PBS高端访谈:自然主义者带我们走进自然

JUDY WOODRUFF: And now tonight's Brief But Spectacular explores old growth trees and the natural history of Wisconsin's Northwoods. Author and naturalist¹ John Bates takes us there. He's worked in the area for more than 30 years helping² people understand the diversity and the beauty of nature and our place within it. Bates' most recent book is titled Our Living Ancestors.

JOHN BATES, Author, Our Living Ancestors: My interest in old growth took off in, oh, about 2003. I'd been walking in older forests, and found that they were quite rare and wondered why. Why did we cut so many down? They're a filter for air. They're a storage of carbon. They provide shade to our streams. I felt humility³ walking into these sites in a place where trees are 400 or 500 years old. I found myself feeling a deep gratitude⁴ that these trees were resilient enough to still be here. My job, as a naturalist, is to help people gain environmental literacy, so that they have a deeper understanding of place based on this enriched understanding of where they are. If you're standing⁵ under an old white pine here in Wisconsin that's 400 or 500 years old, you are standing underneath⁶ a tree that Native Americans had stood under. The trees are living tissue. They're not hardened amber⁷. They're not footprints. They're not stories people have told with all the biases⁸ that we have as human beings. They're travelers through time. And standing next to them, you can get this feeling of time having taken place. And you can't find that in any other setting literally⁹ in the world. When you think about the history of Wisconsin, in 1830, we had our first census¹⁰. There were 3,000 people. We became a state in 1848. And by 1870, there were one million people here. Every one of those people needed wood. And so we ended up cutting and then burning all of Northern Wisconsin. So, 99.8 percent has been cut. Rare to find a big white pine like this. This is a crown jewel of the Northwoods. Most of this land was sold on the dream of land that couldn't support farms. We have very poor soils, compared to Southern Wisconsin.

We also have this thing called winter, which lasts for five months. And we had almost no market. So, even if you could miraculously¹¹ grow something, who were you going to sell it to? And so farmers went belly¹² up. The land became tax-delinquent. And in the early '20s, 1930s, six million acres of Northern Wisconsin was made into public land, because we couldn't figure out what else to do with it. In my old age now, my job, as I understand it now, is to help people fall more deeply in love with the world. I can't think what else I'm here for. My name is John Bates, and this is my Brief But Spectacular take on connecting time through old growth forests.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And that was beautiful. And you can find all of our Brief But Spectacular segments online at PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：今晚《简短而精彩》的主题是老树和威斯康星州诺斯伍德的自然历史。作家兼自然主义者约翰·贝茨将带我们了解这里。他在该地区已经工作30多年了，他帮助人们了解自然的多样性和美丽，以及人类在自然中扮演的角色。贝茨最近的一本书叫《我们活着的祖先》。

约翰·贝茨，《我们活着的祖先》作者：我对年老生长的兴趣起源于2003年。我曾在古老的森林里穿梭，发现它们很罕见，于是我好奇其中的原因。我们为何要砍掉这么多的树呢？树木是空气的过滤器，储存着许多碳，为溪流提供荫蔽。我感觉到人类走进了这些地方，而这些地方的树大概有四五百年的历史了。我深深地感恩这些树木如此顽强，能一直坚持着。我作为自然主义者的职责就是帮助人们更了解环境，这样大家就能在充分地了解自己所在的环境之后就能更深切地了解一个地方。如果此时的你站在威斯康星州一棵有着四五百年的老五针松树下，那么这棵树可能也曾为许多本土美洲人提供过荫蔽。树木就是还活着的组织。树木不是变硬的琥珀，不是脚印，不是人们基于自己作为人类的偏见而讲述出来的故事。树木是时空旅客。站在树木旁边的时候，你可以感受到时间的变迁。这种感受是你在任何一个地方都无法感受的。回溯威斯康星州的历史，1830年，这里进行了第一次人口普查，那时候有3000人。1848年成立了威斯康星州。1870年的时候，这里有100万人。每个人都需要木材。最终，我们砍掉了树木，烧毁了整个威斯康星州。导致99.8%的树木被砍伐。那时候，很难见到这样一颗高大的五棵松树。这是诺斯伍德最珍贵的东西。这片土地的大多部分都卖了出去，但这里无法支持农场的运营。与威斯康星州南部相比，这里的土质很差。

这里也有冬天，冬天可持续数月。我们几乎没有任何市场。所以，即便你能奇迹般地种植什么东西，要卖给谁呢？所以农夫们都破产了，还欠了很多税。20世纪二三十年代时，威斯康星州北部600万公顷的土地都变成了共用土地，因为我们不知道这里还能做什么。现在我已年老，我现在对自然主义者的理解是：帮助人们更加热爱这个世界。我想不出我在这里的其他原因。我是约翰·贝茨，这是我本期带来的与通过古老森林来连接时间的《简短而精彩》。

朱迪·伍德拉夫：您的分享很精彩。其他期节目，可戳官网PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief。

1 naturalist   

n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者)

参考例句：

• He was a printer by trade and naturalist by avocation.他从事印刷业，同时是个博物学爱好者。
• The naturalist told us many stories about birds.博物学家给我们讲述了许多有关鸟儿的故事。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 humility   

n.谦逊，谦恭

参考例句：

• Humility often gains more than pride.谦逊往往比骄傲收益更多。
• His voice was still soft and filled with specious humility.他的声音还是那么温和，甚至有点谦卑。

4 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

7 amber   

n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的

参考例句：

• Would you like an amber necklace for your birthday?你过生日想要一条琥珀项链吗？
• This is a piece of little amber stones.这是一块小小的琥珀化石。

8 biases   

偏见( bias的名词复数 )； 偏爱； 特殊能力； 斜纹

参考例句：

• Stereotypes represent designer or researcher biases and assumptions, rather than factual data. 它代表设计师或者研究者的偏见和假设，而不是实际的数据。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• The net effect of biases on international comparisons is easily summarized. 偏差对国际比较的基本影响容易概括。

9 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

10 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

11 miraculously   

ad.奇迹般地

参考例句：

• He had been miraculously saved from almost certain death. 他奇迹般地从死亡线上获救。
• A schoolboy miraculously survived a 25 000-volt electric shock. 一名男学生在遭受2.5 万伏的电击后奇迹般地活了下来。

12 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。