The contributions of female explorers - Courtney Stephens

女性探险家的贡献 - Courtney Stephens

Transcriber: Andrea McDonough Reviewer: Jessica Ruby

翻译人员: Catherine Gu 校对人员: Bighead Ge

Nowadays, we take curiosity for granted.

现今，我们对好奇心不以为然。

We believe that if we put in the hard work,

我们相信如果努力工作，

we might one day stand before the pyramids,

有朝一日我们或许会站在金字塔前，

discover a new species of flower,

发现一个新品种的花，

or even go to the moon.

或甚至登上月球。

But, in the 18th and 19th century,

但在十八和十九世纪，

female eyes gazed out windows

女性凝视窗外

at a world they were unlikely to ever explore.

看到的是她们不曾探索的世界。

Life for women in the time of Queen Victoria

维多利亚女王时代的妇女生活

was largely relegated to house chores and gossip.

主要是在家做家务和说长道短。

And, although they devoured books on exotic travel,

尽管她们津津有味地阅读异国游记，

most would never would leave the places

但多数人从没离开过

in which they were born.

她们的出生地。

However, there were a few Victorian women, who,

可是却有少数维多利亚妇女，

through privilege,

通过特权、

endurance,

耐力、

and not taking "no" for an answer,

和不接受“不”的回答，

did set sail for wilder shores.

确实向荒芜的海岸扬起了风帆。

In 1860, Marianne North,

1860年，Marianne North，

an amateur gardener and painter,

一位业余园艺师和画家，

crossed the ocean to America

漂洋过海来到美国，

with letters of introduction,

带着介绍信、

an easel,

画架

and a love of flowers.

和对鲜花的热爱。

She went on to travel to Jamaica,

接着她前往牙买加、

Peru,

Japan,

秘鲁、

日本、

India,

印度、

Australia.

澳大利亚。

In fact, she went to every continent except Antarctica

事实上她去了除南极洲以外的各大洲

in pursuit of new flowers to paint.

寻求新花作画。

"I was overwhelmed with the amount

“我简直不敢相信

of subjects to be painted," she wrote.

绘画题材的数量“，她写道，

"The hills were marvelously blue,

“丘陵是奇妙的蓝色，

piled one over the other beyond them.

层峦叠嶂。

I never saw such abundance of pure color."

我从没见过这样丰富的纯正色彩。“

With no planes or automobiles

没有飞机或汽车

and rarely a paved street,

以及很少有铺成的街道，

North rode donkeys,

North骑着驴，

scaled cliffs,

翻过悬崖，

and crossed swamps

越过沼泽

to reach the plants she wanted.

找到她想要的植物。

And all this in the customary dress of her day,

而这一切活动都穿着她每天习惯的套装，

floor-length gowns.

拖地长袍。

As photography had not yet been perfected,

由于摄影尚未完善，

Marianne's paintings gave botanists back in Europe

Marianne 的画作使欧洲的植物学家

their first glimpses of some of the world's most unusual plants,

第一次看到一些世界上最不平常的植物，

like the giant pitcher plant of Borneo,

像婆罗洲巨型猪笼草，

the African torch lily,

非洲火炬百合，

and the many other species named for her

和许多以她的名字命名的其它物种，

as she was the first European to catalog them in the wild.

因为她是野外编目的第一位欧洲人。

Meanwhile, back in London,

与此同时在伦敦，

Miss Mary Kingsley was the sheltered daughter

Mary Kingsley小姐是一位游医的

of a traveling doctor

受宠爱的女儿，

who loved hearing her father's tales

爱听她父亲讲

of native customs in Africa.

非洲风俗的故事。

Midway through writing a book on the subject,

她父亲写关于这个题材的书未完，

her father fell ill and died.

就病倒去世了。

So, Kingsley decided she would finish the book for him.

因此，Kingsley决定替父亲完成这本书。

Peers of her father advised her not to go,

父亲的同龄人劝她不要去，

showing her maps of tropical diseases,

在地图上显示热带疾病的地方，

but she went anyhow,

但她还是去了。

landing in modern-day Sierra Leone in 1896

于1896年在当今的塞拉利昂登录，

with two large suitcases and a phrase book.

只带了两只大行李箱和一本短语书。

Traveling into the jungle,

她进入丛林旅行，

she was able to confirm the existence

确认了存在一种

of a then-mythical creature,

当时的神话生物，

the gorilla.

大猩猩。

She recalls fighting with crocodiles,

她回忆与鳄鱼的战斗，

being caught in a tornado,

被卷入龙卷风，

and tickling a hippopotamus with her umbrella

用她的伞给河马瘙痒

so that he'd leave the side of her canoe.

使得河马会离开她的独木舟。

Falling into a spiky pit,

她跌落到一个高低不平的坑里，

she was saved from harm by her thick petticoat.

厚厚的衬裙的保护使她没有受伤。

"A good snake properly cooked

她写道：“一道拿手的适当烹饪的蛇餐

is one of the best meals one gets out here," she wrote.

是这里吃到的美味佳肴之一。“

Think Indiana Jones was resourceful?

想想Indiana Jones够足智多谋吧？

Kingsley could out-survive him any day!

Kingsley比他幸存的时间会更长！

But when it comes to breaking rules,

但是当涉及到打破规则，

perhaps no female traveler was

或许没有一位女性旅游者

as daring as Alexandra David-Neel.

像Alexandra David-Neel 一样大胆。

Alexandra, who had studied Eastern religions

Alexandra 在法国的家中

at home in France,

研究了东方的宗教，

wanted desperately to prove herself

急切地向当时的巴黎学者

to Parisian scholars of the day,

证明自己，

all of whom were men.

当时的学者都是男人。

She decided the only way to be taken seriously

她打定主意要受到认真对待的唯一方式

was to visit the fabled city of Lhasa

就是去传说中的

in the mountains of Tibet.

在西藏群山中的拉萨市。

"People will have to say,

“人们会不得不说，

'This woman lived among the things she's talking about.

‘这个女人生活在她谈论的事物中，

She touched them and she saw them alive,'" she wrote.

她触摸过它们，还看到它们活着“， 她写道。

When she arrived at the border from India,

她到达印度边界时，

she was forbidden to cross.

禁止她穿越。

So, she disguised herself as a Tibetan man.

因此她把自己装扮成西藏人。

Dressed in a yak fur coat

身着牦牛裘皮大衣

and a necklace of carved skulls,

戴着用雕刻的头骨制成的项链，

she hiked through the barren Himilayas

徒步穿过荒芜的喜马拉雅山，

all the way to Lhasa,

一路到达拉萨，

where she was subsequently arrested.

随后在那里被捕。

She learned that the harder the journey,

她了解到旅程越艰难，

the better the story,

故事越精彩，

and went on to write many books on Tibetan religion,

继而写了许多关于西藏宗教的书，

which not only made a splash back in Paris

不仅在巴黎引起轰动

but remain important today.

而且在今天仍然是重要的。

These brave women, and others like them,

这些勇敢的妇女和向她们一样的人，

went all over the world to prove

走遍世界证明

that the desire to see for oneself

为自己而看的愿望

not only changes the course of human knowledge,

不仅改变了人类知识的进程，

it changes the very idea of what is possible.

还改变了什么是可能的想法。

They used the power of curiosity

她们利用好奇心的力量

to try and understand the viewpoints

尝试和理解其它地方

and peculiarities of other places,

的观点和特点，

perhaps because they, themselves,

可能因为她们

were seen as so unusual in their own societies.

在自己的社会被视为如此的不同寻常。

But their journeys revealed to them

但她们的旅程向人们揭示了

something more than the ways of foreign lands,

超出了外国的东西，

they revealed something only they, themselves, could find:

揭示了只有她们自己才能发现的东西：

a sense of their own self.

自我意识。