How a Changing Climate Is Shaping a Leaf Peeper’s Paradise
氣候變遷 秋季賞葉期更長
By Craig S. Smith

A century ago, the flaming fall foliage in Nova Scotia would have long faded by early November. But today, some of the hills are still as nubbly with color as an aunt’s embroidered pillow.
一個世紀前，加拿大諾瓦斯科細亞省火紅的秋天樹葉在11月初以前早已凋謝，而當下一些山丘的顏色仍舊一塊塊的，彷彿姨媽的繡花枕頭一般。

Climate change is responsible, scientists say. As the seasonal change creeps later into the year, not only here but all across the northern United States and Canada, the glorious colors will last longer, they predict – a rare instance where global warming is giving us something to look forward to.
科學家說，這都是氣候變遷造成的。他們預測，隨著一年裡的時序變化來得更晚，不僅這個地方，還有在美國北部與加拿大全境，這壯麗的顏色將持續更長的時間，而這是全球暖化讓我們有所期盼的罕見事例。

“If climate change makes eastern North America drier, then autumn colors will be spectacular, as they are on the Canadian Shield in dry summers, especially the red maples,” said Root Gorelick, a biology professor at Carleton University in Ottawa. The Canadian Shield is a broad ring of forests and ancient bedrock that extends hundreds of miles from the shores of Hudson Bay.
渥太華卡爾頓大學生物學教授路特．高利克說：「如果氣候變遷讓北美洲東部變得更乾燥，秋天的顏色將會很壯觀，就像加拿大地盾在乾燥夏季時那般，尤其是紅色的楓樹。」加拿大地盾是由廣大的森林與古代基岩所組成，從哈德遜灣海岸向外延伸數百哩。

Over the very long term, the warming planet may have a negative effect on fall foliage, but even then any adverse impact is uncertain. It is not just an aesthetic question, but an economic one as well: The changing colors drive billions of dollars in “leaf peeping” tourism in Canada and the United States.
就極長期而言，地球日益暖化可能會對秋天的樹葉產生負面影響，但即便如此，任何的不利影響都還難以確定。這不僅是個美學問題，還是個經濟問題：這些顏色的變化為加拿大與美國的「賞葉」旅遊業帶來數十億美元的產值。

“From a peeper’s point of view, it’s good news,” said Marco Archetti, the lead author of a 2013 paper at Harvard on predicting climate change impacts on autumn colors in New England.
哈佛大學2013年發表了一篇預測氣候變遷如何影響新英格蘭秋天顏色的論文，論文的主要作者馬可．阿切堤說：「從觀賞者角度來說，這是個好消息。」

We only have to read Henry David Thoreau to know that climate change is pushing the changing colors later into the year. He spent a lot of time tramping around his native Concord, Massachusetts, making notes on how plants changed with the seasons.
我們只消閱讀梭羅的文字就可以知道，氣候變遷正讓一年中這顏色的變化來得更晚。他花了很多時間在他家鄉麻薩諸塞州康科德附近漫遊，記錄植物如何隨季節而變化。

“In general, peak leaf color in Concord and the surrounding Boston area for these maples is now more typically a week or two later” than what Thoreau observed, said Richard Primack, a biology professor at Boston University. He has been using Thoreau’s records and satellite images to track the effect of climate change on local plant cycles.
波士頓大學生物學教授理查．普瑞麥克說，相較於梭羅所觀察到的，「大體而言，康科德跟波士頓周圍地區楓樹顏色最紅的時節，如今通常晚了一、兩周」。他一直在使用梭羅留下的記錄與衛星圖像來追蹤氣候變遷對當地植物周期的影響。

The Harvard study, which looked at the percentage and duration of autumn color in Harvard Forest in central Massachusetts from 1993 to 2010, predicted that with current climate change forecasts, the duration of the fall display would increase about one day for every 10 years.
哈佛大學的這項研究觀察1993年至2010年間，麻州中部哈佛森林內秋葉變色部分的百分比及持續期間的長短，他們根據目前對氣候變遷走勢的預測推估，秋葉變色持續的期間，每十年大約會拉長一天。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/03/science/climate-change-leaves.html

2016-11-20．聯合報．D4．紐約時報賞析 陳韋廷譯

說文解字看新聞 張佑生

歐陽修〈秋聲賦〉：「夫秋，刑官也」，可視為秋天對（犯）人的影響；「草拂之而色變，木遭之而葉脫」則是對植物的衝擊。紐時介紹全球暖化對秋季「賞葉」（leaf peeping）活動的影響，日文是「紅葉狩」（Momijigari）、中文常說「賞楓」，英語用法不限於賞楓，賞葉人是leaf peeper。

全球暖化延遲且拉長賞葉季的時間，作者稱為「百害一利」。暖化的影響不僅是一片楓葉一片情的美感體驗（aesthetic），更牽涉到數十億美元獲利的實際問題，美國東北的新英格蘭區是賞葉勝地（leaf peeping destination），每年都大發觀光財：Leaf peeping, the pastime of enjoying autumn foliage, brings in $1bn each year to New England.

Foliage指樹葉，一簇葉子、枝葉、葉叢，為不可數名詞。報導舉例的美國大思想家梭羅，在名著《湖濱散記》（Walden）中提到觀察某處著實怪異的草木（a truly grotesque vegetation）時描述，其枝葉形似建築圖案（architectural foliage）的程度比其他樹葉更古老更具代表性。

Europe’s Mosquito-Free Island Paradise: Iceland
歐洲沒有蚊子的島嶼天堂：冰島
By Liz Alderman

They suck your blood and buzz annoyingly around your ears. Their itchy bites can turn a festive barbecue miserable or ruin a bucolic walk in the woods. The most baneful ones spread diseases.
牠們會吸你的血，並且討厭地在你耳邊嗡嗡作響。他們令人發癢的叮咬，可能讓一場烤肉狂歡變得很悽慘，也可能毀了一場鄉間林中漫步。那些最惡毒的還會傳播疾病。

In almost every country in the world, mosquitoes are a menace.
幾乎在世上每一個國家，蚊子都是一種很討人厭的東西。

Everywhere but Iceland, that is.
說得更明白一些，到處都是，除了冰島。

Iceland is one of the few habitable places on the planet that is mosquito-free, and nobody really seems to know why.
冰島是地球上可供人類居住卻沒有蚊子的少數地區之一，而且似乎沒有人真知道原因。

It’s not nearly as cold as Antarctica, which is so frigid that mosquitoes (and people, for that matter) could never survive exposure to the elements there for long. Nor does Iceland lack the ponds and lakes where mosquitoes love to breed. And the insects are able to thrive in Iceland’s neighbors — Norway, Denmark, Scotland, even Greenland — which only adds to the mystery.
它遠不似南極洲般嚴寒，南極洲極為冰冷，以致蚊子絕對無法長期暴露於當地的惡劣環境而存活（基於同樣原因，人類也是。）冰島也不乏蚊子喜歡繁殖的池塘和湖泊。而各種蚊子可在冰島的鄰國大量繁殖，如挪威、丹麥、蘇格蘭，甚至格陵蘭，而這也讓這道謎更加費解。

The most likely theory proffered so far, scientists say, is that Iceland’s oceanic climate keeps them at bay. When mosquitoes lay eggs in cold weather, the larvae emerge with a thaw, allowing them to breed and multiply. Iceland, however, typically has three major freezes and thaws a year, creating conditions that may be too unstable for the insect’s survival.
科學家說，迄今最合理的理論是，冰島的海洋氣候使蚊子無法生存。蚊子在寒冷天氣產卵後，幼蟲會在融雪時破卵而出，讓幼蟲得以成長和繁殖。然而，冰島通常一年就有三次主要的冰凍和冰融，形成高度不穩定的環境，不利蚊子存活。

Others have suggested that there may be something about the chemical composition of Iceland’s soil and water that mosquitoes can’t tolerate.
另有些人認為，可能是冰島的水和土壤含有蚊子無法忍受的化學成分。

Whatever the reason, mosquitoes simply haven’t been able to colonize the way they do elsewhere, said Gisli Mar Gislason, a biologist at the University of Iceland.
冰島大學生物學家吉斯里．馬爾．季斯拉森說，無論原因何在，蚊子就是一直無法像在其他地方一樣，也在冰島定居。

That may not be true much longer. Global warming has raised the average air temperature in the country about 2 degrees Fahrenheit in the past 20 years, and in that time, 200 new insect species have settled in Iceland that could not thrive there before, Gislason said: “If the warming continues, we may find mosquitoes in Iceland in the near future.”
不過或許不需再等太久，情況就不復如此了。全球暖化使得該國平均氣溫過去20年提高了約華氏2度，且在那段期間，有200種原本無法在冰島大量繁殖的新昆蟲開始定居冰島，季斯拉森說：「若是暖化繼續下去，不久之後我們可能會在冰島發現蚊子。」

It wouldn’t be entirely bad news. Mosquitoes would provide a new source of food for fish, especially Arctic char, one of Iceland’s main exports. But otherwise, Gislason observed, “they will be a nuisance for everyone, just like they are all over the world.”
這不全然是壞事。蚊子將為魚類提供新的食物來源，特別是冰島的主要出口產品北極紅點鮭。但除此之外，季斯拉森說：「牠們仍會是人人討厭的東西，一如在世界各地。」

For now, the only place in Iceland to find a mosquito is in the Icelandic Institute of Natural History. There, preserved in a jar of alcohol, is one lone specimen, captured by Gislason in the 1980s as it buzzed inside an airplane from Greenland that he had boarded at an Icelandic airport.
就目前而言，冰島上唯一能找到一隻蚊子的地方是冰島自然歷史研究所。在那裡，保存在一個酒精瓶內的，是孤單單的一隻蚊子的標本，季斯拉森在1980年代捉到牠，當時牠在來自格陵蘭的一架客機裡，季斯拉森從冰島機場登上這架客機。

“I chased it around the cabin until I got it,” he said. “It’s the only mosquito I’ve ever found in Iceland.”
他說：「我在客艙裡追著牠跑，直到捉到牠。我在冰島只發現過這麼一隻蚊子。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/03/world/what-in-the-world/europes-mosquito-free-island-paradise-iceland.html

2016-11-20．聯合報．D4．紐約時報賞析 王麗娟譯