逃离伊甸园的极乐鸟

⊙ By Harvey Jones

翻译：丁一

逃离伊甸园的极乐鸟

⊙ By Harvey Jones

翻译：丁一

顾名思义，极乐鸟就是来自极乐世界的鸟，有着无与伦比的美丽，让人如痴如醉。你准备好欣赏它的美丽了吗？

Imagine creatures so beautiful that people thought they had come down directly from Heaven, so1)striking that the first Europeans to see them thought they could only have escaped from the Garden of Eden. In fact, that Eden was New Guinea. They were birds, but unlike birds that anyone had ever seen before. And their displays were even more extraordinary and2)bizarre than their appearance, some of the most complex to be found in the animal kingdom. They may not have come from the Garden of Eden, but they certainly deserve the name that the first European scientists gave them, the birds-ofparadise.

The male king bird will call to the females in the area. If none come, he will perform without them. After3)puffing himself up, he4)flicks his5)quills above his head and6)rattles them, making the little disks dance in theair above him. He7)swings upside down and locks his legs, and then he turns himself into a8)pendulum.

The king bird is a9)soloist. The males of many other species display in groups. These are the greater birds-of-paradise. Males10)assemble every day in one special tree waiting for a female to arrive. When one does, they all11)snap into action, and she selects the one she prefers. By selecting the finest12)plumes in this way, the females have increased the males’ beauty generation after generation and so brought these13)magnificent dances into existence.

Seeing the dance gives Miriam an insight into the14)intimate15)rituals of her people. Miriam Supurma (Scientist): I was thinking back to people in Papua New Guinea, they have these16)gatherings where they go into a hut and sit in a row, the17)alternating male, female, male, female. They start singing and18)rocking their heads back and forth. It’s like picking out someone they fancy. I can understand why, when they do their traditional dance, they put the feathers on. Probably, to them, [sic] represents something, you know, that’s kind of19)sacred they find in the forest, and because of the bird’s behavior, it’s a very unique and special bird.

The spectacular beauty of their birds fascinates the people of New Guinea. The bird of paradise plumes were important. And, when men want to dance, it’s festival time, and feathers are still essential headwear.

Papuans are steeped in the mysteries of their20)tribal past. Nobody knows it all, only that birds and humans have been together for thousands of years. The desire to possess the beauty of the birds is an ancient21)obsession. Everywhere the paradise birds are hunted and their plumes treasured and stored on the22)rafters in houses throughout the land. These precious feathers are kept in bamboo tubes ready to23)adorn the bodies of a new generation to help them begin a new cycle of human life.

1) striking [5straIkIN] adj. 引人注意的，突出的

2) bizarre [bI5zB:(r)] adj. 奇异的

3) puff [pQf] v. 使成蓬松的一团

4) flick [flIk] v. 轻打，轻弹

5) quill [kwIl] n. （鸟的）翮羽

6) rattle [5rAt(E)l] v. 发格格声

7) swing [swIN] v. 前后摆动

8) pendulum [5pendjJlEm] n. 钟摆

9) soloist [5sEJlEJIst] n. 独奏者，独自表演者

10) assemble [E5semb(E)l] v. 集合，聚集

11) snap [snAp] v. 快速地行动，敏捷地动作

12) plume [plu:m] n. 羽毛

13) magnificent [mA^5nIfIsEnt] adj. 壮丽的，极好的

14) intimate [5IntImEt] adj. 亲密的，亲近的

15) ritual [5rItFJEl] n. 仪式，典礼

16) gathering [5^ATErIN] n. 聚会，集会

17) alternate [5C:lt:neIt] v. 交替，间隔

18) rock [rɒk] v. 摇摆，摆动

19) sacred [5seIkrId] adj. 神圣的

20) tribal [5traIbEl] adj. 部落的，部族的

21) obsession [Eb5seF(E)n] n. 着迷，痴迷

22) rafter [5rB:ftE(r)] n. [建]椽子

23) adorn [E5dC:n] v. 装饰

u Garden of Eden 伊甸园：基督教《圣经》中人类始祖亚当和夏娃最初居住的地方。根据《圣经·旧约·创世纪》的记载，上帝在创造人后，在东方的伊甸园为亚当和夏娃造了一个乐园，里面有生灵万物，果木繁茂，景色优美，两人过着无忧无虑的生活，直到犯下原罪才被逐出乐园。后来伊甸园被喻为广义上的乐园、天堂，亦简称为Eden。

试想有这样一种令人惊艳的动物，让人一度以为它们从天堂降临凡间，而最早见到它们的欧洲人因其绚丽而认定它们逃自伊甸园。这种动物所在的那个“伊甸园”其实是新几内亚。它们是鸟，却跟人们以前见过的所有鸟类都不一样。这些鸟的表演比其外表更加精彩和怪异，其表演的复杂程度称得上是动物界之最。它们也许不是真的来自伊甸园，但肯定配得上首批欧洲科学家给它们取的名字——极乐鸟。

雄性王极乐鸟会呼唤这个区域的雌鸟，就算没有雌鸟出现，它还是会照样表演。它先把羽毛蓬起，轻轻拍打头上的饰羽，让其发出格格的声音，同时使小圆盘在头顶上舞动。随后它把自己倒挂在树上，紧扣双腿，像钟摆般摇晃。

王极乐鸟单独求偶，很多其他种类的雄性极乐鸟则喜欢以集体表演的方式求偶。这些是大极乐鸟，雄鸟每天聚集在一棵特定的树上，等候雌鸟的出现。一旦有一只雌鸟露面，它们就会立即行动，雌鸟会从中选择如意郎君。雌鸟通过这种方式选择羽毛最为绚丽的雄鸟，让其后代拥有更漂亮的羽毛，这正是这些精彩舞蹈出现的原因。

看到极乐鸟的舞蹈，米里亚姆对自己族人的私密仪式有了更深的了解。

米里亚姆·萨普尔玛（科学家）：我回想着巴布亚新几内亚人的生活。他们会聚集在一起，在小屋里男女相间地坐成一排，随后开始一边唱歌，一边摇头晃脑，好像在选择自己中意的人。我现在能明白，他们为何会在跳传统舞蹈时戴上极乐鸟的羽饰，因为对他们来说，这种鸟也许代表了森林里某种神圣的东西。因为这种鸟的行为不同寻常，所以这是一种独一无二的奇特之鸟。

新几内亚人被他们生活中极乐鸟的华丽迷住了。极乐鸟的羽毛对他们来说异常重要。他们要起舞时，就是盛大节日，此时极乐鸟的饰羽是他们头饰中必不可少的。

巴布亚人都沉迷于他们部族的远古神话。没人知道神话的全部内容，只知道这种鸟与人相处了数千年之久，拥有极乐鸟的美丽是他们自古以来的追求。这片土地上的人一直在捕猎极乐鸟，然后把羽毛珍藏起来，放在屋椽上面。这些珍贵的羽毛被存放在竹筒内，留给下一代做装饰，帮助他们开始一个全新的生命周期。