my painting
by Robert Krulwich
如果你是一隻鳥，現在就是產卵季節
This is egg laying season,if you're a bird.
If you're an octopus,particularly a giant Pacific octopus, you've been there, done that. In fact,you died doing it, in what is the saddest mommy story I've heard in a longwhile. It comes from biologist Jim Cosgrove who describes it all in a lecturehe calls, "No Mother Could Give More."
如果你是一隻章魚，特別是一隻巨大的太平洋章魚，你必然已經到過那，並且做過那樣的事情。
實際上，你死於此，而這將是我在長時間內聽過的令人傷感的母親故事。這個故事來自於吉姆科斯格羅夫——他曾在一個“沒有母親能比這做更多”的演講中提到過。
讓我們從一隻懷孕的章魚開始說起。她已經帶著體內的卵懷孕四到五個月。直到有一天，正值冬季中旬，當水溫合適的時候，她開始將卵一個接一個排入水中。她將繁殖（而這將會花費她一個月或跟多的時間。）大概56000個體，而他們將隨意漂浮在水中，直到她將他們聚集成群，並將他們縫合成懸掛辮子的模樣，就像中國飯店裏的珠
We begin with a pregnantoctopus. She's been that way for four or five months, carrying the eggs insideher body until one day, in mid winter, when the water temperature is right, shestarts expelling her eggs, one by one, into the water. She will produce (andthis will take her a month or so) about 56,000 individuals, who float freeuntil she gathers them into groups, then stitches them into hanging braids,like a bead curtain in a Chinese restaurant.
This is her octopus"den." It's usually an underwater cave, protected by rocks that she'sput at the entrance to keep hungry crabs, sea stars and fish from getting tooclose. She's glued about 170 braids to the roof and there she sits, often rightunder the babies. "Each egg," says Cosgrove, "is a gleamingwhite tear-drop about the size of a grain of rice." Months pass. All thistime, the mother is constantly on guard.
這是她的章魚“獸穴”。通常它是一個水下洞穴，被那些她放在入口處來阻擋饑餓螃蟹進入的石塊保護著。在完成將大約170個”辮子“粘附在洞穴頂上後，她通常會在她寶寶的下方坐下。”“每個卵，” 科斯格羅夫說，“都是一隱約閃爍微光，大概米粒大小的白色淚珠。”幾個月過去。在這段時間內，章魚母親一直在警戒狀態。
As described by WendyWilliams in her new book Kraken, the mother spends five, six months protectingher 56,000 children:
正如溫迪威廉在她新書《海怪》中所描述，章魚母親將花費五個或六個月時間保護她那56000個寶寶。
She constantly waves herarms gently over the plaits of eggs, making sure that nothing harmful settleson them. With her siphon, she blows water gently over them to keep themaerated...she uses her arms to keep potential predators away from the eggs, andas far away from the den as possible...she normally does not leave the den atany time.
“她經常輕柔地用手撫摸由卵組成的發辮，來確認沒有任何有害物體落在他們身上。靠著她的虹吸管，她輕柔地把水吹過他們，以此來維持他們呼吸。她用觸手來驅逐潛在天敵，使其遠離章魚寶寶。並且在盡可能的距離內，她通常在任何時刻都不離開她的寶寶。
Throughout this whole periodof more than half a year, she never eats...All of the energy in her body isslowly consumed by her work until, by the time the offspring emerge, she hasnearly starved to death.
在整個長達半年多期間內，她從未進食。所有她體內的能量都將被慢慢消耗，直到後代破卵而出時，她已經幾近餓死。
Then one night, though sheis weaker, smaller, and says Cosgrove, "her once brick-red color is now adeathly gray and her skin shows signs of decay," her breath now coming in"sporadic gasps," she repositions herself and blows all of her babiesout of the den into the open water. It's essential that she use her siphon toblow them free, and once they detach, the babies know exactly what do to, saysCosgrove:
有 一天晚上，她已經變得虛弱，更小，“她那曾經的磚紅色現已變成死氣沉沉的灰色，並且她的皮膚呈現著衰退的跡象。“據科斯格羅夫說，並且她的呼吸現已是零碎斷續的。但是她重新挪動了自己並將 她的寶寶吹出洞穴，直到浮在那開闊的水域。她用她的虹吸管將他們吹離，使其自由——這很是重要。一旦他們分離開來，這些章魚寶寶很清楚該做什麽。科斯格洛 夫說：
The babies are spectacular.Measuring 6 mm and weighing just 0.029 grams, they are perfect miniatures oftheir parents. They have 8 tiny arms adorned with suckers. They can changecolors instantly and can even produce a miniature puff of ink when they aredisturbed.
“這些寶寶棒極了。雖然身長6毫米, 體重0.029克，他們是他們父母完美的縮小版。他們有8隻帶著小吸口的小觸手。他們能迅速改變顏色並且甚至能在他們受擾時製造一陣小規模的墨跡噴發。
But the mom is nearexhaustion. She hasn't eaten for so long (probably because food could attractpredators, or because debris from eating could bring parasites near the eggs),she keeps gently blowing water over the babies, pushing them from the den foras long as she can until she herself floats free and sometimes, only two orthree meters from the den opening, she stops breathing...and dies.
但章魚母親現在已經竭盡精力。她已經在如此長時間內沒吃任何東西（或許是因為食物將吸引天敵，或者是因為進食後的殘留物會為卵帶來寄生蟲）。她繼續輕柔地將水吹過寶寶，竭盡所能地將他們推離洞穴直到她也自然漂浮起來。然後在據洞穴開口兩到三米處，她停止了呼吸。她死了。
她的寶寶呢？他們直接進入了海洋表層，捕食，生長。有些會在海裏下沉更深些，而那裏他們可以躲避水母，鯊魚，藍鯨，以此求生。在這56000個章魚寶寶中，有能多少成功長大，並成為世界上最大的章
Her babies? They go straightto the ocean surface, feed there, grow; some will descend deeper into the oceanwhere they will dodge jelly fish, sharks, blue whales and hope to survive. Howmany of 56,000 babies make it to adulthood, where they become the largestoctopuses in the world?
It took two octopuses, amale and a female, to make the 56,000 eggs. On average, says Cosgrove, theyield is "stable," meaning that the two parents will be replaced bytwo children. Out of 56,000, after so many months, so much sacrifice, so muchcare, after all that, mom's "yield" is...just two.
兩隻章魚，一雄一雌，能產生56000個卵。根據科斯格洛夫的說法，平均而言，這種生產量是穩定的，意味著兩個父母將被兩個孩子取代。經曆了這麽多個月，這麽多犧牲，這麽多嗬護，在經曆過這一切之後，56000個寶寶中，章魚媽媽真正的“生產量”隻有2個。
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