Imagine setting sail from Hawaii in a canoe.
想象一下，你乘着独木舟从夏威夷出发。
Your target is a small island thousands of kilometers away in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
你的目标是几千公里外、坐落于太平洋中央的一个小岛。
That's a body of water that covers more than 160 million square kilometers, greater than all the landmasses on Earth combined.
太平洋的面积超过1亿6百万平方公里，比地球所有陆地面积的总和还要大。
For thousands of years, Polynesian navigators managed voyages like this without the help of modern navigational aids.
几千年来，波利尼西亚航海者没有现代的航海仪器，也能成功完成这样的航行。
Ancient Polynesians used the Sun, Moon, stars, planets, ocean currents, and clouds as guides
远古的波利尼西亚人使用太阳、月亮、星星、行星、洋流和云来导航，
that allowed them to see the ocean as a series of pathways rather than an obstacle.
他们把海洋视为一系列的路径，而不是障碍。
Their voyages began around 1500 B.C. when the people who would settle Polynesia first set sail from Southeast Asia.
公元前1500年左右，最早前往波利尼西亚群岛定居的人从东南亚启航。
Early Polynesians eventually settled a vast area of islands spread over 40 million square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean.
早期的波利尼西亚人分散地安顿在超过4千万平方公里的太平洋海域。
Some historians believe the voyagers moved from place to place to avoid overpopulation.
有些历史学家相信那些航海者通过不断迁徙来避免人口过度拥挤。
Others, that they were driven by war.
另一些则认为他们是因战争而被迫迁徙。
Voyages became less frequent by around 1300 A.D. as Polynesian societies became more rooted in specific locations.
航行的规模到了公元1300年左右逐渐缩小，因为波利尼西亚社会逐渐在一些地方扎根。
During the voyaging period, successful journeys depended on a number of factors:
航海盛行时期，一次成功的航行背后最重要的因素包括：
well-built canoes, the skill of navigators, and weather being some of the biggest.
坚固的独木舟、航海者的技术和往往起主要作用的天气。
Voyages relied on sturdy wa'a kaulua, or double-hulled canoes, which were powered by sails and steered with a single large oar.
航行依靠坚固的wa'akaulua船，也叫双体船，靠船帆驱动和一条大船桨掌舵。
Canoe building involved the whole community, bringing together the navigators, canoe builders, priests, chanters, and hula dancers.
整个社区都参与了独木舟的制造，把航海员、船匠、祭司、歌手和草裙舞员联系在一起。
Navigators were keen observers of the natural world.
航海者精于观察自然界。
They were abundantly familiar with trade wind-generated ocean swells, which typically flow northeast or southeast.
他们很熟悉信风导致的、通常流向东北或东南方的海浪。
By day, navigators could identify direction by the rocking motion of their canoes caused by these swells.
白天，航海者可以通过船只的摇晃辨认海浪的方向。
But sunrise and sunset were even more useful.
但是日出和日落更有用。
The Sun's position indicated east and west and created low light on the ocean that made it possible to see swells directly.
太阳的方向标明东和西，日出日落时的微光让他们能直接地观察涌浪。
At night, navigators used something called a star compass, which wasn't a physical object, but rather a sort of mental map.
晚上，航海者使用一种叫“星象罗盘”的东西，这不是一种实体，更像一种概念图像。

They memorized the rising and setting points of stars and constellations at different times of the year.
他们牢记恒星和星座一年内不同时期升起和落下的位置。
They used those to divide the sky into four quadrants, subdivided into 32 houses, with the canoe in the middle.
使用这些位置，他们把天空分成四个象限，每个象限再细分为三十二个星宿，而独木舟则位于中央。
So, for example, when they saw the star Pira'atea rising from the ocean, they knew that to be northeast.
举个例子，当他们看到Pira'atea星从海洋升起，他们就知道那是东北方。
They had some other tricks, too. The Earth's axis points towards Hokupa'a, or the North Star,
此外他们还有其它诀窍。地球的轴指向Hokupa'a星，也就是北极星，
so called because it's the one fixed point in the sky as the Earth rotates and always indicates north.
它因其位置在地球自转时不变而得名，而且永远指向北方。
However, it's not visible south of the Equator,
然而，它在赤道之南是看不到的，
so navigators there could use a constellation called Newe, or the Southern Cross, and some mental tricks to estimate where south is.
所以在南半球，航海者使用Newe星座，也叫南方十字座，或者运用一些诀窍来辨认南方。
For instance, draw a line through these two stars, extend it 4.5 times, and draw another line from there to the horizon.
比如，在这两颗星之间画一条线，把这条线伸长4.5倍，再从那儿往天际线画一条直线。
That's south. But the sky also contains navigational aids much closer to Earth, the clouds.
那就是南方。不过天空中也有其它更靠近地面的的导航物，云朵。
Besides being useful weather cues, under the right conditions, they can indicate landmasses.
除了能用于预测天气，理想的情况下，云朵也能显示陆地的存在。
For instance, the lagoons of Pacific atolls can actually be seen reflected on the underside of clouds, if you know what to look for.
比如，太平洋环礁的泻湖会倒影在云朵的下层，你懂得观察就能看见。
And high masses of clouds can indicate mountainous islands.
大量的云朵也可显示高山岛屿的存在。
Once navigators neared their destination, other clues, such as the flight patterns of birds,
当航海者靠近目的地时，其它线索，比如鸟儿的飞行模式，
floating debris or vegetation, and types of fish in the area helped determine the proximity of land.
海上漂浮物和浮游植物，同地区特有的鱼种也能帮助推断陆地的距离。
For example, the Manu-O-Ku had a known flight range of 190 kilometers, and could be followed back to shore.
例如，Manu-O-Ku（白玄欧）的飞行范围是190公里，航海者可跟随它们归岸。
So how do we know all of this? Partially through evidence in petroglyphs,
我们是怎么知道这一切的？部分通过岩石雕刻，
written observations of European explorers, and Polynesian oral traditions.
欧洲探险家写下的观察报告，以及波利尼西亚的口述传统。
But also by trying them out for ourselves.
此外，我们也曾亲自试验。
In 2017, a voyaging canoe called Hokulea completed a worldwide voyage using only these techniques.
2017年，一艘名为Hokulea的航海独木舟，在只使用这些技术下成功环绕地球。
If that seems remarkable, remember the ancient Polynesians,
如果这令你惊叹，要记得那些古波利尼西亚人，
who through close study and kinship with nature, were able to forge these paths across an unfathomably vast, vibrant living ocean.
他们通过密切研究和亲近大自然，在深湛宽广、生气盎然的泱泱大洋上开拓海上路径。