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In so doing, I reached a frontier of biology so strange, so rich,that it seemed as though it exists on another planet.
通過這樣的方式，我來到一個非常古怪卻又非常豐富的生物學領域，簡直就像降臨到別的星球一樣。
In fact, we live on a mostly unexplored planet.
事實上，我們就生活在一個很多地方皆未被研究的星球上。
The great majority of organisms on Earth remain unknown to science.
科學家對于地球上大多數的有機體都是一無所知的。
In the last 30 years, thanks to explorations in remote parts of the world and advances in technology,biologists have, for example, added a full one-third of the known frog and other amphibian species,to bring the current total to 5,400,and more continue to pour in.
過去30年，人們去到了一些較為邊緣的地區,也得益于科技的進步，生物學家使已知的青蛙以及兩棲類物種數增加了三分之一，現在，兩棲類生物物種總數為5400種，并且還不斷有新的物種被發現。
Two new kinds of whales have been discovered, along with two new antelopes,dozens of monkey species and a new kind of elephant and even a distinct kind of gorilla.
也發現了兩種新的鯨魚種類，以及兩種新的羚羊，還有幾十個猴子的種類以及一種新的大象種類,甚至還有一種新發現的大猩猩！
At the extreme opposite end of the size scale, the class of marine bacteria,the Prochlorococci -- that will be on the final exam,although discovered only in 1988, are now recognized as likely the most abundant organisms on Earth,and moreover, responsible for a large part of the photosynthesis that occurs in the ocean.
而在生物體體型大小的另一端，我們發現了新的海洋細菌，原綠球藻，也許在你的期末考試出現過,雖說是1988年發現的，現在則被認為是地球上最繁盛的生物，這一生物為海洋里頭發生的光合作用起到了很大的推動作用。
These bacteria were not uncovered sooner,because they are also among the smallest of all Earth's organisms so minute that they cannot be seen with conventional optical microscopy.
我們沒能在更早的時候發現這些細菌，是因為它們也是地球上體型最小的生物之一,你用普通的光學儀器是難以看得到它們的。
Yet life in the sea may depend on these tiny creatures.
但海底的生物卻必須依賴它們才能生存。
These examples are just the first glimpse of our ignorance of life on this planet.
這些都不過是一些例子，顯示出我們對于地球上的生物是多么無知。
Consider the fungi -- including mushrooms, rusts, molds and many disease-causing organisms.
再看看真菌，包括蘑菇、銹菌、霉菌以及其他攜帶病原體的真菌
60,000 species are known to science,
我們知道有6萬種的真菌，
but more than 1.5 million have been estimated to exist.
但科學家估計，事實上有150萬真菌存活于地球上。
Consider the nematode roundworm, the most abundant of all animals.
再看看線蟲，它們是所有動物家族當中最為繁盛的。
Four out of five animals on Earth are nematode worms if all solid materials except nematode worms were to be eliminated,you could still see the ghostly outline of most of it in nematode worms.
地球上80%的動物都是線蟲,假如地球上除了線蟲以外所有的固態物質都消失，你還是可以從線蟲身上看出曾經的地球痕跡。
About 16,000 species of nematode worms have been discovered and diagnosed by scientists;there could be hundreds of thousands of them, even millions, still unknown.
大約16000種線蟲動物,已經被科學家發現并進行研究；而事實上，也許有數以千計甚至是數以百萬計的我們還未曾知道。
This vast domain of hidden biodiversity is increased still further by the dark matter of the biological world of bacteria,which within just the last several years still were known from only about 6,000 species of bacteria worldwide.
還有另外一個生物群體,它們通常不被關注，但其蘊含的生物多樣性卻更多，單單是過去的幾年,世界范圍內就發現了6000例新的細菌物種。
But that number of bacteria species can be found in one gram of soil,just a little handful of soil, in the 10 billion bacteria that would be there.
在一克的泥土里，就可以找出這一數目的細菌出來，一剖泥土，里面就有一百億的細菌。
It's been estimated that a single ton of soil-fertile soil contains approximately four million species of bacteria, all unknown.
有人估計，單單是一噸沃土當中就包含了近四百萬種的細菌，并且我們對這些細菌一無所知。
So the question is: what are they all doing?
所以，我們要問：那些家伙到底在干嘛？
The fact is, we don't know.
答案是：我們根本不知道答案。
