從汶川大地震談起……

Situation: Joe and LinZhi have just come back from donating money to a charity that is helping provide relief for the people of Sichuan.

情景：喬和林芝剛剛募捐了善款，幫助四川災(zāi)區(qū)人民災(zāi)后重建。

Joe: Well， now at least we've done something to try and help. I just wish there was more that we could do.

喬：好了，現(xiàn)在我們至少盡力做了些事情去幫助他們。我希望我們能做的更多。

LinZhi: Yeah. I'm full of admiration for anyone who actually volunteered to go down there and help. That takes a whole lot of guts.

林芝：是啊。我真的很羨慕那些真正到災(zāi)區(qū)救助的志愿者。那可真需要很大的勇氣啊。

Joe: Agreed. I don't think I'd be able to do it myself， so I respect them plenty.

喬：同意！我覺得我沒有能力親力親為，所以我很尊重他們。

LinZhi: Man， it's like Mother Nature herself is really angry with us. You've had the cyclones in Burma， the floods in Iowa， the tornadoes through Louisiana， and the earthquake… what's she punishing us for?

林芝：老兄，好像是大自然對我們很生氣啊。緬甸遭遇了強(qiáng)暴風(fēng)，愛荷華州的洪災(zāi)，路易斯安那州的龍卷風(fēng)，當(dāng)然還有地震……她為什么要懲罰我們呢？

Joe: Are you kidding me? Look at the crap we're doing to the Earth. The hole in the ozone layer? Our fault. Global warming? Blame us. We're screwing this planet up step by step， and maybe this is Gaia's way of telling us to stop being so cruel to it.

喬：開玩笑，難道你不知道？看看我們都對地球做了些什么吧。臭氧層空洞？我們的錯。全球變暖？我們也難逃其咎。我們正在一步一步地把地球搞得越來越糟，或許這是大地女神以自己的方式在告訴我們不要再這樣粗魯?shù)貙Υ厍颉?/p>

LinZhi: Gaia?

林芝：大地女神？

Joe: Yeah， Gaia. Back in the '60s， this professor called James Lovelock put forward a theory that because the Earth is a bunch of self-regulating systems – for example， we breathe oxygen， recycle it as carbon dioxide， trees take in the carbon dioxide and recycle it as oxygen – it may as well be considered a single organism. This theory took on amongst a lot of scientists and writers at the time， and they decided to call this earth-organism \"Gaia\"， after the ancient Greek goddess of the Earth. Basically， what the Gaia hypothesis boils down to is that the more harm we do to the planet， the more we put ourselves at risk.

喬：是啊，蓋亞大地女神。早在上世紀(jì)60年代，一名叫詹姆斯#8226;洛夫洛克的教授提出了一個(gè)理論——由于地球自身的調(diào)節(jié)系統(tǒng)，地球被認(rèn)為是一個(gè)單獨(dú)的有機(jī)體系。比如我們吸入氧氣呼出二氧化碳，樹木吸收二氧化碳呼出氧氣。當(dāng)時(shí)這一理論在眾多科學(xué)家和作家中很是盛行，他們決定將之命名為“蓋亞”，與古希臘神話中大地女神蓋亞同名?；旧蠈⑸w亞學(xué)說概括起來就是我們對地球的傷害越深，我們冒的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)也就越大。

LinZhi: So you're saying these natural disasters are caused by humans?

林芝：那么你的意思是這些自然災(zāi)害是由人類自身引起的？

Joe: No， of course not. Natural disasters happen. But if you look at a lot of the environmental problems – rising sea levels， air pollution et cetera， they're the result of human negligence. If you over-log an area， there are no roots left to hold the soil together， which leads to erosion. Dumping waste leads to reduced fish stocks and poor quality water. It is common sense， and we know it's killing our planet， but we just keep on doing it.

喬：當(dāng)然不是。自然災(zāi)害總會發(fā)生。但是你看看如此多的環(huán)境問題，比如海平面上升、空氣污染等等問題，這都是人類的過失。如果在某個(gè)區(qū)域過度砍伐，土壤沒有了根系的維持將會導(dǎo)致水土流失。向水中傾倒廢物會導(dǎo)致魚類種群減少和水體質(zhì)量下降。這些都是常識，我們也知道這樣對地球而言無異于“謀殺”，但是我們還在繼續(xù)自己的行為。

LinZhi: So we're busy killing off the planet， but we're also content to kill off ourselves too. Look at all the war and death that humans inflict on each other.

林芝：我們每天忙忙碌碌的進(jìn)行著對地球的“謀殺”行動，但是，我們也在毀滅人類自己?？纯慈祟悘?qiáng)加于彼此的戰(zhàn)爭和死亡吧。

Joe: Sad， isn't it? We're a completely self-destructive race， whether we like it or not. There's only one other organism like us – it uses up resources and gives nothing back to the host. You know what that is?

喬：真是悲哀?。∥覀冋媸莻€(gè)自我毀滅的物種，不管我們是否喜歡這樣。只有一個(gè)種群會像我們這樣——用盡了資源卻不知回報(bào)。你知道是什么嗎？

LinZhi: (Thinks for a while) No idea.

林芝：（想了片刻）不知道啊。

Joe: A virus.

喬：是病毒。

LinZhi: So you're saying that basically， that's all we are? Damn， Joe， that's really deep. I never knew you had it in you to be so philosophical.

林芝：在你看來我們基本都是這樣嗎？算了吧，喬，這個(gè)太深奧了。我從沒發(fā)現(xiàn)你還這么有哲學(xué)家氣質(zhì)。

Joe: Actually， I got that from The Matrix.

喬：其實(shí)我是從《黑客帝國》上知道的。

LinZhi: (groans) Joe， you suck.

林芝：（發(fā)了下牢騷）喬，你真討厭。

Notes

1. take a whole lot of guts

該短語就等于take a lot of courage，拿出很大的勇氣。

例句：

It takes a whole lot of guts to quit a high paying job.

辭去一份高薪的工作真的需要很大的勇氣。

2. take on

在文中意為“被接納、流行”。

例句：

No one expects this freaky hairstyle will take on in the future.

沒人認(rèn)為這種奇怪的發(fā)型會在將來流行于世。

3. inflict… on…

將某事強(qiáng)加于某人身上。

例句：

She would never put up with what she inflicts on others.

她強(qiáng)加給別人的事情自己卻無法忍受。

4. use up…

指“用光、用完”。和run out of…意義相同。

例句：

She always buys useless things and her salary is usually used up before she gets paid again.

她總愛買些沒用的東西，所以她的錢總是在下月發(fā)工資前就花光了。