And I'm Georgina.

我是喬治娜

How did you spend your free time during the weeks

在這幾周裡，你的空閒時間是怎麼度過的？

of lockdown, Georgina? Repainting the living room?

鎖定的，喬治娜？重新粉刷客廳？

Or doing exercise classes in the kitchen?

還是在廚房裡做運動課？

Actually, Neil, I've been doing some online research

事實上，尼爾，我在網上做了一些研究。

into my family history.

進入我的家族史。

I'm investigating my family tree – you know,

我正在調查我的家譜--你知道的。

a drawing showing all the relationships between the

畫出所有的關係

different members of my family.

我家裡的不同成員。

Ah, how interesting!

啊，真有趣！

And how appropriate - because trees are the subject of this programme –

多麼恰當啊--因為樹木是這個節目的主題。

not family trees but real, living-in-the-forest trees.

不是家譜，而是真正的、活在森林裡的樹。

Well, Neil, this might surprise you but according to some people,

好吧，尼爾，這可能會讓你吃驚，但根據一些人的說法。

trees also have families.

樹也有家庭。

There are mother trees who support and help feed child trees.

有母樹支持和幫助養活子樹。

That's right. According to Suzanne Simard,

沒錯，就是這樣。根據蘇珊娜-西瑪德的說法

one of the world's leading tree researchers,

世界著名的樹木研究者之一。

trees should be seen as intelligent.

樹木應該被視為智能。

They communicate with each other. They help each other.

他們互相交流。他們互相幫助。

And as you mentioned, Georgina, they can even tell their family members.

正如你所說，喬治娜，他們甚至可以告訴他們的家人。

So a tree can have its own family tree – amazing! Tell me more.

再給我講講。

OK, Georgina, but first let me ask you my quiz question.

好吧，喬治娜，但首先讓我問你我的測驗問題。

The largest trees in a wood or forest are called 'mother trees'.

一片樹林或森林中最大的樹被稱為 "母樹"。

As they're the biggest, mother trees usually have the longest,

由於它們是最大的，母樹通常最長。

most connected roots.

最連接的根。

So my question is this – what is the world's largest currently living tree?

那麼我的問題是--目前世界上最大的活樹是什麼？

Is it: a) a baobab tree?, b) a giant redwood tree?,

它是：a)猴麵包樹嗎，b)巨大的紅木樹嗎。

or, c) a sequoia tree?

或者，c）一棵水杉樹？

Hmmm… I've seen photos of redwood trees in California and

我見過加州的紅木樹的照片，還有... ...

they're huge, so I'll say b) a giant redwood.

他們是巨大的，所以我會說b）一個巨大的紅木。

OK Georgina, I'm sure you only chose that cause it's

好吧，喬治娜，我相信你選擇這句話只是因為它是。

the easiest one to pronounce but we'll find out the answer at

最容易發音的一個，但我們會發現答案在。

the end of the programme.

方案結束時。

Now let's get back to that tree researcher, Suzanne Simard.

現在讓我們回到那位樹木研究者蘇珊娜-西瑪德身上。

Her big idea was the 'wood wide web' –

她的大主意是 "木寬網"--。

a way of describing the network of underground roots

脈絡

linking trees to other trees of the same family.

將樹木與同一家族的其他樹木連接起來。

Here's Suzanne explaining more about tree families

下面是蘇珊娜對樹型家族的解釋。

to BBC World Service programme, The Big Idea:

英國廣播公司世界服務節目 "大創意"。

We found that the parent trees would favour

我們發現，母樹將有利於

those seedlings that were of their own kin versus the strangers.

那些自家親戚的苗子與陌生人的苗子。

That's extraordinary – and when you say they favour their own

這是非凡的 - 而當你說他們贊成自己的

family members, you mean they'll send more nutrients to

家庭成員，你的意思是他們會送更多的養分給你的家人。

their offspring than they would to, as it were, a stranger tree?

他們的後代比他們會，因為它是一個陌生的樹？

That's right.

是的

Mother trees send food and nutrients to their own seedlings –

母樹給自己的樹苗送去食物和養分--。

young plants that have been grown from a seed.

從種子中生長出來的幼嫩植物。

In this way, parent trees help their offspring –

通過這種方式，父母樹幫助他們的後代----。

another word for their children, or young.

另一個詞是指他們的孩子，或者說是年輕人。

Mother trees can recognise and feed other trees of their own kin –

母樹可以識別並餵養自己親戚的其他樹木--------。

an old fashioned word meaning family.

一個古老的詞，意思是家庭。

With the extra nutrients and carbon they receive,

有了額外的養分和碳，它們得到。

the offspring can extend their own root network

後代可以擴展自己的根網。

and suck up even more nutrients…

並吸取更多的營養... ...

…which in turn increases their own growth,

......這反過來又增加了自己的增長。

turning some of them into the giants we see growing in

把其中一些變成了我們所看到的成長中的巨人

California and other parts of the world.

加州和世界其他地區。

Amazing! With trees behaving in clever ways like this

太神奇了！樹木的行為就像這般聰明的方式

it's no wonder Suzanne thinks they have intelligence.

難怪蘇珊娜認為他們有智慧。

And that's not all.

這還不是全部。

Listen again as Suzanne discusses the question of

再聽聽蘇珊娜討論的問題。

whether trees are 'alive' with BBC World Service's, The Big Idea.

樹木是否有 "生命"，BBC世界頻道的《大觀念》。

See if you can hear her opinion.

看看你能不能聽聽她的意見。

Alive in the sense of having agency in their destinies,

活著的意思是對自己的命運有代理權。

instead of being you know… I think a lot of people think of trees as

而不是你知道的...

just sort of like these sticks that grow out of the ground,

就像這些從地裡長出來的棍子一樣。

they're kind of these inert things that don't have agency in their destiny,

他們是一種這些惰性的東西，沒有代理 在他們的命運。

that they don't change behaviours and make decisions

他們不會改變行為和做出決定。

but what we're finding is that they do all that.

但我們發現，他們做的這一切。

And you know what step back and think trees have evolved over

你知道什麼退一步想樹木已經進化了

a long long long time, way longer than human beings and they've evolved

很久很久以前，比人類還要久，他們已經進化了

in communities and they have to grow and survive.

在社區中，他們必須發展和生存。

I think Suzanne believes trees are alive and intelligent,

我想蘇珊娜相信樹是有生命的，是有智慧的。

because she says they have agency –

因為她說他們有代理權 -

a concept meaning having the ability to act and effect your environment.

一個概念，意思是有能力採取行動並影響你的環境。

Dying trees even seem to know the future – before they die,

垂死的樹木甚至似乎能知道未來--在它們死之前。

they warn their offspring to start making new root connections.

它們警告它們的後代開始建立新的根連接。

Showing that trees have some understanding of their destiny –

說明樹木對自己的命運有一定的瞭解----------。

everything that happens in someone's life and what will happen in the future.

一個人一生中發生的一切和未來將發生的事情。

So it seems that trees are much more intelligent

看來樹的智慧要高得多

than we thought, Georgina.

比我們想象的要好，喬治娜

It's certainly going to change how I feel about going for a walk

這肯定會改變我對散步的感覺。

in the woods, surrounded by all those intelligent trees

在樹林裡，被那些聰明的樹木包圍著。

chatting to each other.

互相哈拉。

I wonder if they have family arguments.

我不知道他們是否有家庭爭吵。

Ha. Well, I wouldn't argue with one of those really gigantic trees,

哈，我不會和那些真正巨大的樹爭論，好吧，我不會和那些真正巨大的樹爭論。

such as… well, Georgina, you tell me.

比如... 喬治娜，你告訴我。

Ah, you mean your quiz question - about the largest living tree?

啊，你是說你的測驗題--關於最大的活樹？

Exactly. What did you say?

沒錯，你說什麼？你說什麼？

I said the largest currently living tree was,

我說目前最大的活樹是。

b) a giant redwood. Was I correct, Neil?

b) 一棵巨大的紅木。我說的對嗎，尼爾？

Well, you got the 'giant' part right, Georgina,

你把 "巨人 "的部分說對了，喬治娜。

but in fact the answer was c) a giant sequoia named General Sherman.

但其實答案是c)一棵名叫謝爾曼將軍的巨型水杉。

He lives in California's Giant Forest,

他住在加州的巨人森林裡。

he's a whopping 83 metres tall and measures a massive

他的身高高達83米，體型巨大。

33 metres around the trunk!

繞樹幹33米!

Wow! And I bet he has a huge family tree!

哇！我敢打賭，他有一個巨大的家譜！

Ha-ha. Right then, Georgina, let's recap the vocabulary we've

哈哈。好吧，喬治娜，讓我們回顧一下我們所學過的詞彙

used discussing intelligent trees, starting with family tree –

智慧樹，從家譜開始討論

a diagram showing the relationships between family members.

顯示家庭成員之間關係的圖表；

Trees are intelligent enough to communicate with their children,

樹木是有智慧的，可以和自己的孩子交流。

or offspring.

或後代。

These young plants which have grown from seeds are also known as seedlings.

這些從種子上長出來的幼苗也被稱為幼苗。

Another word we learned is kin – an old-fashioned way of saying family

我們學到的另一個詞是kin--一種老式的家庭說法。

According to tree expert Suzanne Simard, trees have agency –

樹木專家Suzanne Simard認為，樹木有代理權----------。

a term describing the ability to act and influence your surroundings.

術語描述了行動和影響周圍環境的能力。

And the fact that trees make all kinds of decisions about

而事實是，樹木做出了各種決定，關於

their lives suggests they understand their destiny -

他們的生活表明他們瞭解自己的命運

everything that happens to someone during their life,

一個人一生中所發生的一切。

including in the future.

包括在未來。

Thank you for joining our walk through the woods of English vocabulary.

謝謝你參加我們的英語詞彙森林行。

Remember you can find more topical discussion on our website…

記得你可以在我們的網站上找到更多的話題討論......

…as well as a whole forest of English language resources at

......以及整個英語語言資源的森林，在

bblearningenglish.com.

bblearningenglish.com。

Goodbye for now.

暫時告別。

Bye!

再見！