82 Deep Blue Discovering the Sea

CHAPTER 1 Humans and the Sea KAIKEA LOOKED UP AT THE STARS, FOLLOWING THE PATH THAT HE KNEW WOULD KEEP THE CANOE ON COURSE... He was still only a young boy, but he knew all the traveling songs and stories. His father had sung them to him since before he could remember. He looked down at his father who was finally resting. How tired he must be! The big storm had thrown the boats in so many directions, and his father had spent three days without sleep before finding the other families. He was a great sailor. They had little food or water left, but they had seen birds, so land must be near. They would be safe now, as long as the weather stayed calm. Kaikea sang his own name quietly to himself as he watched the stars. It made him feel safer. "Kaikea... Clear sea, clear sea..."

第一章人类与海洋凯卡仰望星空，沿着那条他知道会让独木舟保持航向的小路前进…… 他还只是个小男孩，但他知道所有的旅行歌曲和故事。 在他记事以前，父亲就给他唱过这些歌。 他低头看着终于休息了的父亲。 他一定很累了！大风暴把船抛向四面八方，他的父亲三天没睡，才找到其他家庭。 他是一个伟大的水手。他们的食物和水都所剩无几，但他们看到了鸟，所以陆地一定很近。 只要天气保持平静，他们现在就安全了。 凯凯亚一边看星星，一边默默地唱着自己的名字。 这让他觉得更安全。“Kaikea… 碧海，碧海……”

Scientists believe that people first started leaving Africa about 100,000 years ago, moving into parts of Europe and Asia, Australia, and the Americas. To do this, they made boats strong enough to cross rivers, lakes, and seas. Australian Aborigines crossed the sea from Asia as early as 50,000 years ago. They probably used simple rafts made from whole trees tied together. It seems that a lot of early exploration was done by small family groups who navigated their rafts slowly along the coasts of Europe and Asia. This was for a very simple reason; it was very difficult and dangerous for these early travelers to move through the thick forests that covered most of the land. Most people lived and worked along the rivers and coasts, which allowed them to eat, drink, and travel more easily.

科学家们认为，大约10万年前，人类开始离开非洲，进入欧洲、亚洲、澳大利亚和美洲的部分地区。 为了做到这一点，他们制造了足够坚固的船只，可以穿越河流、湖泊和海洋。 早在5万年前，澳大利亚土著就从亚洲漂洋过海来到澳大利亚。 他们可能使用由整棵树绑在一起的简单木筏。 似乎许多早期的探险都是由小家庭小组完成的，他们乘着木筏沿着欧洲和亚洲的海岸慢慢地航行。 原因很简单；对于这些早期的旅行者来说，穿过覆盖了大部分土地的茂密森林是非常困难和危险的。 大多数人沿着河流和海岸生活和工作，这使他们吃、喝和旅行更容易。

Many cultures have such a close relationship with the sea that it becomes part of their social identity. Often, these are island communities that depend on boats to travel and catch food. Pacific South Sea island cultures, such as the Polynesians and the New Zealand Maoris, are famous for being able to navigate thousands of kilometers in their traditional canoes without maps. Between about 3000 and 1000 BCE, these people emigrated from southeast Asia across the Pacific Ocean, arriving in New Zealand, Samoa, and as far away as Hawaii. Their knowledge of the islands, seas, winds, and stars were passed down in songs that allowed them to remember even the smallest details.

许多文化与海洋有着如此密切的关系，以至于它成为他们社会身份的一部分。 通常，这些岛屿社区依靠船只旅行和捕捉食物。 太平洋南海岛屿文化，如波利尼西亚人和新西兰毛利人，以能够在没有地图的情况下乘坐传统独木舟航行数千公里而闻名。 大约在公元前3000年到公元前1000年之间，这些人从东南亚移民到太平洋，到达新西兰、萨摩亚，甚至远至夏威夷。 他们对岛屿、海洋、风和星星的知识以歌曲的形式流传下来，使他们能够记住即使是最小的细节。

For thousands of years, people have used the sea for trade. The earliest picture of a boat with a sail was painted on an Egyptian vase about 5000 BCE. By the 1st century CE, Roman and Greek sailors were traveling across the Mediterranean Sea, through the Arabian Gulf, and across to India. Gold Roman coins have been found in Southern India. Some Roman writers even complained about how much Roman gold was being spent on Indian silk and spices! And yet, the sea has always been something to fear. Its power and size has led to many stories about huge creatures called sea monsters. Even today, many people continue to search for signs of sea monsters, such as Scotland's famous Loch Ness Monster! But this fascination with monsters might not be as crazy as it seems. As we are going to see, the world's seas hold many strange and terrifying creatures!

几千年来，人们利用海洋进行贸易。 最早的船帆画是在公元前5000年的一个埃及花瓶上。 到了公元1世纪，罗马和希腊的水手们已经穿越地中海，穿过阿拉伯湾，到达印度。 在印度南部发现了罗马金币。 一些罗马作家甚至抱怨罗马人在印度丝绸和香料上花了多少钱！然而，大海一直是令人恐惧的东西。 它的力量和大小导致了许多关于被称为海怪的巨大生物的故事。 直到今天，许多人还在继续寻找海怪的踪迹，比如苏格兰著名的尼斯湖水怪！但这种对怪物的迷恋可能并不像看起来那么疯狂。 正如我们将要看到的，世界上的海洋里生活着许多奇怪而可怕的生物！

CHAPTER 2 At the Bottom of the Sea SOMETIMES TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION. In 2007, fishermen from New Zealand made a strange and frightening catch off the coast of Antarctica. Instead of the fish they were hoping for, they caught a 13-meter-long squid, the biggest ever found! It weighed 495 kilograms and its eyes were 15 centimeters across! Its mouth, however, was a lot smaller than those of other squids that have been found. So, although it is the biggest squid ever caught, this squid could probably have grown even bigger! Sailors used to tell stories of a monster as big as a small island that came from under the sea and swallowed even the biggest ships whole. This monster of legends, known as the Kraken, may have been based upon sailor's experiences with giant squid like the one found by the fishermen from New Zealand.

第二章在海底有时事实比小说还要离奇。 2007年，来自新西兰的渔民在南极洲海岸捕获了一个奇怪而可怕的东西。 他们没有钓到鱼，而是钓到了一条13米长的鱿鱼，这是迄今为止发现的最大的鱿鱼！它重达495公斤，眼睛有15厘米宽！然而，它的嘴比其他被发现的鱿鱼要小得多。 所以，尽管这是迄今为止捕获的最大的鱿鱼，但这只鱿鱼可能还会长得更大！水手们过去常讲这样的故事：有一个像小岛一样大的怪物从海底冒出来，甚至把最大的船只都吞掉。 这个传说中的怪物，被称为海怪，可能是基于水手与巨大乌贼的经历，就像新西兰渔民发现的那样。

The Kraken is not the only horrible creature that sailors used to create stories about. In many cultures around the world there are all sorts of stories about strange sea monsters. The Ancient Greeks told stories about a terrible monster called Scylla. Once a beautiful young girl, a jealous witch turned her into an enormous six-headed sea snake. Scylla waited for passing ships and jumped out from her cave, eating six men at a time with her monstrous mouths. It is easy to understand why sailors created stories of incredible monsters lying in the depths of the sea. Animals that now seem normal to us seemed incredibly scary to people navigating the seas in small, easily wrecked, wooden boats.

海怪并不是水手们创造故事的唯一可怕的生物。 在世界各地的许多文化中，都有各种各样关于奇怪的海怪的故事。 古希腊人讲过一个叫锡拉的可怕怪物的故事。 曾经是一个美丽的年轻女孩，一个嫉妒的女巫把她变成了一条巨大的六头海蛇。 “锡拉”等着过往的船只从她的洞穴里跳出来，用她那狰狞的大嘴一次吃掉六个人。 很容易理解为什么水手们创造了躺在海洋深处的令人难以置信的怪物的故事。 现在对我们来说很正常的动物，对于在海上航行的人来说，是非常可怕的，因为他们乘坐的是容易失事的小木船。