Nature's my muse and it's been my passion. As a photographer for National Geographic, I've portrayed it for many. But five years ago, I went on a personal journey. I wanted to visualize the story of life. It's the hardest thing I've ever attempted, and there have been plenty of times when I felt like backing out. But there were also revelations. And one of those I'd like to share with you today.
自然是我的缪斯,也一直是我的激情所在。 作为国家地理的一名摄影师,我对它进行了很多的描绘。 五年前我进行了一次私人旅行。 我想描绘生活中的故事。 这是我遇到过最困难的事情, 有很多次我都想打退堂鼓了。 但我也得到了一些启示。 今天我就想和你分享其中的一个。
I went down to a remote lagoon in Australia, hoping to see the Earth the way it was three billion years ago, back before the sky turned blue. There's stromatolites down there -- the first living things to capture photosynthesis -- and it's the only place they still occur today. Going down there was like entering a time capsule, and I came out with a different sense of myself in time. The oxygen exhaled by those stromatolites is what we all breathe today.
我去了澳大利亚一个遥远的咸水湖,希望看到地球 三十亿年以前的样子。 回到之前天空还是蓝色的日子。 那里有叠层石 第一种进行光合作用的生物 也是现在仅存的一处。 走向那里就像是进入了时间胶囊, 当我出来时时间感完全不一样了。 叠层石所散发出的氧气 正是我们今天所呼吸的。
Stromatolites are the heroes in my story. I hope it's a story that has some resonance for our time. It's a story about you and me, nature and science. And with that said, I'd like to invite you for a short, brief journey of life through time. Our journey starts in space, where matter condenses into spheres over time ... solidifying into surface, molded by fire. The fire gave way, Earth emerged -- but this was an alien planet. The moon was closer; things were different. Heat from within made geysers erupt -- that is how the oceans were born. Water froze around the poles and shaped the edges of the Earth. Water is the key to life, but in frozen form, it is a latent force. And when it vanishes, Earth becomes Mars.
叠层石是我故事里的英雄。 我希望这个故事在今天也能引起一些共鸣。 这是一个关于你和我,自然和科学的故事。 正如上所说,我很乐意邀请你 来一次简短的时间旅行。 我们的旅行是从太空开始的,在那里随着时间的流逝物质浓缩成了球体。 凝固成表面,被火改造成各种形状。 当火退去时,地球显露出来-但这时还像是一个外星球。 月亮离我们更近,所有的东西和现在都不一样。 地底的热气使得间歇泉喷涌而出-海洋就这样形成了。 水在两极附近冻结,形成了地球的边界。 水是生命的关键,即使是处于冰冻状态,也是一种潜在的力量。 而一旦它蒸发了,地球就变成如火星般。
But this planet is different -- it's roiling inside. And where that energy touches water, something new emerges: life. It arises around cracks in the Earth. Mud and minerals become substrate; there are bacteria. Learn to multiply, thickening in places ... Growing living structures under an alien sky ... Stromatolites were the first to exhale oxygen. And they changed the atmosphere. A breath that's fossilized now as iron.
但这个星球与众不同之处就在于,它的内部是运动的。 在那里能量遇到水,生命就由此产生了。 它上升并包围了地球。 泥土和矿石垫在最底下,那里有细菌。 它们学着繁殖,在那里慢慢变厚。 生命结构就在外星空下形成了。 叠层石是最先释放氧气的。 它们改变了大气层。 有些就被成为了铁矿石。
Meteorites delivered chemistry, and perhaps membranes, too. Life needs a membrane to contain itself so it can replicate and mutate. These are diatoms, single-celled phytoplankton with skeletons of silicon ... circuit boards of the future. Shallow seas nurtured life early on, and that's where it morphed into more complex forms. It grew as light and oxygen increased. Life hardened and became defensive. It learned to move and began to see. The first eyes grew on trilobites. Vision was refined in horseshoe crabs, among the first to leave the sea. They still do what they've done for ages, their enemies long gone.
陨石释放出化学物质,或许还有薄膜。 生命需要有东西来承载自己 这样它才能复制和变异。 这里面有硅藻类,一种单细胞浮游生物 它们有着硅质的骨骼。 这就是未来的电路板。 浅滩更早的孕育了生命,在这里 它们变异成为更高级的形式。 随着光和氧气的增多它们不断成长。 生命变得坚强起来而且具有了攻击性。 它开始学着移动和观看。三叶虫最早长出眼睛。 视界也被重新定义随着马蹄蟹 第一个离开大海。 虽然它们依旧做着千百年来一直做着的事,但它们的敌人早已不复存在。
Scorpions follow prey out of the sea. Slugs became snails. Fish tried amphibian life. Frogs adapted to deserts. Lichens arose as a co-op. Fungi married algae ... clinging to rock, and eating it too ... transforming barren land. True land plants arose, leafless at first. Once they learn how to stay upright, they grew in size and shape. The fundamental forms of ferns followed, to bear spores that foreshadowed seeds. Life flourished in swamps.
蝎子跟随它们的猎物离开大海,蛞蝓变成了蜗牛。 鱼开始尝试两栖生活。青蛙也适应了干旱的气候。 地衣连成一片。菌类和水藻一起生长。 它们依附在岩石上,也以此为食。改善着贫瘠的土地。 真正的陆上植物开始产生,首先是裸子植物。 一旦它们知道如何生长,它们就长得更高更大。 其次是基本形式的蕨类 产生孢子,这是预示种子。 生命在沼泽里繁荣起来。
On land, life turned a corner. Jaws formed first; teeth came later. Leatherbacks and tuataras are echoes from that era. It took time for life to break away from water, and it still beckons all the time. Life turned hard so it could venture inland. And the dragons that arose are still among us today. Jurassic Park still shimmers in part of Madagascar, and the center of Brazil, where plants called "cycads" remain rock hard. Forests arose and nurtured things with wings. One early form left an imprint, like it died only yesterday. And others fly today like echoes of the past. In birds, life gained new mobility. Flamingos covered continents. Migrations got underway.
在陆地上,生命也有了转变。最开始是长出颚,接着是牙齿。 大海龟和大蜥蜴就是那个时代的产物。 它们花费了毕生的时间来离开水, 但一直未能如愿。 生活变得艰难起来所以才到内陆冒险 那时候崛起的恐龙现在仍在我们中间。 侏罗纪公园仍然闪烁着生命的光芒在马达加斯加局部 和巴西的中心。 而苏铁依然顽强的存活到今天 森林产生并孕育出生有双翼的东西。 一个早期的形式留下了印记,好像昨天才去世。 今天和其他人一样飞过去的回声。 鸟类中,生活有了新的流动性。 火烈鸟遍布各大洲。它们开始远途迁徙。
Birds witnessed the emergence of flowering plants. Water lilies were among the first. Plants began to diversify and grew, turning into trees. In Australia, a lily turned into a grass tree, and in Hawaii, a daisy became a silver sword. In Africa, Gondwana molded Proteas. But when that ancient continent broke up, life got lusher. Tropical rainforests arose, sparking new layers of interdependence. Fungi multiplied. Orchids emerged, genitalia shaped to lure insects ... a trick shared by the largest flower on Earth. Co-evolution entwined insects and birds and plants forever. When birds can't fly, they become vulnerable. Kiwis are, and so are these hawks trapped near Antarctica.
鸟类见证了开花植物的出现。 睡莲是第一批。 植物开始多样化和增长,变成树木。 在澳大利亚,百合变成了草本植物, 而在夏威夷,菊花成为银剑。 在非洲,山龙眼在冈瓦那大陆出现。 但是,当这一古老的大陆解体,生命变得更加繁盛。 热带雨林产生,引发新层次的相互依存关系。 真菌成倍增加。兰花的出现,外生殖器形成用来吸引昆虫。 也是地球上最大的花惯用的一个手法。 昆虫,鸟类和植物永远协同进化。 当鸟不能飞,他们变得脆弱。 鹬鸵和这些鹰因此被困南极洲。
Extinction can come slowly, but sometimes it arrives fast. An asteroid hits, and the world went down in flames. But there were witnesses, survivors in the dark. When the skies cleared, a new world was born. A world fit for mammals. From tiny shrews [came] tenrecs, accustomed to the dark. New forms became bats. Civets. New predators, hyenas, getting faster and faster still.
消亡有时很缓慢,但有时却来得很快。 当小行星撞上来,整个世界陷入火海。 但也有证人,幸存者在黑暗中。 当天空开朗,一个新的世界诞生了。 一个适合的哺乳动物。从小型的鼩, 马岛猬习惯于黑暗。 新形式成为蝙蝠。果子狸。 他们新的天敌,鬣狗跑得也是越来越快。
Grasslands created opportunities. Herd safety came with sharpened senses. Growing big was another answer, but size always comes at a price. Some mammals turned back to water. Walruses adapted with layers of fat. Sea lions got sleek. And cetaceans moved into a world without bounds. There are many ways to be a mammal. A 'roo hops in Oz; a horse runs in Asia; and a wolf evolves stilt legs in Brazil. Primates emerge from jungles, as tarsiers first, becoming lemurs not much later. Learning became reinforced. Bands of apes ventured into the open. And forests dried out once more. Going upright became a lifestyle.
草原创造了机会。 羊群为了安全生就了敏锐的感官。 变得越来越大是另外一个答案,但规模一直是要付出代价的。 一些哺乳动物又回到水中。 海象长出了几层脂肪。海狮变得浑身圆滑。 鲸目动物已无物可敌。 有很多方法变成哺乳动物。一头袋鼠在澳洲蹦跳。 马出现在亚洲,而狼在巴西变成了细长腿。 灵长目动物摆脱了丛林,眼镜猴是第一个, 狐猴不久也出来了。 学习能力变得更强。一群猿冒险进入了开放地带。 森林不断地干涸。往上发展成为一种生活方式。
So who are we? Brothers of masculine chimps, sisters of feminine bonobos? We are all of them, and more. We're molded by the same life force. The blood veins in our hands echoed a course of water traces on the Earth. And our brains -- our celebrated brains -- reflect a drainage of a tidal marsh.
那我们又是谁?男性黑猩猩兄弟。 女性倭黑猩猩的姐妹。我们就是从它们发展来的,可能还有更多的来源。 我们都是被同样的生命力所塑造。 静脉血液在我们的手中 就像水在地球上的流过的痕迹。 我们的大脑-我们著名的大脑- 反映了潮汐沼泽的水系。
Life is a force in its own right. It is a new element. And it has altered the Earth. It covers Earth like a skin. And where it doesn't, as in Greenland in winter, Mars is still not very far. But that likelihood fades as long as ice melts again. And where water is liquid, it becomes a womb for cells green with chlorophyll -- and that molecular marvel is what's made a difference -- it powers everything. The whole animal world today lives on a stockpile of bacterial oxygen that is cycled constantly through plants and algae, and their waste is our breath, and vice versa. This Earth is alive, and it's made its own membrane. We call it "atmosphere." This is the icon of our journey. And you all here today can imagine and will shape where we go next. (Applause) Thank you. Thank you.
生活是一种能支配自我的力量。这是一个新的因素。 它改变了地球。它涵盖地球一样的皮肤。 在生命没有触及的地方,比如冬季里的格陵兰岛, 那里的景象与火星也相去不远。 但是,这很可能消失,只要冰融化了。 当水变成液体时,它成为一个子宫。 细胞因为有了叶绿素变成绿色-这个分子的奇迹在于 它改变了一切。它是一切的动力。 现在的整个世界的动物生活在细菌库里, 在这里氧气能通过植物和藻类不断地循环, 它们消耗的正是我们呼出的东西, 反之亦然 地球是有生命的,它作出了自己的膜。 我们称它为大气圈。这是我们这一旅程的标记。 今天在这里大家可以想像,并将形成我们下一个要的地方。 (鼓掌) 谢谢。谢谢。