變綠的泰姬陵 環(huán)境污染危及印度文化遺產(chǎn)

NEW DELHI — Over the centuries, the Taj Mahal hasendured its share of attacks — plundered by the Jatsof northern India and looted by British soldiers,among other indignities. In recent years, officialshave worried that growing air pollution couldpermanently darken the tomb’s brilliant whiteexterior.

新德里——數(shù)百年來，泰姬陵可謂歷盡坎坷——它被印度北部的賈特人掠奪過，被英國士兵洗劫過，還飽受其他種種侮辱。最近幾年，官員們又擔(dān)心，它那光彩照人的白色外觀會(huì)因?yàn)槿諠u嚴(yán)重的空氣污染而永久性變暗。

But few people anticipated the latest affront — millions of mosquito-like insects, theirnumbers supercharged by nutritious algae blooming profusely along the banks of thepolluted Yamuna River nearby. Like generations of romance-driven human couples before them,the bugs have swarmed the Taj Mahal on a mating flight, excreting a green substance onparts of its marble walls.

而它剛剛遭受的襲擊出乎所有人的預(yù)料——前來撒野的竟是數(shù)百萬只長相類似蚊子的昆蟲。泰姬陵附近的亞穆納河污染嚴(yán)重，獲得豐富營養(yǎng)的藻類沿著河岸瘋漲，進(jìn)而讓此種昆蟲的數(shù)量出現(xiàn)激增。和此前一代又一代心懷浪漫的人類伴侶一樣，這些昆蟲涌入泰姬陵進(jìn)行婚飛，把一種綠色的物質(zhì)排泄在大理石墻壁上。

The Yamuna has suffered mightily in recent years from the dumping of solid waste in its waters,says an environmental activist in Agra, India, the site of the Taj Mahal.

泰姬陵位于印度阿格拉市，當(dāng)?shù)氐囊幻h(huán)保活動(dòng)人士說，近幾年來，亞穆納河飽受傾倒在河水中的固體垃圾之害。

“I have been constantly watching how the river pollution has gone from bad to worse,” saidD.K. Joshi, who filed a petition over the insects in the National Green Tribunal, anenvironmental court last week. “The encroachments on and around the riverbed, the sewagegoing directly into the river” are choking it, he said.

“我一直不斷地觀察，目睹了污染越來越嚴(yán)重的過程，”D·K·喬希(D.K. Joshi)說。上周，喬希向一個(gè)環(huán)保法庭——國家綠色法庭(National Green Tribunal)——遞交了與前述昆蟲有關(guān)的請(qǐng)?jiān)笗?。他說，“河床及其周邊地區(qū)正在遭到侵蝕，下水道污物直接排入河中”，這條河都快窒息了。

On Monday, the National Green Tribunal issued notices to the central and local authorities,including the Ministry of Environment and Forests, telling them to respond to the petition thismonth.

周一，國家綠色法庭向包括環(huán)境林業(yè)部(Ministry of Environment and Forests)在內(nèi)的中央和地方當(dāng)局發(fā)出了通知，要求它們于本月對(duì)這份請(qǐng)?jiān)笗龀龌貞?yīng)。

With India’s cities ranking among the most polluted in the world by the World HealthOrganization, public concern over toxic air and water is mounting. The central government haspledged billions of rupees to cleaning the Ganges River. But the effect of pollution on India’scultural heritage, though less obvious than its health effects, is also worthy of attention,experts say.

由于印度多個(gè)城市都登上了世界衛(wèi)生組織(World Health Organization)發(fā)布的全球污染最嚴(yán)重城市排行榜，公眾對(duì)有毒的空氣和水源的擔(dān)憂與日俱增。專家稱，污染給印度文化遺產(chǎn)帶來的影響雖然不像對(duì)健康的影響那樣明顯，但也值得關(guān)注。

Sohail Hashmi, a Delhi-based writer and expert on heritage monuments, told Press Trust ofIndia in an interview that the recently revived white limestone doors of the historic Red Fort,a former residence the Mughal emperor that was completed in 1648, “have become yellow inabout six years.” Like the Red Fort, the Taj Mahal was built on the orders of Shah Jahan, aMughal emperor, as a mausoleum for his beloved wife, and it was also finished in 1648.

德里的作家兼文物古跡專家蘇海爾·哈什米(Sohail Hashmi)在接受印度報(bào)業(yè)托拉斯通訊社(Press Trust ofIndia)采訪時(shí)說，紅堡(Red Fort)的石灰?guī)r門前些年剛剛得到修復(fù)，才過了6年左右時(shí)間就變黃了。紅堡是一座歷史悠久的建筑，建成于1648年，曾為莫臥兒(Mughal)帝王的居所。和紅堡一樣，泰姬陵由莫臥兒帝國的皇帝沙賈汗(Shah Jahan)下令修建，用以埋葬他深愛的妻子;泰姬陵同樣建成于1648年。

The green secretions on the back wall of the Taj Mahal, a residue of the chlorophyll the insectsconsume, are not themselves harmful to the monument beyond the discoloration, said GirishMaheshwari, the head of the department of entomology at St. John’s College in Agra, whoanalyzed the problem for the Archaeological Survey of India.

阿格拉市圣約翰學(xué)院(St. John’s College)昆蟲學(xué)專業(yè)負(fù)責(zé)人吉里什·馬赫什瓦里(Girish Maheshwari)說，泰姬陵后墻上的綠色分泌物，是那些昆蟲消化的葉綠素的殘余物質(zhì)，除了會(huì)讓墻壁變色，對(duì)泰姬陵并沒有其他害處。

But the explosive numbers of the insects — called Goeldichironomus — were an alarmingindication of how polluted the river has become, he said, since their eggs thrive onphosphorus and sediment in the water. And he worried over the “highly synchronized” swarmof insects that descend on the monument in the evening.

但他表示，那種名叫格萊德?lián)u蚊的昆蟲數(shù)量激增，表明了一個(gè)令人不安的問題：河水的污染已經(jīng)到了極為嚴(yán)重的程度。因?yàn)楦袢R德?lián)u蚊的卵只有在富含磷和沉淀物的水體中才會(huì)茁壯成長。他還對(duì)傍晚時(shí)分“高度同步地”出現(xiàn)在泰姬陵上方的大群昆蟲感到擔(dān)心。

“They can create problems for the visitors,” he said.

“它們可能會(huì)給參觀者帶來困擾，”他說。

The walls have been cleaned with clay packs, said Manoj Bhatnagar, an official in the Agra officeof the archaeological survey. The excretions could also be removed with water, but the day-to-day cleaning is “very challenging.”

印度考古調(diào)查機(jī)構(gòu)阿格拉辦公室的一名官員稱，泰姬陵的墻壁已經(jīng)被人用粘土“面膜”清理過了。用水也可以清洗掉那些分泌物，但日復(fù)一日的清洗“非常具有挑戰(zhàn)性”。

The insects do not seem to have deterred tourists, as yet. Samir Uberoi, who runs a tourcompany based in Mumbai, visited the Taj Mahal with groups twice in the last two weeks anddid not notice a change. When asked what would happen if there was a significant recurringgreening on the most loved monument in the country, he said, “I’m only hoping to God theyfind a solution before that.”

截至目前，游客們似乎并未因?yàn)槔ハx而卻步。過去兩周里，在孟買開了一家旅游公司的薩米爾·烏貝羅伊(Samir Uberoi)曾兩次帶團(tuán)參觀泰姬陵，沒覺得情況有什么變化。當(dāng)被問及印度最令人向往的這處古跡如果非常明顯地反復(fù)變綠，會(huì)發(fā)生什么事情時(shí)，他說，“我只能祈求神靈，讓他們?cè)谀侵罢页鼋鉀Q之道。”

Puneet Dan, a tour guide in Agra, said he noticed the discoloration on the boundary wall of theTaj Mahal and on the back of the monument. So did his tourists, who he said flew into“semipanic mode.”

阿格拉市一位名叫普尼特·丹(Puneet Dan)的導(dǎo)游說，他曾注意到泰姬陵的圍墻以及陵墓后墻有變色的地方。他帶去的游客也注意到了，他說他們迅速進(jìn)入了“半恐慌模式”。

He said all he could do was assure them that officials were not about to let one of the greatestmonuments in the world turn green.

他說自己當(dāng)時(shí)只能向游客保證：官員們不會(huì)讓世界上最偉大的歷史遺跡之一變綠的。