旅行的藝術(shù):Ⅳ 好奇心-8

8

8

1802年的6月，洪堡爬上了當(dāng)時公認(rèn)的世界最高的山峰——海拔6267米的秘魯欽博拉索火山。他的報告這樣寫道：“我們不斷攀越云層。多處山脊不超過8—10英寸寬。在我們的左方是冰雪覆蓋的懸崖，它的表層結(jié)了冰，玻璃般閃閃發(fā)亮。我們的右方則是可怕的深淵，在800至1000英尺的深處，有許多突出的巨石。”即便是危險重重，洪堡仍對多數(shù)人忽略的東西作了細(xì)致的觀察：“在海拔16920英尺高的雪線上，我們看到了一些長在石頭上的苔蘚，我們最后一次見到青苔則是比這個高度低2600英尺的地方。在15000英尺的高處，龐普蘭德（洪堡的旅伴）捕捉了一只蝴蝶，而一只蒼蠅出現(xiàn)在比此處高出1600英尺的地方……”

In June 1802, Humboldt climbed up what was then thought to be the highest mountain in the world, the volcanic peak of Mount Chimborazo in Peru, 6,267 metres above sea level. 'We were constantly climbing through clouds,' he reported. 'In many places, the ridge was not wider than eight or ten inches. To our left was a precipice of snow whose frozen crust glistened like glass. On the right lay a fearful abyss, from 800 to 1,000 feet deep, huge masses of rocks projecting from it.' Despite the danger, Humboldt found time to spot elements that would have passed most mortals by: 'A few rock lichens were seen above the snow lines, at a height of 16,920 feet. The last green moss we noticed about 2,600 feet lower down. A butterfly was captured by M. Bonpland ［his travelling companion］ at a height of 15,000 feet and a fly was seen 1,600 feet higher … '

一個人為何會對蒼蠅出現(xiàn)的確切高度產(chǎn)生興趣？他又為何會關(guān)注長在10英寸寬的火山脊上的一片青苔？這份好奇心并非突然產(chǎn)生的；洪堡對這些事物的關(guān)注已久有時日了。蒼蠅和青苔之所以吸引他是因為它們關(guān)系到先前出現(xiàn)的更重大、并且對于外行人來說更能理解的問題。

How does a person come to be interested in the exact height at which he sees a fly? How does he begin to care about a piece of moss growing on a volcanic ridge ten inches wide? In Humboldt's case, such curiosity was far from spontaneous; his concern had a long history. The fly and the moss attracted his attention because they were related to prior, larger and-to the layman-more understandable questions.

好奇心像是由一連串向外拓展、并且有時延伸到深遠(yuǎn)處的小問題所引起，好奇的軸心就是幾個沒什么來由的大問題。我們小時候會問：“為什么有善與惡？”“大自然如何運(yùn)作？”“我為何是我這個個體？”如果環(huán)境和個人性情的發(fā)展得以配合，我們在成年的歲月中會繼續(xù)探討這些問題。人們的好奇心會涵蓋更廣闊的天地，最后到達(dá)什么都覺得新鮮，有趣的階段。那些混沌的大問題便引出了更細(xì)微和深奧的問題。于是我們開始關(guān)注生存在山坡上的蒼蠅，或者16世紀(jì)宮殿中的一幅壁畫。我們也開始關(guān)心一位早已不復(fù)存在的伊比利亞君王的外交政策，或者女人在30年戰(zhàn)爭 [15] 中扮演的角色。

Curiosity might be pictured as being made up of chains of small questions extending outwards, sometimes over huge distances, from a central hub composed of a few blunt, large questions. In childhood we ask: 'Why is there good and evil?' 'How does nature work?' 'Why am I me?' If circumstances and temperament allow, we then build on these questions during adulthood, our curiosity encompassing more and more of the world until, at some point, we may reach that elusive stage where we are bored by nothing. The blunt large questions become connected to smaller, apparently esoteric ones. We end up wondering about flies on the sides of mountains or about a particular fresco on the wall of a sixteenth-century palace. We start to care about the foreign policy of a long-dead Iberian monarch or about the role of peat in the Thirty Years War.

弗里德里希·喬治·魏奇：《欽博拉索山下的洪堡與龐普蘭德》，1810年

洪堡早在童年時就想到一系列問題，這些問題導(dǎo)致他在1802年的6月中，對欽博拉索山10英尺寬的山脊上的一只蒼蠅產(chǎn)生好奇心。他7歲那年從柏林老家到德國別處拜訪親戚時就問自己：“為什么同一類植物不能在所有的地方生長？”為什么長在柏林周圍的樹不出現(xiàn)在巴伐利亞？反之也一樣。他的好奇心受到他人的鼓勵。他得到了大量關(guān)于自然界的書籍、一個顯微鏡以及數(shù)位了解植物學(xué)的家教老師的指導(dǎo)。他成了家中的“小化學(xué)家”，母親更在書齋的墻上貼上了他完成的植物畫作。當(dāng)洪堡前往南美洲的時候，他已經(jīng)嘗試找出定律，以解釋氣候和地理環(huán)境如何影響動植物。他7歲時對事物所產(chǎn)生的質(zhì)疑感并未減弱，只是這份好奇心以更復(fù)雜的問題形式體現(xiàn)出來，例如：“如果北面是曝露面，那么蕨類植物是否會受影響？”、“一棵棕櫚樹能夠生長的海拔極限有多高？”

The chain of questions which led Humboldt to his curiosity about a fly on the ten-inch-wide ledge of Mount Chimborazo in June 1802 had begun as far back as his seventh year, when, as a boy living in Berlin, he had visited relatives in another part of Germany and asked himself: 'Why don't the same things grow everywhere?' Why were there trees near Berlin that did not grow in Bavaria and vice versa? His curiosity was encouraged by others. He was given a library of books about nature, a microscope and tutors who understood botany. He became known as 'the little chemist' in the family and his mother hung his drawings of plants on her study wall. By the time he set out for South America, Humboldt was attempting to formulate laws about how flora and fauna were shaped by climate and geography. His seven-year-old's sense of inquiry was still alive within him, but it was now articulated through more sophisticated questions such as, 'Are ferns affected by northern exposure?' and 'Up to what height will a palm tree survive?'

洪堡在抵達(dá)欽博拉索山腳的營地后，先洗了腳、午睡了一會兒，就幾乎立刻開始動筆撰寫《有關(guān)地理和植物的論述》。他在文中界定了植物在不同高度和溫度下的分布情況。他把海拔高度分為6個區(qū)。從海平面至海拔3000英尺的高度，生長的植物有棕櫚樹和香蕉樹。蕨類植物生長至海拔4900英尺的高度，而橡樹則能生長至9200英尺的高度。接著是常青灌木（如胡椒木和鼠刺），而最高的兩個區(qū)為高山區(qū)：從海拔10150至12600英尺的高度，香草得以生長，而海拔12600至14200英尺的高處則能見到高山草和苔蘚。他還興奮地寫道，蒼蠅不太可能出現(xiàn)在海拔16600英尺的高度以上。

On reaching the base camp below Mount Chimborazo, Humboldt washed his feet, had a short siesta and almost immediately began writing his Essai sur la géographie des plantes- in which he defined the distribution of vegetation at different heights and temperatures. He stated that there were six altitude zones. From sea level to 3,000 feet approximately, palms and pisang plants grew. Up to 4,900 feet, there were ferns and up to 9,200 feet, oak trees. Then came a zone that nurtured the evergreen shrubs (Wintera, Escalloniceae ), followed on the highest levels by two alpine zones: between 10,150 and 12,600 feet, herbs grew, and between 12,600 and 14,200 feet, alpine grasses and lichens. Flies were, he wrote excitedly, unlikely to be found above 16,600 feet.