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English to Chinese: Wisdom of Birds General field: Science Detailed field: Zoology
Source text - English 4 Disappearing Fantasies:
The Emergence of Migration
I’m sitting in a medieval castle, a small one, on the outskirts of the sleepy village of Radolfzell in southern Germany. It is cold outside and a low winter sun is casting long shadows from the apple trees in the surrounding orchards across the frosty ground. Unlikely as it might seem, the castle houses a famous institute of bird migration.1 In front of me is a computer screen, and on it a pixellated outline of the Dark Continent. From the very centre of Africa a point no bigger than a full stop is flashing at the same frequency as my heart beats. It is almost as though it is a heartbeat, but the signal is from a radio carried by a white stork standing motionless on the hot savannah. Five months previously, before this particular bird left its nest in eastern Germany, it was fitted with a small transmitter that is now monitored several times a day by a satellite streaming across the heavens, pinpointing its exact location, its body temperature and whether it is flying, walking or standing. The stork is out of sight of almost any human and I feel overawed and humbled by so effortlessly being able to ‘see’ this bird. A couple of mouse clicks and I can re-create its southward journey; its day-to-day progress across eastern Europe, the Bosporus, Turkey, Eilat, Sudan and into Chad where it has been for several weeks during the European winter. Another mouse click, and I can look at another stork. Ringed in the same part of Germany, this one continued to fly south and is wintering near Cape Town and by the time it returns to Europe next spring it will have flown some 24,000 km (just under 15,000 miles) [Fig. 4.8, coloured map]. The technology that allows me this view of a bird’s life is a miracle, but a tiny one compared with migration itself. So far the satellite transmitters are suitable only for large birds – albatrosses, eagles, swans and storks – but soon, as the technology improves, tiny transmitters powered by the sun will allow us to track swallows, swifts and martins on their epic journeys across the Sahara Desert and back.
When John Ray wrote The Wisdom of God he was in no doubt about the fact of migration; what fascinated him was how and why it occurs:
But how come they to be directed to the same place yearly, though sometimes but a little island, as the soland goose [gannet] to the Basse of Edinburgh Frith [sic], which they could not possibly see, and so it could have no influence upon them that way? The cold or the heat might possibly drive them in a right line from either, but that they should impel land-birds to venture over a wide ocean, of which they can see no end, is strange and unaccountable: one would think that the sight of so much water and present fear of drowning should overcome the sense of hunger, or disagreeableness of the temper of the air. Besides, how come they to steer their course aright to their several quarters, which before the compass was invented was hard for a man himself to do, they being not able, as I noted before, to see them at that distance? Think we that the quails for instance, could see quite cross the Mediterranean Sea? And yet, it’s clear, they fly out of Italy into Africa, lighting many times on ships in the midst of the sea, to rest themselves when tired and spent with flying. That they should thus shift places, is very convenient for them, and accordingly we see they do it; which seems to be impossible they should, unless themselves were endowed with reason, or directed and acted by a superior intelligent cause.
Today, Ray’s assumption that gannets, quail and warblers migrate seems no more than common sense, but migration was far from universally accepted in the 1600s. When birds disappeared at the end of the summer it was commonly believed that, rather than setting off across the sea, many simply went into hibernation, hiding themselves in crevices or in the mud at the bottom of ponds. This is rather curious given that migration had been known, or at least assumed, for several hundred years before Christ.
For certain species migration was fairly obvious. White storks disappeared in winter and reappeared the following spring, and because they are large and often travel in huge, conspicuous flocks, the ancients could actually see them migrating [Fig. 4.2]. The birds’ size and confident manner probably dispelled any doubts about their ability to cross the sea successfully.
And it wasn’t just large birds. A poem from the sixth century bc attributed to the Greek poet Anacreon and translated by Thomas Stanley during Ray’s lifetime confirms an early belief in migration:
Gentle swallow, thou we know
Every year dost come and go,
In the Spring thy nest thou mak’st
In winter it forsak’st,
And diverst’st thyself awhile
Near the Memphian Towers or Nile.
The ‘Memphian Towers’ refer to the ancient Egyptian city of Mem- phis; the Nile is another reference to the fact that swallows went from Greece to Africa.
Three centuries later, Aristotle reaffirmed the common belief in migration:
For all animals have an instinctive perception of the changes of tem- perature, and, just as men seek shelter in houses in winter, or as men of great possessions spend their summer in cool places and their winter in sunny ones, so also all animals that can do so shift their habitat at various seasons . . . others migrate . . . quitting . . . the cold countries after the autumn equinox to avoid the approaching winter, and after the spring equinox migrating from warm lands to cool lands to avoid the coming heat.
Chinese to English: Shenzhen Mangrove Wetlands Conservation Foundation Environmental Interpretation Signs General field: Science Detailed field: Environment & Ecology
Translation - English 1. A freshwater pond ecosystem provides habitat for many living organisms
• Several types of aquatic plants grow here: algae, submerged plants, floating plants, and emergent plantsAlgae and aquatic plants are the primary producers in the pond. They use sunlight to produce organic compounds, which provide food for primary consumers (animals that feed on plants).
• Primary consumers become prey of their predators. All of the living organisms depend on each other and constitute a comprehensive food web.
• For many animals, the pond and surrounding vegetation serve as irreplaceable habitat for feeding, resting, and breeding.
2. The mangrove forest shelters numerous living organisms.
The leaf litter of mangrove plants supports and protects many primary consumers (animals that feed on plants), which attracts predators of a higher trophic level. The plants and animals constitute a healthy and integrated ecosystem.
Chinese to English: Futian National Nature Reserve Guided Tour General field: Science Detailed field: Environment & Ecology
Source text - Chinese 据点2：步行至导览牌/小广场
（入口解说牌）
福田红树林自然保护区建于1984年10月，1988年5月晋升为国家级自然保护区，面积约368公顷，是全国唯一处在城市腹地、面积最小的国家级自然保护区。主要保护对象为红树林及鸟类。
这里地处深圳湾东北岸，毗邻拉姆萨尔国际重要湿地香港米埔自然保护区，东起新洲河口，西至红树林海滨生态公园，形成沿海岸线长约为9公里的“绿色长城”。
（黑脸琵鹭雕像）黑脸琵鹭为中型涉禽，体羽白色嘴长黑色，形似琵琶，被列为世界濒危珍稀鸟类，为我国国家二级重点保护鸟类。深圳湾是全球第二大黑脸琵鹭越冬地。2017年1月，全球黑脸琵鹭普查数据为3941只，在深圳湾（后海湾）录得375只。
（小广场地图解说牌）保护区成立至今，这期间也发生了很多故事。
1994年深圳市规划修建滨海大道，选址路线要从红树林保护区穿过，引起社会各界的广泛关注，通过大家的积极争取，最后市政府决定将滨海大道北移200米，避开保护区的核心区，从而才保留下这片相对完整的红树林，据说政府为此多花了1个亿。
Translation - English Futian Mangrove Nature Reserve was established in October, 1984, and designated as a national nature reserve (NNR) in May, 1988. With a total area of 368 hectares, the reserve is the smallest NNR in the country and the only NNR that sits in the middle of a metropolitan area. The objective of the reserve is to provide habitats for mangroves and birds.
The reserve is situated on the northeast shore of Shenzhen Bay and abuts Mai Po Nature Reserve in Hong Kong, a designated Ramsar site. From the estuary of Xinzhou River on the east to Mangrove Coastal Ecological Park on the west, the mangroves form a 9 km long “green great wall” along the coastline.
Black-faced Spoonbills are medium-sized waders. Their bodies are covered by a white plumage and their long black beaks resemble a spoon. They are globally endangered and listed as a Class II protected species in China. Shenzhen Bay has the second largest wintering population of Black-faced Spoonbills in the world. A global survey in January, 2017 resulted in a total count of 3,941 birds, of which 411375 individuals were recorded at Shenzhen Bay.
There have been many interesting developments since the reserve was established.
In 1994, the city of Shenzhen was planning on a new coastal expressway, and the proposed route would go through the nature reserve. This original plan drew a considerable amount of attention and concerns from the general public. As a result of efforts made by many activists, the city government finally decided to move the proposed expressway 200 meters northward, so it would avoid the core zone of the nature reserve. This change cost the government a hundred million RMB more, but the mangrove forest was kept intact.
The Mangrove Coastal Ecological Park to the east of this nature reserve was built on the bed of the proposed expressway. The park provides green space and recreational opportunities for the general public. It also serves as a buffer zone from the city for the birds in Shenzhen Bay. There is a 500-meter long sound wall at the entrance of the reserve, which is also the first sound wall in Shenzhen. This barrier was also constructed to protect the birds in the mangrove reserve.
As the period of extensive construction passed, public environmental awareness increased. Many environmental organizations emerged. Shenzhen Mangrove Wetlands Conservation Foundation was started in 2012, and was the first non-governmental environmental foundation eligible for public fundraising. The foundation has been dedicated to conservation of coastal wetlands, especially the mangroves. The foundation and the management bureau of this nature reserve signed an agreement of collaboration in late 2015. This was a meaningful step to change the conventional “closed door” conservation approach. The two institutions together train volunteers to lead public tours to educate visitors on the significance of the nature reserve.
Mangroves are trees and shrubs that grow in the intertidal regions of the tropical and subtropical coastlines. They are a special wetland ecosystem between terrestrial, freshwater, and marine environments. Instead of a single species, mangroves are assemblages of several plant species. Mangroves are often partially or completely inundated during high tides and therefore sometimes called “forest on the water” or “underwater forest”.
The nature reserve has approximately one hundred hectares of mangrove forest, which have a rich biodiversity. There are two hundred nighty-four species of vascular plants that belong to seventy-nine families, including sixteen species of mangrove plants that belong to nine families. The mangrove plants include Milky Mangrove, Kandelia obovata, Black Mangrove, Grey Mangrove, Holly Mangrove, Large-leafed Mangrove, Golden Leather Fern, etc.
On this Mangrove Educational Trail, we designed treasure hunting games and other tools to engage the audience and help them understand the ecological adaptations of mangroves.
The mangrove ecosystem in Futian Mangrove Nature Reserve consists of three subsystems, namely mudflat, mangrove, and gei wai. Both mudflats and gei wai are important feeding and roosting sites for migratory birds.
Since the establishment of the nature reserve in 1984, the local fishermen have gradually relocated. In 2006, the local government finally completed purchasing all of the gei wai (over 66 hectares) in the nature reserve and entrusted them to the reserve for waterbird habitat management.
Natural succession was filling up the gei wai in the reserve over time.The gei wai in Futian was not providing desirable habitats for shorebirds anymore.
In early 2016, Futian Mangrove Nature Reserve started the collaborative effort to reconfigure Pond No. 4 with Shenzhen Mangrove Wetlands Conservation Foundation, supported by experts from Mai Po Nature Reserve in Hong Kong. The objective was to create appropriate habitats for shorebirds.
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Years of experience: 13. Registered at ProZ.com: Oct 2017.
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I am an experienced translator and interpreter working with the Chinese-English language pair. I have translated numerous professional materials (mostly in conservation, ecology, environmental science, and sustainability) as well as two books in ornithology. I have a Master of Science in natural resources and am highly familiar with the vocabulary of biology, ecology, conservation, environmental science, sustainability, as well as general business. I provide prompt, accurate, complete, and crafted translation service between Chinese and English. I am originally from China and now live in the Champlain Vally with my Vermonter husband.
Keywords: mandarin, biology, ecology, environment, conservation, natural resources, social science, general business
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