外刊阅读｜火山将成为人类的救星？

Long feared, volcanoes help the planet

长久以来让人恐惧的火山对地球有益

A new book argues that volcanoes aid with carbon capture and environmental resets

一本新书认为火山有助于碳捕获和环境恢复

Mount Erebus — named after one of the primordial beings in Greek mythology, son of Chaos, personification of darkness — is the southernmost active volcano in the world. More people have been to space than have travelled to Antarctica and set foot on Mount Erebus (pictured). 

埃里伯斯火山是世界上位置最靠南的活火山，它的名字来源于希腊神话中的一位创世神，也就是混沌之神卡俄斯的儿子黑暗之神。去过太空的人比去过南极洲并踏足埃里伯斯火山的人还多。

That is for good reason. When humans first climbed it in the early 1900s, the journey involved violent winds, occasional frostbite and bowls of “hoosh” (a potent, greasy combination of boiled, dehydrated beef and fat, which would not go bad).

这不足为奇。20 世纪初，人类首次攀登了埃里伯斯火山，旅途中狂风大作，时不时会生冻疮，靠一碗碗"杂锅菜"(一种由不易变质的干制牛肉和脂肪煮沸制成的油乎乎的饱腹浓汤)果腹。

Clive Oppenheimer, a professor of volcanology at Cambridge University, has spent 13 seasons — cumulatively an entire year of his life — living near the summit of Mount Erebus. 

剑桥大学火山学教授克莱夫·奥本海默13次在埃里伯斯火山顶峰附近居住考察，累计起来有一整年的时间。

In "Mountains of Fire" he regales readers with gripping stories of his travels, as well as those of adventurers past. He does not just describe what the volcanoes look like, but how they feel and what they mean to the people who encounter them.

在《火之山》一书中，他向读者讲述了自己以及历代探险家扣人心弦的旅行故事。他不只描述了火山的样貌，还讲述了火山带给人的感受以及对遇见火山的人意味着什么。

A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planet. Through that opening, molten rock and hot gases escape. This can be a sudden and thunderous puff of ash and steam, or it can be a protracted ooze of lava, razing everything in its path. Perhaps because of volcanoes' danger, their longevity and importance are often overlooked. 

一座火山就是地壳上的一个裂口。熔岩和高温气体从这个裂口中喷涌而出。有时候是突然而剧烈地喷射火山灰和蒸汽，有时候是不断地涌出熔岩，夷平所经之处的一切。也许是因为火山的危险性，它们的长期存在和重要性往往被忽视。

But they live hundreds of thousands of years, and the gases they release come from the inside of the Earth. They are probably the very gases that created Earth's atmosphere billions of years ago. Volcanoes "made the world fit for human purpose", Dr Oppenheimer writes.

但这些火山已经存在了千百万年，它们释放的气体来自地球内部。可能正是这些气体在几十亿年前形成了地球的大气。奥本海默写道，火山"把地球改造得适合人类生存"。

In total he has visited more than a hundred different volcanoes. Few people have come into contact with as many fiery mountains as Dr Oppenheimer has. Yet millions live close to them: around 800m people have their home within 100km of an active volcano. For some of the more than 1m Javanese who have settled in the shadow of Merapi, a volcano in Indonesia, it is a kingdom of ghosts, where the physical and spirit world merge. 

他总计考察了超过100座不同的火山。很少有人像奥本海默一样与这么多火山有过接触。然而，有数以亿计的人却生活在火山附近：大约有8亿人在距离活火山100公里以内的地方生活。有超过100万爪哇人生活在默拉皮火山附近，对其中一些人来说，这座印度尼西亚的火山是一个幽灵之国，物质世界和灵魂世界在这里融为一体。

A gatekeeper is charged with maintaining the volcano's "equilibrium" through daily observances and annual ceremonies. In 2010, even after ominous earthquakes and belching gas, the gatekeeper at the time refused to leave his post. He was found afterwards, his body scorched in the position of prayer.

一位看守人负责日常观察和年度仪式来维持这座火山的"均衡"。2010年，即使发生了地震和气体喷发，预示着火山可能爆发，那位看守人仍拒绝离开岗位。后来，人们发现了他烧焦的遗体，他仍保持着祈祷的姿势。

Both awful and awesome, volcanoes have much more to offer than dramatic geological events, which Dr Oppenheimer documented in his previous book, "Eruptions that Shook the World". "Mountains of Fire" is a love letter to volcanoes and an investigation into all the ways that they have and continue to sustain humanity — spiritually and scientifically.

火山既可怕又可叹，它们带来的远不止是剧烈的地质运动，奥本海默在他上一本著作《那些震撼世界的火山爆发》中记录了这些运动。《火之山》是一封写给火山的情书，也是一份调查报告，研究火山已经并将继续支撑人类存续的方方面面——既有精神上的，也有科学上的。

Volcanic regions are hotbeds of biodiversity. The lava islands of the Galapagos are textbook examples of evolution in action. Volcanic eruptions can act as a reset button; as lava hardens and begins to erode over the course of years or centuries, the released nutrients and minerals create rich soil. 

火山地区是生物多样性的温床。加拉帕戈斯群岛中的那些熔岩岛就是活生生的进化教科书。火山爆发可以起到重置的作用：当熔岩凝固、开始长年累月的侵蚀，释放出的养分和矿物质就形成了肥沃的土壤。

Some of the world's most productive regions for farming, such as in Indonesia and Central America, owe their abundance to eruptions past. Volcanoes can also help build up underground aquifers. For example, without the Tibesti and its five volcanoes in the north of Chad and in southern Libya, the eastern Sahara would be even more arid.

世界上一些最高富饶的农业地区(如印度尼西亚和中美洲)就是得益于过去的火山爆发。火山还有助于形成地下蓄水层。例如，如果没有乍得以北、利比亚以南的提贝斯提高原和之上的五座火山，撒哈拉沙漠东部还会更加干燥。

Science still has a lot to learn from the tiny organisms that live in and near volcanoes, in the harshest environments, such as the hot-acid crater lake of Ijen on Java. Some might one day find a use for these micro-organisms in medicine or air purification. 

生活在火山之中及其附近的微生物体仍有许多未解之谜，有待科学探究。它们在最恶劣的环境中生存，例如爪哇岛伊真火山的热酸性火山湖。也许有一天，人们会发现这些微生物在医药或空气净化方面的用途。

Volcanoes also produce geothermal energy, which accounts for significant shares of electricity supply in a growing number of countries, including El Salvador, Kenya and New Zealand. 

火山还会产生地热，地热发电占相当比例的国家正越来越多，包括萨尔瓦多、肯尼亚和新西兰。

The most common type of volcanic rock, basalt, is capable of permanently trapping carbon dioxide, making volcanoes an important player in the game of carbon capture and storage. Long viewed as a fearsome enemy of civilisation, volcanoes may yet become a saviour.

最常见的火山岩玄武岩能永久地封存二氧化碳，因此火山在碳捕获和储存中扮演重要角色。长久以来火山一直被视为文明的可怕敌人，但现在火山可能又会变为人类的救星。

1. primordial [praɪˈmɔːrdɪəl]

adj. 最早的；原始的；基本的

e.g.

It is the primordial force that propels us forward.

它是推动我们前进的原始动力。

2. frostbite [ˈfrɔs(t)ˌbaɪt]

n. 冻伤；冻疮

e.g.

The survivors suffered from frostbite.

生还者身上有冻伤。

3. greasy [ˈɡriːsɪ]

adj. 油污的；油腻的；滑的

e.g.

It took us hours to clean the greasy kitchen.

我们花了几个小时清洗到处是油污的厨房。

4. thunderous [ˈθʌndərəs]

adj. 强有力的；打雷般的；恐吓的

e.g.

They greeted her with thunderous applause.

他们以雷鸣般的掌声欢迎她。

5. protract [prəˈtrækt]

v. 延长；拖延

e.g.

The war was protracted for four years.

战争拖延了四年。

6. ominous [ˈɒmɪnəs]

adj. 恶兆的；不吉利的

e.g.

This ominous warning soon proved prophetic.

这个不祥的警告很快证明是有预见性的。