40年前,Billy Barr搬到了落基山脉,开始独居隐居的生活。远离城市,去山里生活的原因很简单,是他无法处理好与这个普通世界的关系。他想静一静,想过独处的生活。是的,就这么简单的理由。
一开始,山里的生活自然是索然无味的。他躲得过世界,却躲不过无聊。
在一个冬日,他突然萌生了写日志的想法。毕竟,这样可以打发无聊的时光。再者,记录下大雪的高度,山中动物们的活动,也方便自己的生活,于是,这一记,便是四十年。他也没想到,这简单而又长久的习惯竟然影响了科学界。
春天里,他记录南来归鸟的第一声啼鸣。冬天里,他记录第一场雪的厚度。是的,他记录的就是他周围的世界,他所生存的,生活的世界。
他生活的那个地带冬天是要封路的,因为那是危险的雪崩地带。想想,他就是在那样艰苦恶劣的环境中生存着,生活着。他唯一拥有的,只有再真实不过的大自然。唯一能做的,就是砍柴,烧水,做记录。
山下有一个研究所,也是全球为数不多的几个研究阿尔比斯山脉和高山山脉气候变化的研究所之一。渐渐地,他与这个研究所熟悉起来。一开始,去那里做一些后勤保障之类的杂货儿。熟悉以后,他们让他可以开着研究所的车子出山了,去附近的镇子上买点生活用品食物之类的。而他也逐渐被镇子上的人们认识。后来,他成了镇子上著名的"奇怪的山人"。
有一次,听说镇子上有个演出,他去看。结果到了以后才发现,观众只有他一个人!人如此之少,导演决定取消演出。然而,此时所有人才发现,台下坐的真是那个赫赫有名的山人巴尔!他长长的胡须,豇豆一样细长的身材,再明显不过了。于是,演员们觉得,无论如何都得把节目演了。
巴尔的那些看似简单的记录终究是要浮出水面的。在一次与气候变化研究科学家的聊天中,巴尔谈到了自己记录的事情。也就是这个聊天,也深深改变了这个领域的发展。
科学家们虽然在研究,但是无法得知几十年前的数据。然而,恰恰是因为巴尔的日常记录,成为了他们最宝贵的第一手材料!于是,他的数据成了众多研究论文中的重要素材。比如,某种花的开花时间比四十年提前了一个月,这种重大的记录和发现对研究高山地带的气候变化产生了莫大的影响。再比如,在河流研究领悟,他的素材直接导致了百万人民饮用水政策的制定。
如今,巴尔的已经成为一个即将上映的纪录片的主角,记录片的名字叫做<<冬末>>。此外,那个研究所也以他命名了一个研究中心。
正印了中国那句古话,有心栽花花不开,无心插柳柳成荫。
以下,是原文中的一些语言点,整理如下。
Barr had moved from the East Coast to the Rocky Mountains preciselybecause of the solitude, but he couldn’t escape boredom. Especially that firstwinter. So he measured snow levels, animal tracks, andin spring the first jubilant calls of birds returning.
in spring the first jubilantcalls of birds returning
春天里飞回的鸟儿们第一声欢快的叫声
好词分享:jubilant
英文释义:feeling or expressing great happiness,especially because of a success
(尤指因成功而)欢欣的,喜气洋洋的
The fans were jubilantat/about/overtheirteam'svictory.球迷们为英格兰队获胜而欢欣雀跃。
Barr’s data would likely have remained the tinkerings of an amateur scientist were he not so close to the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL), one of the most important phenology research sites in the world.
Tinkering:小修小补
the act of making some small changes to something, in an attempt to improve it or repair it
But their research suffered froma dearth of long-term records.
然而他们的研究缺乏长期的记录。
dearth:an amount or supplythat is not large enough
不足,缺乏,缺少
a dearth of new homes in the region该地区新住宅的短缺
By recording when and how long flowers bloomed Inouye anda handful of scientisthoped todraw correlations
to the insects and birds that feed upon them.
a handful of几个
draw correlations to建立联系
The idea for the study arose out of a casual conversation, and that ispart of RMBL’s beauty.
做这个研究的点子是来源于一次闲聊。
A similar beautifulflukewould lead Inouye to discover Barr’s 40 years of data.
另一个美丽的偶然也将让Inouye发现Barr四十年的数据。
fluke:something good that hashappenedthat is theresultofchanceinsteadofskillorplanning
侥幸;偶然;意外
The firstgoalwas just a fluke.第一个进球只是侥幸命中。
One of the first newspaper interviews Barr gave—long after he’d becomeknown in the nearby town asthe
eccentric mountain man—romanticized his escapetoGothic, painting him as Thoreauvian.
他就变成附近小城知名的“奇怪的山人”后,接受过很多报纸采访,其中一个把他美化成逃离到哥特地区,把他刻画成梭罗主义者。
The reality is that he couldn’thack the regular world.
可现实情况是,他无法对付人间世事。
Gothic is about 10 miles from the nearest town. In the winter the road isclosed and it's unreachable except by backcountry skis on a trail that cuts through dangerou savalanche territory.
Avalanche雪崩
The RMBL seemed to think the cabin belonged to the U.S. Forest Service. And the Forest Service thought it belonged to the RMBL. A local man also claimed to own it, so amid this triangle of confusion Barr found a home.
RMBL认为小木屋是属于美国森林服务局的,而森林服务局认为是属于RMBL的。一个当地人声称是自己的。所以在这个三角混乱中,Barr找到了他的家。
In the hope that it would keephim busy at night, and thinking that it might come in handy next winter, hebegan to track the snow levels and the wildlife on his treks into the woods.
想着,这样的话他晚上就有的忙活了,同时,下一个冬天也就更加方便了。于是,他开始记录下他穿越过的森林里,雪的高度和野生动物。
trek:alongwalkoverlandsuchashills,mountains, orforests
(徒步)长途跋涉,翻山越岭
But when everyone realized it was Barr seated there—his long beard and string-bean body—theyput on the play anyway.
但是每一个演员都注意到了,是Barr坐在那里。他那长长的胡子,和豇豆一样细长的身材。
As the RMBL’s accountant, Barr became the first person researchers saw asthey checked in—as well the primary source of chocolate candy—and in that way he became the
lab’s face. All the while he kept his records.
这样,Barr也就成了实验室的门面。
In the morning and night helogged snow levels, weather, and temperatures.For wildlife he invented his own
number system, and in red he circled first sightings: the mammals emerging from hibernation, or the first calls for spring from the robins, the flickers, and
especially important to Inouye would be the broad-tailed hummingbird.
每天早晨和晚上,他记录下雪的高度,天气和气温情况。为了记录野生动物,他发明自己的符号系统,红色代表第一次发现的:冬眠后第一次出现的哺乳动物,或者是知更鸟或者金翼啄木鸟在春天的第一次叫声。对Inouye尤其重要的,是宽翼的蜂鸟,
Even so, it wasn’t until the late 1990s that Inouye learned of Barr’spriceless trove of data.
尽管如此,直到20世纪90年,Inouye才知道Barr无价珍宝一般的数据。
It happened during a conversation no one clearly recalls.By theend of it, Barr agreed to send Inouye some of the his research.
源于一个对话,两人都记不清楚是哪一次了。
His notebookshave provided an unexpected glimpse back into a world scientists never recorded.
他的笔记本让那些科学家们有机会一睹他们从未记录过、也从未期望过的过往的世界。
The hummingbird relies onnectarfrom theglacier lily—so much so that itsyncedits migration to arrive in Gothic justbefore it blooms.
蜂鸟依赖于冰川百合上的花蜜。而这也与话盛开前它们迁徙到哥特地区的是同步的。