It may take a lichen more than half a century to attain the dimensions of a shirt button. 地衣也许要花半个多世纪时间才能长到衬衫纽扣大小。

　　Those the size of dinner plates, writes David Attenborough, are therefore "likely to be hundreds if not thousands of years old." 戴维·阿登堡禄写道，因此那些长到餐盘大小的地衣“很可能已经生长了几百年，如果不是几千年的话”。

　　It would be hard to imagine a less fulfilling existence. 很难想像还有比这成就更小的生存。

　　"They simply exist," Attenborough adds, "testifying to the moving fact that life even at its simplest level occurs, apparently, just for its own sake." “它们只是存在，”阿登堡禄接着说，“证明一个感人的事实：连最简单层次的生命，显然也只是为了自身而存在。”

　　It is easy to overlook this thought that life just is. 生命只有这点考虑，这点很容易被忽略。

　　As humans we are inclined to feel that life must have a point. 作为人类，我们往往觉得生命必须有个目的。

　　We have plans and aspirations and desires. 我们有计划，有志向，有欲望。

　　We want to take constant advantage of all the intoxicating existence we've been endowed with. 我们想要不断利用赋予我们的整个令人陶醉的生命。

　　But what's life to a lichen? 但是，生命对于地衣来说是什么？

　　Yet its impulse to exist, to be, is every bit as strong as ours—arguably even stronger. 它的生存冲动、活着的欲望和我们一样强烈——有可能更加强烈。

　　If I were told that I had to spend decades being a furry growth on a rock in the woods, I believe I would lose the will to go on. 要是我被告知，我不得不当几十年林中岩石上的地衣，我认为我会失去继续活下去的愿望。

　　Lichens don't. Like virtually all living things, they will suffer any hardship, endure any insult, for a moment's additional existence. 地衣不会。实际上像所有生物一样，它们蒙受苦难，忍受侮辱，只是为了多活一会儿。

　　Life, in short, just wants to be.  总之，生命想要存在。

　　But—and here's an interesting point—for the most part it doesn't want to be much. 但是——这一点很有意思——在大多数情况下，它不想大有作为。

　　This is perhaps a little odd because life has had plenty of time to develop ambitions. 这也许有点儿怪，因为生命有很多时间来施展自己的雄心壮志。