Part I
Professor: OK, last time we talked about ancient agricultural civilizations that observed the stars and then used those observations to keep track of the seasons. But, today I want to talk about the importance of stars for early seafarers, about how the fixed patterns of stars were used as navigational aids.
OK, you've all heard about the Vikings and their impressive navigation skills. But the seafaring peoples of the Pacific islands, the Polynesians and the Micronesians, were quite possibly the world's greatest navigators. Long before the development of advanced navigational tools in Europe, Pacific islanders were traveling from New Zealand to Hawaii and back again, using nothing but the stars as their navigational instruments.
早在欧洲开发出先进的导航工具之前，太平洋的岛民就已经在从新西兰往返夏威夷了，他们只使用星星作为他们的导航工具。
1. keep track of
to have/not have information about what is happening or where sb/sth is 了解…的动态；与…保持联系
E.g.: Bank statements help you keep track of where your money is going.
银行账单有助于你了解你的资金使用情况。
2. seafarer|ˈsi:feərə(r)|
noun. a sailor 水手；海员
E.g.: The Estonians have always been seafarers.
爱沙尼亚人总是在海上漂泊。
3. fixed |fɪkst|
adj. staying the same; not changing or able to be changed 固定的；不变的；不能变的
E.g.: The money has been invested for a fixed period.
这笔款项已作定期投资。
4. aid |eɪd|
noun. an object, a machine, etc. that you use to help you do sth 辅助设备;辅助物
E.g.: Photos make useful teaching aids.
照片可以成为有用的教具。
5. people |ˈpi:pl|
noun. all the persons who live in a particular place or belong to a particular country, race, etc. （统称）人民，国民；民族；种族
E.g.: the native peoples of Siberia
西伯利亚本土民族
Part II
Um, the key to the Pacific islanders' success was probably their location near the equator. What that meant was that the sky could be partitioned, divided up, much more symmetrically than it could farther away from the equator.
Unlike the Vikings, uh, early observers of the stars in Polynesia, or really anywhere along the equator, would feel that they were at the very center of things: with the sky to the north and the sky to the south behaving identically. They could see stars going straight up in the east and straight down in the west. So, it was easier to discern the order in the sky than farther north or farther south, where everything would seem more chaotic.
Take the case of the Gilbert Islands. They are part of Polynesia and lie very close to the equator, and the people there were able to divide the sky into symmetrical boxes, according to the main directions, north, east, south and west. And they could precisely describe the location of the star by indicating its position in one of those imaginary boxes. And they realized that you had to know the stars in order to navigate. In fact, there is only one word for both in the Gilbert Islands, when you wanted a star expert, you asked for a navigator.
这意味着天空可以被分割、分成不同的部分，比远离赤道的地方分得更加对称。
实际上在吉尔伯特群岛，一个词就可以代表他们两个，当你想要一位星星专家的时候，你找一个航海者就行了。
1. equator 赤道; longitude 经度; latitude 纬度; prime meridian 本初子午线
2. partition|pɑ:ˈtɪʃn|
verb. to divide sth into parts 分割；使分裂
E.g.: The room is partitioned into three sections.
这间屋子被隔为三小间。
3. symmetrical|sɪˈmetrɪkl|
adj. having two halves, parts or sides that are the same in size and shape 对称的
E.g.: The symmetrical design of this church makes it very beautiful.
这座教堂的对称性结构使它十分美丽。
4. behave |bɪˈheɪv|
verb. in science, the way that something behaves is the things that it does （在科学领域）运动，起作用，作出反应
E.g.: Under certain conditions, electrons can behave like waves rather than particles.
在一定条件下，电子可以作波状运动，而不是粒子状运动。
5. discern |dɪˈsɜ:n|
verb. to know, recognize or understand sth, especially sth that is not obvious 觉察出；识别；了解
E.g.: It is possible to discern a number of different techniques in her work.
从她的作品中可以识别出许多不同的创作手法。
6. chaotic|keɪˈɒtɪk|
adj. in a state of complete confusion and lack of order 混乱的；杂乱的；紊乱的
E.g.: The traffic in the city is chaotic in the rush hour.
在上下班高峰时间，城市的交通混乱不堪。
Part III
Um, islanders from all over the Pacific learned to use the stars for navigation. And they passed this knowledge down from generation to generation. Some of them utilized stone structures called “stone canoes”, uh, and these, uh, canoes were on land, of course, and you can still see them on some islands today.
They were positioned as if they were heading in the direction of the points on the sea horizon where certain stars would appear and disappear during the night. And, uh, young would-be navigators sat by the stones at night and turned in different directions to memorize the constellations they saw. So they could recognize them and navigate, uh, by them later on when they went out to sea.
它们被摆放得就好像它们正在朝着海平面上某些星星在夜间出现和消失的点的方向前进一样。
1. utilize|ˈju:təlaɪz|
verb. to use sth, especially for a practical purpose 使用；利用；运用；应用
E.g.: The Romans were the first to utilize concrete as a building material.
罗马人首先使用混凝土作建筑材料。
2. position |pəˈzɪʃn|
verb. to put sb/sth in a particular position 安装；安置；使处于
E.g.: Large television screens were positioned at either end of the stadium.
体育场的两端安装了大型电视屏幕。
3. would-be
adj. used to describe sb who is hoping to become the type of person mentioned （形容想要成为…的人）未来的
E.g.: a book that provides encouragement for would-be writers who cannot get their novel into print
一本勉励想成为作家却不能将小说付梓者的书
4. constellation |ˌkɒnstəˈleɪʃn|
noun. a group of stars that forms a shape in the sky and has a name 星座
E.g.: a planet orbiting a star in the constellation of Cepheus
围绕仙王座中一颗恒星旋转的行星
Part IV
One important way the Polynesians had for orienting themselves was by using zenith stars. A zenith star was a really bright star that would pass directly overhead at a particular latitude, uh, at a particular distance from the equator, often at latitude associates with some, uh, particular Pacific island,
so the Polynesians could estimate their latitude just by looking straight up, by observing whether a certain zenith star pass directly overhead at night. They'd know if they had reached the same latitude as a particular island they were trying to get to.
他们会知道他们是否已经到达了与他们想要去的特定岛屿相同的纬度。
1. orient|ˈɔ:rient|
verb. to find your position in relation to your surroundings 确定方位；认识方向
E.g.: The mountaineers found it hard to orient themselves in the fog.
登山者在大雾中很难辨认方向。
2. zenith|ˈzenɪθ|
noun. the highest point that the sun or moon reaches in the sky, directly above you 天顶（太阳或月亮在天空中的最高点）
E.g.: The sun rises, reaches its zenith and sets.
太阳升起，达到最高点，然后落下。
Part V
Um, another technique used by the Polynesians was to look for a star pair–that's two stars that rise at the same time, or set at the same time. And navigators could use these pairs of stars as reference points, because they rise or set together only at specific latitudes. So navigators might see one star pair setting together and, uh, would know how far north or south of the equator they were.
And if they kept on going, the next night they saw the pair of stars setting separately, then they would know they were at a different degree of latitude. So looking at rising and setting star pairs is a good technique. Um, actually it makes more sense with setting stars. They can be watched instead of trying to guess when they'll rise.
Uh, OK, I think all this shows that navigating doesn't really require fancy navigational instruments. The peoples of the Pacific islands had such expert knowledge of astronomy as well as navigation that they were able to navigate over vast stretches of Open Ocean. Uh, it's even possible that Polynesians navigators had already sailed to the Americas centuries before Columbus.
生活在太平洋岛屿的族群，他们拥有如此专业的天文和航海知识，以至于他们可以在广阔的外海中航行。
1. reference point
a standard by which sth can be judged or compared 参比点；参照标准
E.g.: Uncertainty shifts the internal reference point upward.
不确定性把内部参考点上移了。
2. fancy |ˈfænsi|
adj. unusually complicated, often in an unnecessary way; intended to impress other people 异常复杂的；太花哨的
E.g.: He's always using fancy legal words.
他总是使用异常复杂的法律词语。
3. stretch |stretʃ|
noun. an area of land or water, especially a long one 一片；一泓；一段
E.g.: You rarely see boats on this stretch of the river.
这一河段船只罕见。
