A People Dependent on Coral
San Pedro is a little holiday town on a small island just off the Caribbean coast of Belize. It enjoyed a brief moment of fame in the Madonna song "La Isla Bonita". The great lady herself never came here, apparently, but her songwriter did. Anyway, it is not the queen of self-promotion on whom people here in San Pedro depend. No, it is an organism that knows its humble place but has helped to reshape the tropics: the polyp - the creature that builds the coral reefs.
The polyps have brought wealth to this little island. It's their protective girdle that allows beachfront properties to be built right on to the sand without fear of tidal surges from hurricanes.
It is the polyps which have constructed an elaborate breeding ground for fish to fill the bellies of local people. And it is the polyps which have indirectly provided a livelihood to people like Lyrical King, an ageing dreadlocked reggae strummer who has just wandered past, serenading the tourists sunbathing after their dives on the reef. "Stir it up, little darling," he implores. But a few locals are beginning to come to terms with the notion that some time in the future the reef may be damaged beyond repair. No polyps will mean no tourists and no dollars for Lyrical King. Billy Leslie, who runs a diving operation and is the son of a commercial fisherman, took me down to see the damage the coral is suffering.
Billy is a cheerful fellow. You will note, from the grin on his face as he peruses the trophy line of discarded bikini bottoms festooned above his bar, that his employment reward package is not merely financial. But he does not laugh when he describes the state of the reef. He remembers the first time it was hit by the phenomenon known as coral bleaching just a few years ago.
Bleaching happens when water temperature reaches such a height that the single-celled plants called Zooxanthellae - which live inside the coral polyps and provide them with oxygen - are driven away from the reef. The bleaching strips the reef of its colors as well. "It is horrible," Billy says. “The corals are in a sorry state, split apart, attacked by parasites and crumbling.”
And that of course is extremely bad news for San Pedro because if the reef breaks up, the hurricane wave protection is gone. And if there is nothing to stop the storm-force waves from sweeping onto the island, Billy's livelihood is gone too, along with the stream of foreign female admirers who learned to dive under his twinkling but watchful eye.
Also gone are many of the bars and hotels that have made barmen in San Pedro among the top 10 earners in this land of widespread unemployment. San Pedro is the cash cow for the entire Belizean economy.
So what is mainly to blame for the problem with the coral?
Well, reef scientists tell us it is global warming. Reefs all round the world are struggling. They cannot cope with the stress of greenhouse gases from rich nations far away.
Combating greenhouse gas emissions by installing new technology is, Western nations tell us, a costly and controversial business. But while the West hesitates over the investment, scientists say the real costs of climate change are being felt in places like San Pedro.
Campaigners in Belize point out that the reef here is a World Heritage site which should be under UN protection. Their petition is due to be heard by the UN's World Heritage committee in Unesco in the next few days. The Americans on the committee do not like the petition and they are trying to get it thrown out.
They say it is divisive and that there is no absolute proof that greenhouse gases are responsible for the warming of the water. Even if there were, the damage would be accidental and accidental damage cannot be seen as a breach of the World Heritage sites treaty. But the campaigners say science and ethics are on their side.
They believe that if the UN will accept that the reef is being harmed by climate change, international attention will be drawn to the issue, thus raising the possibility that sometime in the future those responsible for climate change will have to compensate the victims for the damage that they have caused.
But all that is a long way off, and on the beach and the bars of San Pedro they are not holding their breath. More likely, they fear, a bleak future lies ahead... not only for the polyp, but also for the people like Lyrical King and Billy the dive master who depend upon it.
单词注释：
humble [5hQmbl] adj. 谦卑的，地位低下的
polyp [5pClip] n. 水螅
tidal [5taidl] n. 潮汐
belly [5beli] n. 肚皮
serenade [7seri5neid] v. 唱小夜曲
zooxanthellae [7zEuEzAn5WelE] n. 虫黄藻，又译共生藻，精微海藻
parasite [5pArEsait] n. 寄生虫
emission [i5miFEn] n. 排放
petition [pi5tiFEn] n. 请愿
breach [bri:tF] n. 违约
依靠珊瑚为生的国民
圣派德洛是百里斯的一个小型度假城镇，位于加勒比海岸边的一座小岛上。麦当娜的歌曲《La Isla Bonita》（风光秀丽的小岛）让它名声大振。这位著名的女性并没有亲自来过圣派德洛，但是很显然，给她写歌的人曾经来过。无论如何，这个城镇依靠的并不是这位善于推销自己的流行天后，而是一种虽然不起眼，却能参与塑造热带环境的生物--水螅，即珊瑚礁的缔造者。
水螅为小岛带来了财富，正是因为有了它们的保护，人们才能在海岸边建房子，而不用惧怕飓风引起潮汐来袭。
以水螅为基石建立起来的复杂生物链，喂养了种类繁多的海鱼，使当地人能够填饱肚皮。也是水螅，间接给了像抒情歌王这样的人以生计。这些上了年纪的人漫不经心的弹奏着雷盖，在海边走来走去，给刚刚潜水回来，正在享受日光浴的游客演奏小夜曲，嘴里念叨着，“来吧，亲爱的。”但是，有一些当地人已经开始意识到，不久的将来珊瑚礁可能会遭到难以修复的毁坏。没有了水螅意味着没有了游客，意味着抒情歌王再也赚不到美元了。比利·莱斯利是个鱼商的儿子，目前经营着自己的潜水俱乐部，他带我去查看了珊瑚被破坏的状况。
比利是个热情洋溢的家伙，他用被丢弃的比基尼来装点酒吧，看到他愉快的咧着嘴审视这些战利品，你就会知道这份工作给他带来的不仅仅是经济上的好处。但是，他在描述这里珊瑚礁的现状时，脸上没有一丝笑容。他还记得，这里第一次遭遇珊瑚褪色的危机，是在几年之前。
当海水上升到一定温度，生活在珊瑚礁内部并供给它们氧气的单细胞植物，珊瑚共生藻，就会脱离这些珊瑚礁，并且带走它们的颜色，从而发生珊瑚褪色。比利说：“这非常可怕，珊瑚的处境糟透了，它们分崩离析，遭到寄生虫的袭击，摇摇欲坠。”
这对圣派德洛来说显然是个噩耗，因为一旦珊瑚礁毁灭，抵挡飓风的屏障就消失了。如果海浪在暴风下席卷小岛，比利的生计就没了，那些在他闪闪发光的眼睛的注视下，前来学习潜水的外国女郎，也会跟着消失。
与之一同销声匿迹的，还有许多的酒吧、旅馆。正是它们，使得酒吧老板在失业率大幅攀升的圣派德洛，跻身十大赚钱行业。而这座城镇，是全百里斯的印钞机。
那么，谁应该为珊瑚礁的危机负责？
科学家给的答案是，全球变暖。全世界的珊瑚礁都在生死线上挣扎，远方发达国家排放的温室气体造成巨大压力，它们无法抵挡。
西方国家告诉我们，以高新科技对抗温室气体排放，耗资巨大而且效果有待进一步考证。但是，科学家声称，在西方人还在为投资犹豫不决时，人类要为气候变化付出的真正代价，已经在像圣派德洛这样的地方显现出来。
百里斯的环境保护者认为，这里的珊瑚礁属于世界遗产，应该受到联合国的保护。他们的请愿将在几天后被提交到联合国教科文组织的世界遗产委员会。而委员会中的美国成员对此并不赞同，它们正在试图将其排斥在外。
这些人称，这件事尚有分歧，而且没有确凿的证据表明，温室气体是海水变暖的罪魁祸首。即使二者之间确有因果关系，那也是一种意外的损毁，并不构成违反世界遗产保护条约。而请愿者表示，科学与道德的准绳都站在他们一边。
他们相信，假使联合国做出评判，证实的确是气候变化损害了珊瑚礁，那么这件事情就会得到广泛的国际关注，驱使那些对气候变化负有责任的人，在未来的某一天对受害者进行补偿。
但这毕竟是很久以后的事，生活在圣派德洛海滩上和酒吧里的人们已经没法保持平静。他们害怕，面临的更有可能会是一个凄凉苍白的前景，不仅对于水螅而言，同样也是对于靠此安身立命的人们而言，比如抒情歌王，比如比利这样的潜水教练。