guys.

伙计们，为珊瑚哭泣正是时候。

And that's because reefs in the Pacific are losing corals faster than we've ever seen before.

这是因为太平洋的珊瑚礁覆盖表面的珊瑚正在以我们从未见过的速度消失。

Because of climate change, the water is so hot for so long in the summers, that these animals can't function normally.

因为气候变化，夏季的水温持续了太长时间的高温，导致这些动物（珊瑚）无法正常工作。

1 algae   

n.水藻，海藻

参考例句：

• Most algae live in water.多数藻类生长在水中。
• Algae grow and spread quickly in the lake.湖中水藻滋蔓。

2 scuba   

n.水中呼吸器

参考例句：

• I first got hooked on scuba diving when I was twelve.12岁时我开始迷上了带水中呼吸器潜水。
• While on honeymoon in Bali,she learned to scuba dive.她在巴厘岛度蜜月时学会了带水肺潜水。