《经济学人》双语：为什么恐龙化石交易有利于科学研究？

原文标题：
Dinosaurs
Cretaceous capitalism
Why trade in fossils is good for science
恐龙
白垩纪资本主义
为什么化石交易对科学有益？

The market for specimens should be regulated, not banned
标本市场应规范而非取缔

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THE GREAT auction houses of America and Europe often sell masterpieces by long-dead artists to a grey-haired crowd. They also serve the booming demand for actual fossils.

美国和欧洲的大型拍卖行经常将已故艺术家的杰作出售给白发苍苍的人群。拍卖行还能满足人们对真化石的旺盛需求。

In 2020 Christie’s sold “Stan”—one of the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex specimens ever discovered—for a record-breaking $31.8m.

2020年，佳士得拍卖了 "斯坦"--迄今为止发现的最完整的霸王龙标本之一，创下了3180万美元的记录。

In April “Trinity”, a composite of three T. rex specimens, fetched $6.1m at the Koller auction house in Zurich—one of six dino-lots to have breached the $6m threshold since “Stan” was sold.

4月，由3个霸王龙标本组合而成的“Trinity”在苏黎世的阔乐拍卖行以 610 万美元的价格成交，这是自 "斯坦 "售出以来突破 600 万美元门槛的六件恐龙拍品之一。

At the end of July Sotheby’s is due to auction off another nearly complete specimen.

7月底，苏富比拍卖行将拍卖另一件近乎完整的标本。

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The buyers are typically rich collectors (Leonardo DiCaprio, a Hollywood actor, has an interest in dinosaur skulls).

买家通常是有钱的收藏家（例如好莱坞演员莱昂纳多.迪卡普里奥，他对恐龙头骨很感兴趣）。

That alarms many palaeontologists, who fear that museums and other scientific institutions are being priced out of the market by individuals who will lock their collections away.

这让许多古生物学家感到震惊，他们担心博物馆和其他科学机构会被拍后即锁的个人以高价挤出市场。

Even when scientists are granted access to specimens held privately, many journals have in recent years refused in protest to publish the resulting research.
尽管科学家获准接触私人持有的标本，但近年来许多期刊也拒绝发表由此产生的研究，以示抗议。

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The antagonism of these scientists towards commerce is misplaced.

这些科学家对商业的敌对态度是错误的。

A thriving market for fossils should lead to more discoveries that—if the trade is appropriately regulated—will benefit science and the public.
繁荣的化石市场应该会带来更多研究发现——如果贸易得到适当监管——将使科学和公众受益。

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Palaeontology has always leaned heavily on prospectors and private collectors.

一直以来，古生物学都严重依赖探矿者和私人收藏家。

Mary Anning, one of the field’s pioneers, attained celebrity status in Victorian England after she discovered the first fossil specimens of ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs (marine contemporaries of the dinosaurs) eroding out of the fragile coastal cliffs of Dorset in south-west England, known as the “Jurassic coast”.

玛丽.安宁是该领域的先驱之一，她在维多利亚时代的英国获得了名人地位，因为她在英格兰西南部多塞特脆弱的沿海悬崖上发现了第一个鱼龙和司龙（与恐龙同时代的海洋物种）化石标本，该悬崖被称为 “侏罗纪海岸”。

The tongue-twister “She sells sea shells on the sea shore” is supposedly a reference to Anning’s prolific collection and sale of marine fossils.
绕口令 "她在海边卖海螺 "据说是指安宁大量收集和销售海洋化石的场景。

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Today most fossils sold at auction come from America. Once discovered there, they belong to the landowner and can be legally traded.

如今，拍卖会上出售的大多数化石都来自美国。在美国发现的化石属于土地所有者，可以合法交易。

In many other countries, fossils automatically become the property of the state.

在许多其他国家，化石自动成为国家财产。

The advantage of encouraging the “dinosaur cowboys” of Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas—which share a big geological deposit—to get digging is that once fossils are exposed, they are as vulnerable to wind, rain and tide as they once were to being munched by a theropod.

鼓励蒙大拿州、怀俄明州和达科他州的 "恐龙牛仔"--他们共享一个巨大的地质矿藏--去挖掘的好处是，一旦化石暴露在外，它们现在仍然和古代一样脆弱，容易受到风、雨和潮水的侵袭，就像曾经容易被兽脚类恐龙猎杀一样。

As Dorset’s cliffs collapse, for example, new fossils constantly appear, but can be lost as erosion continues.

例如，随着多塞特悬崖的坍塌，新的化石不断出现，但随着侵蚀的继续，新化石可能会消失。

Scientists often lack the resources to find, collect and preserve every fossil with scientific value before it is destroyed by nature.
科学家们往往缺乏资源去寻找、收集和保存每一块受大自然侵蚀之前且具有科学价值的化石。

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The private sector plugs the gap by responding to price signals.

私营企业通过响应价格信号来填补缺口。

Prospecting first boomed after “Sue”, another famous T. rex specimen, was sold to Chicago’s Field Museum for $8.3m in 1997.

1997年，另一个著名的霸王龙标本 "苏 "以830万美元的价格卖给了芝加哥的菲尔德博物馆，此后勘探工作开始蓬勃发展。

The recent spate of sales is prompting another rush for bones today. It is not always true that the resulting hoards end up out of sight.

最近的拍卖热潮引发了人们对恐龙化石的又一轮争抢热。事实并非总是这些骨骼最终会被藏起来不为人所知。

“Stan” was bought by the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism and is due to go on display in 2025.

"斯坦 "被阿布扎比文化和旅游部买下，将于2025年展出。

From Tampa to Copenhagen, many privately owned fossils are on show at museums or soon will be, much as the world’s best art galleries often hang privately owned pieces on loan.
从坦帕到哥本哈根，许多私人拥有的化石正在或即将在博物馆展出，就像世界上最好的艺术馆经常会悬挂私人拥有的借展作品一样。

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Fears of crowding out scientists and the public are not entirely without merit.

担心科学家和公众被挤出市场并非完全没有道理。

Sometimes specimens do vanish after being bought anonymously.

有时，匿名购买的标本确实消失了。

But nationalising the ownership of fossils does not make the desire to buy and sell them disappear.Instead, it pushes the trade underground.

但是，将化石所有权国有化并不会消除买卖化石的欲望。相反，它会将这种交易推向地下黑市。

The black market is a bigger threat to science than legitimate trade.

黑市对科学的威胁比合法交易更大。

Smugglers have much lower standards than auction houses, frequently damaging or destroying specimens, and stolen fossils are even less likely to end up in museums.
走私者的标准比拍卖行低得多，他们经常破坏或毁坏化石标本，而被盗的化石更不可能进入博物馆展出。

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T. rent

暴龙化石租金

There are ways to preserve the value to the public of privately owned fossils.

有一些方法可以令私人拥有的化石对公众的产生价值。

Governments could write rules insisting that the discovery of fossils and who owns them is catalogued.

政府可以制定规则，坚持对化石的发现和拥有者进行登记。

They could require specimens to be made available for study, or ensure that museums can make casts.

他们可以征用标本用于研究，或确保博物馆可以制作铸模。

And—although auction houses already demand assurances regarding the provenance of fossils—they could set in stone minimum standards for excavation and handling, to allay fears that prospecting might become a Wild West.

而且——尽管拍卖行已经要求保证化石的来源——他们还可以制定挖掘和处理的最低标准，以消除人们对勘探可能成为“狂野西部”的担忧。

It is better to regulate the market and let it thrive than to force it towards extinction.
与其强迫它走向灭亡，不如规范市场，让它茁壮成长。

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量692左右）
原文出自：2023年5月20日《The Economist》Leaders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）
暴龙，霸王龙（Tyrannosaurus rex）标本通常是指保存了这种已经灭绝的恐龙遗骸或化石的实物，它们可以在博物馆或其他科学机构中进行展览和研究。暴龙是一种非常大型的肉食性恐龙，生活在约6800万年前的白垩纪晚期，在北美洲地区广泛分布。暴龙标本通常包括头骨、颈椎、背部和尾巴的骨骼、牙齿等。它们的受欢迎程度归功于其极具威慑力的形象和强大的掠食能力，以及它们在恐龙历史上的地位和重要性。

玛丽·安宁Mary Anning是19世纪英国著名的女性古生物学家，以发现和研究化石而闻名于世。她出生于1799年，成长在英国南部的多塞特郡海滨小镇，从小就对化石产生了浓厚的兴趣。她跟随父亲在悬崖上寻找化石，并开始出售这些发现来维持家庭生计。在她13岁时，她发现了一条非常完整的鱼龙化石，引起了当地自然历史学家们的注意。之后，她又陆续发现了很多重要的化石，包括古鸟、蜥蜴、哺乳动物和虾类等。她的发现为古生物学做出了重要贡献，并帮助人们更好地了解了恐龙和其他已灭绝物种的历史。然而，由于当时社会对于女性科学家的歧视和限制，她的工作并没有得到充分的认可和支持。直到近年来，她的成就才逐渐得到公正的评价和高度赞扬。

荒野西部Wild West是指19世纪美国西部地区的历史时期，这个时期在美国成为了一个传奇。当时的西部地区人口稀少、土地荒凉、生活艰苦，但也因此形成了一种自由、开放和冒险的文化氛围。在那个时代，有许多著名的西部牛仔、探险家、赌徒、强盗、铁路工人等职业群体，同时也有着许多血腥的战斗、枪击案和抢劫事件。这段历史时期经常被电影、小说、游戏等媒介描绘，在全球范围内产生了广泛的影响。

【重点句子】（3个）
A thriving market for fossils should lead to more discoveries that—if the trade is appropriately regulated—will benefit science and the public.
繁荣的化石市场应该会带来更多研究发现——如果贸易得到适当监管——将使科学和公众受益。

But nationalising the ownership of fossils does not make the desire to buy and sell them disappear.Instead, it pushes the trade underground.
但是，将化石所有权国有化并不会消除买卖化石的欲望。相反，它会将这种交易推向地下黑市。

It is better to regulate the market and let it thrive than to force it towards extinction.
与其强迫它走向灭亡，不如规范市场，让它茁壮成长。