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So I've got something that I'm slightly embarrassed to admit to.
我不好意思承认某些事。
At the age of 17, as a creationist, I decided to go to university to study evolution so that I could destroy it.
17岁的我因为相信创造论，决定去大学学习进化论，以便摧毁它。
I failed. I failed so spectacularly that I'm now an evolutionary biologist.
我失败了。我彻底地失败，以至于至今我仍是个进化生物学家。
So I'm a paleoanthropologist,
我是一个古人类学家
I'm a National Geographic Explorer specializing in fossil hunting in caves in unstable, hostile and disputed territories.
我也是国家地理探险家，专门找寻不稳定、敌对和有争议地区的洞穴中的化石。
And we all know that if I was a guy and not a girl, that wouldn't be a job description, that would be a pick-up line.
众所周知，若我是男的，不是女的，那份工作描述会让我轻松与女孩子们搭讪。
Now, here's the thing. I do not have a death wish.
就这样，我不想死。
I'm not an adrenaline junkie. I just looked at a map.
我不是追求刺激的人。就只是某次看了张地图。
See, frontline exploratory science does not happen as much in politically unstable territories.
政治不稳定的地区没有多少科学的探索。
This is a map of all the places which the British Foreign Office have declared contain red zones, orange zones
这是英国外交部发布的，包含所有的红色警戒区、橙色警戒区，
or have raised some kind of a threat warning about.
或者已提出某种威胁警告地区的地图。
Now I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that it is a tragedy
那么我将说这是困境、是悲剧，
if we're not doing frontline exploratory science in a huge portion of the planet.
如果我们不去地球的大部分地区进行前瞻的科学研究探索。
And so science has a geography problem.
科学存在着地理的问题。
Also, as a paleoanthropologist, guys, this is basically a map of some of the most important places in the human journey.
此外，身为古人类学家，这基本上是人类旅程中一些最重要地区的地图。
There are almost definitely fascinating fossils to be found here.
几乎可以确定能在这些地方找到令人着迷的化石。
But are we looking for them?
但我们有去找吗？
And so as an undergraduate, I was repeatedly told that humans, be they ourselves,
大学时我一再被告知我们人类
homo sapiens, or earlier species, that we left Africa via the Sinai of Egypt.
智人，或早期的人类物种经过埃及的西奈离开了非洲。
I'm English, as you can probably tell from my accent, but I am actually of Arab heritage,
可以从我的口音中判断我是英国人，但实际上我是阿拉伯裔。
and I always say that I'm very, very Arab on the outside.
我总是说我的外表很阿拉伯。
You know, I can really be passionate. Like, "You're amazing! I love you!"
我真的能非常热情。会说“你太棒了！我爱你！”之类的。
But on the inside, I'm really English, so everybody irritates me.
但在内心里，我真的是英国人，人人都能激怒我。
It's true. And the thing is, my family are Arab from Yemen,
这是真的。情况是，我的家人是来自也门的阿拉伯人，
and I knew that that channel, Bab-el-Mandeb, is not that much of a feat to cross.
我知道跨越曼德海峡不容易。
And I kept asking myself this really simple question:
我一直在问自己这个简单的问题：
if the ancestors to New World monkeys could somehow cross the Atlantic Ocean,
如果新世界猴子的祖先能够以某种方式穿越大西洋，
why couldn't humans cross that tiny stretch of water?
那为什么人类越不过那一小段水域？
But the thing is, Yemen, compared to, let's say, Europe, was so understudied that it was something akin to near virgin territory.
但问题是，与欧洲相比，也门未被充分探索，以至于它几近处女地。
But that, along with its location, made the sheer potential for discovery so exciting, and I had so many questions.
连同它的地理位置，使得探索它的绝对潜力如此令人兴奋。我有很多问题。
When did we first start using Bab-el-Mandeb?
人类什么时候首次越过曼德海峡？
But also, which species of human besides ourselves made it to Yemen?
除了我们自己以外的哪种人类来到了也门？
Might we find a species as yet unknown to science?
我们能发现科学尚且未知的物种吗？
And it turned out, I wasn't the only one who had noticed Yemen's potential.
事实证明，我并不是唯一注意到也门潜力的人。
There was actually a few other academics out there.
实际上还有其他的学者。
But sadly, due to political instability, they moved out, and so I moved in.
但可悲的是，由于政治不稳定，他们撤离了，所以我进驻了。
And I was looking for caves: caves because caves are the original prime real estate.
我寻找洞穴，因为洞穴是初民的主要居所。
But also because if you're looking for fossils in that kind of heat,
如果你在那么炎热的地方寻找化石，
your best bet for fossil preservation is always going to be caves.
保存状态最佳的化石总会在洞穴里。
But then, Yemen took a really sad turn for the worse, and just a few days before I was due to fly out to Yemen,
但也门真让人悲伤，就在我要飞往也门前几天，
the civil war escalated into a regional conflict, the capital's airport was bombed and Yemen became a no-fly zone.
地区冲突升级为内战，首都机场遭到轰炸，也门成为禁飞区。
Now, my parents made this decision before I was born: that I would be born British.
在我出生前父母决定把我生在英国。
I had nothing to do with the best decision of my life.
我没参与这命中最棒的决定。
And now... Now the lucky ones in my family have escaped,
而现在...我家族里幸运的人逃脱了；
and the others, the others are being been bombed and send you WhatsApp messages that make you detest your very existence.
其他人被轰炸，发送WhatsApp信息给你，让你愧疚自己的幸运。
This war's been going on for four years.
这场战争持续了四年。
It's been going on for over four years, and it has led to a humanitarian crisis.
已经持续了四年多，导致了人道主义危机。
There is a famine there, a man-made famine.
那里有饥荒，人为的饥荒。
That's a man-made famine, so not a natural famine,
那是人为的饥荒，不是自然的饥荒，
an entirely man-made famine that the UN has warned could be the worst famine the world has seen in a hundred years.
完全人为的饥荒，联合国警告称，这可能是世上百年来最严重的饥荒。
This war has made it clear to me more than ever that no place, no people deserve to get left behind.
这场战争比以往任何时候都更清楚地表明，没有任何地方、任何人应该被留在后面。
And so I was joining these other teams, and I was forming new collaborations in other unstable places.
所以我加入了其他的团队，与其他不稳定的地方建立新的合作关系。
But I was desperate to get back into Yemen, because for me, Yemen's really personal.
我迫不及待地想回到也门，对我来说，也门真的与我切身相关。
And so I kept trying to think of a project I could do in Yemen that would help highlight what was going on there.
我一直努力在思考能在也门做的项目，能够有助于显现那里景况的项目。
And every idea I had just kept failing, or it was just too high-risk,
我的主意一个接着一个失败了，或者说，风险太大了，
because let's be honest, most of Yemen is just too dangerous for a Western team.
说实话，也门大部分地区对西方团队来说太危险了。
But then I was told that Socotra, a Yemeni island, was safe once you got there.
但后来我获知，索科特拉岛，这个也门岛屿，一旦到达那里就会很安全。
In fact, it turned out there was a few local and international academics that were still working there.
事实上，有些当地和国际的学者仍在那里工作。
And that got me really excited, because look at Socotra's proximity to Africa.
这让我非常兴奋，因为看看索科特拉岛与非洲的距离。
And yet we have no idea when humans arrived on that island.
我们仍不知道人类什么时候到达的那个岛屿。
But Socotra, for those of you who know it, well, let's just say you probably know it for a completely different reason.
那些知道索科特拉岛的人，知道的原因可能完全不同。
You probably know it as the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean, because it is one of the most biodiverse places on this earth.
你可能知道它是印度洋的加拉帕戈斯群岛，因为它是地球上生物最多样的地方之一。
But we were also getting information that this incredibly delicate environment and its people were under threat
我们还得知这个令人难以置信的微妙环境和其人民受到威胁，
because they were at the frontline of both Middle Eastern politics and climate change.
因为他们处于中东政治和气候变化的前沿。
And it slowly dawned on me that Socotra was my Yemen project.
我逐渐意识到索科特拉岛是我的也门专案。
And so I wanted to put together a huge multidisciplinary team.
我想组建一个庞大的跨学科团队。
We wanted to cross the archipelago on foot, camel and dhow boat to conduct a health check of this place.
我们想步行、骑骆驼和搭单桅帆船穿过群岛，来对这个地方做个健康检查。
This has only been attempted once before, and it was in 1999.
仅在1999年曾有人尝试过一次。
But the thing is, that is not an easy thing to pull off.
但要实现这一目标并非易事。
And so we desperately needed a recce,
因此迫切需要recce，
and for those of you who aren't familiar with British English, a recce is like a scouting expedition.
对那些不熟悉英国英语的人来说，recce就像是探险的斥候侦察。
It's like a reconnaissance.
这就像是一次侦察。
And I often say that a really big expedition without a recce is a bit like a first date without a Facebook stalk.
我常说没有先侦查的大型探险有点像没先用脸书查查的首次约会。
Like, it's doable, but is it wise?
它可行，但明智吗？
There's a few too many knowing laughs in this room.
在这里听到了一些会意的笑声。
Anyway, so then our recce team thankfully were no strangers to unstable places,
无论如何，幸运的是我们的侦察队对不稳定的地方并不陌生。
which, let's be honest, is kind of important because we were trying to get to a place between Yemen and Somalia.
说实话，这很重要，因为我们试图去也门和索马里的中间地带。
And after calling in what felt like a million favors,
感觉像是打了百万通请求帮忙的电话后，
including to the deputy governor, we finally found ourselves on the move,
求助的对象包括副总督，我们终于动起来了，
albeit on a wooden cement cargo ship sailing through pirate waters in the Indian Ocean with this as a toilet.
尽管只是乘坐一艘木质的水泥货船航行穿过印度洋的海盗水域。这是厕所。
Can you guys see this? You know how everybody has their worst toilet story?
看到了吗？知道每个人都有最恶的厕所故事吗？
Well, I've never swam with dolphins before.
我之前没有和海豚一起游过泳。
I just went straight to pooping on them.
我只是对着它们解大便。
And also, I genuinely discovered that I am genuinely less stressed by pirate waters than I am with a cockroach infestation
还有，我真的发现比起蟑螂的侵袭，海盗真的不算什么。
that was so intense that at one point I went belowdeck, and the floor was black and it was moving.
我紧张地一直走到甲板下面，那里的地板是黑色的，在动。
Yeah, and at night there was three raised platforms to sleep on, but there was only, let's say there was four team members,
没错，有三个凸起的平台可供晚上睡觉，但是有四个队员。
and the thing is, if you got a raised platform to sleep on, you only had to contend with a few cockroaches during the night,
如果你睡在凸起的平台上，晚上就只需与几只蟑螂竞争床位；
whereas if you got the floor, good luck to you.
而如果你睡在地板，那么祝你好运。
And so I was the only girl in the team and the whole ship, so I got away without sleeping on the floor.
我是团队和整艘船中唯一的女孩，所以我没睡地板。
And then, on, like, the fourth or fifth night, Martin Edstrom looks at me and goes, "Ella, Ella I really believe in equality."
在第四或第五个晚上，马丁·埃德斯特罗姆对我说：“艾拉，我真的相信男女平等。”
So we were sailing on that cement cargo ship for three days, and then we slowly started seeing land.
我们在那艘水泥货船上航行了三天，慢慢看得到陆地了。
And after three years of failing, I was finally seeing Yemen.
在失败了三年之后，我终于看到了也门。
And there is no feeling on earth like that start of an expedition.
地球上没有任何感觉可与开始探险的心情比拟。
It's this moment where you jump out of a jeep or you look up from a boat
跳出吉普车的当下，或从船上抬起头来的那一刻，
and you know that there's this possibility, it's small but it's still there,
你确知，可能性虽小，但仍然有可能，
that you're about to find something that could add to or change our knowledge of who we are and where we come from.
你所寻找的，将会增加或改变我们对自身是谁和我们来自何方的知识。
There is no feeling like it on earth, and it's a feeling that so many scientists have but rarely in politically unstable places.
地球上没有任何感觉可以比拟，许多科学家有这种感觉，但很少是在政治不稳定的地方。
Because Western scientists are discouraged or all-out barred from working in unstable places.
因为西方不鼓励或全力禁止科学家去不稳定的地方工作。
But here's the thing: scientists specialize in the jungle.
但情况就是这样：科学家专长在丛林。
Scientists work in deep cave systems.
科学家们在洞穴里工作。
Scientists attach themselves to rockets and blow themselves into outer space.
科学家用火箭将自己送上外层空间。
But apparently, working in an unstable place is deemed too high-risk. It is completely arbitrary.
显然，在不稳定的地方工作被认为风险太大。这根本是武断的。
Who here in this room wasn't brought up on adventure stories?
在这个房间里有谁不曾冒险过？
And most of our heroes were actually scientists and academics.
大多数的英雄实际上是科学家和学者。
Science was about going out into the unknown.
科学是走向未知。
It was about truly global exploration, even if there were risks.
这是真正的全球勘探，即使存有风险。
And so when did it become acceptable to make it difficult for science to happen in unstable places?
自什么时候起科学家去不稳定的地方变得困难重重？
And look, I'm not saying that all scientists should go off and start working in unstable places.
我并不是说所有的科学家都该去不稳定的地方工作。
This isn't some gung-ho call.
这不是没头没脑的呼喊。
But here's the thing: for those who have done the research,
但事情就是这样：对于那些已经研究过、
understand security protocol and are trained, stop stopping those who want to.
理解安全协议并接受过培训的人，不要再阻止那些想要去做的人。
Plus, just because one part of a country is an active war zone doesn't mean the whole country is.
此外，仅仅因为某个国家的一部分是战区并不意味着整个国家都是战区。
I'm not saying we should go into active war zones.
我不是说我们应该进入战区。
But Iraqi Kurdistan looks very different from Fallujah.
但伊拉克的库尔德斯坦与费卢杰截然不同。
And actually, a few months after I couldn't get into Yemen, another team adopted me.
实际上，在我无法进入也门几个月后，另一支队伍接纳了我。
So Professor Graeme Barker's team were actually working in Iraqi Kurdistan, and they were digging up Shanidar Cave.
格雷姆·巴克教授的团队实际上在伊拉克库尔德斯坦工作，他们在挖掘沙尼达尔洞穴。
Now, Shanidar Cave a few decades earlier had unveiled a Neanderthal known as Shanidar 1.
几十年前，沙尼达尔洞穴出土的尼安德塔人名为沙尼达尔一号。
Now, for a BBC/PBS TV series we actually brought Shanidar 1 to life, and I want you guys to meet Ned, Ned the Neanderthal.
在BBC/PBS的电视节目里我们真的让沙尼达尔一号栩栩如生。介绍尼安德塔人奈德给你们。
Now here's the coolest thing about Ned.
奈德最酷的是这里。
Ned, this guy, you're meeting him before his injuries.
你看到的是受伤之前的奈德。
See, it turned out that Ned was severely disabled.
事实上奈德有严重残疾。
He was in fact so disabled that there is no way he could have survived without the help of other Neanderthals.
事实上他残疾到，倘若其他的尼安德塔人没帮他，他根本活不下去。
And so this was proof that, at least for this population of Neanderthals at this time,
这证明了至少对于这群尼安德塔人来说，
Neanderthals were like us, and they sometimes looked after those who couldn't look after themselves.
那时尼安德塔人就像我们一样，有时会照顾那些无法照顾自己的人。
Ned's an Iraqi Neanderthal. So what else are we missing?
奈德是个伊拉克尼安德塔人。我们还少了什么？
What incredible scientific discoveries are we not making because we're not looking?
因为我们不探索而错失了多少无与伦比的科学发现呢？
And by the way, these places, they deserve narratives of hope, and science and exploration can be a part of that.
顺便提一下，这些地方应得到希望的故事，科学和探索可以成为其中的一部分。
In fact, I would argue that it can tangibly aid development, and these discoveries become a huge source of local pride.
事实上，我认为那将会切实地帮助那里发展，而这些发现成为了当地自豪感的巨大源泉。
And that brings me to the second reason why science has a geography problem.
这让我想到了科学存在地理问题的第二个原因。
See, we don't empower local academics, do we?
我们不授权当地学者，对吗？
Like, it's not lost on me that in my particular field of paleoanthropology we study human origins,
我注意到在我的古人类学领域，我们研究人类起源，
but we have so few diverse scientists.
但我们欠缺多元化的科学家。
And the thing is, these places are full of students and academics who are desperate to collaborate,
而这些地方到处都是学生和学者，他们迫切希望合作。
and the truth is that for them, they have fewer security issues than us.
事实是，他们的安全问题比我们少。
I think we constantly forget that for them it's not a hostile environment; for them it's home.
我认为我们经常忘记，对他们而言，这不是个充满敌意的环境；对他们来说，这是家。
I'm telling you, research done in unstable places with local collaborators can lead to incredible discoveries,
我想告诉你们，在不稳定的地方与当地人合作研究，能带来无与伦比的发现。
and that is what we are hoping upon hope to do in Socotra.
这就是我们希望在索科特拉岛做的。
They call Socotra the most alien-looking place on earth,
他们称索科特拉岛是地球上最不像地球的地方，
and myself, Leon McCarron, Martin Edstrom and Rhys Thwaites-Jones could see why.
我自己、莱昂·麦卡隆、马丁·埃德斯特罗姆和里斯·思韦茨-琼斯能理解为什么。
I mean, look at this place.
我的意思是，看看这个地方。
These places, they're not hellholes, they're not write-offs, they're the future frontline of science and exploration.
这些地方不糟糕、没被报废，它们是未来科学和探索的前沿。
90 percent of the reptiles on this island, 37 percent of the plant species exist here and nowhere else on earth,
住在这岛上90%的爬行动物和37%的植物物种，不住在地球的其他地方，
and that includes this species of dragon's blood tree, which actually bleeds this red resin.
包括这种龙血树，实际上树脂是红色的。
And there's something else. People on Socotra, some of them still live in caves, and that is really exciting,
还有别的东西。有些索科特拉岛上的人仍住在洞穴里，这真的令人兴奋，
because it means if a cave is prime real estate this century, maybe it was a few thousand years ago.
因为这意味着洞穴是本世纪主要的住所，也许几千年前也是。
But we need the data to prove it, the fossils, the stone tools,
但我们需要数据、化石、石器来证明。
and so our scouting team have teamed up with other scientists, anthropologists and storytellers, international as well as local,
因此，我们的侦察团队与国际和本地的其他科学家、人类学家和讲故事者合作，
like Ahmed Alarqbi, and we are desperate to shed a light on this place before it's too late.
像是阿美德·阿拉尔比，我们迫不及待要揭开它的面纱，以免来不及。
And now, now we just somehow need to get back for that really big expedition, because science, science has a geography problem.
现在我们只需要回到那个大探险，因为科学有地理问题。
You guys have been a really lovely audience. Thank you.
你们真是非常可爱的听众。谢谢。
