復活節島之“生死”謎 The Mysterious Easter Island大綱

在這個神祕的太平洋小島上，究竟有着什麼樣神祕的故事……

Life on an isolated Pacific island is eternally poised on a knife-edge. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the single most remote island in the Pacific-Easter Island. This tiny speck of land has an extraordinary story to tell, with new twists turning up still to this day.
在太平洋的孤島上，生命就像懸在刀刃上一樣，總是朝不保夕。最典型的例子莫過於太平洋上這個最偏僻的孤島——復活節島。這一小片陸地有個奇特的故事，時至今日仍有新的轉折。

Just 20 kilometers long and 11 kilometers wide, Easter Island rises like a fortress from the waves, surrounded by thousands of kilometers of ocean in every direction.
復活節島只有20公里長，11公里寬，它像一座堡壘從海面聳起，四周是一望無際的大海。

People first arrived here less than one thousand years ago; most of what we know about their civilization can only be pieced together from the relics that remain. It is a strange and desolate place. The most striking features in this bleak and windswept landscape are the hundreds of giant stone statues, known as moai, thought to be carved in the likeness of chiefs or ancestors.
不到一千年前，人類第一次到達這裏。我們對他們文明的大部分了解只能從留下來的遺物拼湊起來。這是一個奇特且荒涼的地方，而在這片暴露在風中的荒野上最顯著的特徵就是數百座被稱爲“摩艾”的巨型石像，應該是照着酋長或是祖先的樣子雕刻的。

It's difficult to believe that an advanced culture, capable of carving and erecting these monoliths, grew up in such a barren landscape. The truth is, it didn't. When those first colonizers discovered Easter Island, this was a paradise.
能夠雕刻並豎立這些巨石的先進文明，卻生活在這樣貧瘠的地方，的確令人難以置信。事實確實並非如此。當第一批開拓者發現復活節島時，這裏是個天堂。

These empty cliffs were once home to the largest seabird colonies in the South Pacific. Rich volcanic soils nourished a forest of giant palms that was home to many unique species, including Easter Island versions of herons, parrots, rails and owls. Today, they are all gone. The people ultimately didn't do much better: the rise and tragic demise of the Easter Islanders, the Rapa Nui, is now legendary.
這些空寂的峭壁曾是南太平洋最大的海鳥羣棲息地。肥沃的火山灰滋養了一大片棕櫚樹林，那也曾是許多珍稀物種的棲息地，包括生長在復活節島上的蒼鷺、鸚鵡、秧雞和貓頭鷹，而如今他們都消失了。島民最終的遭遇也好不了多少：經歷了復活節島的興盛和悲慘的滅亡後，拉帕努伊人如今已成爲傳奇。

This quarry once occupied the majority of the island's workforce, thousands of people, with each clan trying to carve and raise a bigger, grander figure than those of their neighbors. Vast amounts of timber would have been required to transport and erect the giant moai, and slowly but surely, the forests vanished. As resources dwindled, Easter Island society descended into chaos and warfare. The giant statues were pulled to the ground, possibly acts of sabotage between rival clans.
曾有數以千計的島民在島上的採石場工作，每個宗族都想把塑像雕得比鄰族更大更高。運輸和豎立巨型石像需要大量木材，於是漸漸地，森林消失了。當資源逐漸減少時，復活節島的社會陷入了混亂和戰爭。很可能由於宗族之間的破壞行爲，石像被推倒了。

Houses were abandoned and the foundation stones used to construct fortified dwellings in caves underground. Some evidence even suggests that once everything edible had been consumed, the starving were driven to that most desperate of acts: cannibalism.
房子被棄置，而房屋的基石則用來修建加固在地下洞穴裏的居所。甚至有證據顯示當所有能吃的東西都消耗殆盡後，飢餓把島民趕上了絕路：同類相食。

Understandably this version of Easter Island's history remains controversial because it suggests the Rapa Nui were incredibly short-sighted. As the Trees dwindled, why did they do nothing about it?
這個版本的復活節島歷史仍然具有爭議性，這可以理解，因爲如果這個版本是真的，那就意味着拉帕努伊人太鼠目寸光了。當樹木減少時，他們怎麼會坐視不理呢？

But a new theory suggests the Rapa Nui were powerless to prevent their downfall, for when they arrived on this island, they were not alone. Rats traveled with people to every corner of the Pacific. On Easter Island, their impact may have been catastrophic: 1multiplying to plague proportions they would have devoured the wild fruits, the seabirds, even the nuts of the giant palms, so that the trees may have stopped reproducing long before the last one was felled. Perhaps the fate of Easter Island was not sealed by the human who felled that last tree, but by the rat that ate the last palm nut.
然而，一個新理論認爲拉帕努伊人根本無力阻止衰落，因爲他們抵達小島時，還帶着伴。老鼠跟隨人類到達太平洋每個角落。在復活節島上，它們的影響可能是災難性的：老鼠大量繁殖成災，它們會吃光野生果實、海鳥，甚至棕櫚樹堅果，所以可能早在最後一棵樹被砍倒之前，樹木已經不再生長了。也許，復活節島的衰敗並非是由於島民砍光了所有的樹，而是因爲老鼠吃光所有的棕櫚樹堅果。

Other South Pacific islands have also seen civilizations rise and fall, though none have left such dramatic reminders of their passing as the giant statues of the Rapa Nui. Now re-erected, they've come to symbolize how precarious life can be on an isolated island. For this island has not been abandoned, a few Rapa Nui survived and now they're thriving once more, entertaining visitors from the outside world. Trees have been planted, though it's too late for the unique creatures that once lived here.
其他南太平洋島嶼同樣經歷了文明的興盛與衰落，但它們並沒有留下拉帕努伊的巨型石像，這些石像成了復活節島文明消失的引人注目的見證。如今石像被重新豎立，它們象徵着孤島上的生命是多麼難以捉摸。但這座孤島沒有被遺棄，很少一部分拉帕努伊人倖存了下來，如今再次興旺了起來，他們接待來自世界各地的遊客，也重新栽種了樹木——儘管對那些曾生長在這裏的珍稀動物來說已太晚了。