【国家地理百年纪念典藏】第85集 生命之歌 #國家地理 #紀錄片 #探索

From the first dawn of creation to the end of time Our world, our lives and every living thing are attuned to a cosmic song A celestial cadence of light and dark, of ebb and flow, of heat and cold All set into motion by the epic dance of the sun, moon and earth These are the rhythms of life itself Before there could be day or night, before there was a spring or fall A star, our sun, had to flare into life From the seething stuff of stars, over time, the planets of our solar system took shape Four billion years ago or more, one such place was born The planet called Earth, our home But for nearly a billion years, it would be a home inhospitable to any form of life A red and angry globe, a churning mass of fire, poison gas and molten rock At the core of the planet raged an inferno For thousands upon thousands of centuries, this infant planet suffered the violent pains of growth and change As it formed and reformed itself From the very beginning, the Earth knew night and day But a night and day not like any we know now Fueled by the forces of creation, the Earth raced through its daily cycle Spinning five times as fast as it does today A few brief hours of starlight, a few brief hours of sun Day followed night at a dizzying pace Earth and sun were not alone in their orbits But cosmic visitors rarely came to stay Until one cataclysmic encounter transformed the heavens and Earth forever One theory tells of a cosmic accident A huge asteroid on a collision course It may have been the birth of the moon And so many of the rhythms of life But first, the moon would have been a cloud of fragments Circling the planet like the rings of Saturn Before coming together into a huge, barren satellite Too small to hold a protective atmosphere The moon itself has long been bombarded by debris ever since Without wind or rain to smooth the scars Its face bears everlasting witness to the violent nature of outer space On the Earth below, an atmosphere was brewing From endless clouds of poison gases and water vapor It spilled from beneath the crust Closer to the sun, the precious water might have boiled away On a colder planet, it would be locked into eternal ice But on the Earth, water vapor condensed Falling back as rain upon the land And so the first oceans were born Over millions of years, the seas rose to flood the Earth Like the cool, life-giving waters we know today The primal atmosphere provided little protection It had no blanket of ozone to filter out lethal radiation Virtually unobstructed, the sun's unforgiving rays seared whatever they touched Much closer than now, the moon also played a violent part Tugging at the seas with a force countless times greater than today The first tides were mountains of water, miles high Torn by sun and moon, the surface waters offered no hope for life Still, there was sanctuary below In the ocean, the first building blocks of life Amino acids emerged They incubated in water heated by the planet's internal fires And fed on a bubbling broth of nutrients Straight from the heart of the Earth The oceans' depths were not safe from a cataclysmic universe In a galaxy still littered with the debris of Genesis Asteroid strikes may have vaporized the oceans, laying the seabed bare More than once, life on Earth may have been snuffed out Yet the fire and rains of creation kept their hold on Earth And the oceans rose again Life has proven stubborn here Some 3 billion years ago, as the Earth cooled and calmed once again New forms appeared, the heralds of life as we understand it In quiet sheltered pools, algae spread Colonies of single-celled organisms They thrived off abundant sunlight and carbon dioxide And in their waste, they left behind oxygen The precious breath of life This was the birth of photosynthesis A new life-giving cycle that transformed the Earth For countless millennia Algae flourished in the brief days so bright with sun And now, the cosmic rhythms were changing Gradually, the moon and its tide slowed the Earth's mad spinning And the forces that bound planet and satellite together Loosened their hold The moon retreated to where she stands today Still slipping imperceptibly away over time With the moon more distant, the tides fell Calmer waters bred more algae and more oxygen And with the oxygen came ozone Protection from the sun's most lethal rays At last, the stage was set for the next phase of creation Like the fire of a new sun The spark of new life appeared in the waters Not all just single-celled plants But organisms far more complex than any that had come before Within each was a genetic code That reflected the rhythms of Earth and Heaven A biological clock to guide their lives Daytime would be the time to feed on the power of the sun Reproduction would be saved for the shelter of night Millions of years later This clock still synchronizes almost all life To the very spin of the planet From the depths of a steeped wall lagoon In the South Pacific island of Palau A herd of underwater farmers rises to meet the dawn A swarm of jellyfish, tens of thousands strong Without eyes, the jellyfish do not use the light to see They need it to grow their food Gardens of brown algae that flourish Within their transparent bodies Denied sunshine, they would starve As the sun arcs overhead Shadows of the surrounding walls Darken the surface of the lagoon Just below, the jellyfish ferry their microscopic passengers Keeping them always in the light When the sun sinks, so do the jellyfish Dropping down to the ocean floor Where the algae can find their own nourishment Even without sight The jellyfish will know when the sun returns again In the surface waters of the oceans Most creatures take their cue to feed or rest From the rhythm of light and dark Now members of the night shift hurry to take the stage Roused by light-sensitive cells That announce the return of darkness These prickly browsers set out to graze Sea urchins find their prey and their way around By touch and by taste Each night, clouds of plankton rise from the deep to feed Drawing out the coral who fish the waters with feathery nets A few sharp-eyed fish operate by sight in the dim light before dawn Like a cat in the dark, the lionfish can pick out its prey The lionfish will slip into a crevice to hide from the daytime Eyes sensitive enough for half-light May be too delicate for bright sun Daybreak brings the morning rush hour to the reef Far more complex than jellyfish or sea urchins Most fish depend on sight to survive Without the sun, they are virtually blind to navigate their world To find their food or signal to their kind A kaleidoscope of colors enhances the play of daylight on the reef For the fish, stripe and hue holds clues and communications Helping them to identify mates Predators and prey in the busy rainbow of the reef Trailing twilight in its wake A manta ray flies in to harvest plankton When again they rise with evening Sunlight fades, taking with it the world of color And the day shift streams off the reef for the safety of deeper water And once again, the great earth wheels round The line between light and darkness Divides those that live by land As well as the creatures of the sea And even the land and sea themselves Breathe with the rhythms of day and night Given off by day, water vapor now rises Cools and condenses in the night air From earth, through plants, into the air And back to the earth again The endless cycles of replenishment and renewal The plants of this Australian rainforest Have been in tune with the rhythms of the sun for eons Here an acacia tree wakes up and stretches for the dawn Like a sundial in the trees The play of light and shadow across the forest floor Marks the turning of the planet The shifting pool of light Holds treasure for plants and animals alike Sun bathers under the leafy canopy Many plants collect much of their energy During brief interludes of light A boastful bird takes the spotlight for a stage In the dark his finery is invisible, meaningless Only by day can the male rifle bird Capitalize on his gaudy attire His appearance, like a feathered black and white rose Has been calculated by evolution To entice females to his side A vibrant sunlit display, all about sex As crisp as the snapping of a fan The last hours before sunset Often inspire a flurry of movement Once the sun fails Most birds will lose their powers of sight And of flight They gorge in preparation for the fast to come Color and flair are an advertisement for plants too Their brightly hued fruit attracts birds And with the feast The cycle of life and rebirth will continue For after eating The birds will spread the seeds of new plants far and wide While most creatures of the air depend on the bright of day Others, like fruit bats Are attuned to more nocturnal rhythms All day they had been invisible Sleeping in the shadows Saving their energy against the hot sun Now twilight signals to them A silent summons The bats scramble and take control of the air The birds have left behind Millions crowd the sky Ever graceful Never colliding Foraging in darkness The bats have turned to senses other than sight To find their way They navigate the night by sound Until they find a likely spot for a meal By moonlight Plants need a different lure to attract visitors Perfume Little is more savory to these bats Than the scent of ripe blossoms and fruit And once they take their fill Like birds They carry seeds everywhere they fly Assuring the future of their favorite foods The rising moon offers a gentle promise Cooling relief from the heat of the day And many creatures bide their time Until the evening hours Other mammals have also learned to maneuver Through the midnight air Like Australia's sugar gliders With their built-in parachute A sugar glider can span the length of a football field It may seem a bold leap of faith But they're only following family footsteps By smearing their scent upon the branches They blaze invisible trails for their kin to follow The search for insects Sap and nectars Carries the gliders into the night Like bats They survey the dark with sensitive noses This evening harvest Keeps these squirrel-like creatures Safe from the predators of day Instinct warns them To be back in their nest by dawn Before sharp-eyed hawks and eagles Take to the skies For millions of years Mammals were the masters of the night In prehistoric days Dominated by dinosaurs Smaller warm-blooded animals Took advantage of the relative safety Of the darker hours But the days when mammals were forced To hide from the coming of the light Are long since over Now in rainforests around the world Near the top of the evolutionary ladder You'll find agile treetoppers Ready and willing to celebrate Their place in the sun These proud primates Central American howler monkeys Inaugurate each day with a morning chorus Staking their claim to the trees And life at the top Higher still Cling their smaller cousins The spider monkeys With few natural enemies They rule the roost Grasping hands and feet Give them confidence To live life out on a limb And evolution has given them A whole new point of view Stereoscopic vision It gives them the ability To judge distance precisely Their natural environment Has given them the ability To judge distance precisely An invaluable skill When hurtling through the treetops Eighty feet above the ground Somewhere deep in the prehistoric past The human line diverged From that of monkeys and apes And even if we no longer Get to work vine to vine We still share common genes and heritage And an attachment to the daytime hours Its programming imprinted on us both By the ever-circling sun And our mutual celestial partner Lunar rhythms cast long shadows Over daily life on Earth Though the mile-high tides of creation Have shrunk to swells of mere feet The rise and fall of the oceans Still exerts a powerful force From 240,000 miles away The moon's pull wheels power enough To carve the coastline And buoy up the polar ice Four times a day The sea scours the coast Always retreating Always returning Its a force both destructive And life-giving Many creatures thrive here On the shifting boundary Between sea and land On gentler shorelines Each time the tide retreats It leaves behind a feeding ground Replenished by the sea The lull between high tides Sees a race for survival A race against the lunar clock Scavengers must feed their fill now Sand bubbler crabs Pick food from the net of the sand Sorting out trapped particles Of seaweed and other plants They leave behind Delicate spheres of sand Its a temporary testament To their labors Combing the territory Around their burrow They scar the sand With their tracks Each lone scavenger Attending to its own hunting ground Other creatures march boldly forward With the strength of numbers Soldier crabs Sweeping the shore in battalions Mostly males They work together by the hundreds Exhausting each plot of land Before moving on An army of crabs A living tide of hungry hunters But no army can defend against the moon And they know it The crabs' parade grounds Will be deserted By the time the tide Marches back to claim it As water replaces land Those that can take to the air Here the moon is mistress She sets the rhythm of life At all hours Low tide is time to eat High tide the time to rest Waiting birds Make the best of life at the shore Stilts for legs Let them follow the water's edge As it ebbs and flows Beyond the sandy shore The tide floods up through the clutching fingers The roots of mango trees Here in the muddy flats The fiddlers dig their wells Preparing for the tide's return For these engineers The last act before the flood Is to batten down the hatches With a fresh-cut plug of mud They'll wait out the flood Submerged in underground burrows Like waiting birds The mangroves Will weather the waves on stilts The rhythm of the tides Beats both night and day For whenever the tide is low The shore's inhabitants Will come out to feed By sunlight, moonlight Or in the glimmer of the stars Behind this constant ebb and flow Beats a second, slower tidal rhythm A cadence that for many Spurs the times of mating And of birth This is the lunar cycle The month-long dance of Earth Satellite and sun That paints the changing faces Of the moon Twice each month The sun and moon conspire To raise the level of the tides At the new moon And at the full The gravity of both our star And our satellite align Lifting the tide to its greatest height The tides are at their weakest This monthly cycle of tides Touches creatures of the sea In a place deeper Than the daily rhythms Of feeding and rest A pair of male parrotfish Swirl around each other Jockeying for supremacy Their competition is a sure sign That the full moon is on the rise This dance heralds The spawning season When the full moon tide Begins to ebb The females will release their eggs With the tug of the ebb tide The mating frenzy begins Thousands of fish, male and female Dash through each other's wakes Casting clouds of eggs and sperm To gather into the tide One breed's spawn Is another's feast Predators join the tumult To feed their fill on eggs But the spawning fish Know how to play the odds They have fertilized Tens of millions of eggs Millions will escape Pulled out to deeper waters By the outgoing tide The surf storms back over the reef Sweeping schools of tiny fish Into the lagoon A silvery cloud Flashing on a watery wind For many, this will be The last moment in the sun Trapped in quiet, shallow waters They make easy prey For hunters circling above the surface Moon, fish and birds All whirling in their own perfect harmony This black-naped tern Lives a life scored to the music of the tides On the shore Females have laid claim to nesting sites And some have already begun to lay eggs as well While one bird minds the nest Its mate fishes the shallows These seabirds time their breeding cycle To coincide with the easy prey Washed into the lagoon By the full moon tides Now is the time to eat heartily Soon the chicks will hatch And soon the moon will come full circle The tides again filling the shallows With tiny fish All in time to feed newly hatched chicks Although barren herself The moon prompts the sexual life Of many animals Both above and below the surface Just after the full moon The corals of the Great Barrier Reef Begin to spawn A week the tides will reach their slackest point And over 200 different species of coral Will launch their seed Into a galaxy of eggs and sperm In the still water There is time to drift and mix Time for eggs and sperm Of the same species to mingle And create a new generation Sea worms who live embedded in the coral Cast off their tails Adding to the blizzard Writhing bags of sex cells The castoffs dance among A veritable Milky Way of new life These celebrations are orchestrated By the music of the spheres The distant dance of the solar system The sun also sings to us In rhythms slower than the everyday Of rise and set Around this star journeys the earth At a stately year-long pace Initiating the cycle of the seasons Varying winter and summer From south to north And back again Even at the poles The sun makes her mark With the shimmering aurora The wake of the solar wind In the Antarctic The cycle of the seasons Becomes one with the rhythms Of the day and night Here six months of sunlight Are followed by six months of dark and dusk Summer followed by winter Even in the extremes of Antarctica Life is tenacious Throughout the dark of the polar night Each male emperor penguin Guards a single precious egg Hardly moving, never hunting They've not eaten since autumn In temperatures reaching 70 below Winds up to 50 miles an hour They huddle together For warmth and protection And wait for the sun In a land where evening lasts for six months Dawn can seem to take forever Finally the penguin chicks will hatch And like their fathers They will be desperate for food Males can lose nearly half their body weight During this incubation time But help is on the way Mother's coming For months they have been feeding On the bounty of winter seas Nature's biological clock Is at work here too The females seem to sense The exact time to leave For the nesting grounds For they have a huge trek Across the ice to get here Even tired and hungry The males may be slow To give up their chicks Temperatures on the ice can be killing Babies left exposed too long Will die The guard successfully changed Males are free at last To head to the sea and to feed The chicks will be fed by mother And kept warm until the sun Climbs high into the sky Ever and always The coming of summer Depends on the swing of the earth As it circles the sun And as it reels on its tilted axis As the earth spins through the year The sun's strongest rays Sweep across the globe Bringing change in its wake Near the equator The angle of the sun's rays Varies little through the year Still it's enough To give the tropical regions Their own seasonal rhythm The cycle of drought and flood The wet and the dry September in Australia The air above the baking northern plains Rises with the heat With it comes cloud banks full of moisture Pulled inland from the coast The wheeling clouds bring drama But no relief to a thirsty land They are not rainmakers But sky painters The monsoons are still months away Even so Deep in their nature Plants and animals Seem to feel the rain's coming A new cloud stirs Plant suckers rising With the rhythms of the spring What looks like the bark of a tree Breeze with life A frill-necked lizard Waiting out the drought For months it rations energy Moving little, feeding less Wallabies are rainy day lovers While they wait for the wet season Males joust for the chance to mate Now even the plants take a chance That the drought is on the wane Greeny, with fresh leaves Soon all their preparations Will be rewarded The wet, the season of the rains Is coming at last From deep in their shadowy caverns Colonies of termites Rouse to the reveille One storm brings another A rain of flying termites They take to the air by the millions In the quest to found new colonies In rain-softened soil And as always The rhythms of one life Mesh and turn with others Wide-eyed possums in the trees And bandicoots on the ground below In the fasting of the dry months With a welcome late-night feast At the end of their migration Termites shed their now useless wings Many will fail to ever find a mate And burrow safely underground With the coming of daylight There will be others to join the feast Conservative no more The frill-necked lizard Becomes a glutton Storing up protein For the breeding time to come But it may face competition For the spoils Undaunted The lizard takes his fill Working alone The green ants do it differently Working together in groups Both species tend to the harvest With a persistence That is single-minded Little disturbs the teamwork of ants They scavenge night and day Dry or wet At the peak of the rainy season The storms are now more Than most animals might care to see But their only choice Is to wait the cycle out Like the rhythm of the tides The rolling seasons of wet and dry Shape life for every plant And animal on this land One of them can stop the rain Or light the black of night No more than the fish Command the sky And the earth No more than the fish Command the seas To rise and fall One creature only Dares to fight the night The bold and restless dreamer Hunter Builder Man But even in our cars and castles We submit to the rhythms of the earth Dawn And the sun summons us to work We swarm like schools of fish To the cities Flashing to feed And mingle on the reef Beneath the canopy of urban forest We hunt and gather What we need to live And dusk Still calls us home again A flock of birds Returning to the roost But over the millennia We have learned how to fight the darkness With fires of our own design We strain against the boundaries Reshaping the border Between night and day We create our own complex orbits Drawn to the sky In the distant heavens Yet finally For all our powers and wisdom Man is still just a player On a vast stage Hour by hour Year by year The cosmic clock Marks our time on earth Seasons turn Tides rise and fall One generation Passes on to the next Nothing lasts forever Not even the stars themselves Night by night Over countless years The earth will slow on its axis The moon will drift yet further away Days will lengthen The tides grow quiet Billions of years from now The seemingly endless cycles Will come to a close As the fires of creation At last consume the sun Yet ours is but one small star In one tiny galaxy In a universe beyond measure Perhaps there are other rhythms of life Unseen by our eyes Yet as grand and majestic as our own