Leaving Captain Cook's 'paradise'

Leaving Captain Cook's 'paradise'
By Nick Squires
BBC, Cook Islands

With their blue lagoons, white sand beaches and palm trees, the Cook Islands present, at first glance, a vision of paradise. But the islands are also experiencing a slow exodus as people seek a better standard of living.

蔚藍的潟湖、白色的沙灘和迎風搖曳的棕櫚樹，乍看之下庫克群島呈現出天堂般的美景。但是隨著人們紛紛追求更好的生活，群島也正經歷著一波緩慢的人口外移。

It is all but impossible to get lost on Rarotonga, the picturesque main island of the Cook Islands.
There are two roads and two buses. The front of each bus bears a sign which indicates its destination, or rather its direction.

要在庫克群島風景如畫的主島Rarotonga迷路幾乎是不可能的。因為島上只有兩條道路及兩輛公車。每輛公車前掛有一個標誌註明她的終點，或者應該說是她的方向。

One is marked Clockwise, the other Anti-clockwise, and they leave from the Cook Islands' sleepy capital, Avarua.

一個是順時針方向、另一個則是逆時針方向，兩班車都是從庫克群島那叫人昏昏欲睡的首都Avarua出發。

Forty minutes is all it takes to go right round the island, which is only 20 miles (32km) in circumference.

周長不過只有20哩，因此環島一圈只需40分鐘。

Before you know it, you are back where you started.

等你繞回出發地點還渾然不覺。

The bus travels along a winding coastal road, passing smart beach resorts, quiet villages and beautiful 19th-Century churches built out of crushed coral and lime, dazzling white in the sunshine.

公車順著曲折彎延的岸邊小路行駛，一路上經過幾個漂亮的海灘勝地和幾座建於19世紀美麗的教堂，教堂是以碎珊瑚與石灰所打造，在陽光下潔白耀眼。

But between the fields of ripening paw paw and the luxuriant hedges of bougainvillea and hibiscus you also see many empty houses, shuttered and forlorn, slowly mouldering in the tropical heat.

但是在成熟的paw paw樹、濃密的九重葛樹籬與木槿重重交錯間，依然可窺見許多空蕩蕩的房子，窗板關著、孤寂荒涼，然後在熱帶暑氣中逐漸崩塌。

Doors and windows are boarded up, the gardens have run riot and there is often an old car rusting away in the drive.

門窗用木條給釘上，花園雜草蔓生，停在私家車道上的舊車往往也是任其銹爛。

They are the homes of Cook Islanders who have left the country in search of higher-paying jobs and better education for their children.

這些原為庫克群島居民的家，他們為了尋找待遇更好的工作以及他們的下一代能有更好的教育而離開著個國家。

Most of them go to New Zealand. A special arrangement means that islanders are automatically entitled to Kiwi citizenship.

大部份的人到紐西蘭去。因為一項特殊的協議，讓島上的居民自動賦予紐西蘭公民的身份。

Others make their way to Australia or the United States.

其他的則是到澳洲或者美國去了。

Dramatic scenery

Depopulation is a huge issue here. About 14,000 people live in the Cooks but another 80,000 live overseas, with big expatriate communities in Auckland, Wellington and Sydney.

在這裡，人口減少是個大問題。目前住在庫克群島上的約有一萬四千人，但是其他旅居海外的就有八萬人，奧克蘭、威靈頓及雪梨等地就有幾個較大的旅外社區。

At first glance you wonder why anyone in their right mind would possibly want to leave a place like this.

乍看下，你會懷疑任何腦筋正常的人是不會想要離開這種地方。

The Cook Islands are the epitome of the South Seas tropical hideaway.

庫克群島是南太平洋充滿熱帶風情與世隔絕的典範。

The beaches are long and all but empty, the sand is bone white, the lagoons a hundred different shades of blue and the coral reefs home to jewel-like tropical fish and giant clams.

連綿的海灘幾乎沒有什麼人跡，骨白色的沙，座座潟湖透著許多深淺不一的藍，還有珊瑚礁裡住著寶石般瑰麗的熱帶魚和巨蚌。

As a local tourism slogan goes: "Visit Heaven - while you're still on Earth."

就像當地旅遊業的標語所傳達的: "造訪天堂 – 趁你還活著的時候。"

Fifteen islands make up this tiny country, scattered over an area of ocean the size of Western Europe.

這個由十五座小島所組成的國家，散佈在海洋的總面積約有西歐這麼大。

Rarotonga is particularly dramatic, a volcanic remnant with a mountainous interior made up of dark green peaks, razorback ridges and sheer cliffs.

Rarotonga格外引人注意，深綠色的頂峰，削尖的山脊和陡峭的崖壁是火山內部噴發的遺跡。

The Cook Islands' beauty and its laid-back pace of life have ensured that tourism is the main employer and the biggest earner.

庫克群島渾然天成的美景與悠閒的生活步調，確保了觀光業是最重要的業主同時也是最大的贏家。

Honeymooners flock here, as do people wanting to get married on the beach.

就因為人們想在海灘結婚，這裡聚集了許多前來度蜜月的人。

The place is choc-a-bloc with canoodling lovebirds, so much so that I often felt I was the only lone traveller in the whole country.

這地方總是有許多摟抱在一起的情侶，多到讓我常覺得自己在這個國度裡是唯一孤單的遊客。

Cannibal tourism

As if romance and resorts are not enough to entice tourists, Cook Islanders are also happy to play up their sometimes bloodthirsty past.

彷彿這裡的浪漫與這些渡假勝地不夠吸引觀光客時，庫克群島的島民們也很樂意強調他們時而嗜殺的過去。

In other parts of the Pacific the mere mention of the C-word - cannibalism - can cause grave offence. But here the locals make light of their ancestors' habit of eating their enemies.

在太平洋的其他部份僅是提起這個C開頭的Cannibalism吃人這個字，可能會招至極大的反感。但在這裡，當地人對他們祖先吃掉敵人的行為完全不以為意。

I came across T-shirts being sold in the local market with a cartoon of an islander dangling a boggle-eyed white man over a steaming pot. "Send more tourists," the caption read. "The last lot were delicious."

我在當地的市場看過幾件上面印有卡通圖案正準備要出售的T-shirts，繪製著一個島民將一個眼神驚恐的白種人吊在滿是蒸氣的大鍋上。"送更多的遊客來，"標題寫著。"上一批很可口"。

A boat skipper I met recounted with relish how his ancestors would prepare a large underground oven - or umu - in which to cook their victims.

我遇到一位船長加油添醋的講述他的祖先們總會準備一個覆蓋在地下的灶或者稱為umu，準備拿來燉煮他們的敵人。

"In those days if you made one little mistake, we'd eat you," he said, chuckling to himself. "But then the missionaries came and people realised that they shouldn't eat each other any more."

"在那時如果你犯了點小錯，我們就會把你給吃了，"他說著便逕自咯咯地笑了起來。"但是接著傳教士來到這裡，大家才意識到不應該再有任何吃人的行為了。"

Returnees

The captain was telling me this as we cruised the lagoon of Aitutaki, an island to the north of Rarotonga.

船長跟我說這些時，我們正航行在Aitutaki的潟湖上，這座(環狀珊瑚)島就位在Rarotonga的北方。

The lagoon, acclaimed as the most beautiful in the world, is enclosed by a string of idyllic sandy islands.

這座潟湖被譽為是世上最美的，由一長串景色優美被沙所覆蓋著的小島所圍繞。

Some of them were used earlier this year for the latest series of Survivor, the American reality TV show.

就在今年(2006)年初時，其中幾座小島還被拿來做為最新一季Survivor(我要活下去) - 這個美國實境節目秀的拍攝地點。

They have also been the setting for a British show, Shipwrecked. Together these productions have brought millions of pounds and hundreds of jobs.

這裡同時也是英國影集Shipwrecked的拍攝場景。相繼幾部影集已為當地帶來幾百萬英磅以及幾百個工作機會。

Many islanders told me of friends and relatives who have decided to come home after years abroad.

許多島民告訴我，他們的親友在旅居海外數年後已經決定要回家了。

They also seem to have coincided with a renewed sense of optimism.

他們似乎也同樣再度回復到原來樂觀的樣子了。

Typical of the trend was a guide called Nga who took me on a tour of Aitutaki's interior in his bright yellow Landrover.

開著鮮黃色的Landrover載我遊覽Aitutaki內陸的嚮導叫做Nga，他足以做為這股趨勢的代表。

He spent 10 years working in a paper mill in Melbourne. "I got sick of the rat race," he said. "So I decided to come home."

他在墨爾本的造紙廠工作了十年。"我厭倦那種沒完沒了的競爭，"他說。"所以我決定回家。"

He now has a thriving business. "A lot of people are coming back," he said as we jolted along a rough dirt track built by the Americans in World War II.

他現在有一間生意蒸蒸日上的公司。"很多人都要回來了，"當我們顛簸在二次大戰時由美軍所鋪設簡陋的煤渣跑道上時他這樣說。

It would, however, require a truly epic economic renaissance to tempt back even half the Cook Islands' far-flung diaspora.

然而，這可得是個非常巨大的經濟復甦，才能吸引半數庫克島那些遠渡重洋離鄉背井的人回家。

That is unlikely to happen any time soon. The islands will retain their easy-going charm and sense of isolation.

那在近期內是不太可能發生。這個群島將保留他們原有悠然的魅力以及遺世獨立感覺。

A taxi driver I met, a formidable matriarch with five grandchildren, put it this way: "God gave us a little piece of paradise in this secret corner of the world."

我遇到一位計程車司機，她是位望而生畏、有五個孫子的女族長，她這樣表達她的看法: "神所賜予我們的是在這世界偏遠角落裡的一小塊樂土"。

Anywhere else, that would sound like tourist brochure hype. Down here in the Cook Islands, they really mean it.

在任何其他的地方，這些聽起來像是旅遊手冊裡天花亂墜的吹噓。在庫克群島，那都是真的。

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6112916.stm

Published: 2006/11/04 13:24:57 GMT
© BBC MMVIII

The wave that destroyed Atlantis

The wave that destroyed Atlantis
By Harvey Lilley
BBC Timewatch

The legend of Atlantis, the country that disappeared under the sea, may be more than just a myth. Research on the Greek island of Crete suggests Europe's earliest civilisation was destroyed by a giant tsunami.

亞特蘭提斯，這個從海平面上消失的國度，她的傳奇也許不再只是個神話。針對在希臘克里特島上所做的研究報告指出，這個歐洲最早的文明有可能是毀於一場巨大的海嘯。

Until about 3,500 years ago, a spectacular ancient civilisation was flourishing in the Eastern Mediterranean.

這個繁榮於地中海東部、令人嘆為觀止的古文明，在約三千五百年前倏然而止。

The ancient Minoans were building palaces, paved streets and sewers, while most Europeans were still living in primitive huts.

古邁諾安人建了宮殿、鋪設街道與下水道的時候，大部份的歐洲人尚居住在簡陋的小屋裡。

But around 1500BC the people who spawned the myths of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth abruptly disappeared. Now the mystery of their cataclysmic end may finally have been solved.

但是在西元前一千五百年左右，這些創造出Minotaur這個半人半牛神話與迷宮的人們，卻突然之間渺無蹤影。現在這個驟然間畫下休止符的謎團也許終將得已解開。

A group of scientists have uncovered new evidence that the island of Crete was hit by a massive tsunami at the same time that Minoan culture disappeared.

一個科學家小組已經發現了新的跡象，顯示克里特島曾遭逢一場大規模的海嘯，發生的時間正巧就是在邁諾安文化消失的時候。

"The geo-archaeological deposits contain a number of distinct tsunami signatures," says Dutch-born geologist Professor Hendrik Bruins of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel.

"地質考古的沉積物當中含有數個明確的海嘯特徵，" 來自以色列Negev Ben-Gurion大學的荷籍地質學教授Hendrik Bruins這麼說。

"Minoan building material, pottery and cups along with food residue such as isolated animal bones were mixed up with rounded beach pebbles and sea shells and microscopic marine fauna.

"邁諾安文明使用的建材、陶器和杯子，與食物的殘渣，諸如圈養的動物骨頭，一起全部混在海灘上小圓石、貝殼與微小的海洋生物之間。

"The latter can only have been scooped up from the sea-bed by one mechanism - a powerful tsunami, dumping all these materials together in a destructive swoop," says Professor Bruins.

"只有藉威力強大的海嘯這樣的機制，才有可能將後者從海床上舀起，毀滅性的一瞬間將所有物質同時傾洩，" Bruins教授說。

The deposits are up to seven metres above sea level, well above the normal reach of storm waves.

沉積物足足高出海平面七公尺左右，遠超過一般暴風激起的大浪所能達到的高度。

"An event of ferocious force hit the coast of Crete and this wasn't just a Mediterranean storm," says Professor Bruins.

"一個地中海的暴風是不可能以這種雷霆萬鈞之勢侵襲克里特島沿岸的，" Bruins教授說。

Big wave

The Minoans were sailors and traders. Most of their towns were along the coast, making them especially vulnerable to the effects of a tsunami.

邁諾安人是水手也是商人。他們大部份的城鎮都是沿著海岸而建，使得這些城鎮格外難以抵禦海嘯的侵襲。

One of their largest settlements was at Palaikastro on the eastern edge of the island, one of the sites where Canadian archaeologist Sandy MacGillivray has been excavating for 25 years.

他們其中一座最大的聚落就建在島上東邊的Palaikastro，加拿大的考古學家Sandy MacGillivray在其中一個遺址從事挖掘工作已經有25年了。

Here, he has found other tell-tale signs such as buildings where the walls facing the sea are missing but side walls which could have survived a giant wave are left intact.

在這裡，他發現另其他幾個足以解釋所有問題的跡象，例如，好幾幢房屋朝海的那幾面牆全部不見，而可能遭到巨浪侵襲後倖存的側面牆則依舊完好。

"All of a sudden a lot of the deposits began making sense to us," says MacGillivary.

"突然之間，對我們來說，那麼多的沉積物就解釋得通了，"

"Even though the town of Palaikastro is a port it stretched hundreds of metres into the hinterland and is, in places, at least 15 metres above sea level. This was a big wave."

"雖然Palaikastro是座港口，但這個城鎮朝內陸延伸了幾百公尺，有幾個地方甚至高出海平面15公尺。這是個巨浪。"

But if this evidence is so clear why has it not been discovered before now?

但是，如果證據是這麼的明確，為什麼之前沒被發現呢?

Tsunami expert Costas Synolakis, from the University of Southern California, says that the study of ancient tsunamis is in its infancy and people have not, until now, really known what to look for.

來自南加州大學的海嘯專家Costas Synolakis表示，對於研究古代所發生的海嘯還在初期的階段，一直到現在人們才真正了解要找的是什麼。

Many scientists are still of the view that these waves only blasted material away and did not leave much behind in the way of deposits.

許多科學家仍持著這樣的觀點，認為大浪只會將一切物質摧毀殆盡而不會留下太多的沉積物。

But observation of the Asian tsunami of 2004 changed all that.

但是2004年南亞海嘯的觀察報告卻將之全然改觀。

"If you remember the video footage," says Costas, "some of it showed tonnes of debris being carried along by the wave and much of it was deposited inland."

"如果你對電視幾個鏡頭還有印象，" Costas說，"大浪一路挾帶了幾公噸的碎石瓦礫，而大部份都沉積在內陸。"

Volcanic eruption

Costas Synolakis has come to the conclusion that the wave would have been as powerful as the one that devastated the coastlines of Thailand and Sri Lanka on Boxing day 2004 leading to the loss of over 250,000 lives.

Costas Synolakis已做出了一個結論，他認為在這裡曾遭逢的巨浪威力可能與發生在2004年耶誕節次日導致超過二十五萬人喪生並且蹂躪泰國及斯里蘭卡沿岸的海嘯是一樣的。

After decades studying the Minoans, MacGillivray is struck by the scale of the destruction.

以他幾十年下來對邁諾安人的研究，MacGillivray對破壞的規模有所感觸。

"The Minoans are so confident in their navy that they're living in unprotected cities all along the coastline. Now, you go to Bande Aceh [in Indonesia] and you find that the mortality rate is 80%. If we're looking at a similar mortality rate, that's the end of the Minoans."

"邁諾安人對他們的海軍是那麼的有信心，所以他們沿著岸邊居住在不設防的城市。現在你到印尼的亞齊省去，你會發現死亡率是八成。如果是同樣的死亡率，那就是邁諾安人的末日。"

But what caused the tsunami? The scientists have obtained radiocarbon dates for the deposits that show the tsunami could have hit the coast at exactly the same time as an eruption of the Santorini volcano, 70 km north of Crete, in the middle of the second millennium BC.

但，是什麼引發了海嘯? 科學家對沉積物做碳-14定年法所測得的時間，也就是海嘯侵襲的那個時間，與克里特島北方70公里處的聖托里尼火山爆發時間相當穩合，約是在西元前第二個千禧年中間。

Recent scientific work has established that the Santorini eruption was up to 10 times more powerful than the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883. It caused massive climatic disruption and the blast was heard over 3000 miles away.

最新的科學已證實聖托里尼火山爆發的威力相較1883年Krakatoa(克雷克吐爾)火山爆發足足有10倍大。Krakatoa造成了氣候的混亂，產生的爆炸聲遠在三千哩外都聽得見。

Costas Synolakis thinks that the collapse of Santorini's giant volcanic cone into the sea during the eruption was the mechanism that generated a wave large enough to destroy the Minoan coastal towns.

Costas Synolakis認為聖托里尼火山在爆發時，巨大的火山錐崩塌到海裡所產生的浪，大到足以毀掉邁諾安沿海的城鎮。

It is not clear if the tsunami could have reached inland to the Minoan capital at Knossos, but the fallout from the volcano would have carried other consequences - massive ash falls and crop failure. With their ports, trading fleet and navy destroyed, the Minoans would never have fully recovered.

海嘯是否侵襲至內陸的邁諾安首都克諾索斯，目前尚不清楚，但是火山爆發的餘波必定招至其它的後果 – 大規模的落塵以及農作物的欠收。由於他們的港口、貿易艦隊及海軍都被摧毀，邁諾安人要完全恢復到原狀是不可能的。

The myth of Atlantis, the city state that was lost beneath the sea, was first mentioned by Plato over 2000 years ago.

亞特蘭提斯的神話，這個消失於海面下的城邦，最初是兩千年前由柏拉圖所提及。

It has had a hold on the popular imagination for centuries.

幾百年來一直支配著眾人的想像。

Perhaps we now have an explanation of its origin - a folk memory of a real ancient civilisation swallowed by the sea.

一段民間記憶記載了一個真實存在但最後卻被大海吞沒的古老文明 – 也許我們現在可以解釋它的由來了。

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/6568053.stm
Published: 2007/04/20 08:05:45 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

※在經歷這樣大規模的毀滅後，考古學家發現存活下來的邁諾安人之間可能爆發了宗教危機，神殿和神像被刻意砸毀、焚燒。導致那些曾經支撐了這個璀璨文明好一段時間的價值與信仰逐漸崩解。
在另一篇報導裡曾引用詩人艾略特在The Hollow Man幾句著名的詩句:
This is the way the world ends 就這樣世界終結
This is the way the world ends 就這樣世界終結
This is the way the world ends 就這樣世界終結
Not with a bang but a whimper 不發轟然巨響而只嗚咽

對邁諾安人來說，似乎他們的世界是在轟然巨響與嗚咽聲中同時瓦解。

The Med's 'forgotten' island

The Med's 'forgotten' island
By John Pickford
BBC, Gavdos

It is hard to imagine a more spectacular edge of a continent.

真難以想像陸地的邊陲一帶還有這麼壯闊的景色。

On the crest of a 1,000ft (304m) ridge, stupendous cliffs dip to the Libyan Sea. Africa lies 180 miles (289km) to the south, closer than Athens. To the north loom the Cretan mountains.

在千呎山脊的頂峰，巨大的峭壁朝著利比亞海險降。非洲就在南邊180英哩處，比起跟雅典的距離更近。北邊隱隱約約勾勒出的是克里特島的群山。

Sperm whales are sometimes sighted off Gavdos, in what is one of the deepest parts of the Mediterranean, and from its southern cliffs you see an endless traffic of container ships and tankers, plying the sea lanes between Suez and Europe.

抹香鯨有時會出現在Gavdos外海，那是地中海最深的部份，從南邊的懸崖望去，川流不息的船隻、油輪往返於蘇伊士運河與歐洲間的航道上。

But Gavdos feels by-passed by this global trade. Homer described it as "a world apart" and 27 centuries on that still seems right.

但Gavdos感到自己被全球貿易所忽視了。荷馬形容Gavdos是個隔離的世界，在兩千七百年後看來依然是對的。

It was the scene, he tells us, of the shipwreck of Odysseus on his way home from Troy.
He was rescued by the alluring goddess of the island, Calypso. She warmed him beside a fire of cedar wood and held him in pampered imprisonment for seven years.

他在奧德賽由特洛伊返鄉途中發生船難的那一幕中告訴我們。奧德賽被島上迷人的女神Calypso救起。女神將他放在燒著香柏木的火堆旁取暖，並且軟禁了他整整七年的時間。

Population decline

And Gavdos, as the myth suggests, does have charm.

Gavdos，如同神話裡所示，的確是那樣的千嬌百媚。

It is a small island about 10 square miles and looks surprisingly green given the harshness of the climate. Summer temperatures of 40C (104F) are a regular occurrence.

她是一座約十哩見方的小島，即使在這樣嚴苛的氣候之下，她看來格外地蓊鬱蒼翠。夏季攝氏40度的高溫是經常的事。

The greenness comes from a carpeting of pine trees and scrub, but beneath it lies a lost world, as abandoned terraces built up by peasant families through centuries of toil revert to wilderness.

覆蓋在上頭的松樹林與灌木叢使得她無比鮮綠，但底下卻靜靜的有著一個失落的世界，那原本由農家世世代代辛勤開墾建築的臺地，被棄置後又再度一片荒蕪。

Gavdos for decades has been haemorrhaging people. The 500 or more on the island at the beginning of the last century has fallen to fewer than 100 today.

Gavdos幾十年來已經有大量的居民出走。上個世紀之初，島上約有五百多位居民，到今天更縮減到不滿100個人。

At the last census in 2001, the biggest village - Kastri - had just 23 residents.

2001年最後一次人口統計，最大的村子Kastri才只有23位居民。

Numbers do swell with an influx of young visitors in July and August, drawn by free camping, nude bathing and unstructured hedonism on the island's beaches. But the kind of organised tourism that has transformed - and in some cases wrecked - other Greek islands has so far passed Gavdos by.

七、八月裡因為湧入的年輕觀光客而使得人數增加，全是衝著宿營免費、裸泳，並且可以恣意在沙灘上享樂而來的。但是成功改善–當中也有蒙受其害其他希臘小島的那些有組織的旅遊業，至今仍就漠視Gravdos.

Vivid procession

What is more remarkable, perhaps, is not the people who have left but the ones who have stayed, and who have kept some kind of economy going that has traces still of the old island life.

或許，更值得去注意的並不是那些已經離去的，而是留在島上的這些人，還有那些繼續維持收入的人，仍舊保有些許島上傳統的生活。

You see this vividly when the ferry turns up. In winter, there is only one a week and it is often delayed by bad weather.

這在渡輪一出現時，就可以很鮮明的領會到。在冬季，每周只有一個航班而且還常常因為天候不佳的關係延期。

The first sign of its approach is an amazing procession of battered, wheezing vehicles assembling on the harbour front. By the time the ferry's docked in the little harbour of Karabe, half the island, it seems, has arrived.

一長排老舊、引擎聲很大的車輛聚集在港口前即是渡輪即將抵達的前兆。當渡輪駛進Karabe的小港口時，就好像已親臨了半座以上的島嶼。

There is the grey-bearded Greek Orthodox priest playfully poking a farmer in the back as he swings a fertiliser bag onto his shoulders. That is the tousle-haired island baker collecting his flour.

正當一位農夫將一袋肥料扛上肩頭時，有個灰白鬍子的希臘東正教教士好玩似地戳了戳他的背。那個頭髮蓬亂的島上麵包師傅正在點收他的麵粉。

There is the young doctor in his white van. Fresh graduates from medical school can do a six-month stint on Gavdos in place of military service.

有個年輕的醫生坐在他白色的小貨車裡。醫學院的畢業生可以在Gavdos有六個月工作期的替代役。

There is the Earth Mother of the island, Evangelina Tsigonakis, whose solitary taverna in Karabe is the one place out of season where you can be sure of finding food, drink and other people.

Evangelina Tsigonakis在島上Karabe開設的唯一一間小酒館Earth Mother是不分時令的，在這裡你一定可以找到食物、酒還有其他的同好。

And that man wheeling a lorry tyre onto the boat is surely the one who passed me the other day on his moped with a shotgun over his shoulder.

還有那個把一只卡車輪胎推上船的，一定是前幾天騎著機車、肩上倚著枝獵槍從我面前經過的男人。

They are a resilient and, on the whole, a cheerful bunch.

大致上，他們是有適應力而且快樂的一群人。

Bombshell

And, in fact, these stalwarts of the island have more reason now to be optimistic than for many a year.

事實上，相較於多年以前，島上這些頑強的人更有理由樂觀的去面對一切。

Two extraordinary developments in the wider political world have combined to put Gavdos on the map in a way that no-one could have predicted.


在更為廣大的政治世界裡，有兩個重要的發展卻先後以沒有人能料想得到的方式讓Gavdos大大的出了名。

First in 1996 during the planning of a Nato exercise south of Crete, Turkey suddenly announced that Gavdos should be kept out of the exercise because it fell into a "grey area" so far as its sovereignty was concerned.

首先是在1996年，在規劃北約組織準備在希臘南部進行軍事演習的過程中，土耳其突然宣布應將Gavdos排除在軍事演習之外，因為就主權而言，她屬於一個灰色地帶。

This bombshell rocked the whole of Greece, but so far the outcome for Gavdos has been benign.

這起突發事件震撼了整個希臘，但至目前為止的結果，對Gavdos一直都是有利的。

The Greek prime minister actually paid a visit, and over the past seven years funds from both the Greek government and the European Union have poured in.

不但希臘的首相竟真的來此地參訪，在這過去的七年之間，來自希臘政府與歐盟的資金也相繼注入。

New arrivals

Gavdos at last has a few metalled roads. It has a reliable electricity supply, an impressive new harbour, a heliport and even an open-air theatre.

Gavdos終於有了幾條碎石鋪路。也有了可靠的供電系統、能給人留下深刻印象的新港口、直升機停機坪，還有一個露天的電影院。

Then in 2002, it was discovered that a leading member of the November 17 terror network - based in Greece - who had just been arrested, had been living on Gavdos more or less openly for years.

接著在2002年，發現一名隸屬於"11月17日"這個恐怖組織最重要的成員，這名以希臘為根據地被逮補的嫌犯已在Gavdos公開地住了差不多有一年的時間。

The islanders were astonished. They had known him as an amiable beekeeper.

島上的居民都感到吃驚。他們只知道他是個和藹可親的養蜂人。

This second bombshell brought more publicity and a new kind of tourist: fashionable Athenians who come in the searing heat of August to sample an exotic curiosity, the forgotten island on their doorstep.

這第二次的突發事件不但讓Gavdos知名度大增，也帶來了不一樣的觀光客： 時尚的雅典人在酷熱的八月來到這裡體驗充滿異國風情的驚奇，那個彷彿在他們門階上，一個被遺忘的島嶼。

The most positive consequence of all this attention must surely be the re-opening of the primary school.

所有這些關注所產生最具建設性的成果無疑是當地一所小學的重新開設。

It now has nine pupils and a new school building in a breathtaking location. There it sits on top of the ridge in the centre of the island, Africa to the south, Europe to the north, sea views all round, on the edge of a continent.

這個現在已經有九名學童的新學校建在一個令人屏息的地方。她座落在島中央山脊的至高處，朝南是非洲，向北則是歐洲，被美麗的海景所環繞，就在陸地的邊上。

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7205519.stm

Published: 2008/01/24 14:41:50 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

Swimming with Jeeps off Vanuatu

Swimming with Jeeps off Vanuatu
By Nick Squires
BBC, South Pacific

Sixty years on from World War II, an act of environmental vandalism is proving to be a valuable asset for the tiny South Pacific nation of Vanuatu.

二次世界大戰爆發的六十年後，這場對生態環境是謂浩劫的破壞行動如今卻儼然成了南太平洋小國萬那杜的貴重資產。

Scattered on the seabed is what looks like the shattered remains of a phantom army.

看起來像是被毀壞了的幽靈軍團的殘骸，散落在海床上。

Peering through my diver's mask at first I could make out little more than ghostly shapes.

起初，從我的潛水面鏡望去，只能依稀辨認出一些恐怖的形狀。

But as I descended deeper into the green-tinged gloom, a bizarre sight unfolded before me.

但是當我繼續往下潛到泛著些許綠色的幽暗深處時，一個奇異的景象呈現在我眼前。

Resting on the seabed were military trucks, up-ended jeeps, and powerful-looking army bulldozers.

軍用卡車、豎著的吉普車、看起來強而有力的軍用推土機被擱在海床上。

There were twisted metal girders and rubber tyres, their treads still clearly visible.

扭曲的金屬支架還有橡膠輪胎，上面的胎紋仍舊清晰可見。

Half buried in the sand I found a vintage Coca-Cola bottle. I dug it out and slipped it into my wetsuit as a souvenir.

我找到一個半掩在沙中、舊式的可口可樂瓶。我把它挖出來塞進我的潛水服裡留做紀念。

Strange story

This is Million Dollar Point, one of the world's most unusual diving spots.

這裡叫做Million Dollar Point，是世界上最獨特的幾個潛水勝地之一。

It is a vast undersea junkyard lying just a few metres off a pristine white beach on the island of Espiritu Santo in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu. How it came to be here is one of the stranger stories of World War II.

南太平洋小國萬那杜所屬的一座島嶼Espiritu，在她純淨潔白的沙灘幾哩外不遠處，就有一個大型的海底廢物堆積場。這堆積場會出現在這裡則有一個發生在二次大戰期間較不為人知的故事。

Before independence Vanuatu was an obscure Anglo-French territory known as the New Hebrides.

萬那杜在獨立之前一直是個不明確的英法領地，也就是常聽過的新海布里地群島。

From 1942 it became the focus of a massive military build-up by the Americans.

自1942年開始，她成了美國大規模軍事集結的重要位置。

Half a million or more US troops poured into the tiny colony in preparation for the great counter-offensive against the Japanese.

五十萬名以上的美軍湧入這個小小的殖民地，準備對日本展開大反攻。

Coconut plantations were cleared, local men were recruited as porters, and the sleepy colonial outposts of Port Vila and Luganville were transformed into bustling military hubs.

椰子園紛紛被鏟除，當地人被雇來做為搬運工人，把Port Vila以及Luganville這兩個原本步調慵懶偏遠的殖民居住地轉變為活躍的軍事中心。

Once the war was won, the Americans were faced with the problem of what to do with all the military material they had accumulated.

戰爭一勝利，美國馬上就面臨了一個難題：所有堆積如山的軍事物資要如何處理。

The high cost of shipping made it too expensive to send back to the States.

高額的運費使得這些物資沒辦法送回美國。

So the Americans offered to sell much of the equipment to the French and British.

於是美國提議將大部份的裝備出售給英法兩國。

But the colonial authorities calculated that the Americans would have to leave everything behind anyway, so why pay for it?

但是殖民當局認為反正美國遲早還是會將這些東西留下來，又何必花錢買呢?

Their bluff failed in spectacular fashion.

他們打的如意算盤卻錯得離譜。

Watery junkyard

In a fit of pique, the Americans decided to dump immense quantities of supplies instead of giving them away for free.

美國一氣之下決定將堆積如山的補給品全部傾倒掉，也不願免費送給殖民當局。

Navy engineers known as Seabees built a jetty and simply drove the unwanted Jeeps, trucks, and bulldozers into the sea.

海軍工兵也就是美國海軍工程營的隊員，築了一道防波堤並將不要的吉普車、卡車和推土機通通丟到海裡去。

Sixty years on these weapons of war have become a remarkably rich artificial reef. The abandoned vehicles are encrusted with vivid red and yellow corals.

六十年的時間，這些戰爭武器已成為一座非常富饒的人工漁礁。在這些被棄置的車輛上，覆蓋長成了鮮紅色、黃色的珊瑚。

I swam idly past a bulldozer and noticed a pink and blue shrimp perched delicately on the driver's metal seat, where once a GI would have sat.

我懶懶的游過一輛推土機旁，發現一隻有著粉紅及藍顏色的蝦子優雅地棲息在金屬的駕駛座上，昔日美國大兵曾在上頭坐過。

The barrel of an enormous naval gun was inhabited by a cluster of clams.

一管海軍的大砲，如今被一群蛤蜊所佔據。

As a couple of flipper kicks took me ever deeper, a lionfish emerged from behind a rusted axle.

踢了踢蛙鞋幾下後，我潛到更深的地方，一尾獅子魚從生鏽的輪軸旁游了出來。

An enduring legacy of mankind's most deadly conflict, Million Dollar Point is now an asset to Vanuatu, attracting divers from all over the world.

人類最致命的衝突留下恆久的遺產，也是萬那杜現有的資產Million Dollar Point，吸引了世界各地的潛水愛好者。

Acclaimed wreck

Many of them take in an equally spectacular dive site a little way along the coast.

在沿岸不遠處也有很多同樣壯觀的潛水景點。

The USS President Coolidge was a luxury liner when it was converted into a troop ship at the outbreak of war.

USS President Coolidge曾是艘豪華的巨輪，在戰爭爆發的同時轉而成為一艘運輸艦。

In 1942 it was carrying 5,000 men when it accidentally hit two American mines.

1942年當她載運了五千名人員卻意外地觸碰到兩枚美國的水雷。

The quick-thinking captain managed to ground it on a reef, allowing all but two of its officers and men to wade ashore.

腦筋靈敏的船長設法將船擱淺在礁石上，因此除了兩名船員和幾個人之外，大部份的人得已涉水上岸。

An hour later, it slid beneath the waves and is now one of the most acclaimed wreck dives in the world.

一個小時之後，整艘船沒入波濤之下，現在，這可是世上數一數二讓人讚譽有加的沉船潛水地點。

Those who venture into its flooded decks and cargo holds encounter a weird mixture of civilian luxury - chandeliers, a tiled swimming pool - and raw military necessity, including gas masks and ammunition.

到淹沒在水中的甲板和貨艙去探險的人，見到大吊燈、鑲嵌華美瓷磚的游泳池等民間的奢華，還有防毒面具、彈藥等未經處理的軍需品，一種奇特的感覺必定油然而生。

It is not just Vanuatu that is benefiting from the detritus of war.

不只有萬那杜從戰爭的堆積物中得到好處。

In Papua New Guinea a guide led me into a patch of jungle which was once a Japanese military airfield.

在巴布新幾內亞，嚮導帶我前往叢林的一隅，那曾經是個日本的軍用機場。

Lying crumpled amid the luxuriant foliage was a Japanese bomber, its ribbed fuselage and skull-like nose cone resembling the skeleton of some great prehistoric beast. Bullet holes showed where it had been attacked by Allied fighter planes as it struggled to take off from the long-forgotten tropical airstrip.

一架日本轟炸機傾頹橫臥在濃密的枝葉之間，她稜紋的機身和顱骨般的頭錐宛如史前巨獸的遺骸。身上的彈孔顯示當時她試圖從這條被長久遺忘的熱帶機場升空時，被盟軍戰機攻擊的情形。

In the neighbouring Solomon Islands, one sea channel is so littered with sunken American and Japanese warships that it is known as Ironbottom Sound.

鄰近的所羅門群島，一條被稱做Ironbottom Sound的海溝佈滿了美國與日本籍沉沒的軍艦。

Hellcat fighter planes sit on the ocean floor, their machine guns silenced forever. Where once they were strafed by Japanese Zeros, now they are circled by sharks.

地獄貓戰鬥機棲息在海床上，戰機的機槍恆久地沉靜了下來。曾在此處遭到日本零式戰機的砲火猛烈轟擊的她們，如今卻是被鯊魚所環繞。

Machines designed to take life have instead spawned new life in the South Pacific.

當年設計來奪取生命的戰爭機械，如今在南太平洋被用來繁衍新生命。

Million Dollar Point may be an indictment of the appalling wastefulness of war. But it has become one of Vanuatu's best known attractions. As such it needs to be preserved just as it is.

Million Dollar Point可以是戰爭導致可怕揮霍的起訴書。但是她已然成了萬那杜其中一個知名度最高的旅遊勝地。無論就那一方面，她都需要被好好的保存下來。

As I shrugged off my air tank at the end of the dive, I reached into my wetsuit and threw that scavenged Coke bottle back into the sea. Keeping it just did not seem right.

潛水結束後，當我把我的氣瓶推到一邊去之後，我把手伸進我的潛水服，把撿來的可樂瓶扔回海裡。佔為己有似乎是不對的。

Even underwater junkyards deserve some respect.

即使是水下的廢物堆積場也應得到些許尊重。

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7219429.stm

Published: 2008/02/01 12:16:57 GMT

Winter shortages fuel Tajik anger

Winter shortages fuel Tajik anger
By Natalia Antelava
BBC News, Dushanbe

Tajikistan is well-versed in hardship, but this winter has been too much.

塔吉克向來為人所熟悉的即是生活的艱辛困苦，然而這個冬天則更是無比的淒楚了。

Millions of people here are trying to survive without heat, water or electricity in temperatures that stay well below zero.

數百萬人在氣溫遠低於零度，沒有暖氣、水電的情況下試圖求生存。

In a freezing maternity ward, outside the capital Dushanbe, nurses and doctors scurry as Unicef, accompanied by health ministry officials, deliver emergency supplies of extra blankets and small gas heaters.

在首都Dushanbe外一個極冷的婦產科病房裡，醫護人員忙進忙出，正當聯合國兒童基金會伴隨著衛生部的官員，運來更多的毛毯及小型煤氣熱水器等緊急物資。

One of the officials is quick to assure me that all the hospital needs are being met, and the situation is under full control.

其中一位官員簡短的向我保證，所有醫院所需物資很快就會被送到，情況完全在控制之中。

But in a quiet room, a few feet away, nurses speak of their worries.

就在幾呎外的一間休息室裡，護士們談到了她們所憂慮的事。

"It's horrible," one of them says as she wraps a newborn baby girl in several layers of blankets.

"情況真是糟透了，"其中一位護士邊說邊將初生的小女嬰裹在層層毛毯中。

The maternity ward, she explains, has no heating, and only a limited electricity supply.

她解釋說，這間產房沒有暖氣，只有有限的電力供應。

"We are terrified that this will become worse, we have children here who are sick, who need special attention. We need electricity," she adds.

"我們怕情況會更加惡化，我們有生病的孩童須要特別照顧。我們需要電力，"她又繼續說。

She lays the baby down and gently slips a bottle of hot water next to her.

她把嬰兒放下並且輕柔的將熱水瓶塞在一旁。

It is the best heating method they have, but it does not always work.

這是她們目前最佳的保溫方法了，但並不是每次都有效。

Power failures

In the past few weeks, a number of babies are reported to have died in hospitals across the country, although no-one knows how many.

在過去的幾個星期，在塔吉克各地的醫院都有幾起嬰兒死亡的傳聞，然而沒有人知道到底有多少件。

There is no official data, because the government says the deaths are not related to the energy crisis.

因為塔吉克政府表示這幾起死亡案例與能源危機無關，也就沒有官方的數據。

But aid workers disagree.

但是救援人員並不同意這種說法。

"There have been deaths prompted by the cold weather and power failures, but all these reports are anecdotal.

"寒冷的天氣與電力中斷已經造成了幾起死亡的案例，但是所有的報導都是傳聞"。

"Unfortunately there are no official reports about these deaths," says Sobir Kurbonov, a Unicef health worker.

"不幸的是這些死亡案例都沒有正式的報導，" Sobir Kurbonov，聯合國兒童基金會的衛生工作者說。

Some international aid workers suggest that the general lack of transparency has made it very difficult to estimate the scale of the problem.

幾位聯合國救援人員暗示說，缺乏一般的透明化，會使問題的大小非常難以估計。

But now, there is no longer any doubt that Tajikistan could face a serious humanitarian crisis.

現在，塔吉克可能面臨嚴重的人道危機卻是毫無疑問的了。

On Wednesday, the Tajik government appealed for emergency aid and together with international donors it is now designing an action plan aimed at easing the situation.

星期三，塔吉克政府懇求緊急援助和國際捐贈，將用在針對緩和目前情況的行動計劃上。

Frozen rivers

The crisis has already gone far beyond power supplies, affecting every sphere of this impoverished and fragile society.

危機已經遠遠超越了電力的供給，影響遍及這個貧窮且脆弱的社會的每一個領域。

Humanitarian agencies say hundreds of thousands of people are suffering from severe food shortages.

人道主義機構表示有數十萬人正遭受嚴重食物短缺之苦。

"People are spending all they have on trying to keep warm, and they don't have enough money to buy food," says Zlatan Milisic, the country director for the UN's World Food Programme.

"人們用盡一切試圖保暖，所以他們沒有足夠的錢來買吃的，"聯合國世界糧食計畫署的區域署長Zlatan Milisic說。

And things are likely to get worse before they get better.

在情況獲得改善之前事情可能還會變得更糟。

With rivers frozen, the country's hydropower stations continue to slow down.

由於河流結冰，塔吉克水力發電廠的產能也大大的降低了。

Nurek, the main plant, is losing its reservoir of water.

主要電廠Nurek的蓄水量正逐漸降低中。

Set high up in the mountains and surrounded by snow-covered peaks, Nurek is like a giant bathtub that has been unplugged.

座落在高山上，環繞在覆蓋著靄靄白雪的群峰中，Nurek像極了一個塞子被拔掉的大浴缸。

Energy experts predict that within days the water will reach the critical level, and the whole country could shut down.

能源專家預測，過不了幾天蓄水量將降至臨界水位，屆時整個國家可能就要癱瘓了。

'Harder and harder'

The government's mammoth task is to keep Tajikistan away from slipping into a stone age.

塔吉克政府最大的任務就是要避免塔吉克倒退回石器時代。

But some believe its too late for that.

但是好些人認為時機早已過了。

"This country has no future," says Ermokhmad, an intelligent, soft-spoken man, who lives in the outskirts of the capital.

"這個國家已經沒有未來可言了，"Ermokhmad說，他是個聰明、講話聲音低低柔柔的男人，現在住在首都的郊區。

"Is this what you call life?" he asks as he shows me around his house.

"這樣也能叫做生活嗎? "他邊問邊帶著我到他家四處看看。

The tour is quick. To keep warm, all 10 members of his family live in one room.

導覽很快就結束了。為了保暖，他家十口人全擠在一個房間裡。

It's lit by a bleak kerosene lamp; they do not remember the last time they saw electricity.

裡頭的照明就靠一盞陰暗的煤油燈；他們不記得上次電來時的光景。

The air is heavy and full of smoke. In the corner, Ermokhmad's four children, their heads buried in school textbooks, are sitting on the floor next to the crackling woodstove.

空氣很沉悶而且滿是煙霧。角落裡，Ermokhmad的四個小孩在劈啪作響的柴爐旁息地而坐，埋首於學校的教科書中。

Gurgling on top of it is their dinner - rice porridge.

他們的晚餐 - 米粥就放在爐子上滾煮著。

Ermokhmad has a long list of complaints, and an even longer list of questions.

Ermokhmad有一長串令他怨聲載道的東西，但是想問的問題卻更多。

Why is it, he asks, that his children have to walk for an hour every day to get to the nearest school? Why is every winter more and more difficult for him and his neighbours? Why have prices gone up so much?

他問為什麼他的孩子們每天必須跋涉一個小時到最近的學校去上課? 為什麼每一個冬天都令他和他的鄰人感到越來越難熬呢? 為什麼物價漲了這麼多?

He does not seem to have many answers, but he does have a solution.

他看來好像沒辦法得到許多答案，但卻有一個解決的辦法。

"I will go to Russia," he says.

"我要到俄羅斯去，" 他說。

That is what hundreds of thousands of Tajiks have already done.

塔吉克已經有數十萬人這麼做了。

"Soon there will be no young people left here - just elderly and women. Everyone is going away. I want to save money for the ticket to Russia, so that I can feed my family from there," Ermokhmad says.

"不久，年輕人都會離開這裡，只剩下老人和女人。大家都準備離開了。我要存錢買到俄羅斯的車票，這樣我就可以在那裡賺錢養活我的家人，" Ermokhmad說。

A few minutes later, as he expands on his plans, he jokes that he may even marry a Russian woman. His own, Tajik, wife does not seem excited about the prospect. Yet she is willing to let him go.

片刻，當他正詳述自己的計畫時，他開玩笑的說他甚至還可以娶個俄羅斯女人。他自己的塔吉克妻子對這樣的前景看來並不高興。但她還是願意讓他去。

"We have to eat," she says.

"我們得填飽肚子，" 她說。

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/7239279.stm

Published: 2008/02/11 19:17:26 GMT

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