10個簡單卻無解的世界迷題(中)

own Species

7.未知物種

In 1972, biologist Jennifer Owen began to document the species that she found roaming around her suburban garden. By the time 40 years had elapsed, she'd noted over 8,000 species, 20 of which had never before been seen in England.

1972年，生物學家詹妮弗·歐文開始記錄在她城郊花園裏出現過的動植物。40年以後，她總共記錄了8000種動植物，其中20種以前從沒有在英格蘭出現過。

Of those 20, four were completely new to science. Without leaving her home, Owen had accidentally documented four entirely new species.

其中4種在科學上的歷史還是一片空白。歐文沒有離開過家，卻意外記錄了4種新物種。

This little anecdote demonstrates how little we really know about the species we share our planet with. There's such a mind-bogglingly large number of creatures out there that people are stumbling over completely new ones all the time, often in the most unlikely of places.

這件軼聞趣事表明我們其實對地球上與我們共同生存的物種知之不多。人們在不經意間發現新生物，其數量之多超出我們意料，往往發現的地方也難以想象。

Incredible as Owen's finds were, they're not even the most improbable. Dave Ebert in Taiwan has found 24 new species of shark just by browsing his local fish market.

歐文的發現讓人難以置信，但還不是最匪夷所思的。戴夫·艾伯特通過逛臺灣的魚市，發現了24種新鯊魚。

In London, a mycologist identified three new varieties of Boletus fungi in a pack of dried porcini.

一位研究黴菌的學者在倫敦一堆乾癟的牛肝菌中找到了3種牛肝菌的變體。

By one 2011 estimate, the number of undocumented species on Earth stands at 7.5 million.

2011年一項估算認爲，地球上未被記錄的物種總數約爲750萬。

At the time that estimate was made, we'd only cataloged 1.2 million. That means that up to 90 percent of marine species and 86 percent of land species could be utterly unknown to science.

當時我們已經知道的物種只有120萬。這意味着多達90%的海洋生物和86%的陸地生物可能還徘徊在科學界之外。

Endangered Many Species Are

6.物種瀕危程度

We've driven so many species to the brink of extinction that you can probably name a handful off the top of your head. The Sumatran rhino, Hainan gibbon, Javan rhino, and others all frequently appear on charity appeals.

人類已經把很多動物逼到了瀕臨滅絕的邊緣，你稍微想一想就能說出生存危機最爲嚴重的那幾種。雙腳犀牛、海南長臂猿、爪窪犀牛，還有其他經常出現在慈善機構訴求裏面的動物。

But those are just the animals that we know are endangered. There are thousands—if not millions—more for which we have no idea if they're alive and healthy, alive and endangered, or just plain old dead.

但這些都只是我們確定處境瀕危的動物，還有成千上萬甚至更多的動植物我們並不清楚它們是否還存在、是否健康、有沒有生存威脅，還是會自然老死。

Part of the problem is lack of resources. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has the world's most comprehensive database on endangered animals.

這個問題缺乏支撐。世界自然保護聯盟擁有世界上有關瀕危動物最完善的數據庫。

Yet by 2013, they'd only assessed the status of 71,576 species globally. Even among the 1.2 million species we know about, that's a tiny, tiny fraction.

到2013年，他們只評估了71576種生物的生存狀態。即使在我們已知的120萬種生物當中，這也只是很少很少的一部分。

Expand it to include the 7.5 million potentially undiscovered ones, and it's clear that we have no idea what condition most species are in.

還有750萬種沒被我們發現的物種等着接受評估，由此可見，我們不知道大部分物種的生存狀態。

Another issue is finding the animals in the first place. It's currently thought that as many as seven Oahu alauahios may still exist in Hawaii, yet no one has seen one since 1985.

首要問題是找到這些物種。目前，夏威夷可能還有7只瓦胡島管舌雀，儘管1985年之後沒人再看見過它們。

They could be extinct, or they could eventually reappear like that Israeli frog that everyone assumed had died out. Where species are concerned, we basically have no idea how most of them are doing.

這些鳥兒可能已經滅絕了，也可能有一日重新出現，就像人們都以爲以色列蛙已經滅絕。對於物種，我們連大部分的基本生存狀態都不清楚。

h City Is Growing The Fastest

5.哪座城市發展最快

Even if we can't understand the animal world, we tend to assume that we have a handle on ours. This simply isn't true. Densely populated urban areas are so complex and confusing that we can't even say what the world's fastest-growing city is.

雖然連動物的世界都沒有弄明白，我們卻認爲對自己的世界瞭如指掌。當然不是這樣的。人口密集的城市地區很複雜，我們甚至說不出世界上發展最快的城市是哪一座。

This might seem like one of those problems akin to wondering how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, but knowing which cities are undergoing the most rapid population changes can help us predict where the next economic powerhouse might emerge and adjust our own policies accordingly.

這個問題很難，類似於在問有多個天使在針尖上跳舞一樣。知道哪座城市人口數量變化最快也許能幫助我們預測下一個經濟動力中心出現的地方，並啓發我們相應地調整自己的政策。

The only trouble is that there are multiple ways of measuring a city's growth rate, and none of them return the same answer.

唯一麻煩的是衡量城市發展的方式很多，而且得出的答案都不一樣。

By one count, Batam, Indonesia, is leading the charge, with annual growth of 7.4 percent. By another, the fastest-growing city is Niamey in Niger.

有統計表明，印度尼西亞巴淡島位於這項變化的前沿，每年增長速度達到7.4%。另一項統計表明，發展最快的城市是尼日爾的尼亞美。

By yet another, it's Xiamen, China. A city that tops one ranking may not even feature in the top 10 of another.

還有統計得出的結論是廈門。一項統計的冠軍城市可能排在另一項統計的前十位之外。

Geographic growth is hard to measure, too, for reasons similar to those causing the trouble with maps we mentioned earlier. Growth is often so fast that by the time we've accurately measured one city, all our data is out of date.

城市地域範圍的增加也很難測量，原因類似於上文導致地圖沒有標記部分地區的問題。發展很快，我們比較精確地測完一座城市得出的數據已經過時了。

In short, predicting the location of the Earth's next megacities is harder than it looks.

簡言之，預測下一批大城市崛起的地方沒那麼容易。

h Country Is Happiest

4.哪個國家最幸福

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash, many began to look for better methods of measuring a country's well-being than GDP. Enter the National Happiness Index, which has been brought in by governments everywhere from Thailand to the UK.

2008年經融危機之後，很多人開始尋找比GDP更有效的方式來評價一個國家的富庶程度。國民幸福指數出現在大家面前——從泰國到英國等各地政府都開始使用這一指標。

In theory, it's a great idea; human life is about far more than just contributing to the economy. In practice, however, the measurements are often wildly contradictory.

理論上這個想法很棒；人們的生活遠不止對經濟的貢獻。但實際上，測量結果常常讓人大跌眼鏡。

You may have heard of Bhutan. A tiny mountain kingdom nestled at the top of India, Bhutan is dirt poor and largely inaccessible to tourists.

你可能聽說過不丹，一個位於印度北邊的多山小國，不僅極其貧困，而且遊客很難進去。

It's also famous as being one of the happiest places on Earth, a claim which has led to an onslaught of magazine articles explaining why its low-carbon, no-smoking, Earth-loving society should be replicated elsewhere.

而這裏卻以“世界上最幸福的地方”而聞名，這個稱號還催生了一大批雜誌文章，闡述爲什麼不丹低碳、禁菸、熱愛環境的社會模式應該複製到其他地方。

In short, Bhutan could be extremely happy, or it could be utterly miserable. We simply don't know. Other countries are difficult to measure, too.

總而言之，不丹人要麼極其幸福，要麼極其痛苦。我們並不清楚。其他國家也很難衡量。

Some metrics place Latin America as the pinnacle of happiness. Others say the honor goes to Northern Europe. It seems happiness is just too nebulous to measure on a global scale.

有一些統計將拉美推上了幸福之巔。其他人則認爲這一榮譽屬於北歐。要衡量全球範圍的幸福程度，“幸福”似乎變得模糊了。