逃離伊甸園的極樂鳥

⊙ By Harvey Jones

翻譯：丁一

逃離伊甸園的極樂鳥

⊙ By Harvey Jones

翻譯：丁一

顧名思義，極樂鳥就是來自極樂世界的鳥，有著無與倫比的美麗，讓人如癡如醉。你準備好欣賞它的美麗了嗎？

Imagine creatures so beautiful that people thought they had come down directly from Heaven, so1)striking that the first Europeans to see them thought they could only have escaped from the Garden of Eden. In fact, that Eden was New Guinea. They were birds, but unlike birds that anyone had ever seen before. And their displays were even more extraordinary and2)bizarre than their appearance, some of the most complex to be found in the animal kingdom. They may not have come from the Garden of Eden, but they certainly deserve the name that the first European scientists gave them, the birds-ofparadise.

The male king bird will call to the females in the area. If none come, he will perform without them. After3)puffing himself up, he4)flicks his5)quills above his head and6)rattles them, making the little disks dance in theair above him. He7)swings upside down and locks his legs, and then he turns himself into a8)pendulum.

The king bird is a9)soloist. The males of many other species display in groups. These are the greater birds-of-paradise. Males10)assemble every day in one special tree waiting for a female to arrive. When one does, they all11)snap into action, and she selects the one she prefers. By selecting the finest12)plumes in this way, the females have increased the males’ beauty generation after generation and so brought these13)magnificent dances into existence.

Seeing the dance gives Miriam an insight into the14)intimate15)rituals of her people. Miriam Supurma (Scientist): I was thinking back to people in Papua New Guinea, they have these16)gatherings where they go into a hut and sit in a row, the17)alternating male, female, male, female. They start singing and18)rocking their heads back and forth. It’s like picking out someone they fancy. I can understand why, when they do their traditional dance, they put the feathers on. Probably, to them, [sic] represents something, you know, that’s kind of19)sacred they find in the forest, and because of the bird’s behavior, it’s a very unique and special bird.

The spectacular beauty of their birds fascinates the people of New Guinea. The bird of paradise plumes were important. And, when men want to dance, it’s festival time, and feathers are still essential headwear.

Papuans are steeped in the mysteries of their20)tribal past. Nobody knows it all, only that birds and humans have been together for thousands of years. The desire to possess the beauty of the birds is an ancient21)obsession. Everywhere the paradise birds are hunted and their plumes treasured and stored on the22)rafters in houses throughout the land. These precious feathers are kept in bamboo tubes ready to23)adorn the bodies of a new generation to help them begin a new cycle of human life.

1) striking [5straIkIN] adj. 引人注意的，突出的

2) bizarre [bI5zB:(r)] adj. 奇異的

3) puff [pQf] v. 使成蓬松的一團

4) flick [flIk] v. 輕打，輕彈

5) quill [kwIl] n. （鳥的）翮羽

6) rattle [5rAt(E)l] v. 發格格聲

7) swing [swIN] v. 前后擺動

8) pendulum [5pendjJlEm] n. 鐘擺

9) soloist [5sEJlEJIst] n. 獨奏者，獨自表演者

10) assemble [E5semb(E)l] v. 集合，聚集

11) snap [snAp] v. 快速地行動，敏捷地動作

12) plume [plu:m] n. 羽毛

13) magnificent [mA^5nIfIsEnt] adj. 壯麗的，極好的

14) intimate [5IntImEt] adj. 親密的，親近的

15) ritual [5rItFJEl] n. 儀式，典禮

16) gathering [5^ATErIN] n. 聚會，集會

17) alternate [5C:lt:neIt] v. 交替，間隔

18) rock [r?k] v. 搖擺，擺動

19) sacred [5seIkrId] adj. 神圣的

20) tribal [5traIbEl] adj. 部落的，部族的

21) obsession [Eb5seF(E)n] n. 著迷，癡迷

22) rafter [5rB:ftE(r)] n. [建]椽子

23) adorn [E5dC:n] v. 裝飾

u Garden of Eden 伊甸園：基督教《圣經》中人類始祖亞當和夏娃最初居住的地方。根據《圣經·舊約·創世紀》的記載，上帝在創造人后，在東方的伊甸園為亞當和夏娃造了一個樂園，里面有生靈萬物，果木繁茂，景色優美，兩人過著無憂無慮的生活，直到犯下原罪才被逐出樂園。后來伊甸園被喻為廣義上的樂園、天堂，亦簡稱為Eden。

試想有這樣一種令人驚艷的動物，讓人一度以為它們從天堂降臨凡間，而最早見到它們的歐洲人因其絢麗而認定它們逃自伊甸園。這種動物所在的那個“伊甸園”其實是新幾內亞。它們是鳥，卻跟人們以前見過的所有鳥類都不一樣。這些鳥的表演比其外表更加精彩和怪異，其表演的復雜程度稱得上是動物界之最。它們也許不是真的來自伊甸園，但肯定配得上首批歐洲科學家給它們取的名字——極樂鳥。

雄性王極樂鳥會呼喚這個區域的雌鳥，就算沒有雌鳥出現，它還是會照樣表演。它先把羽毛蓬起，輕輕拍打頭上的飾羽，讓其發出格格的聲音，同時使小圓盤在頭頂上舞動。隨后它把自己倒掛在樹上，緊扣雙腿，像鐘擺般搖晃。

王極樂鳥單獨求偶，很多其他種類的雄性極樂鳥則喜歡以集體表演的方式求偶。這些是大極樂鳥，雄鳥每天聚集在一棵特定的樹上，等候雌鳥的出現。一旦有一只雌鳥露面，它們就會立即行動，雌鳥會從中選擇如意郎君。雌鳥通過這種方式選擇羽毛最為絢麗的雄鳥，讓其后代擁有更漂亮的羽毛，這正是這些精彩舞蹈出現的原因。

看到極樂鳥的舞蹈，米里亞姆對自己族人的私密儀式有了更深的了解。

米里亞姆·薩普爾瑪（科學家）：我回想著巴布亞新幾內亞人的生活。他們會聚集在一起，在小屋里男女相間地坐成一排，隨后開始一邊唱歌，一邊搖頭晃腦，好像在選擇自己中意的人。我現在能明白，他們為何會在跳傳統舞蹈時戴上極樂鳥的羽飾，因為對他們來說，這種鳥也許代表了森林里某種神圣的東西。因為這種鳥的行為不同尋常，所以這是一種獨一無二的奇特之鳥。

新幾內亞人被他們生活中極樂鳥的華麗迷住了。極樂鳥的羽毛對他們來說異常重要。他們要起舞時，就是盛大節日，此時極樂鳥的飾羽是他們頭飾中必不可少的。

巴布亞人都沉迷于他們部族的遠古神話。沒人知道神話的全部內容，只知道這種鳥與人相處了數千年之久，擁有極樂鳥的美麗是他們自古以來的追求。這片土地上的人一直在捕獵極樂鳥，然后把羽毛珍藏起來，放在屋椽上面。這些珍貴的羽毛被存放在竹筒內，留給下一代做裝飾，幫助他們開始一個全新的生命周期。