Could you survive the real Twilight Zone? - Philip Renaud and Kenneth Kostel

翻译人员: Bella He 校对人员: Helen Chang

You're traveling deep beneath the ocean's surface,

你遨游在大海深处，

where faint lights flicker and toothy grins flash.

这里时有微光闪烁，时有利齿闪现。

You are now entering... the Twilight Zone.

你即将进入……暮色带。

Your mission is to survive these depths

你的任务是在这深海之中生存下来，

and journey to the surface after sundown to feed.

日落后游向海面觅食。

You may now pick your player.

现在你来选择角色。

Just kidding— you don’t have a choice.

逗你玩呢——你没有选择。

You’re a hatchetfish.

你是条小银斧鱼。

And almost everything else is trying to eat you.

几乎所有生物都试图吃掉你。

The tools at your disposal are a uniquely shaped body,

你独特的身型、反光的鳞片 和腹中能发出光亮的部位

shiny scales, and glowing spots on your belly.

是你能利用的手段。

You’re going to need a lot of skill and a little luck.

你将需要动用许多技巧，借用一点运气。

Your first challenge is to begin your upwards trek.

你迎来的第一个挑战是向上远游。

Your swim bladder allows you to precisely control your buoyancy.

鱼鳔让你能够准确控制你的浮力。

Come nightfall, you slowly fill it up,

夜幕降临，你往鱼鳔里慢慢充气；

becoming less dense and rising towards the surface.

自身密度变小，渐渐浮向水面。

You can’t swim fast, but your narrow build makes you maneuverable.

虽然你游得不快，但窄小的身型 保障了你的灵敏度。

This is especially important since predators could spring out of the darkness

这点极其重要，鉴于掠食者随时有可能

at any moment.

从黑暗中冲出来。

In fact, a fangtooth is gliding beneath you.

实际上，一条尖牙鱼在你身后游过。

It has the ocean’s biggest tooth-to-body size ratio.

它有着水生生物中最大的头身比。

Food is hard to come by in the Twilight Zone,

因为暮色带内食物稀缺，

so predators have fearsome adaptations to make every attack count.

所以掠食者经过惊人的进化， 以保障每一次都是有效攻击。

The fangtooth’s skin is ultra-black:

尖牙鱼拥有着超黑肤色，

it reflects less than 0.5% of the light that hits it,

表皮的光反射率低于 0.5%，

making this fish particularly hard to spot.

使得发现这尖牙鱼变得极其困难。

Fortunately, the bioluminescent organs lining your belly are regulated

幸运的是，排列在腹部的发光器官 调节亮度，

to match the intensity and pattern of the faint light from the ocean’s surface.

以与来自海洋表面的微光强度 和特征相匹配。

This counter-illumination disguises your silhouette.

消光剪影掩饰你的轮廓。

So when the fangtooth gazes upwards, you’re almost invisible.

因此尖牙鱼往上看时，你几乎隐形了。

A bright spot appears in the distance.

远处出现一道光。

You go to check it out, but something’s looming in the darkness.

你前往查看，但有什么潜伏在黑暗中。

The light is a bioluminescent lure belonging to an anglerfish.

这道光是琵琶鱼的荧光诱饵。

You dart away before it quickly opens its jaws,

在它猛然张开血盆大口前， 你迅速躲开；

sucking in a hapless fish that got too close.

它此刻吸入离它很近的倒霉小鱼。

Another narrow escape, but you’re nearly there.

又一次死里逃生，但这次离死神很近。

Although more than 90% of deep-sea creatures are bioluminescent,

尽管 90% 以上的深海生物都发光，

only one group produces the color red: dragonfishes.

只有一类产出红光——海蛾鱼。

One of them is near.

有一条正在靠近。

Because red light is quickly absorbed by seawater,

由于海水快速吸收红光，

most deep-sea inhabitants can’t see it.

大多深海生物看不见红光。

The dragonfish emits red light from organs by its eyes,

海蛾鱼通过眼旁的器官发出红光，

using an invisible headlight to locate unsuspecting prey

利用隐形的头灯去定位 毫无戒心的猎物,

that its scoops into its cavernous jaw.

舀进牠巨穴似的下巴。

You can’t see your enemy,

你看不见敌人，

but your silvery, mirror-like scales scatter and soften direct light,

但如镜子般的银色鳞片发散、弱化直光，

keeping you hidden.

使你保持隐形状态。

After three close calls, you reach... the Photic Zone.

经历三次险入“虎”口， 你终于抵达透光带。

You’ve just participated in the world’s largest migration.

就在刚才你参与了世界上 最大型的迁徙。

It takes place every night as trillions of organisms rise from the ocean’s depths

迁徙每晚都会进行—— 数以万亿计的微生物就着夜色

to enjoy the surface’s rich resources under the cover of darkness.

从深海向上浮以享有表层丰硕的资源。

The payoff is huge.

回报十分显著。

Here, your light-sensitive eyes take in a buffet of small crustaceans

这里，你光敏发达的双眼捕捉到 各种小型甲壳动物

and gelatinous zooplankton.

和胶质浮游动物。

During the day, phytoplankton use sunlight to turn dissolved carbon dioxide

白天，浮游植物利用阳光将 溶解的二氧化碳

into energy and build their own cells.

转化为能量，合成自身细胞。

They become food for small grazers, forming the base of the food web,

浮游植物成为小型草食动物的食物， 这形成食物网的基础，

which extends back down to the Twilight Zone— and beyond.

食物网向下延伸至暮色带， 甚至到更深处。

Organic matter generated up here— like bits of skin, poop, and dead animals—

在透光带这里产生的有机物， 如：皮屑、排泄物和死去的动物，

eventually sinks or is transported in the stomachs of animals

最终会下沉或进了动物的肚子里，

returning from their nightly migrations.

这些动物在夜徙归途中带回。

These materials then feed the creatures below that don't migrate.

然后，这类物质成为 不迁徙的生物的食粮。

This ensures that some of the carbon from the atmosphere

这样确保了部分来自大气层的碳元素

is locked away in the ocean for hundreds of years to come.

在未来几百年仍存于海洋之中。

That's why this process is known as the biological carbon pump.

因此，这个过程俗称生物碳泵。

Without it, there’d be much more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,

如果生物碳泵不存在，大气层中 二氧化碳含量将大大升高，

where it contributes to climate change.

进一步加剧气候变化。

Your avatar, the hatchetfish, is part of this crucial process.

你的阿凡达，那条银斧鱼，就是 这不可或缺过程中的一环。

Your first quest is complete,

你完成了第一次探险，

but you must repeat this journey every night for the rest of your life.

但你须在余生中的每一晚 反复进行同样的征程。

As the sun rises, the surface becomes dangerous,

太阳升起，表层变得危机四伏，

and you descend back into the shadows of the Twilight Zone.

你随即下潜到昏暗的暮色带之中。