华盛顿的熊猫痴迷症 [美国媒体]

When I was little, I wanted a panda for my birthday. Last August 22nd, which happened to be my birthday, the National Zoo, in Washington, sent out an alert on e-mail, Twitter, and Facebook: its female panda, the gentle Mei Xiang, had gone into labor. I signed onto the zoo’s Panda Cam just in time to hear an eek-y squeal from the back stall where Mei had built her nest. It was the birth yelp of a baby boy. A four-ounce butter stick, pink-skinned and blind, slipped from his mom’s womb and slid across the floor.

小时候，我想要一只熊猫当生日礼物，去年8月22日刚好是我生日，华盛顿的国家动物园通过电邮Twitter和facebook发了一条警示：园里的雌性熊猫——温柔的美香已经开始分娩了。我登录进pandacam的时候，也刚好听到从美香筑巢的后墙传来的尖锐叫声。这是熊猫宝宝出生时的叫喊声。一个四盎司重、粉粉的，什么也看不见的黄油条，从他母亲的子宫里滑到了地板上。


  
At a formal ceremony hosted by Michelle Obama, he was given the name Bei Bei (“Precious Treasure”). The former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright tweeted a selfie wearing a giant panda brooch. “Guess I’ll have to call it Bei Bei now,” she wrote.

在奥巴马夫人主持的一个正式庆典上，他被取名叫贝贝（意味珍贵的宝贝）。而前国务卿赖特也在推特上发了一张戴着熊猫胸针的自拍，并说“我猜现在得要叫他贝贝啦！”

The panda prince finally makes his public début this week. He’s now eighteen roly-poly pounds of black-and-white fur. He recently found his legs, and waddles, unsteadily, around the panda house. His eyesight is still weak. He keeps trying to climb up walls painted with mountain scenes, which he can’t distinguish from the real rock formations in his den. But he’s a spunky little guy. Bei Bei alternates between tagging behind his mom and pawing persistently at her to play, even after she swats him away. He’s particularly enamored of his first toy, a red ball that he likes to wrap his body around.

这周这个熊猫小王子终于当众亮相了。他现在就是个18磅重的黑白小毛球，最近正迈着小短腿在熊猫馆里蹒跚学步，视力也还比较弱。他乐此不疲地爬着绘有山景的假山，也分不出它跟兽穴里真岩层的区别，但他仍旧是个勇敢的小家伙。就算被妈妈甩开，也像跟屁虫一样粘着她还坚持不懈地缠着她要玩。他还对熊生第一个玩具——一个小红球十分感兴趣，总爱整个身子裹在上面玩。


  
There’s something about pandas, the world’s rarest bear, that captivates the famous, turns the powerful into putty, and wins over skeptics. In 1956, Elvis Presley travelled with a huge stuffed panda on a twenty-seven-hour train ride from New York to Memphis. On the first leg, the bear was photographed in its own seat. At night, the photographer Albert Wertheimer later recounted, the bear was strapped into the upper berth in Elvis’ compartment, its legs protruding through the webbing, as Elvis listened to acetates of his recent recordings in the lower berth. The next day, Elvis, not yet a national icon, perched the bear on his hip and used it to flirt with girls as he strolled through a passenger car.

关于熊猫，这种世界上最稀有的熊类，吸引着各类名流，把百炼钢化为绕指柔，也打败了各种质疑者们。1956年，猫王带着一个巨大的熊猫玩具坐火车从纽约到了孟菲斯。第一段路程上，这只熊被拍到做在它自己的位置上，晚上，摄影师Albert Wertheimer后来说道，那只熊被绑在猫王车厢的上铺，双腿伸过网，而猫王则正在下铺听他最近的录音带。第二天，当时还未风靡全国的猫王走过车厢时，就把这只熊放在屁股上跟姑娘们调情。

Chris Packham, a British naturalist and the host of a BBC wildlife program, has led a campaign to let the species die out, because of existential challenges in breeding, food, and habitat. There are only about sixteen hundred pandas left in the wild, and some four hundred in zoos and breeding centers around the world. “Here’s a species that, of its own accord, has gone down an evolutionary cul-de-sac,” Packham said, in 2009. The world pours millions into keeping them alive, at the expense of other, more vital animals that would better insure global biodiversity, he argued. “I reckon we should pull the plug. Let them go with a degree of dignity.” But Packham conceded that the panda has disproportionate appeal. “It’s big,” he acknowledged. “And cute.”

Chris Packham 一位英国自然学者和BBC野生频道的主持人，已经发起一项主张让熊猫灭绝的运动，因为在繁殖、食物、栖息地方面面临的生存挑战，野外仅剩约1600只熊猫，动物园和繁育基地也仅剩400只左右。“这是个自己走入进化死胡同的物种。”Packham 2009年时说，全世界花了无数钱去保护它们，而这些钱本来可以用来保护其他对生物多样性至关重要的物种。（把其它动物濒危或灭绝的锅全甩给熊猫也是爽）他争辩道。“我认为这一切该停止了，让它们带着尊严离去”但是它也承认熊猫有着极具反差的外表。“它很大”他承认“又很萌”。

Washington, a city centered on crude, self-absorbed politics, melts over its panda bears. The first pair was gifted from China, in 1972, to mark the thaw in relations after President Nixon’s visit. They generated the zoo’s first panda groupies, some of whom are still active four decades later. Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing bore five cubs, but none survived. When Hsing-Hsing developed arthritis, a nearby Starbucks donated blueberry muffins, in which zoo vets hid his daily medicine. That became his favorite food. The capital of the world’s mightiest power went into serious mourning when the pair died, in the nineties. Local schools made sympathy cards to send to the zoo. The pandas’ pelts are still kept in a Smithsonian vault.

华盛顿，这个以原油为中心，在政治上极度自负的城市，却因为他们的熊猫们融化了。最初的一对是在1972年由中国作为礼物送来的，为了纪念尼克松访华后两国关系的解冻。他们制造了这个动物园最初的一批熊猫粉丝团，其中一些甚至40多年后仍旧活跃。玲玲和兴兴生了5个孩子，却无一幸存。当兴兴得了关节炎，附近一家星巴克还捐了一批蓝莓松饼，动物园兽医们就把它藏在它的药里，后来这成为了他最爱的食物。这对夫妻在19岁去世时，这个世界上最强大力量的首都陷入了沉重的悲痛中，当地的学校给动物园寄去慰问卡，这两只熊猫的毛皮仍旧保存在史密斯索尼娅的地下灵堂（或者储藏室）里。

By then, pandas had become the unofficial symbol of Washington. “It’s a power town, and pandas are a power species like no other,” Brandie Smith, the zoo’s associate director for Animal Care Sciences, told me. “They’ve become synonymous.” In 2000, Washington opted to rent another pair from China—initially at a million dollars a year, plus hundreds of thousands of dollars annually for joint research, and more for feeding, caring and staffing the pandas.

从那以后，熊猫已经成为华盛顿的非官方标志了。“这是个充满力量的小镇，而熊猫是一个充满力量的物种，独一无二”，这家动物园从事动物护理科学的副主任说“它们已经成了同义词”2000年，华盛顿从中国租借了另外一对熊猫——首先是以每年一百万美元的租金，还得加上每年数十万美元的联合研究费用，还有饲养、照料熊猫和人员配置的很多钱。

The couple arrived with fanfare. They flew from China on a specially equipped FedEx plane called Panda One, with a large bear painted on the fuselage. Mei Xiang (“Beautiful Fragrance”) and Tian Tian (“More and More”) got a police escort—and live television coverage—as their motorcade made its way into town. I worked at the Washington Post when their first cub, Tai Shan, was born, five years later. Few would admit it, but Post reporters regularly checked Tai’s antics on the zoo’s early, grainy Panda Cams. (They’re high-def now.) His squeals often echoed in stereo across the newsroom.

这对夫妻在锣鼓喧天中来到这里，他们乘坐特别定制的“panda one”联邦快递专机，上面喷涂着巨大的熊猫图像，在警察护送加电视直播下，美香和添添的车队穿过小镇，5年后他俩的第一个孩子泰山出生了，当时我正在华盛顿邮报上班，虽然很少人承认，但其实邮报的记者们早上经常偷看画质感人pandacam直播（现在高清了），它的叫声经常立体环绕在整个新闻编辑室里（其实我早上有时候也偷看ipanda）。


  
Bao Bao, a little girl, was born in 2013. Six weeks later, the government shut down because of a congressional budget dispute, and Bao Bao’s Panda Cam feed was turned off. The National Zoo, one of the few in the country without an entry fee, depends on government funding. The Internet feed was dark for sixteen days. “Our national nightmare is over,” NBC reported, when Republicans and Democrats finally reached a budget compromise. “The Panda Cam is back.” Within ten minutes, it was reaching its maximum capacity, of eight hundred and fifty viewers. The crisis led The Economist to conclude that pandas, despite their non-existent sex lives and self-destructive diets, are far more appealing than “costly, bumbling Washington politicians.”

宝宝，这个小姑娘出生在2013年，六周后，因为国会预算的争执，政府关门了，宝宝的pandacam也被关了。华盛顿国家动物园是全国极少不收门票费的动物园之一，非常依赖政府资金。这个网上直播节目整整黑屏了16天，“我们的国家噩梦总算结束了”当共和党和民主党终于就预算问题达成妥协时，NBC报道“pandacam又回来了”在10分钟类就达到了850名观看者的最大限值（总觉得这里写错了，不可能这么低），经济学者对这场危机的概括是，就算拥有性冷淡和自毁型饮食，熊猫也要比那些烧钱又装模作样的华盛顿政客们吸引人多了。

For all their charm, however, pandas are far from profitable. “They don’t make money,” Steven Monfort, the chief scientist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, told me. “Every zoo that ever had pandas realizes they will not make their money back. Just building the infrastructure for pandas costs many millions of dollars, in addition to the cost of supporting, caring, and feeding them. The reason zoos do it is more intangible, including reputation and public draw. But those are worthless unless you can do something to help the species.”

因为他们的魅力，熊猫已经超越了赚钱的意义。“他们不需要赚钱”动物园的首席科学家Steven Monfort告诉我“每个拥有熊猫的动物园都知道他们是赚不回钱的，光是给他们修各种设施都得花几百万美元了，还不说饲养照料的钱。动物园愿意这么做的原因是更加无形的，包括声誉和公众注意力。但是除非你能为他们做些什么，这些都微不足道。”

Bei Bei is Washington’s third surviving cub—his twin died within days of their birth–and he may be one of the last. Mei’s fertility cycle is near its end, Smith said. The zoo’s panda program exists partly to diversify the genetic stock of the endangered species. It participates in a kind of eharmony.com for pandas. In the late seventies, zoos began keeping stud books on their males, in order to expand the DNA pool, Monfort explained. Tian Tian, the zoo’s male panda, produces decent sperm, but he’s never figured out how to copulate. He doesn’t “align properly,” Monfort said. “It’s pretty frustrating to watch the poor guy try to mate.” Tian pushes Mei to the ground rather than raising her high enough to penetrate properly. As a result, all of their cubs have been produced by artificial insemination.

贝贝是华盛顿第三个活下来的熊猫宝宝，他的孪生兄弟（OR姐妹）出生几天后就早夭了，而现在他有可能会成为最后一个。美香的生育周期已经快完了，动物园的熊猫项目之所以存在，部分也是为了保存频危物种的遗传多样性，他们于是参与到一种类似eharmony.com（着名婚恋网站），在70年代末，动物园开始对公熊猫进行研究，以扩展DNA池，Monfort解释道。园里的公熊猫添添（就是最近在雪地里滚来滚去那个）能够产生合适的精子，但是他却从来不知道怎么交配，“他对不准”Monfort说“看到这个可怜的家伙交配时真的很沮丧。添添把美香推到地上，而不是推高她以便于自己进去。结果就是他俩所有的孩子都是人工授精产生的。”


  
For diversity, as its mama panda ages, the zoo turned to the global stud book to find another match. Mei was artificially inseminated twice last spring, with Tian’s sperm and the frozen sperm of a bear in China. “Fresh has better mobility, but sometimes you use both,” Monfort said. “You don’t want to waste a chance.” A female is fertile for only a couple of days a year. Tian’s sperm took—good for the public’s enjoyment of an endearing new member of the zoo’s panda family, but not as good for the long-term survival of the species, since he had already sired two cubs.

因为熊猫妈妈年纪大了，为了多样性，动物园只好从全球的登记库里寻找其他公熊猫来匹配，美香去年春天被人工授精了两次，既有添添的精子，也有中国其他熊猫的冷冻精子。“新鲜的精子流动性更好，但是有时候你两个都得用”Monfort说“不能浪费任何一个机会”母熊猫一年只有几天会发情，添添的精子最终给园里的熊猫家族新添了一名人见人爱的新成员。但对于这个物种的长久生存却并非有利，虽然他已经是两个孩子的爹了。

Washingtonians are oblivious to genetics. With each cub, the zoo’s Panda Cams have grown more popular.  More than five and a half million viewers have clicked on the cameras in the four months since Bei Bei’s birth—double the number after Bao Bao was born. People get in a kind of Internet waiting line to catch a glimpse, lasting only fifteen minutes before they’re automatically bumped off.

华盛顿并不在乎遗传学，每当新宝宝出生，动物园的pandacam都会更受欢迎。贝贝出生后的4个月，已经超过550万个人观看了pandacam，这个数量是他姐姐宝宝出生时的两倍。有点像一条互联网式的长队，人们挤在里面就为了看他一眼，然后15分钟后就被自动撞倒了（推测是指直播太卡了……错了请指教）

Last week, I attended a zoo preview of Bei Bei and encountered some of the panda faithful. Merry and Allen Richon visit the pandas every morning before he heads off to work as a scientist at the National Institutes of Health. They regularly load their pictures on the zoo’s Facebook page. Why the commitment? I asked.

上周我参加了贝贝的提前见面会，碰到了一些熊猫的脑残粉，Merry和Allen Richon每天早上都会先看看熊猫们然后再作为国家卫生研究院的科学家去上班，他们经常下载园方FB主页的熊猫图片，如此热爱为哪般呢？我问道。

“Pandas have a karma,” Allen said. “They’re raging Democrats. They’re environmentalists.”

“熊猫有种业力”  Allen说，“他们就像愤世嫉俗的民主党人，也像环保主义者。”


  
Karen Wille, a management consultant and another regular, has been to China—six times—to visit Tai Shan, the zoo’s first cub, born in 2005. All baby pandas go back to China after four years, for panda preservation. Wille pulled out a necklace pendant with Tai’s face on the front and his name, in Chinese characters, on the back. Her friend Christine Harper rolled up a sleeve to show me a row of panda bracelets, sales of which benefit panda research. Both are involved with Pandas International, a group based in Colorado that raises funds to buy medical equipment, computers, ultra sounds, and vaccines for China’s panda-research programs.

Karen Wille，一位管理顾问，经常去中国——6次了——就为了看望华盛顿动物园的第一只熊猫宝宝泰山。所以的熊猫宝宝出生四年后都要回到中国，以配合熊猫保育工作。Wille 拉出他的项链。坠子正面是泰山的脸背面是他的中文名字。她的朋友Christine Harper卷起袖子给我看她的熊猫手镯，是为了熊猫研究工作而出售的。他俩都十分着迷于熊猫国际，一个位于科罗拉多，经常筹钱买医疗设备、电脑、超声仪器和疫苗捐给中国熊猫研究项目的组织（真的我也关注了这个组织，他们经常发到熊猫基地做公益的照片）

Angela Wessel, a zoo volunteer for four decades, used to operate the Panda Cam, on the 4 A.M. to 7 A.M. shift, before heading to work at Hewlett-Packard. She showed me a scrapbook with pictures of her in a panda suit, part of the Zoo’s education program for kids. “You expect kids to grab you and hug,” she said. “But adults do, too—all the time.” She has also has been to China, five times, to visit Tai, who is a notorious ham. Another woman in line was decked out in panda scarves and a headband with panda ears. Among the groupies, she is known as the Voice of the Cubs. She tweets about pandas under the handle @houseofcubs, a play on “House of Cards.” She has more than sixteen hundred followers. No one knows her name, and she prefers it that way.

Angela Wessel，过去40年来一直在做动物园的志愿者，在她去惠普上班之前，一直负责在下午4点到7点操作pandacam后台。她给我看了整整一册穿着熊猫制服的剪贴照片，这也是动物园儿童教育项目的一部分。“你本来以为只有孩子会来抓你抱你”她说“结果成年人也会，一直都这样。”她也去中国看过5次泰山大少爷了，还有一个排队的女的围着熊猫围巾，戴着熊猫耳朵的发箍。在这些成员里，她因为“小熊之声”而出名，一直在@houseofcubs（小熊屋，源自纸牌屋）的推特账号里发熊猫图片，大概有1600个粉丝。没人知道她的真名，她自己也喜欢这样。


  
I asked the zoo’s staff to explain the public fixation on pandas. “With lions and tigers, you’re simply a meal. All they’re interested in is eating you,” Brandie Smith told me. “Pandas are different. When you look in their faces, there’s an intelligence and dependence. You have the feeling, ‘I could be friends with this bear. If we hung out, we’d have a good time.’ ”

我希望动物园的工作人员能解释下为什么公众对熊猫如此痴迷。Brandie Smith的说法是“跟狮子老虎在一起，你就是顿饭，他们感兴趣的是怎么吃你。”“熊猫不一样，但你看着他们的脸，你能看到智慧和依赖，你会有种感觉，‘我可以和它成为朋友，如果我俩一起出去溜达，一定棒棒哒’。”

There may be a scientific explanation, too, Smith added. “People talk about the power of awe. When you see something that brings awe, it produces oxytocin.” Oxytocin, sometimes known as the “love hormone,” influences emotion and social behavior. “It makes you feel more of a community person. It’s happiness and togetherness,” she said. “So when you have those moments of awe—and aww!—you are biochemically becoming a better person. That’s what pandas produce.”

也许还有一个科学的解释。Smith补充道“现在人们在谈论惊叹的力量，但你看到什么让你惊叹的东西时，会产生催产素。催产素，有时候也被叫做爱的荷尔蒙，会影响你的情绪和社交行为。“它会让你更有社团感，这是一种幸福，也是凝聚力。”她说“所以当你身处惊叹的时刻，从生物化学上来看，你变成了一个更好的人。这就是熊猫所创造的东西。”（awe就是awesome，这个词也不太好翻译，大概就是一种被震住的然后忍不住跪了的感觉）