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.
自然一直是我沈思及激情之所在。 作為國家地理的一名攝影師,我對自然作過很多的描繪。 五年前我進行了一次私人旅行。 我想將生命的故事以視覺方式呈現。 這是我嚐試做過的事情中最困難的 一件, 有很多次我都想 撒手不幹了。 但我也獲得一些出乎意料的成果 今天我就想和你分享其中的一個。
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.
我去了澳大利亞一個遙遠的潟湖 ,希望看到地球 在三十億年以前的樣子。 回到之前天空還不是藍色的時代。 那裡有疊藻層 第一種進行光合作用的生物 也是現在僅存的一處。 走向那裡就像是進入了時間膠囊, 當我出來時時間感完全不一樣了。 疊藻層所散發出的氧氣 正是我們今天所呼吸的。
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.
疊藻層是我故事裡的英雄 我希望這個故事在今天也能引起一些共鳴。 這是一個關於你和我,自然和科學的故事。 正如上所說,我想邀請你 來一次簡短的時光之旅。 我們的旅行從太空開始,在那裡隨著時間的流逝物質濃縮成了球體。 凝固成表面,被火改造成各種形狀。 當火退去時,地球出現了-但這時還像是一個外星球。 月亮離我們更近,情況開始不一樣了。 地底的熱氣使得間歇泉噴湧而出-海洋就這樣形成了。 水在兩極附近凍結,形成了地球的邊界。 水是生命的關鍵,即使是處於冰凍狀態,也是一種潛在的力量。 而一旦它蒸發了,地球就變成如火星般。
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.
但這個星球與眾不同之處就在於,它的內部(岩漿)不斷攪拌。 在那裡能量遇到水,生命就由此產生了。 它上升並包圍了地球。 泥土和礦石墊作為基底,細菌在上面 繁殖,在那裡慢慢變厚。 生命結構就在外星空下形成了。 疊藻層是最先釋放氧氣的。 它們改變了大氣層。 有些就被成為了鐵礦石。
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.
隕石釋放出化學物質,或許還有薄膜。 生命需要有東西來承載自己 這樣它才能複製和變異 這裡面有矽藻類,一種單細胞浮游生物 它們有著矽質的骨骼。 這就是未來的電路板。 淺灘更早的孕育了生命,在這裡 它們變異 成為更高級的形式。 隨著光和氧氣的增多它們不斷成長。 生命變得堅強起來而且演變出自衛的功能。 它開始學著移動和觀看。三葉蟲最早長出眼睛 馬蹄蟹重新定義視覺 它也是第一個離開大海的生物。 至今它們依舊做著千百年來相同的事,但它們的敵人早已不復存在
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.
蠍子跟隨它們的獵物也離開大海,蛞蝓演變成蝸牛。 魚開始嘗試兩棲生活。青蛙也適應了沙漠的氣候。 地衣連成一片。菌類和水藻一起生長。 它們依附在岩石上,也以此為食。改善著貧瘠的土地。 真正的陸上植物開始產生,首先是裸子植物。 一旦它們知道如何筆直的朝上生長,它們就長得更高更大。 其次是基本形式的蕨類 產生孢子,這是種子的前兆。 生命在沼澤裡繁榮起來。
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.
在陸地上,生命也有了轉變。最開始是長出顎,接著是牙齒。 大海龜和大蜥蜴就是那個時代的產物。 它們花費了畢生的時間來離開水, 但仍然不時被大海召喚回去。 生活變得艱難起來所以才到內陸冒險 那時候崛起的恐龍現在仍在我們中間。 在馬達加斯加和巴西的中部侏羅紀公園 仍然閃爍著生命的光芒 而蘇鐵依然頑強的攀附在岩石上存活著 森林長成並孕育出有雙翼的生物 一個早期的形式留下了印記,好像昨天才去世。 像過去的回聲一樣 以另一形式回到今日。 鳥類中,生命有了新的遷移。 紅鶴遍佈各大洲。它們開始遠途遷徙。£
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.
鳥類見證了開花植物的出現。 睡蓮作先鋒。 植物開始多樣化和增長,變成樹木。 在澳大利亞,百合變成了草本植物, 而在夏威夷,菊花成為銀劍。 在非洲,山龍眼在岡瓦那大陸出現。 但是,當這一古老的大陸解體,生命變得更加繁盛。 熱帶雨林產生,引發新層次的相互依存關係。 真菌繁殖 。蘭花的出現,他們用外生殖器形成用來吸引昆蟲。 這是地球上最大的花慣用的一個手法。 昆蟲,鳥類和植物永遠協同進化。 當鳥不能飛,他們變得易受傷 。 因此鷸鴕和這些鷹因此被困南極洲。
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.
滅絕有時來的很緩慢,但有時卻來得很快。 當小行星撞上來,整個世界陷入火海。 但仍有生物在隨後暗不見天 日中僥倖存活下來 當天空再度開朗,一個新的世界誕生了。 這是一個適合哺乳動物的世界。從習慣於黑暗的 小型鼩及無尾蝟 演變成為蝙蝠。果子狸。 他們新的天敵,鬣狗跑得也是越來越快。
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.
草原創造了機會。 羊群為了安全生就了敏銳的感官。 變得越來越大是另外一個答案,但規模總是是要付出代價的。 一些哺乳動物又回到水中。 海象長出了幾層脂肪。海獅變得渾身圓滑。 鯨類動物在世界各地無邊界的游動 有很多方法變成哺乳動物。袋鼠在澳洲蹦跳。 馬出現在亞洲,在巴西狼變成了細長腿。 靈長目動物擺脫了叢林,眼鏡猴拔得頭彩, 狐猴不久也演化出來了。 學習能力變得更強。一群猿冒險進入了空曠原野。 森林不斷地乾涸。往上發展成為一種生活方式。
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.
那我們又是誰?雄黑猩猩的兄弟。 雌倭黑猩猩的姐妹。我們所有的人,還有更多。 我們都是被同樣的生命力所塑造。 在我們的手中的血管 就像水在地球上的流過的痕跡。 我們的大腦-我們著名的大腦- 反映了潮汐沼澤的水域。
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.
生命是一種能支配自我的力量。這是一個新的因素。 它改變了地球。它像皮膚一樣的涵蓋地球。 在生命沒有觸及的地方,比如冬季裡的格陵蘭島, 那裡的景象與火星也相去不遠。 但是,這很可能消失,只要冰融化了。 當水變成液體時,它成為一個子宮。 細胞因為有了葉綠素變成綠色-這個分子的奇跡 在於它改變了一切。 它是一切的動力。 現在的整個世界的動物生活 在細菌庫裡, 在這裡氧氣能通過 植物和藻類不斷地循環, 它們消耗的正是我們呼出的東西, 反之亦然。 地球是有生命的,它形成了自己的细胞膜。 我們稱它為大氣圈。這是我們這一旅程的標記。 今天在這裡大家可以想像 並型塑我們未來的世界。 (鼓掌) 謝謝。謝謝