Level 4 Reading 5B

Reading 5B

阅读5B

FANTASTIC VOYAGE It is mid-afternoon on the island of Bora Bora in French Polynesia. Thousands of cheering spectators crowd the shore to see the end of the Hawaiki Nui Va'a, a challenging 130-kilometer Polynesian canoe race that virtually stops the nation. "This is our heritage," says Manutea Owen, a former canoe champion and a hero on his home island of Huahine. "Our people came from over the sea by canoe. Sometimes when I'm out there competing. I try to imagine what they must have endured and the adventures they had crossing those huge distances." Pioneers of the Pacific Manutea Owen's ancestors colonized nearly every island in the South Pacific. This was a remarkable feat of human navigation—comparable with humans going to the moon. Only recently have scientists begun to understand where these amazing voyagers came from and how—with simple canoes and no navigation equipment— they reached hundreds of islands scattered across an ocean that covers nearly a third of the globe. This expansion into the Pacific was accomplished by two extraordinary civilizations: the Lapita and the Polynesians. From about 1300 to 800 B.C., the Lapita people colonized islands that stretch over millions of square kilometers, including the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, New Caledonia, and Samoa. Then, for unknown reasons, they stopped. There was an interval of around 1,000 years before the Polynesian civilization— descendants of the Lapita—launched a new period of exploration. They outdid the Lapita with unbelievable feats of navigation. They expanded the boundaries of their world until it was many times the size of that explored by their ancestors. Their colonies included the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Hawaii, and Easter Island, eventually reaching South America around A.D. 1000. How Did They Do It? There is one stubborn question for which archeology has yet to provide any answers. How did the Lapita and early Polynesian pioneers accomplish a feat that is analogous to a moon landing? Little evidence remains to help us understand their remarkable sailing skills. Unfortunately, no one has found an intact Lapita or early Polynesian canoe that might reveal the sailing techniques used. Nor do the oral histories and traditions of later Polynesians offer any insights as to how their ancestors navigated areas of open ocean thousands of kilometers wide without becoming lost. "All we can say for certain is that the Lapita had canoes that were capable of ocean voyages, and they had the ability to sail them," says Geoff Irwin, a professor of archeology at the University of Auckland. Nonetheless, scientists have some theories about the secrets of these explorers' successes. Sailors have always relied upon the so-called trade winds, winds that blow steadily and in predictable directions over the ocean's surface. Irwin notes that the Lapita's expansion into the Pacific was eastward, against steady trade winds. Sailing against the wind, he argues, may have been the key to their success: "They could sail out for days into the unknown..., secure in the knowledge that if they didn't find anything,

神奇旅程 这是法属波利尼西亚波拉波拉岛的午后。 数千名欢呼的观众聚集在岸边，观看夏威夷努瓦河的终点， 一场长达130公里的波利尼西亚独木舟比赛，几乎让整个国家陷入停顿。 “这是我们的遗产，”Manutea Owen说， 他曾是独木舟冠军，也是家乡华欣岛上的英雄。 “我们的人民乘独木舟从海上赶来。 有时当我在外面比赛的时候。 我试着想象他们一定经历了什么，以及他们穿越这些巨大距离的冒险经历。" 太平洋先驱 Manutea Owen的祖先几乎殖民了南太平洋的每一个岛屿。 这是人类导航的一项了不起的壮举，与人类登上月球不相上下。 直到最近，科学家们才开始了解这些神奇的旅行者是从哪里来的 以及如何——用简单的独木舟，没有导航设备-- 他们到达了散布在覆盖全球近三分之一的海洋中的数百个岛屿。 向太平洋的扩张是由两个非凡的文明完成的：拉皮塔人和波利尼西亚人。 从公元前1300年到公元前800年，拉皮塔人殖民了绵延数百万平方公里的岛屿， 包括所罗门群岛、瓦努阿图、斐济、新喀里多尼亚和萨摩亚。 然后，由于未知的原因，他们停了下来。 在波利尼西亚文明出现之前，大约有1000年的时间间隔-- 拉皮塔的后裔开启了一个新的探索时期。 他们以令人难以置信的航海壮举击败了拉皮塔号。 他们扩大了世界的边界 直到它的大小是他们祖先探索的许多倍。 他们的殖民地包括库克群岛、法属波利尼西亚、夏威夷和复活节岛， 最终在公元1000年左右到达南美洲。 他们是怎么做到的？ 有一个顽固的问题，考古学尚未提供任何答案。 拉皮塔和早期波利尼西亚拓荒者是如何完成类似于登月的壮举的？ 几乎没有证据可以帮助我们了解他们非凡的航海技能。 不幸的是，没有人发现完整的拉皮塔或早期波利尼西亚独木舟 这可能会揭示所使用的航海技术。 后来波利尼西亚人的口述历史和传统也没有提供任何见解 他们的祖先是如何在数千公里宽的开阔海域航行而不迷路的。 “我们只能肯定地说，拉皮塔人有能够进行远洋航行的独木舟， 他们有能力驾驶它们，” 奥克兰大学考古学教授杰夫·欧文说。 尽管如此，科学家们对这些探险家成功的秘密有一些理论。 水手们总是依靠所谓的信风， 在海洋表面稳定且方向可预测的风。 欧文指出，拉皮塔号逆着稳定的信风向东向太平洋扩张。 他认为，逆风航行可能是他们成功的关键： “他们可以在未知的地方航行数天……确信如果他们什么也没找到，

they could turn around and catch a swift ride home on the trade winds." For returning explorers, successful or not, the geography of their own archipelagos provided a safety net. It ensured that sailors wouldn't sail too far and become lost in the open ocean. Vanuatu, for example, is a chain of islands 800 kilometers long with many islands within sight of each other. Once sailors hit that string of islands, they could find their way home. Irwin hypothesizes that once out in the open ocean, the explorers would detect a variety of clues to follow to land. This included seabirds and turtles that need islands on which to build their nests, coconuts and twigs carried out to sea, and the clouds that tend to form over some islands in the afternoon. It is also possible that Lapita sailors followed the smoke from distant volcanoes to new islands. Helped by El Nino? These theories rely on one unproven point—that the Lapita and early Polynesians had mastered the skill of sailing against the wind using a technique called "tacking." Rather than give all the credit to their bravery and technique, Atholl Anderson of the Australian National University thinks that they might also have been lucky— helped by a weather phenomenon known as EI Nino. EI Nino occurs in the Pacific Ocean when the surface water temperature is unusually high. It disrupts world weather in a variety of ways. One of its effects is to cause trade winds in the South Pacific to weaken or to reverse direction and blow to the east. Scientists believe that El Nino phenomena were unusually frequent around the time of the Lapita expansion, and again between 1,200 and 1,600 years ago, when the early Polynesians began their even more distant voyages. Anderson believes that the Lapita may have taken advantage of trade winds blowing east instead of west, thereby voyaging far to the east without any knowledge of tacking techniques. The success of the Lapita and their descendants may have been due to their own sailing skills, to reverse trade winds, or to a mixture of both. Or it may even have been due to facts still unknown. But it is certain that by the time Europeans came to the Pacific, nearly every piece of land— hundreds of islands in all—had already been discovered by the Lapita and the Polynesians. Exactly why these ancient peoples set out on such giant migrations remains a mystery. However, as Professor Irwin puts it, "Whatever you believe, the really fascinating part of this story isn't the methods they used, but their motives. The Lapita, for example, didn't need to pick up and go; there was nothing forcing them, no overcrowded homeland. They went because they wanted to go and see what was over the horizon."

他们可以转身乘信风迅速回家。" 对于归来的探险家，无论成功与否， 他们自己群岛的地理位置提供了一个安全网。 它确保了水手们不会航行太远，也不会在开阔的海洋中迷路。 例如，瓦努阿图是一条800公里长的岛屿链，许多岛屿彼此可见。 一旦水手们撞上那一连串的岛屿，他们就能找到回家的路。 欧文假设，一旦进入公海， 探险家们会发现各种各样的线索，以追踪登陆。 这包括需要岛屿筑巢的海鸟和海龟，以及被带到海里的椰子和树枝， 下午，一些岛屿上空往往会形成云层。 拉皮塔水手也有可能跟随远处火山的烟雾前往新岛屿。 受厄尔尼诺现象的影响？ 这些理论依赖于一个未经证实的观点——拉皮塔人和早期波利尼西亚人 已经掌握了使用一种名为“铲球”的技术逆风航行的技巧 与其把所有的功劳都归功于他们的勇气和技巧， 澳大利亚国立大学的Atholl Anderson认为，他们可能也很幸运-- 在厄尔尼诺现象的帮助下。 厄尔尼诺现象发生在太平洋，此时地表水温度异常高。 它以各种方式扰乱世界天气。 其影响之一是在南太平洋引发信风 削弱或改变方向，向东吹。 科学家们认为，在拉皮塔扩张期间，厄尔尼诺现象异常频繁， 1200年至1600年前，早期波利尼西亚人开始了更遥远的航行。 安德森认为，拉皮塔人可能利用了向东而不是向西吹的信风， 从而在不知道任何瞄准技术的情况下，向东航行。 拉皮塔人及其后代的成功可能是由于他们自己的航海技能， 扭转信风或两者兼而有之。 或者，这甚至可能是由于尚不清楚的事实造成的。 但可以肯定的是，当欧洲人来到太平洋时，几乎每一块土地-- 拉皮塔人和波利尼西亚人已经发现了数百个岛屿。 这些古代民族为什么要进行如此大规模的迁徙，这仍然是一个谜。 然而，正如欧文教授所说， “不管你相信什么，这个故事真正引人入胜的部分不是他们使用的方法，而是他们的动机。 例如，拉皮塔无需起身离开； 没有什么强迫他们，没有拥挤的家园。 他们去是因为他们想去看看地平线上有什么。"

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