生命的意義在於遠行

那麽就讓咱們去吧，我和你， 趁黃昏正鋪展在天際 像一個上了麻醉的病人躺在手術台上； 讓咱們去吧，穿過幾條行人稀少的大街小巷， 到那臨時過夜的廉價小客店 到滿地是鋸屑和牡蠣殼的飯店 那夜夜紛擾 人聲嘈雜的去處： 街巷接著街巷像一場用心詭詐冗長乏味的辯論 要把你引向一個令人困惑的問題…… “那是什麽？”哦，你別問， 讓咱們去作一次訪問。
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats	5
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question….	10
Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”
Let us go and make our visit.

 

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)

 

聽說過T·S·艾略特（Thomas Stearns Eliot），但其實從沒有讀過他任何的作品。準備寫這篇文章的時候在網上粗略地瞄了一會兒，上麵這首可以說是其成名作的名為《普魯弗洛克的情歌》的詩一下子抓住了我。如果你以為這又將是眾多人生感慨文章中的一員那很抱歉，其實我要說的是。。。

是的，本文的主角是北象海豹。這些重量可達5000磅的家夥有太多的有趣之處了。例如它們一次潛水一般為30分鍾左右（記錄長達120分鍾），深度5000英尺。又如北象海豹在生殖階段不吃不喝，雌象海豹一天體重降低16磅；而生下來的北象海豹寶寶一天體重可以增長10磅。而最讓我感興趣的莫過於他們一年兩次、每次3000英裏的超長距離遷移了。等一下，你會說還有其它動物有更長的遷移距離，例如北極燕鷗的記錄是24000英裏。但別急，看看下麵的圖再說：

 

 

看出什麽了嗎？提示一下，顏色代表不同性別。是的，雄象海豹和雌象海豹的行程大不相同。雄性沿著北美西海岸一路遷移到阿拉斯加，雌性則在半路直接殺到北太平洋腹地。一路上它們都大吃大喝，養的膘肥體壯，為即將來臨的戰鬥和齋戒打底子。然而臨近生殖季節它們都采用最直接的路徑趕回包括加州新年海岸州立保留地在內的4、5個地方。雄性先趕到占地盤，一陣大打出手後成者為王，但也不會趕盡殺絕。敗者灰溜溜地躲到不顯眼的地方舔傷口、反思“戰略戰術”上的錯誤。雌象海豹則會在生產3-5天前準時到達。占據有利地形的“大王”們三妻四妾，啊不，十妻九妾地享受“天倫之樂”。據說最多的後宮紀錄可以上百，雖比不上後宮佳麗三千的程度，但一年200個後代的機會還是相當可觀的。

為什麽雌象海豹和雄象海豹不會一同遷移呢？我們曾經詢問過加州新年海岸州立保留地的誌願者，回答是不太清楚，但可能是雌性的更努力些？（筆者按，此誌願者為女性）。但我在這裏鬥膽猜測一下，大概是如果生產後按家出遊，那些“大王”們為了保護家眷不受“光棍遊擊隊”的襲擊非給累死不可。當然，也可能有“火星象海豹”和“金星象海豹”的問題。誰知道哲雄象海豹會不會在離開一年住兩次的家時大發感慨“Women, can’t live with them, can’t live without them”呢？

 

（麵壁反省24小時後）

 

你也許會問，不錯，挺有趣也挺長知識的；但這一切和大詩人T·S·艾略特有啥關係呀？別急，我們的主人公即將出場了，音樂響起：

 

 

不錯，就是這家夥，Mr. TS 艾略特, 隻是此TS非彼TS。這裏TS是Toilet Seat （馬桶圈）的英文縮寫。據州立公園的工作人員介紹，這個倒黴的家夥由於太好奇太調皮，不作不死地有幸將TS套到了脖子上。由於長得太快太肥，想摘下來時已經太晚了。工作人員們前兩年看到後、笑夠後先將它命名為Mr. Toilet Seat，昵稱TS。直到其中一個有點兒文學根底的靈機一動，更其名為Mr. 艾略特。

 

好消息是，Mr. 艾略特最終撐破了TS，並且還學會了發聲（據說不太好聽）。壞消息是它這次還沒露麵，工作人員說好像情況有些不妙。希望大家在這裏和我們一起為他加油！不要在遷移途中成為大白鯊和殺人鯨的腹中之物。爭取早日成年（隻需5-6年），為“艾略特”家族傳宗接代。在更高的意義上為曾瀕臨絕種的北象海豹的繁衍貢獻力量。想想在上次3000英裏的遷移前，Mr. 艾略特是否也會發問，“What is IT?”； 然後下定決心遊上征程，“Let us go and make our visit”的呢？

 

Feliz Ano Nuevo！

 

構思於2015年元月1日，加州新年海岸州立保留地

 

 （外一篇）小女的遊記

How Many Seals Could an Elephant Seal Seal if an Elephant Seal could Seal Seals?

That’s an easy answer; 0, because they’re either lying around on the beach or out on migration.

Elephant seals. When you think of these, what image comes to mind?

Probably a medium sized, brown/grey creature, something that roils around in the sand and isn’t that imposing. A mediocre animal, not at all awe inspiring.

You would have to see them to realize your mistake.

The first glimpse I caught of this animal; I thought it was a rock.

Just strolling idly by, enjoying the sunshine and balmy air.

Ahh, What a nice day.

Ahh, what a nice rock over there.

Then the rock rolled over and snored.

It was a profound sound; one that shook you right to your bones. Such a sound that was reminiscent of your childhood;

Yes, the only thing that was missing was the bubble coming out of his nose.

Looks can be deceiving; though they look oh so peaceful lounging around on the sand...

Take a look closer, do you see the pink lines decorating his neck?

Those are hard earned battle scars. Ones that were garnered from years of fighting others for the sake of their harems.

Male elephant seals fight each other, partly for females, and partly so they are not exiled onto Loser’s Beach.

“If you don’t look too close; I’m not that unattractive right?”

Yes, although they may look like huge piles of blubber just plopped down on the beach, the Elephant seal world is a seal eat seal world. Necessity has driven them to be aggressive creatures.

Necessity drives them to do many other things that normal animals do not do.

“MOM! WHERE YOU AT???” “I’M RIGHT HERE, SHUT UP TOMMY.”

Elephant seals are forced to leave their young at 28 days. The driving force? Necessity of food.

You see, elephant seals actually spend their migrations absolutely gorging themselves on food. (Where else would all that blubber come from?)

When they arrive at Ano Nuevo, they don’t eat for three months! That’s crazy! Not only that, all their hard earned blubber is spent being fed to their children. The mother loses 16 pounds a day, and the child gains 10. I don’t know where the extra 6 goes, but somewhere it does. My mom thinks that it’s a good way to lose weight, but I said “NO!” because that would mean me pursuing a career in sumo wrestling. No, thank you.

After 28 days, the child has effectively grown to be 300 pounds. Yikes. (Although this is still nothing compared to the 5,000 pound adults.) This is the time where the mother must leave their child behind on the beach, to go get more food.

Another thing driven by necessity is their amazing physical features.

Did you know that elephant seals can dive underwater for 120 minutes?

Did you know they must swim 5,000 miles, twice a year?

Did you know they can move faster than humans on sand dunes?

 

Before you decide that elephant seals are mediocre and not special, I want you to go to Ano Nuevo to take a closer look. I want you to go see everything that makes them the creatures they are. Elephant seals are undoubtedly very unique creatures that get less attention than they deserve.

所有跟帖： 

• 生命的意義每個人感受都不同。 -安娜晴天- ♀ (0 bytes) () 01/04/2015 postreply 07:30:19

• 歡迎新朋友。很有意思的帖子，謝謝分享。 -看風景- ♂ (6 bytes) () 01/04/2015 postreply 19:36:19