《经济学人》双语：葡萄酒起源于何时?

原文标题：
The origins of wine
Of vino, veritas
The origin of grapevines is a tangled vine itself
葡萄酒的起源
在葡萄酒中寻找真相
葡萄藤的起源如同一条交织复杂的藤蔓

But genetics is untangling it
但可以通过基因来解密

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ACCORDING TO THE Bible, Noah was the first man to make wine. He was also, not unrelatedly, the first man to drink to excess, be found naked in his own vineyard, and wake up with a hangover.

据《圣经》记载，诺亚是第一个酿造葡萄酒的人，与此相关的是，他也是第一个喝醉、在自己的葡萄园里赤身裸体，醒来后头疼欲裂的人。

But, certain colourful details aside, this legend of the most premier of crus is not too far off the standard picture of the birth of viticulture: a single domestication that happened thousands of years in the past.
但是，除了这些绚丽多彩的细节之外，这个传说讲述的葡萄酒的起源与历史上的葡萄种植的起源相差不远：数千年前，人们进行了单一的驯化。

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But how many thousands?

但问题是：具体在几千年前呢？

Most domestications of Old World crops and animals are thought to have taken place during a white-hot period of innovation between 15,000 and 10,000 years ago.

人们普遍认为大多数旧世界作物和动物的驯化是在1.5万-1万年前的一段如火如荼的创新期间发生的。

Grapes were a notable exception.Small-scale genetic analyses had pegged their cultivation as happening between 15,000 and 400,000 years ago—a range implausibly wide, not least because, a few minor excursions aside, Homo sapiens left Africa only about 60,000 years before the present day.
葡萄则是一个值得注意的例外。小规模的基因分析将它们的栽培时间定在了1.5万到4万年前，这个范围太过宽泛不可信，尤其是因为智人离开非洲的时间距今只有6万年左右，一些较小的迁徙之除外。

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This estimate of when grapes were first cultivated has now been pruned.

然而，关于葡萄最早的估计种植时间现已被削减。

In a study just published in Science, Chen Wei of Yunnan Agricultural University, in China, and a team of collaborators from across the world, have distilled a new picture.

在一项刚刚发表在《科学》杂志上的研究中，中国云南农业大学的陈伟以及来自世界各地的合作者团队得出了一个新的结论。

Grapevines were, it seems, domesticated on two occasions, in quick succession but in different parts of the world, about 11,000 years ago.

大约1.1万年前，葡萄藤分别在世界不同地区连续经历了2次驯化。

That makes the old model so much noble rot. “Now that whole building just collapsed,” says Dr Chen.
这使得旧模型如同葡萄贵腐一般不堪一击。陈博士说：“现在，整个理论框架都已经崩塌了。”

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The confusion was caused not by poor analysis but limited data.

混乱局面并不是由于分析不对，而是由于数据有限导致的。

Indeed, one of Dr Chen’s own papers provided evidence for the 400,000 year figure, based on some 70 varieties of wild grapes from a small region of Germany.

事实上，陈博士自己的一篇论文提供了基于德国一个小区域70个野生葡萄品种的40万年数字证据。

His new work tramples over such limitations by including over 3,500 varieties from the full terroir of existing viticulture: 1,000 or so wild; the remainder cultivated.

他的新研究工作超越了这种限制，包括来自现有葡萄种植全区域的3,500多个品种：约1,000个是野生的，其余是栽培的。

Getting hold of that many samples was not easy. Dr Chen’s team relied on the good will of collaborators, enthused by the prospect of participating in a definitive study with generous funding, provided mostly by Chinese scientific bodies.
获得这么多样本数据并不容易。陈博士的团队得益于依赖于合作者的善意，他们热衷于参与这项具有决定性意义的研究，并且得到了中国科学机构慷慨的资助。

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Kristina Margaryan, of the Institute of Molecular Biology in Armenia, for instance, spent weeks trekking with colleagues through her country’s hills, collecting what would later turn out to be hundreds of hitherto unknown varieties of wild grape.

例如，亚美尼亚分子生物学研究所的克里斯蒂娜·马加里安与同事们花费数周时间穿越亚美尼亚山区，收集到数百个此前未知的野生葡萄品种。

Elsewhere, researchers negotiated with vineyard owners to take samples from their precious vines.
在其他地方，研究人员与葡萄园主协商，从他们珍贵的葡萄藤上采样。

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Thousands of these were then sent to Dr Chen’s laboratory, where each had its DNA extracted, sequenced and fed into a supercomputer for analysis.

随后数千个样本被送到陈博士的实验室，研究人员在实验室提取了每个样本的DNA，进行了测序并输入超级计算机进行分析。

This compared the sequences for each sample, looking for variations that would suggest evolutionary steps and, hence, familial links.

计算机对每个样本的序列进行比较，来找出表明进化步骤的变异及弄清楚葡萄品种的亲缘关系。

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The results revealed that present-day grape varieties can be split into ten groups: four of wild Vitis sylvestris and six of cultivated Vitis vinifera.

研究结果表明，现代葡萄品种可以分为10个群体：4个是野生的欧亚葡萄（Vitis sylvestris），另外6个是栽培种植的欧洲葡萄（Vitis vinifera）。

All arose from a proto-vine which split, some 200,000-400,000 years ago, into two varieties, Syl-E, which flourished in the Caucasus and Levant, and Syl-W, which grew across western Europe.
这些品种都起源于一种原始的藤蔓，大约在 20-40 万年前分裂成2个品种：Syl-E和Syl-W。其中Syl-E分布在高加索和黎凡特地区，而Syl-W则分布在欧洲西部。

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What happened next recalls another aspect of the biblical story: climate-change-induced selection.

接下来的情况类似于圣经故事的另一面：气候变化引起的自然选择。

In this case it was not a flood, but a cooling. As temperatures declined through the last glacial period, and conditions became less hospitable, varieties in different regions evolved different mechanisms for survival.

这次不是洪水，而是气候变冷。由于最后的冰河时期气温下降，环境变得不那么适宜，不同地区的葡萄品种演化出不同的生存机制。

By 56,000 years ago, Syl-E had split into Syl-E1 and Syl-E2, with Syl-W following suit around 500BC.
到了大约5.6万年前，Syl-E分裂成了Syl-E1和Syl-E2，随后Syl-W也在公元前500年左右分裂出来。

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The analysis also showed that around 11,000 years ago, a strain of Syl-E1 was cultivated somewhere near modern-day Israel that would become the ancestor of almost all today’s varieties.

分析还显示，在约11,000年前，人们在今天的以色列附近种植了Syl-E1的品种，它会成为几乎所有现代葡萄品种的祖先。

As well as spreading southward to north Africa and thence as far west as Morocco, it was also carried north to Anatolia, where, within the space of 500 years, it gave rise to a new family.

除了向南传播到北非，向西到达摩洛哥外，它还向北传播到安纳托利亚，在500年的时间里在那里产生了一个新品种。

The next big evolutionary milestone would come 8,000 years later, when new strains appeared in the Balkans and then, in quick succession, Iberia and modern-day France.
下一个重要的进化里程碑将在8000年后出现，当时新品种出现在巴尔干半岛，然后相继出现在伊比利亚和今天的法国地区。

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At almost exactly the same time that this story was beginning in the Middle East, a similar process was under way with Syl-E2 in modern-day Georgia.

当新品种出现在中东时，现代格鲁吉亚地区的Syl-E2也开始了类似的进程。

Because of the mountainous terrain, migration of this grape was more limited, so the varieties developed here remained more isolated.

由于地形多山，这种葡萄的迁徙范围更有限，因此这里的品种更加孤立。

That did not stop its legend spreading. Noah’s vineyard was supposedly near Mount Ararat, in what is now north-east Turkey. “So now it isn’t legend,” says Dr Margaryan.
但这并没有限制传说的传播。据说诺亚的葡萄园就在阿拉腾山附近，即今天的土耳其东北部。"因此现在这个故事不再是传说了，"马加里安博士说道。
 
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It may seem odd that grapes were domesticated twice, but simultaneous invention is hardly unheard of in the history of technology.

葡萄被驯化2次可能看起来很奇怪，但是在技术发明史上，发明创造同时出现并不罕见。

Alternatively, perhaps, as news flowed between the Caucasus and the Levant, one budding innovator may have pinched another’s brainwave.

另一种可能是，当消息在高加索和黎凡特之间传播时，一个初露头角的创新者可能盗取了另一个人的创意。

It may even have been inadvertent. Perhaps they simply heard it through the grapevine.
甚至可能是无意的。也许他们只是通过葡萄藤得知了这个创意。

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量801左右）
原文出自：2023年3月4日《The Economist》Science & technology版块。

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路

本文翻译整理: Irene本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【补充资料】（来自于网络）
根据圣经记载，当时人类的邪恶和罪恶达到了极点，上帝决定洪水来临，毁灭地上的一切生命。上帝指示诺亚建造一艘方舟，将他和他的家人，以及各种动物带入方舟中，以在洪水中幸存下来。据记载，诺亚是亚当的后代，他在当时的文化背景下是一位虔诚的信徒，敬畏上帝，遵守上帝的教诲。在洪水过后，上帝与诺亚建立了盟约，承诺再也不会用洪水毁灭全地。诺亚的故事在圣经中被广泛提及，被认为是信仰、忠诚、谦卑和生存的象征。据《创世记》9章20-21节记载，洪水后诺亚种植了一片葡萄园，采摘了葡萄，酿造了葡萄酒。在饮用自己酿造的酒后，他醉倒在自己的帐篷里，被自己的儿子看到了。这个故事后来被广泛解读为对克制、适度和尊重的警示，也被视为葡萄酒酿造的早期历史之一。

【重点句子】（3 个）
Grapevines were, it seems, domesticated on two occasions, in quick succession but in different parts of the world, about 11,000 years ago.
大约1.1万年前，葡萄藤分别在世界不同地区连续经历了两次驯化。

The confusion was caused not by poor analysis but limited data.
混乱局面并不是由于分析不对，而是由于数据有限导致的。

What happened next recalls another aspect of the biblical story: climate-change-induced selection.
接下来的情况类似于圣经故事的另一面：气候变化引起的自然选择。