评论
打印
The story of how the Amazon got its name begins on June 24, 1542.
亚马逊这个名字的由来，要从1542年6月24日开始讲起。
Francisco de Orellana was praying for an escape from the green world that had swallowed his beleaguered expedition.
那天，法兰西斯科·德·奥雷亚纳正在祈求他的远征队能从这片绿色世界脱困。
The Spaniard's two boats, containing fewer than 50 starving men, were nearing what the crew hoped would be their salvation.
这个西班牙人的两艘船和船上为数不到50、饿得发慌的探险队员，正逐渐靠近他们一心向往的出路。
After seven months of navigating a series of tributaries beginning at the foot of the Andes, they'd finally reached the largest river any of them had ever seen, and Orellana hoped it would soon lead them to the Atlantic Ocean.
过去七个月来，他们航行过一条又一条发源于安地斯山脚下的支流，如今总算抵达他们平生见过最大的河川，奥雷亚纳祈盼这条河很快就会带着他们驶入大西洋。
He was accompanied by Gaspar de Carvajal, a Dominican friar, who kept a detailed chronicle of their journey.
随行的加斯帕·德·卡尔瓦哈是道明会修士，留下了旅程的详细记述。
The priest recorded the Europeans' astonishment at the advanced cultures they encountered -- densely populated villages along the riverside, including one that stretched on for many miles.
卡尔瓦哈写下这些欧洲人遇到进步的文化时的惊讶--沿河有人口稠密的村落，其中一个村子还绵延了好几公里。
He described networks of wide roads, beautiful plazas and fortified palisades, carefully cultivated farms, and painted pottery as fine as any in Spain.
他描述了宽阔道路的路网、美丽的广场和厚重木材制成的栅栏、精心耕种的农田，还有跟西班牙陶器一样精美的彩绘陶器。
Along the way, some communities welcomed them with generosity -- feeding them manioc, yams, corn, and turtles.
这一路上，有些部落慷慨地接待他们，以树薯、山药、玉米和乌龟肉招待他们。
But on this June day, still some 600 miles from the end of the enormous river, they were attacked by an army of warriors led by ferocious women "who fought so courageously that the Indian men did not dare to turn their backs."
但在6月的那一天，在离这条大河的终点还有将近100公里远处，他们竟遭到一群由凶猛女子率领的战士攻击，“她们骁勇善战，连那些印第安男人都不敢不提防。”
Carvajal, who came out of the battle with an arrow in his side, compared the women to the Amazons of Greek legend.
卡尔瓦哈身侧中了一箭，但大难不死，后来他把这些女子比作希腊神话里的亚马逊女战士。
His accounts of the voyage, the first by a European to traverse South America, would later be dismissed as fantasy by Spanish authorities.
他的旅行见闻，是横越南美洲的欧洲人对这片新大陆的最早记载，西班牙当局后来斥之为空幻之作。
And yet, the term "Amazon," however inapt, would come to identify this vast and complex region.
然而，不管“亚马逊”这个名称多么不符史实，都开始被用以指称这片广袤又复杂的地区。
Since then, the Amazon has been defined by many myths, which only in recent years archaeologists, like me, and other scientists have begun to unravel.
从那时起，亚马逊流域就一直受许多毫无根据的说法所界定，近几年才有考古学家（比如我）和其他科学家开始澄清事实。
Click on a satellite image of the Amazon, and it's easy to fall prey to the myth that it's a pristine jungle.
点开亚马逊流域的卫星影像之后，很容易误以为自己看到的是原始丛林。
It appears like a green mantle, composed of 344 billion trees covering much of the northern half of South America.
这里看上去像一片绿色大地，3440亿棵树覆盖住南美洲北半部的大部分地区。
Zoom in, and you find a labyrinth of river valleys; more than 6,200 rivers and tributaries drain an area roughly the size of the contiguous United States.
放大之后，你会看到迷宫般的河谷，有超过6200条河流与支流，流经一片大小和美国本土差不多的区域。
It's the planet's largest, most biodiverse tropical rainforest. Roughly 10 percent of all Earth's plant and animal species live there.
这里是地球上最大、生物最多样的热带雨林，全世界大约10%的动物与植物物种在这里生存。
The Amazon shelters 40,000 species of seed plants, 2,400 species of fish, 1,300 species of birds, and 1,500 species of butterflies.
亚马逊流域庇护了4万种种子植物、2400种鱼类、1300种鸟类及1500种蝴蝶。
Such a place, it would seem, must have been left largely untouched by humans.
生态这么丰富的地方，想必大部分未受人类破坏。
But this is one of the enduring misconceptions that over the past four decades scientists have been methodically debunking.
但这是存在已久的误解，过去40年来科学家一直在有系统地驳斥像这样的错误看法。
Thanks to rock art, stone tools, and other remains found in remote areas in Colombia and Brazil, we know the human presence in the Amazon Basin extends back at least 13,000 years.
多亏了在哥伦比亚和巴西偏远地区发现的岩画、石器和其他遗迹，我们才知道人类出现在亚马逊流域的时间可以追溯到至少1万3000年前。
Ancient Amazonians were depicting Pleistocene creatures, including mastodons and giant sloths, around the same time ancient Europeans were painting mammoths and woolly rhinos.
古代亚马逊人描绘了更新世的生物，包括乳齿象和大地懒，而大约在同时，古代欧洲人画的是猛犸象和毛犀。
Over time, those Amazonian populations grew, and by 1492, scientists estimate, the region was home to as many as 10 million people.
生活在亚马逊流域的居民数量随着时间日益增长，科学家估计，这片区域在1492年就已经有多达1000万人了。
