关键桅杆

嘿。

Hey.

这里是《由外而内》，一档让好奇心与自然界碰撞的节目。

This is Outside In, a show where curiosity and the natural world collide.

我是内特·赫吉。

I'm Nate Hedgie.

独自步入森林时，你会感觉万籁俱寂。

Step into a forest alone, and it can feel like silence.

倒不是说真的没有声响。

Not that it's actually devoid of noises.

你能听见林间的风声、鸟鸣，或许还有橡果坠落在小径上的啪嗒声。

There's the wind in the trees, birds, maybe the plunk of an acorn falling onto the trail.

但偶尔，这些静谧的氛围声会逐渐放大，直到你不得不注意到周围正在发生某种异常现象。

But every so often, one of those quiet bits of atmosphere can grow louder, until you can't help but notice that something very strange is going on around you.

本期节目将探讨：当微不足道的橡果从稀缺变为丰沛时，会发生什么？

Today on the show, what happens when a small thing, the humble acorn, goes from scarce to plentiful?

本期节目讲述并受到一种名为'结实丰年'的神秘生态现象启发。

This is an episode about and inspired by mysterious ecological phenomenon called masting.

从令人困惑的松鼠行为说起。

From baffling squirrel behavior.

那场景就像天气变化一样，只不过满地都是被压扁的松鼠尸体。

It was like the weather, except it was flattened squirrel carcasses.

再到名叫奥克利的婴儿数量激增。

To an explosion in babies named Oakley.

摩门教徒现在几乎有种观念，认为自己是给孩子取独特名字的人群。

The Mormons almost have this idea now that they are people who give their kids unusual names.

我们将通过三个故事，讲述资源突然激增如何引发各种意想不到的连锁反应。

We have three stories all about the different ways a sudden surge in abundance can trigger unexpected consequences.

我记忆中最深刻的是看到它们爬满我的裙子。

The thing that that sticks out in my memory is seeing them crawling up my dress.

你根本没法把它们掸掉，因为它们...

You can't really brush them off because they they're, you

知道吗，它们喜欢魔术贴。

know, they like Velcro.

它们会粘住不放。

They cling.

请继续收听。

Stay tuned.

这里是《由外而内》，一档让好奇心与自然界碰撞的节目。

This is Outside In, a show where curiosity and the natural world collide.

我是内特·赫吉。

I'm Nate Hedgie.

今天，我们带来关于并受‘丰年现象’启发的故事。

Today, we've got stories about and inspired by masting.

如果你不知道什么是丰年现象，别担心。

Now, if you don't know what masting is, don't worry.

制作人菲利克斯·潘带来的第一个故事，将为你呈现这个话题最奇特、最令人难忘的入门介绍。

Our first story from producer Felix Poon is one of the strangest, most memorable introductions to the subject you could ask for.

他来了。

Here he is.

你是超级喜欢谈论秋叶，还是因为做得太久已经有点厌倦了？

Do you like absolutely love talking about fall foliage or are you kind of like sick of it because you've been doing it for so long?

我做这行已经十几年了，每年都不同，真的很令人兴奋。

So I've been doing this over a dozen years now and it's really exciting because every year is different.

吉姆·萨尔吉是一名高中科学老师，但他还有份副业——担任新罕布什尔州首屈一指的秋叶预报员。

Jim Salgy is a high school science teacher, but he also has a side gig as one of New Hampshire's go to foliage forecasters.

当数百万游客挤满公路前来赏叶时，吉姆正驾车穿梭于州内各地，拍摄照片并在电视上报道实况。

As millions of visitors clog up the highways to go leaf peeping, Jim drives around the state, snapping photos and reporting conditions on TV.

吉姆，我特别好奇。

Jim, I'm so curious.

根据你的经验，你对今年的预测是什么？

Based on everything you know, what is your forecast for this year?

今年会有点拼凑感。

This year, it's gonna be a little more of a patchwork.

我们遭遇了严重干旱

We've had a lot of drought

但几年前，就在树叶开始变色前，人们开始向吉姆询问另一种截然不同的现象

But a few years ago, just before the leaves began to turn, people started asking Jim about another very different phenomenon.

那是夏末时节，松鼠数量异常庞大

So it was late summer, and there was a very high squirrel population.

松鼠在新罕布什尔州极为常见

Squirrels are incredibly common in New Hampshire.

但到了2018年，情况开始失控

But in the 2018, things were getting out of hand.

人们外出划皮艇或乘船时

People were out kayaking or boating.

在温尼珀索基湖中央，能看到松鼠试图游向食物更丰富的区域

And in the middle of Lake Winnipesaukee, there would be a squirrel trying to swim to an area where it had more food.

情况严重到人们纷纷打电话到新闻编辑部

It was so bad, people were calling into newsrooms.

这些游泳的松鼠是怎么回事？

What is with these swimming squirrels?

这是世界末日的征兆吗？

Is it a sign of the apocalypse?

不过大多数时候，你在路上就能看到它们。

Mostly, though, you saw them on the roads.

我们说的是每英里几十到上百只。

And we're talking dozens to hundreds every mile.

在某些区域，每隔几英尺就有一具尸体。

Every few feet in some areas, there was another carcass.

数量简直惊人。

It was just staggering numbers.

所以你的学生们有问过你这件事吗？

So were your students asking you about it?

当然有。

Absolutely.

是啊。

Yeah.

对啊。

Yeah.

他们会怎么问你这事？

What would they how would they ask you about it?

萨尔吉先生，为什么有这么多死松鼠？

Mister Salgy, why are there so many dead squirrels?

这些死松鼠是怎么回事？

What is up with all these dead squirrels?

为什么现在到处都是松鼠？

Why are the squirrels everywhere right now?

我当时还没加入NHPR，但当时在的同事都记得讨论过这事。

I wasn't with NHPR then, but my colleagues who were all remember talking about it.

那就像天气话题一样普遍，只不过讨论的是被压扁的松鼠尸体。

It was like the weather, except it was flattened squirrel carcasses.

我曾试图寻找确切的数字或照片来证实当时的惨状，但并没有一个专门统计路杀动物的部门来记录这些受害者。

So I've tried to find exact numbers or photos that verify the level of carnage, But it's not like there's a department of roadkill that was counting the victims.

我手头只有大量相当可怕且可能夸大其词的轶事。

What I do have are lots of pretty horrible and maybe exaggerated anecdotes.

这是事件发生几年后Reddit帖子上的部分评论。

Here's some comments on a Reddit post from a few years after.

松鼠尸体多得像减速带一样。

The squirrel corpses were like little speed bumps there were so many.

路肩上的尸体堆积得有脚踝那么深。

Ankle deep on the shoulders of the road.

我的防滑警报都响了。

My traction alarm went off.

能感觉到轮胎在松鼠内脏上打滑。

I could feel my tires slipping in squirrel entrails.

如今这个故事在新罕布什尔州已成为传奇，甚至被称为'松鼠大灾难'或'松鼠末日'。

Today, this story is legend in New Hampshire, and it's even been dubbed the great squirrel apocalypse or sometimes squirrelmageddon.

这是一场在我们眼前上演的悲剧，但我想人们会用各种方式应对悲剧，当时确实有人开了些玩笑。

It was a tragedy unfolding in front of us, but I think people respond to tragedy in a variety of ways, and and there were jokes made.

当地一家名为落叶啤酒厂的酿酒厂推出了两款啤酒。

A local brewery, deciduous brewery, had a pair of beers that they released.

名字就叫'快车与躲松鼠'。

It's called fast cars and dodging squirrels.

对许多目击者来说，这些松鼠尸体似乎凭空出现。

For a lot of people who witnessed it, all these dead squirrels seem to come out of nowhere.

但导致这场'松鼠末日'的条件其实早在之前就埋下了伏笔，源于所谓的'丰收年'现象。

But the conditions that led to the squirrelpocalypse actually started long beforehand with something called a mast year.

从进化论角度看，树木形成了这种周期性策略——通过减少种子产量来抑制以种子为食的动物数量。

So evolutionarily, the trees have created this strategy where they go through cycles where they stress the animals that would feast upon their seeds by producing low number of seeds.

因此松鼠等动物的种群数量会大幅下降。

And so animals like squirrels populations would go way down.

而丰收年则恰恰相反。

A mast year is just the opposite.

当树木集体进入繁殖亢奋状态时

When trees collectively go into a reproductive overdrive.

数据各有不同，但在丰收年，一棵橡树能产出数千颗橡果

Estimates vary, but in a mast year, a single oak tree can produce thousands of acorns.

单棵树就能产出数千颗

Thousands from a single tree.

想象一下，整片森林都是如此

Imagine that, but across an entire forest.

这会让当前松鼠、老鼠等动物种群不堪重负，从而使种子得以留存、发芽并繁衍森林

And it overwhelms the current population of squirrels and mice and other animals so that the seeds can stay and germinate and reproduce the forest.

顺便说下，'mast'是个古英语词汇，指树木的种子，基本上就是果实和坚果

Mast, by the way, is an old English word for the seeds of trees, so basically the fruits and nuts.

森林里的这种繁荣与萧条周期，会以惊人的方式波及整个生态系统

These boom and bust cycles in the forest, they can ripple through ecosystems in dramatic ways.

以新西兰的山毛榉树为例

Take beech trees in New Zealand.

在丰收年，山毛榉树不仅结出更多坚果，还会开出更多花朵。

During a mast year, the beech trees put out more nuts, but also more flowers.

首先出现的是以这些花朵为食的本地毛虫数量激增。

And the first thing that happens is you get a big increase in native caterpillars, which are feeding on the flowers.

这位是戴夫·凯利，新西兰基督城坎特伯雷大学的生物学教授。

This is Dave Kelly, a professor of biology at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.

到了春天，老鼠数量开始增加，因为它们以那些啃食花朵的毛虫为食。

And the mice and rats, start increasing in the, spring because they're feeding on caterpillars that are feeding on the flowers.

随后捕食者开始行动，比如白鼬这类黄鼠狼，它们的种群数量随之上升。

From there, the predators take notice, like stoats, a type of weasel, and their populations start to rise.

老鼠会捕食田鼠。

The rats are preying on the mice.

白鼬则会捕食老鼠和田鼠。

The stoats are preying on the rats and the mice.

白鼬和老鼠都会捕食鸟类。

The stoats and the rats both prey on birds.

这很重要，因为许多被猎杀的鸟类都是濒危物种。

Which is a big deal because a lot of the birds getting killed are endangered species.

我的意思是，它们不仅会吃掉小型鸟类的成鸟，还会把所有的蛋和雏鸟一扫而空。

I mean, not only eating adults of the smaller birds, but also they'll clean out all the eggs and chicks.

这些连锁反应不会在一年后就停止。

These ripple effects don't just stop after one year.

例如，瑞士的一项研究发现，在丰收年两年后，携带莱姆病的蜱虫数量激增。

A research paper from Switzerland, for example, found a jump in Lyme infested ticks two years after a mast year.

这是因为首先老鼠数量会激增。

That's because first, there's a boom in mice.

接着蜱虫数量也会激增。

Then there's a boom in ticks.

最后，当一切逐渐平息时，人类感染莱姆病的风险也随之升高。

And finally, as everything is settling back down, a higher risk of Lyme disease in humans.

但正如树木在丰收年给予养分一样，它们也会收回这些馈赠。

But just as the trees giveth nutrients during masting, they also taketh away.

导致松鼠末日的事件实际上始于罕见的连续两年丰收年。

What led to the squirrelpocalypse actually started with a rare double mast year.

2016年和2017年，新罕布什尔州的森林里遍地都是橡果。

In both 2016 and 2017, the forests of New Hampshire were littered with acorns.

松鼠数量激增。

Squirrel populations exploded.

然后到了2018年，情况急转直下。

And then in 2018, tumbleweeds.

还是听听吉姆·萨尔吉的说法。

Here's Jim Salgy again.

所有作物都绝收了。

Every crop failed.

森林里找不到任何食物。

There was no food in the forest.

这时松鼠们开始真正陷入绝望，它们会突破所有能想到的障碍去寻找食物。

And that's when the squirrels really started to get desperate and crossing every imaginable barrier to try to find food.

这听起来真像是个松鼠恐怖故事。

I mean, that really seems like a squirrel horror story.

我无法想象对森林里的小动物来说，还有什么比经历两年盛宴后种群暴增，却突然无处觅食更糟糕的了。

I could not imagine anything worse for the small animals in a forest than having a huge population after two years of feasting and no food to be found anywhere.

当我第一次听说松鼠大灾难时，感觉这暴露了自然界相当残酷的一面。

When I first heard about the great squirrel apocalypse, it seemed to expose this pretty brutal side of nature.

就像这些树木饿死了一整代松鼠，而这些松鼠之所以存在，正是因为同样的树木曾让它们的父辈饱食终年。

Like, these trees starved an entire generation of squirrels, squirrels that only existed because those same trees fattened up their parents' generation.

现在它们注定要为了生存而穿越多车道公路、闯入民宅、甚至泅渡湖泊？

And now they're fated to dash across multi lane highways, break into people's homes, and swim across lakes just to survive?

这算不算，

Mean, is this?

饥饿游戏？

The hunger games?

还是鱿鱼游戏？

Or squid game?

或者是松鼠游戏？

Or squirrel game?

但我们不必这样看待这件事。

But that doesn't have to be how we look at it.

树木养育了松鼠。

Trees feed the squirrels.

而松鼠在埋藏坚果并遗忘时，有时会种下新的树木。

And the squirrels, when they bury nuts and forget about them, sometimes plant new trees.

我认为这关乎平衡与互惠。

I would say that it's about balance and reciprocity.

这位是劳伦·斯皮尔斯，托马克瓦格博物馆执行馆长，纳拉甘西特民族的公民。

This is Lauren Spears, executive director of the Tomaquag Museum and a citizen of the Narragansett nation.

她表示，或许这个故事反映的是我们人类对松鼠的残忍。

And she says, maybe this story is about us humans being brutal to the squirrels.

失衡源于人类的影响，无论是汽车、建筑施工，还是对动植物自然生长环境的侵占。

The imbalance is the human influence, whether that's cars, whether that's construction and building, and displacing the natural environments in which animals and plants grow.

接下来是气候变化的问题。

And then there's the question of climate change.

研究表明，温度是向树木发出丰收年信号的重要因素之一。

Research suggests that temperature is one important factor that signals to trees when it's time for a mast year.

但新研究显示，全球气温上升可能导致一些科学家所称的'丰收崩溃'现象。

But new studies show that rising global temperatures can cause what some scientists are calling a masting breakdown.

虽然有些树木不受影响，但其他树木丰收过于频繁，而另一些则丰收不足。

While some trees are unaffected, other trees are masting too often, while some others aren't masting enough.

我们尚不清楚这会产生什么连锁反应，但就目前所知，这对森林来说可能是个坏消息。

We don't know yet what ripple effects that could have, but as far as we can tell, it's probably bad news for forests.

所以归根结底，那些死去的松鼠并非世界末日的征兆。

So at the end of the day, all those dead squirrels weren't a sign of the apocalypse.

事实上恰恰相反。

It was just the opposite, in fact.

它们是自然界正常运转的标志。

They were a sign that nature was working as intended.

种子会在需要确保更多这类植物生长时大量出现，这些果树、坚果树等都在生态系统中。

Seeds come in an abundance at times when there is a need to ensure that there are more of these plants growing, these trees and fruit trees and nut trees, etcetera, are in the ecosystem.

让这些坚果树为子孙后代所用，为所有人类、动物和植物自身所用，这让我们保持平衡。

And to have these nut trees available for the future generations of all people, all animals, the plants themselves, that keeps us in balance.

所以今年秋天，当你赏叶、喝着南瓜拿铁或躲避松鼠IPA啤酒时，不妨花点时间思考一下丰年现象。

So this fall, if you find yourself looking at the leaves, drinking a pumpkin spice latte, or a cold pint of dodging squirrels IPA, take a moment to meditate on masting.

正如拉尔夫·瓦尔多·爱默生所说：'一颗橡实中孕育着千片森林'。

As Ralph Waldo Emerson put it, the creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.

也正如Reddit网友所说：'永远不要忘记2018年伟大的松鼠末日'。

And as commenters put it on Reddit, never forget the great squirrel apocalypse of twenty eighteen.

这是制作人Felix Poon的报道。

That was producer Felix Poon.

顺便说一句，如果你是自然类播客的忠实听众，可能已经注意到订阅列表里的异常情况。

By the way, if you're a big fan of nature based podcasts, you might have noticed something strange going on in your feed.

因为本期节目是一次社区播客的趣味联动活动。

That's because this episode is part of a playful exercise in community podcasting.

我想也许我该说这是播客大丰收。

I guess maybe I should say pod masting.

六个不同节目各自制作了受丰收启发的剧集，然后同时发布。

Six different shows each producing their own masting inspired episodes and then dropping them all at the same time.

是的，我知道我们很书呆子气，但你还能指望什么呢？

Yes, I know we are very nerdy but you know, what do you expect?

如果你想打开这些音频橡果，可以在节目说明中找到Spotify播放列表，或者直接在任意播客平台搜索Critical Masked。

If you wanna crack open some of these other audio acorns, you can find a Spotify playlist in the show notes or you can just search Critical Masked wherever you get your podcasts.

请继续收听，休息后我们还有更多疯狂的故事。

So stay tuned, we've got some more nutty stories still to come after the break.

嘿，这里是《由外而内》。

Hey, this is Outside In.

我是今天的Nate Hedgie，带来关于丰收世界的故事。

I am Nate Hedgie today with stories from the world of masting.

但树木并非唯一依靠数量优势来智取胜敌的物种。

But trees aren't the only species that rely on overwhelming numbers to outmaneuver the opposition.

虽然一些猎物物种可能在食物突然丰富时迎来好日子，但人类却常常措手不及。

Whereas some prey species might have a field day when food suddenly becomes abundant, human beings have a habit of finding ourselves flat footed.

这个故事由玛丽娜·亨克提供。

This story comes to us from Marina Henke.

距离大卫·威尔逊和克莱尔·阿迪斯结婚已近三十年。

It's been almost thirty years since David Wilson and Claire Addis got married.

久到许多细节都开始变得模糊。

Long enough that a lot of the details start to get fuzzy.

但他们仍记得挑选场地的情景。

But they can remember picking out the venue.

我不知道我们当时为何想邀请这么多人。

I don't know why we thought about inviting so many people.

我们有个大家庭。

We have a big family.

但我们当时看的各种场地都不太符合我们的风格。

But, we were looking at all kinds of places that weren't really us.

所有选择要么太贵，要么太沉闷。

All the options were either too expensive or too stuffy.

直到大卫的表哥提出用他在新泽西的房子。

That was until David's cousin offered up his house in New Jersey.

那房子就像一座巨型豪宅，大得简直离谱。

And it was kind of a like a huge mansion kind of house, like really just bonkers big.

他们办了个后院婚礼，买了顶大黄帐篷防雨，还把篮球架滚到车道上让孩子们玩耍。

They made it a backyard wedding, bought a huge yellow tent in case it rained, and rolled a basketball hoop onto the driveway where kids could play.

婚礼当天早上，大卫早早到了那里。

The morning of the big day, David got there early.

我想是我把婚礼蛋糕带过去的。

I think I brought the wedding cake over.

就在这时他看到了它们。

And that's when he saw them.

通往房子的走道上爬满了数百只厚翅昆虫。

Covering the pathway leading up to the house were hundreds of thick winged insects.

那场景几乎像下雪一样。

It was like snow almost.

数量多到那种程度。

There was that many.

那是1996年在新泽西州韦斯特菲尔德，第二巢的蝉刚刚从长达十七年的沉睡中苏醒。

It was 1996 in Westfield, New Jersey, and the cicadas of Brood two had just woken up from a seventeen year long nap.

最让我记忆深刻的是看着它们爬上我的裙子。

The thing that that sticks out my memory is seeing them crawling up my dress.

你没法轻易甩掉它们，因为它们就像...

You can't really brush them off because they they're, you

你知道，像魔术贴一样。

know like Velcro.

它们会紧紧粘着。

They cling.

如果你从未见过，蝉是一种相当肥硕的昆虫。

In case you've never seen one, cicadas are a rather chunky bug.

介于蚱蜢和肥硕蜻蜓之间的某种生物

Somewhere between a grasshopper and a fat dragonfly.

它们通体黑色

They are black in color.

长着橙色的翅膀和红色的眼睛

They have orange wings, and they have red eyes.

看起来就像科幻电影里的生物

So they look like something out of a sci fi movie.

这位是田纳西大学查塔努加分校的生物学教授迪安娜·比斯利

This is Deanna Beasley, a biology professor at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga.

虽然多数蝉遵循一年生命周期，但有一类特殊品种并不如此规律

While most cicadas follow an annual life cycle, a very special subset aren't so regular.

周期蝉根据品种不同，每十三年或十七年才会破土而出

Periodical cicadas emerge every thirteen or seventeen years depending on the species.

这些品种的群体被称为'蝉群'

Groups of those species are called broods.

它们共有15个群体，主要分布在北美东部地区。

There's 15 of them spread across mostly the Eastern Part of North America.

第二群体——大卫开始迅速清扫人行道上的那群——已经活跃了相当长一段时间。

Brood two, the one that David quickly began to sweep off the sidewalks, had already been busy for quite some time.

正在发生的是，若虫或幼年蝉还在地下。

And so what's happening is the nymphs or, baby cicadas are underground.

它们附着在树木上，以树木汁液为食，基本就是这样。

They're rooted on to the trees and feeding off of the trees, and that's pretty much it.

它们只是不断地越长越大。

They're just getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

婚礼、毕业典礼、完整的童年时光，就在这些进食的若虫上方几英寸处发生。

Weddings, graduations, whole childhoods happen, inches above these feeding nymphs.

然后十多年后，这些昆虫会爬出地面。

Then more than a dozen years later, those insects head to the surface.

如果有树冠的话，它们会爬进树冠，而且唱歌的是雄性蝉。

And then they climb into the canopy if there is a canopy for them, and it's the males that are singing.

迪安娜这里说的可不是几十只虫子那么简单。

Deanna is not talking about a few dozen bugs here.

如果条件适宜，单单一英亩土地就能涌现出150万只蝉。

If conditions are right, 1,500,000 cicadas can emerge from a singular acre.

其中一英亩地就在新泽西郊区一栋豪宅般的宅邸里。

One of those acres was a mansion like house in the suburbs of New Jersey.

当大卫和克莱尔的婚礼开始时，这些虫子已经让人无法忽视。

As David and Claire's wedding came to a start, the insects were impossible to ignore.

是啊。

Yeah.

我想我们完全没预料到会有蝉出现。

I don't think we had any preparation for there being cicadas.

它们当时在嗡嗡叫吗？

Were they buzzing?

它们发出噪音了吗？

Were they making noise?

哦，是的。

Oh, yeah.

是的。

Yeah.

我其实不太记得蝉鸣声了，但它们肯定在叫

I didn't really remember cicada singing, but they must have been

我们请了风笛手。

We had, like, a bagpiper.

我是说，场面相当热闹。

I mean, it was a noisy affair.

哇。

Wow.

那还挺诡异的。

That's pretty spooky.

有大卫和克莱尔婚礼的家庭录像。

There's home video from David and Claire's wedding.

确实，在风笛声中你听不到蝉鸣，但你能看到一位宾客仰头吞下一只蝉。

It's true that you can't hear the cicadas over the bagpipes, but you can see a guest tilt back his head and eat one.

那一万美元比我们的婚礼预算还多。

That $10,000 is more than ours.

蝉通过振动身体末端的空腔发出震撼声响，就像每秒敲击数十次世界上最微小的鼓。

Cicadas make their impressive by vibrating a hollow chamber at the tip of their bodies, a bit like beating the world's tiniest drum dozens of times a second.

新生的蝉群音量能超过100分贝。

An emerging brood can hit more than a 100 decibels.

这比全速运转的割草机还要吵。

That's louder than a lawnmower at full throttle.

蝉还有种向上攀爬的本能冲动，全都为了追寻树冠。

Cicadas also have a pretty instinctual drive to move upwards, all in pursuit of a tree's canopy.

是啊。

Yeah.

它们甚至在仪式进行时爬满了椅子。

They were, like, crawling up the chairs while the service was going on.

在敬酒时，它们开始往克莱尔裙子的夹层里爬。

And during the toast, they started climbing in between the layers of Claire's dress.

令人难以置信的是，这对夫妇不太记得当时是怎么处理它们的。

Incredibly, the couple doesn't exactly remember what they did about them.

我想我当时是让大卫帮我一起把它们挑出来，因为他对待动物很温柔，受伤的小鸟都会落在他手上，大概就是这么处理的。

I imagine I asked David to help me kind of pick them out because he's very gentle with animals and, like, wounded birds will land on his hand, and that's probably what happened.

我可能让他帮忙把它们放到安全的地方。

I probably asked him to help, you know, put them in a safe place.

这突如其来的蝉群涌入。

This sudden influx of cicadas.

真的，这是另一种形式的集群现象。

Really, it's another form of masting.

就防御天敌而言，它们其实没什么特别手段，就是靠大量同时出现来应对。

So in terms of predator defense, they don't really have any except to just emerge in these really, you know, large numbers.

要知道，蝉的飞行能力其实很差。

You see, cicadas are pretty bad flyers.

它们行动迟缓，自卫能力极差，尤其是刚破土而出、正从幼虫皮中挣脱时。

They're not fast, and they're terrible at defending themselves, especially right after they get above ground as they squeeze their way out of their baby skin.

所以当蝉群经过多年后破土而出时，立刻被鸟类、啮齿动物和家犬左右夹击吞噬。

So when the brood emerges, after all those years, they're gobbled up left and right by birds, rodents, family dogs.

但是

But

最终，她就像在说，我再也看不得一只蝉了。

eventually, you know, her is just like, I can't look at another cicada.

求求别再出现蝉了。

It's just no more cicadas, please.

这种策略被称为捕食者饱和策略。

This is a strategy called predator satiation.

总会有足够的蝉存活下来最终繁衍后代。

Enough cicadas will survive to eventually reproduce.

在树冠高处，雌蝉寻找树枝上的微小裂缝，产下数以百万计的卵。

Up in the treetops, cicada females sought tiny slits into branches and lay millions of eggs.

然后当它们孵化时，就会从树枝上掉落到土壤里。

And then when they hatch, they'll just fall out the branch and into the soil.

它们需要一些时间才能真正到达树根部位，但在某些情况下它们有十七年的时间，所以不用着急。

It'll take them some time to actually make their way down to the roots of the tree, but they have seventeen years in some cases, so they have time.

正如你可能想象的，这场持续约六周的盛大演出会给环境留下印记。

As you might imagine, this whole production, which lasts about six weeks, leaves a mark on the environment.

但主要是积极的影响。

It's mostly a positive one.

你可以把蝉的大规模涌现视为环境中一次巨大的营养脉冲。

You could think of that cicada emergence as a huge nutrient pulse in the environment.

通常在蝉群出现后，你可能会发现雏鸟体型更大，对吧？

Usually following a cicada emergence, you might see, you know, fledglings are larger in size, right?

你还会看到土壤的整体营养质量得到提升，因为蝉死后会回归大地。

You may see overall nutrient quality of the soil is improved because when the cicadas die, they return to the earth.

对大卫和克莱尔来说，对蝉在环境中扮演的角色持不那么乐观的态度是完全合理的。

For David and Claire, it would make perfect sense to have less of a positive spin on cicada's role in the environment.

也许甚至对这些不请自来的婚礼宾客感到些许恐惧。

Maybe even some dread around these uninvited wedding guests.

但事实并非如此。

But that was not the case.

我还没结婚，但我知道我会希望那天一切顺利。

I I haven't gotten married yet, and I but I know I'm gonna kinda want everything to go well on that day.

你当时有没有觉得'这不该发生'的部分？

Was there a part of you that was like, this is not supposed to be happening

现在？

right now?

没有。

No.

没有。

No.

没有。

No.

不。

No.

我的意思是，认为一切都与我们有关或许是人类的天性，但说实话，这感觉几乎像是一种祝福。

It just I mean, it's sort of perhaps a human instinct to think that every thing is about us, but it almost felt like a blessing, honestly.

它们很可爱，你知道的，而且它们并不构成威胁。

They're lovely, you know, they're and they're not threatening.

它们伤害不了你。

They're can't hurt you.

我不知道。

I don't know.

那天的一切都感觉有点神奇，而这件事就像是其中的一部分。

Everything about that day kinda felt like magical, and that just felt like a part of that.

如今，婚礼策划师实际上会宣传各种避免蝉鸣干扰的建议。

These days, wedding planners actually advertise all kinds of tips to avoid cicada related interferences.

但三十年过去了，大卫和克莱尔确实将第二代蝉群视为那天一个快乐而新奇的小插曲，我相信这一点。

But thirty years on, David and Claire really remember Brood two as a joyful and curious side note to the day, and I believe it.

就是这样。

There you go.

这就是一大盒编舞道具的样子。

That's what a big box of choreography is gonna be.

他们的家庭视频里还有另一个场景。

There's another scene in their home video.

几个女孩拿着装满活蝉的大塑料桶跑来跑去。

A couple of girls running around with a big plastic tub full of live cicadas.

我手臂上自然爬行的活蝉？

My natural live prowl on my arm?

是啊。

Yeah.

我也是。

Me too.

我也是。

Me too.

也许新娘新郎对虫子的淡定态度有点感染力，又或许是这些不定期出现的昆虫本身带着某种魔力。

Maybe the bride and groom's calmness about the bugs was a little contagious, or maybe there is something a bit magical about these irregularly appearing insects.

毕竟它们的学名'magicycata'直接源自希腊语中的'魔术师'一词。

After all, their scientific name is magicycata, straight from the Greek word for magician.

我从未感受或听说过它们在场带来任何负面影响。

I've never felt a negative thing or heard a negative thing about them being there.

是啊。

Yeah.

我是说，听起来好像就是...

I mean, it sounds like that's what

你的意思是人们根本不记得当时是那样的。

you're saying is you're like, people people don't remember it like that at all.

我们是素食主义者，那天我听到的唯一抱怨就是没有肉食。

We're we're vegetarians, and the only complaint I heard that day was there was no meat.

本报道由玛丽亚·亨克制作。

That story was produced by Maria Henke.

顺便说一下，新泽西州最近一次蝉群大爆发发生在2021年，但大卫和克莱尔错过了。

And by the way, the most recent emergence of the cicada brood in New Jersey happened in 2021, but David and Claire missed it.

他们当时要去参加一场婚礼。

They had a wedding to go to.

我们

Our

最后一个关于人类神秘同步行为趋势的故事，由制作人贾斯汀·帕拉迪斯带来。

last story about a mysterious masting trend among humans comes from producer Justine Paradis.

今年春天，阿米莉亚·普鲁伊特成为了母亲。

This spring, Amelia Pruitt became a mother.

是啊。

Yeah.

我六月份刚生了个小女孩。

So I just had a little baby girl in June.

天哪。

Oh, gosh.

谢谢。

And thank you.

是啊。

Yeah.

这段初为人父母的经历很有趣。

It's been a fun entrance to parenthood.

和许多人一样，艾米莉亚感受到了为人父母需要做出诸多选择的沉重。

Like so many, Emilia felt the gravity of the many choices involved in becoming a parent.

其中首要的就是选名字。

Among the first, selecting a name.

这是个沉重的过程，因为在某种程度上，我们社会并不完全根据名字来定义一个人。

I mean, it's a weighty process because in some ways, we, as a society, don't necessarily label you just based on your name.

但名字往往也是你唯一的代表符号。

But that's also kind of the oftentimes only thing that you're represented by.

想想看，比如将来某天你的墓碑上，刻的只有名字和日期。

I mean, thinking about, like, if you get a headstone someday, you get a name and a date.

就是这样。

Like, that's the thing.

给宝宝取名不仅是重大决定，还是一门大生意，至少是热门的内容创作题材。

Baby names are not only big decisions, but big business too, or at least big content generators.

你可以购买相关书籍，浏览满是宝宝姓名轮播图的Instagram账号，还有各种Reddit论坛里充满犹豫不决的父母们请网友帮忙出主意的帖子。

There are books you can buy, Instagram accounts populated with baby name carousels, and subreddits filled with indecisive parents asking strangers on the Internet to weigh in.

但对艾米莉亚来说，这次选择其实并不困难。

But for Emilia, this one wasn't actually a tough choice.

露西尔是我的中间名，是我祖母的中间名，也是我曾祖母的名字。

So Lucille is my middle name, my grandmother's middle name, and then my great grandmother's name.

通过为女儿选择家族名字，艾米莉亚走的是一条相对传统的路线。

By picking a family name for her daughter, Emilia was opting for a somewhat traditional route.

但选择露西尔还有个原因——这个名字并不常见。

But Lucille was also appealing because it's not a super common name.

不过这种情况可能会改变。

Although that can change.

是啊。

Yeah.

我是1994年出生的，那时候周围根本没有叫Amelia的人。

I mean, I was born in 1994, and there were no Amelias around at that point.

我甚至不确定这个名字当时有没有上榜。

I don't even know if it ranked on the nameless.

但最近情况发生了变化，因为Amelia这个名字的排名一直在稳步上升。

But lately, something shifted, and that's because Amelia the name has been steadily climbing the charts.

哦，Amelia现在进前十了。

Oh, Amelia's top 10.

哦，Amelia进前三了。

Oh, Amelia's top three.

哦，Amelia已经稳居前三名很久了。

Oh, Amelia's been top three for a long time now.

比如Amelia在杂货店时，有时会听到有人喊她的名字。

Like when Amelia's at the grocery store, she sometimes hears someone calling her name.

她会抬头发现对方不是在叫她。

She'll look up and realize they're not talking to her.

从失去那种独特的正面特质到如今这样，有点令人伤感。

It's a little sad going from the loss of that kind of positive uniqueness.

我总开玩笑说，这下大家都会以为我比实际年龄小二十岁了。

I always joke, like, oh, I guess everybody will just think I'm twenty years younger than I actually am.

你可能自己也注意到这类现象，小学教室里满是叫杰登的孩子，或者突然之间每个明星都叫奥利维亚。

You probably noticed this kind of thing yourself, an elementary school classroom full of Jadens, or suddenly it seems that every other celebrity is named Olivia.

这种神秘的同步性让人联想到——比如森林里异常丰富的橡果丰收。

A mysterious synchronicity reminiscent of, oh, I don't know, an extraordinary windfall of acorns in the forest.

这会让人不禁怀疑，人类世界是否也存在着某种氛围效应。

It can make a person wonder if something's in the air for humans too.

为什么会这样呢？

Why does this happen?

为什么一个名字会——恕我直言——突然泛滥？

Why does a name, dare I say, masked?

大约从八九岁起，我就开始购买那些关于给宝宝取名的书籍。

Since I was about eight or nine years old, I've been buying what to name the baby books.

这位是克利夫兰·埃文斯。

This is Cleveland Evans.

他是堪萨斯州贝尔维尤大学的心理学荣誉教授。

He's a professor emeritus of psychology at Bellevue University in Kansas.

他每隔两周就会为《奥马哈世界先驱报》撰写关于名字主题的专栏文章。

He writes a newspaper column on the topic of names for the Omaha World Herald newspaper every other Sunday.

持续关注着婴儿们的命名趋势，并试图理解背后的原因。

Keeping up with, what the babies are being named and trying to figure out why.

你知道吗？

You know?

克利夫兰指出，在过去的年代里，婴儿命名更有系统性。

Cleveland says that in another era, naming babies was a little more systematic.

比如在殖民时期的新英格兰

Like in colonial New England

长子以祖父的名字命名。

First son is named after the father's father.

次子以外祖父的名字命名。

The second son is named after the mother's father.

你知道吗？

You know?

三子则以父亲本人的名字命名，之后才开始用父母兄弟的名字。

The third son is named after the father himself, and then they start into the mothers and fathers brothers.

但当今的美国文化更加丰富多彩。

But today's American culture is much more colorful.

许多家庭的规模变小了，国家在几乎所有方面都更加多元化。

A lot of people are having smaller families, and the country is more diverse in almost every way.

那么现在父母选择名字时受什么因素驱动呢？

So what motivates parents when they're picking a name now?

经过数十年的研究，以下是克利夫兰的理论。

After decades of study, here's Cleveland's theory.