my painting
by Robert Krulwich
如果你是一只鸟，现在就是产卵季节
This is egg laying season,if you're a bird.
If you're an octopus,particularly a giant Pacific octopus, you've been there, done that. In fact,you died doing it, in what is the saddest mommy story I've heard in a longwhile. It comes from biologist Jim Cosgrove who describes it all in a lecturehe calls, "No Mother Could Give More."
如果你是一只章鱼，特别是一只巨大的太平洋章鱼，你必然已经到过那，并且做过那样的事情。
实际上，你死于此，而这将是我在长时间内听过的令人伤感的母亲故事。这个故事来自于吉姆科斯格罗夫——他曾在一个“没有母亲能比这做更多”的演讲中提到过。
让我们从一只怀孕的章鱼开始说起。她已经带着体内的卵怀孕四到五个月。直到有一天，正值冬季中旬，当水温合适的时候，她开始将卵一个接一个排入水中。她将繁殖（而这将会花费她一个月或跟多的时间。）大概56000个体，而他们将随意漂浮在水中，直到她将他们聚集成群，并将他们缝合成悬挂辫子的模样，就像中国饭店里的珠
We begin with a pregnantoctopus. She's been that way for four or five months, carrying the eggs insideher body until one day, in mid winter, when the water temperature is right, shestarts expelling her eggs, one by one, into the water. She will produce (andthis will take her a month or so) about 56,000 individuals, who float freeuntil she gathers them into groups, then stitches them into hanging braids,like a bead curtain in a Chinese restaurant.
This is her octopus"den." It's usually an underwater cave, protected by rocks that she'sput at the entrance to keep hungry crabs, sea stars and fish from getting tooclose. She's glued about 170 braids to the roof and there she sits, often rightunder the babies. "Each egg," says Cosgrove, "is a gleamingwhite tear-drop about the size of a grain of rice." Months pass. All thistime, the mother is constantly on guard.
这是她的章鱼“兽穴”。通常它是一个水下洞穴，被那些她放在入口处来阻挡饥饿螃蟹进入的石块保护着。在完成将大约170个”辫子“粘附在洞穴顶上后，她通常会在她宝宝的下方坐下。”“每个卵，” 科斯格罗夫说，“都是一隐约闪烁微光，大概米粒大小的白色泪珠。”几个月过去。在这段时间内，章鱼母亲一直在警戒状态。
As described by WendyWilliams in her new book Kraken, the mother spends five, six months protectingher 56,000 children:
正如温迪威廉在她新书《海怪》中所描述，章鱼母亲将花费五个或六个月时间保护她那56000个宝宝。
She constantly waves herarms gently over the plaits of eggs, making sure that nothing harmful settleson them. With her siphon, she blows water gently over them to keep themaerated...she uses her arms to keep potential predators away from the eggs, andas far away from the den as possible...she normally does not leave the den atany time.
“她经常轻柔地用手抚摸由卵组成的发辫，来确认没有任何有害物体落在他们身上。靠着她的虹吸管，她轻柔地把水吹过他们，以此来维持他们呼吸。她用触手来驱逐潜在天敌，使其远离章鱼宝宝。并且在尽可能的距离内，她通常在任何时刻都不离开她的宝宝。
Throughout this whole periodof more than half a year, she never eats...All of the energy in her body isslowly consumed by her work until, by the time the offspring emerge, she hasnearly starved to death.
在整个长达半年多期间内，她从未进食。所有她体内的能量都将被慢慢消耗，直到后代破卵而出时，她已经几近饿死。
Then one night, though sheis weaker, smaller, and says Cosgrove, "her once brick-red color is now adeathly gray and her skin shows signs of decay," her breath now coming in"sporadic gasps," she repositions herself and blows all of her babiesout of the den into the open water. It's essential that she use her siphon toblow them free, and once they detach, the babies know exactly what do to, saysCosgrove:
有 一天晚上，她已经变得虚弱，更小，“她那曾经的砖红色现已变成死气沉沉的灰色，并且她的皮肤呈现着衰退的迹象。“据科斯格罗夫说，并且她的呼吸现已是零碎断续的。但是她重新挪动了自己并将 她的宝宝吹出洞穴，直到浮在那开阔的水域。她用她的虹吸管将他们吹离，使其自由——这很是重要。一旦他们分离开来，这些章鱼宝宝很清楚该做什么。科斯格洛 夫说：
The babies are spectacular.Measuring 6 mm and weighing just 0.029 grams, they are perfect miniatures oftheir parents. They have 8 tiny arms adorned with suckers. They can changecolors instantly and can even produce a miniature puff of ink when they aredisturbed.
“这些宝宝棒极了。虽然身长6毫米, 体重0.029克，他们是他们父母完美的缩小版。他们有8只带着小吸口的小触手。他们能迅速改变颜色并且甚至能在他们受扰时制造一阵小规模的墨迹喷发。
But the mom is nearexhaustion. She hasn't eaten for so long (probably because food could attractpredators, or because debris from eating could bring parasites near the eggs),she keeps gently blowing water over the babies, pushing them from the den foras long as she can until she herself floats free and sometimes, only two orthree meters from the den opening, she stops breathing...and dies.
但章鱼母亲现在已经竭尽精力。她已经在如此长时间内没吃任何东西（或许是因为食物将吸引天敌，或者是因为进食后的残留物会为卵带来寄生虫）。她继续轻柔地将水吹过宝宝，竭尽所能地将他们推离洞穴直到她也自然漂浮起来。然后在据洞穴开口两到三米处，她停止了呼吸。她死了。
她的宝宝呢？他们直接进入了海洋表层，捕食，生长。有些会在海里下沉更深些，而那里他们可以躲避水母，鲨鱼，蓝鲸，以此求生。在这56000个章鱼宝宝中，有能多少成功长大，并成为世界上最大的章
Her babies? They go straightto the ocean surface, feed there, grow; some will descend deeper into the oceanwhere they will dodge jelly fish, sharks, blue whales and hope to survive. Howmany of 56,000 babies make it to adulthood, where they become the largestoctopuses in the world?
It took two octopuses, amale and a female, to make the 56,000 eggs. On average, says Cosgrove, theyield is "stable," meaning that the two parents will be replaced bytwo children. Out of 56,000, after so many months, so much sacrifice, so muchcare, after all that, mom's "yield" is...just two.
两只章鱼，一雄一雌，能产生56000个卵。根据科斯格洛夫的说法，平均而言，这种生产量是稳定的，意味着两个父母将被两个孩子取代。经历了这么多个月，这么多牺牲，这么多呵护，在经历过这一切之后，56000个宝宝中，章鱼妈妈真正的“生产量”只有2个。
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