2015-06-16

【Aiden in English】

        And I thought the lemons were taking over the world. Well, when witnessed the activity on Crete in the Aegean Sea of Greek, the olive headquarter of the operations, a contest was quickly approaching for those two plants. Crete is the most southerly point in Europe and filled with lush olives, and I think that they might have a shot at beating the lemons to a common goal: world domination.

        The island of Crete is the biggest island in Greece and has 41 million olive trees. Each tree produces more olives. Their numbers grow by the day, and there seems to be virtually no barriers in their way. I said “virtually”! The lemons have their own spies in the world to stop potential competitors in their tracks. With the rising threats of the olives, these spies are sending some…… “friends”. The olives are now being shipped out by the millions and are brought to execution facilities where the olives are crushed slowly, and the blood is collected and bottled. It’s then sold to the world at a high price, and the money influences more people to buy. The lemons lower the price, attracting more people to buy. When the demand for the olives rises, the more olives cripple. They are being plucked off their branches quicker than ever. But this trap was set by the very ancient olives themselves thousands of years ago. They have created a great story of gods and monsters. Only thing was, it was true. It started with the meeting of sky and earth or Uranus and Gaia, giving birth to the Titans. The Titans then brought the gods into the world. However, only had the gods revolt against themselves, ending an era and starting another. This great story caught the attention of the world, alerting the entire population of earth directly to Crete. The olives have activated a defense of their own. Around the world, the temperature starts rising. Humans thought of this as a natural phenomenon, but really it was just a protocol activated during the Ice Age. It is known as global warming. The heat of the world raised the olive production, and also made tourists loss interest in coming to Crete for buying the olives.

        5,000 years ago, another battle between the lemons and the olives raged. This time the battle took place in the ancient Greek fortress called the Palace of Knossos. Both sides suffered great losses and the olives fended off the lemons. The Palace of Knossos was an enormous complex at the time, containing 5 levels, over 1,400 intimate rooms, a marvel of frescoes, Minoan relief figures and murals on plaster, and graceful columns. This architectural wonder was home of the mythical Minotaur. The palace was made by the King Minos, the son of Zeus. It was a sacred place, and that’s why lemons couldn’t attack the island from then on. The sacred grounds protected the olives from the lemons because Zeus was born here, bringing olives with him. Zeus then protected Crete from any attack, godly or… lemon-ly. Unfortunately his powers were failing, and the struggle raged once again. And the end result might be a world without one or the other.

        The rivalry between the olives and the lemons can’t be settled without bloodshed, which in this case is juice-shed. When the day comes, and the war ends, we… there won’t be that day. So it’s every man for himself. 

【紅霞譯文】

        我本以為只有檸檬一統天下，但當來到愛琴海希臘克里特島橄欖腹地親眼目睹植被概貌時，我立刻感到橄欖氣勢磅礴，這個位於歐洲最南端的島嶼幾乎掩映在鬱鬱蔥蔥的橄欖樹林之中。如同檸檬一樣，橄欖正席捲全球。

        克里特島是希臘最大的島嶼，擁有4100萬棵橄欖樹，每棵都碩果纍纍，並且數量與日俱增，看起來好像自然繁衍，沒錯兒，“好像”如此。這下檸檬棋逢對手，終於碰到橄欖這個半路殺出來的程咬金。隨着競爭白熱化，橄欖也亦步亦趨深入“敵”後，數以百萬計的橄欖果子被運到工廠脫皮加工，其汁液裝瓶打包，再以高價行銷世界各個角落，有了錢可以說服更多的顧客購買，而檸檬則靠的是薄利多銷。橄欖油需求提高，橄欖產量相繼增大，採摘頻率比過去加快了很多，但這種策略部署早在幾千年前就已經形成，自古以來橄欖油一向根據供需關係生產，希臘因此還創造出眾神與惡魔的故事，聽上去盪氣迴腸。盤古開天，蒼穹之神烏拉諾斯與大地女神蓋亞生下泰坦，泰坦把諸神帶進了這個世界，但卻被後輩神靈徹底推翻，一個時代的滅亡標誌着另外一個時代的興起。這麼動人的畫面不能不引起全世界的極大關注，而克里特島恰是整個故事的發源地。橄欖與時俱進，自身調整適應機制，以不變應萬變，正如地球變暖，溫室效應隨冰期以後氣溫上升逐漸顯現出來。這裡的橄欖產量雖然有增無減，但遊客卻被熱得望而卻步。

        5000年前檸檬和橄欖之間的競爭已經難解難分，這回索性把戰場搬進名叫“克諾索斯宮殿”的古希臘城堡，雙方損失慘重，橄欖乾脆把檸檬擋在牆外。克諾索斯宮殿規模巨大，有五層平台，超過一千四百多間居室，至今依然保留撼世珍品米諾斯石膏人物浮雕、繪畫及擎天石柱，希臘神話中的牛頭怪曾出生在這個奇葩建築里。整個宮殿根據米諾斯國王的旨意興建而成，米諾斯是神王宙斯的兒子，遂之成為神聖的地方。從那時起，檸檬再也無法在這片土壤上攻擊橄欖，聖地是橄欖經久不衰的後盾，因為宙斯早年在克里特島誕生的時候，橄欖相伴左右，從那以後，宙斯一直福佑克里特島不被外界神化的或……檸檬式的侵犯。不幸的是，宙斯神力逐日衰竭，對立面重新揭竿而起，爭來斗去的結果不是你死就是我活。

        橄欖和檸檬之間的爭鬥非打得頭破血流汁液滿地不可，屆時大家才會消停下來。當然我們……不會看到這一天出現，因此雙方繼續自以為是。