今天上午，我們打算去聖地亞哥島東北部廣袤無際的地質仙境，專門考察熔岩地貌，這些熔岩都是1900年以後由火山爆發時所留下的自然產物。 

      Here we had the opportunity for a morning hike over a blackened landscape that was nothing less than a geologic wonderland in Sullivan Bay, the northeast of Santiago Island. At every step we would see the hardened twists and turns of lava that flowed during a volcanic eruption in the 1900's.

      If you were talking about an "evil island", would it be jagged rocks, skeletons, scattered bones, no life and black? Well, I came to an island exactly like what I just listed. Jagged rocks. Check. Skeletons, Check. Scattered bones. Check. No life and black. Check. Sullivan Bay happened to be completely different from James Bay, the northwest of Santiago Island where I visited the day before. Lush green bush trees and delicate pink flowers populated the small mountains while birds sang their beautiful songs from their nests where baby birds chirped happily.

      什麼是“魔鬼島”？一個怪石嶙峋、骷髏遍野、碎屍散落、荒蕪人煙、火熏之色的島嶼，這就是眼下我所在的地方！怪石嶙峋，打鈎“√”；骷髏碎屍，打鈎“√”；荒蕪人煙，打鈎“√”；火熏之色，打鈎“√”。聖地亞哥島東北部的沙利文灣與我前天到訪的西北部詹姆斯灣完全不同，那裡灌木林成蔭，粉紅花似錦，百鳥飛禽啼鳴，窩邊的雛鳥爭相唧呀啁啾，到處生機盎然。

      At the waterfront of Sullivan Bay, we took a stop on the island where the lava rocks formed steps that helped us to approach the dry land without any problem. The sun was directly overhead and made our shadow to fade away as we saw our first plant. It was the Mollugo carpetweed that had long branches ending with a tiny flower. Mollugo became one of the few plants that had colonized on the lava barren surface for miles around in addition to the lava cacti. Lava Lizards often played around them and we ran into each other.

      沙利文灣水邊，我們沿熔岩礁石自然形成的台階上岸。這時，太陽已經高高掛在頭上，照得我們連自己的身影都躲了起來，唯有粟米草天不怕地不怕，長長的枝條，細小的花蕾，翹首迎候遠道而來的不速之客。粟米草可謂土生土長屈指可數的幾種旱生植物之一，在貧瘠荒涼的石縫間，像熔岩仙人掌一樣堅強不屈。熔岩蜥蜴經常出沒此地，使得彼此有機會互道問候。

      Rocks crunched under my feet as the hot sun beat down on us. The lava field looked like a black ocean and was petrified at its roughest moments. There were three lava types: pahoehoe (braided), Aa (jagged) and schrict (ropey). Lava flow solidified mostly into pahoehoe Lava in a Hawaiian term.

      隨着腳下岩石發出嘎吱嘎吱的響聲，陽光更加熱烈起來，烤得我們火辣辣的，恰似“炎氣擁為衣上火，汗光流出腹中湯”！熔岩荒野感覺好像黑色海洋，地面宛如磐石堅硬。熔岩大致有三種形狀：辮狀、突狀、繩狀。火山噴出地表的岩漿冷卻後大部分形成辮狀熔岩，其詞源取自夏威夷波利尼西亞語。

      Lava Bubbles from volcanic gases in the flow still remained and even burst over the time.

      熔岩氣泡來自火山氣體，有的至今保留完好，有的已在流動中破裂。

      Some reddish tuff cones rose from the wide black lava flow. The reddish color indicated oxidation which made the first step in the process of basalt turning into soil particles.

      紅色凝灰岩錐從熔岩荒野拔地而起，火成岩在變成土壤過程中因為第一步的氧化反應而呈紅色。

       Lava tubes ran right underneath the cooled lava. Some old ones broke creating holes or even pits that were large enough for me to stand in.

    冷卻的熔岩底部經常產生管道結構，天長日久舊熔岩管逐漸破裂，形成地洞或者窪坑，有的大到可以藏身。

      The immense black lava flow ran through the reddish tuff and continued to reach out the basaltic rocks as well as to the Pacific Ocean where Sally Lightfoot Crabs and Marine Iguanas abounded. Marine Iguanas adapted a black color and got well camouflaged in the lava field. So were the young crabs. However, once the Sally Lightfoot Crabs turned to adulthood, they became bright-red and were easily seen along the black lava shores. This set up another example for natural selection. The survivors came from the one who adapted themselves the best into the environs.

      巨大黑熔岩流穿過紅凝灰岩和花崗岩之後進入太平洋，這裡成為莎莉輕足蟹和海洋鬣蜥棲息的風水寶地。黑乎乎的海洋鬣蜥毋需喬裝打扮，便與烏油油的熔岩難分難辨；莎莉輕足蟹年幼後代同樣身披黑色外套，與熔岩覆蓋的深色礁石恍若一體，憑藉天然保護色而免遭殺身之禍，直到長大出落成帝王將相皇母太后，才搖身改穿紅色新衣。大自然的生物進化規律再次證明，物競天擇，適者生存。

       Other than us, Marine Iguanas and Lava Lizards might be the only survivable creatures because they were able to drink salt water.

    除我們之外，海洋鬣蜥和熔岩蜥蜴大概是熔岩荒野唯一倖存的動物，因為它們有能力代謝高鹽成分的海水。

      Sullivan Bay was the best place to discover the evidence of volcanism.

      沙利文灣的確是了解火山活動最好的地方。

(二O一三年四月三日，國際兒童圖書日)