變綠的泰姬陵 環境污染危及印度文化遺產

NEW DELHI — Over the centuries, the Taj Mahal has endured its share of attacks — plundered by the Jats of northern India and looted by British soldiers, among other indignities. In recent years, officials have worried that growing air pollution could permanently darken the tomb’s brilliant white exterior.

新德里——數百年來，泰姬陵可謂歷盡坎坷——它被印度北部的賈特人掠奪過，被英國士兵洗劫過，還飽受其他種種侮辱。最近幾年，官員們又擔心，它那光彩照人的白色外觀會因爲日漸嚴重的空氣污染而永久性變暗。

But few people anticipated the latest affront — millions of mosquito-like insects, their numbers supercharged by nutritious algae blooming profusely along the banks of the polluted Yamuna River nearby. Like generations of romance-driven human couples before them, the bugs have swarmed the Taj Mahal on a mating flight, excreting a green substance on parts of its marble walls.

而它剛剛遭受的襲擊出乎所有人的預料——前來撒野的竟是數百萬只長相類似蚊子的昆蟲。泰姬陵附近的亞穆納河污染嚴重，獲得豐富營養的藻類沿着河岸瘋漲，進而讓此種昆蟲的數量出現激增。和此前一代又一代心懷浪漫的人類伴侶一樣，這些昆蟲涌入泰姬陵進行婚飛，把一種綠色的物質排泄在大理石牆壁上。

The Yamuna has suffered mightily in recent years from the dumping of solid waste in its waters, says an environmental activist in Agra, India, the site of the Taj Mahal.

泰姬陵位於印度阿格拉市，當地的一名環保活動人士說，近幾年來，亞穆納河飽受傾倒在河水中的固體垃圾之害。

“I have been constantly watching how the river pollution has gone from bad to worse,” said D.K. Joshi, who filed a petition over the insects in the National Green Tribunal, an environmental court last week. “The encroachments on and around the riverbed, the sewage going directly into the river” are choking it, he said.

“我一直不斷地觀察，目睹了污染越來越嚴重的過程，”D·K·喬希(D.K. Joshi)說。上週，喬希向一個環保法庭——國家綠色法庭(National Green Tribunal)——遞交了與前述昆蟲有關的請願書。他說，“河牀及其周邊地區正在遭到侵蝕，下水道污物直接排入河中”，這條河都快窒息了。

On Monday, the National Green Tribunal issued notices to the central and local authorities, including the Ministry of Environment and Forests, telling them to respond to the petition this month.

週一，國家綠色法庭向包括環境林業部(Ministry of Environment and Forests)在內的中央和地方當局發出了通知，要求它們於本月對這份請願書做出迴應。

With India’s cities ranking among the most polluted in the world by the World Health Organization, public concern over toxic air and water is mounting. The central government has pledged billions of rupees to cleaning the Ganges River. But the effect of pollution on India’s cultural heritage, though less obvious than its health effects, is also worthy of attention, experts say.

由於印度多個城市都登上了世界衛生組織(World Health Organization)發佈的全球污染最嚴重城市排行榜，公衆對有毒的空氣和水源的擔憂與日俱增。專家稱，污染給印度文化遺產帶來的影響雖然不像對健康的影響那樣明顯，但也值得關注。

Sohail Hashmi, a Delhi-based writer and expert on heritage monuments, told Press Trust of India in an interview that the recently revived white limestone doors of the historic Red Fort, a former residence the Mughal emperor that was completed in 1648, “have become yellow in about six years.” Like the Red Fort, the Taj Mahal was built on the orders of Shah Jahan, a Mughal emperor, as a mausoleum for his beloved wife, and it was also finished in 1648.

德里的作家兼文物古蹟專家蘇海爾·哈什米(Sohail Hashmi)在接受印度報業托拉斯通訊社(Press Trust of India)採訪時說，紅堡(Red Fort)的石灰岩門前些年剛剛得到修復，才過了6年左右時間就變黃了。紅堡是一座歷史悠久的建築，建成於1648年，曾爲莫臥兒(Mughal)帝王的居所。和紅堡一樣，泰姬陵由莫臥兒帝國的皇帝沙賈汗(Shah Jahan)下令修建，用以埋葬他深愛的妻子；泰姬陵同樣建成於1648年。

The green secretions on the back wall of the Taj Mahal, a residue of the chlorophyll the insects consume, are not themselves harmful to the monument beyond the discoloration, said Girish Maheshwari, the head of the department of entomology at St. John’s College in Agra, who analyzed the problem for the Archaeological Survey of India.

阿格拉市聖約翰學院(St. John’s College)昆蟲學專業負責人吉里什·馬赫什瓦里(Girish Maheshwari)說，泰姬陵後牆上的綠色分泌物，是那些昆蟲消化的葉綠素的殘餘物質，除了會讓牆壁變色，對泰姬陵並沒有其他害處。

But the explosive numbers of the insects — called Goeldichironomus — were an alarming indication of how polluted the river has become, he said, since their eggs thrive on phosphorus and sediment in the water. And he worried over the “highly synchronized” swarm of insects that descend on the monument in the evening.

但他表示，那種名叫格萊德搖蚊的昆蟲數量激增，表明了一個令人不安的問題：河水的污染已經到了極爲嚴重的程度。因爲格萊德搖蚊的卵只有在富含磷和沉澱物的水體中才會茁壯成長。他還對傍晚時分“高度同步地”出現在泰姬陵上方的大羣昆蟲感到擔心。

“They can create problems for the visitors,” he said.

“它們可能會給參觀者帶來困擾，”他說。

The walls have been cleaned with clay packs, said Manoj Bhatnagar, an official in the Agra office of the archaeological survey. The excretions could also be removed with water, but the day-to-day cleaning is “very challenging.”

印度考古調查機構阿格拉辦公室的一名官員稱，泰姬陵的牆壁已經被人用粘土“面膜”清理過了。用水也可以清洗掉那些分泌物，但日復一日的清洗“非常具有挑戰性”。

The insects do not seem to have deterred tourists, as yet. Samir Uberoi, who runs a tour company based in Mumbai, visited the Taj Mahal with groups twice in the last two weeks and did not notice a change. When asked what would happen if there was a significant recurring greening on the most loved monument in the country, he said, “I’m only hoping to God they find a solution before that.”

截至目前，遊客們似乎並未因爲昆蟲而卻步。過去兩週裏，在孟買開了一家旅遊公司的薩米爾·烏貝羅伊(Samir Uberoi)曾兩次帶團參觀泰姬陵，沒覺得情況有什麼變化。當被問及印度最令人嚮往的這處古蹟如果非常明顯地反覆變綠，會發生什麼事情時，他說，“我只能祈求神靈，讓他們在那之前找出解決之道。”

Puneet Dan, a tour guide in Agra, said he noticed the discoloration on the boundary wall of the Taj Mahal and on the back of the monument. So did his tourists, who he said flew into “semipanic mode.”

阿格拉市一位名叫普尼特·丹(Puneet Dan)的導遊說，他曾注意到泰姬陵的圍牆以及陵墓後牆有變色的地方。他帶去的遊客也注意到了，他說他們迅速進入了“半恐慌模式”。

He said all he could do was assure them that officials were not about to let one of the greatest monuments in the world turn green.

他說自己當時只能向遊客保證：官員們不會讓世界上最偉大的歷史遺蹟之一變綠的。