索科特拉群岛：依然魅力四射

MAROONED in pirate-infested waters off the Horn of Africa but tied to unruly Yemen 400km (250 miles) away, the archipelago of Socotra has a forbidding look. Scorching summer winds strand ships. So fierce is the constant gale that it has whipped beachfuls of blinding white sand into dunes hundreds of metres high that ride up the cliffs. Even in winter it is blisteringly hot. Rats, the sole occupants of one rocky islet, are so ravenous that seasonal fishermen sleep in their skiffs, afraid to languish ashore.

非洲之角的附近海域时常有海盗出没，索科特拉群岛正孤零零地坐落在此，但是该岛却属于400公里（250英里）以外那个不安定的也门。索科特拉群岛有一幅拒人于千里之外的样貌。灼热的夏季风会使船只搁浅。经常性的狂风如此之猛烈，它会把满沙滩炫目的白沙吹成好几百米高的沙丘，高得都上了悬崖了。到了冬季也是酷热难当。群岛之中有一块多石的小岛，岛上唯一的住客是老鼠，老鼠饿得如此发慌，以至于季节性的渔民只会睡在他们的小艇里，不敢上岸，因为怕受折磨。

Yet Socotra, whose main island is the size of Majorca or Long Island, is one of the world’s last enchanted places. The 50,000 native Socotris, speaking four dialects of a singsong ancient language unintelligible to other Yemenis, subsist on fish, goats and not much else. But they inhabit a wildly varied landscape of surreal beauty. The sea teems with giant lobsters, turtles and leaping dolphins. A unique breed of civet cat roams the limestone plateaus that are seamed with gorges carved by rushing streams, and spiked by finger-like granite towers rising to 1,500 metres. The cats are just one among 700 native species of plants and animals found nowhere else on earth.

但是索科特拉群岛——其主岛有马略卡岛或是长岛的大小——是世界上最后几个令人神醉的地方。岛上的五万个索科特拉人说着属于同一种语言的四种方言，这种吟唱般的古老语言其他也门人是听不懂的。索科特拉人靠鱼和山羊生存，此外就没有多少其它的食物来源了。但是他们住的地方地貌极为多变，处处散发着超现实美感。海里有大量的巨型龙虾、海龟和跳跃的海豚。一种品种独特的灵猫流浪在这些石灰岩高原上，地面上的一道道褶皱是被急流雕刻的峡谷，一根根从地里钻出、形似手指的花岗岩石柱可以向上达致1500米。岛上有700种动植物物种都是在地球上的其它地方看不到的，灵猫只是其中的一种。

Most astonishing are the trees. The dragon’s blood species, oozing red sap and looking like a cross between a steroidal mushroom and a monster broccoli, towers to 15 metres and lives for up to 500 years. The bottle tree, plump and leathery at its base, tapers to a sprout of twisting, hand-like little branches clutching bouquets of pink flowers. But even the ordinary here seems odd. Socotri cows, a breed recorded in Egyptian reliefs dating to 1,400bc, could be Friesians or Jerseys, except that they are barely waist-high.

最令人惊奇的是岛上的树。龙血树会渗出红色的树液，看起来好似甾类蘑菇和巨型西兰花的杂交品种，高度可达15米，生命期限可达500年。圆鼓鼓的瓶树基部似皮革，向上逐渐变细，最后生出扭曲的细枝，形似手，紧紧抓着开出的一束束粉花。但是甚至这里最普通东西都显得很奇怪。公元前1400年埃及人的浮雕上就记录了索科特拉的奶牛，这个品种可能属于弗里赛奶牛或是泽西奶牛，但是索科特拉奶牛最高不过齐腰。

Since Yemen’s government tarmacked an old British air force strip in 1999, jets land on Socotra, bringing a daily handful of tourists, environmental do-gooders and bales of qat. Paved roads now link the main towns. Even some of the troglodytic hamlets of the rocky interior sport satellite dishes. Time, which used to follow the 13-day months of an ancient Socotri calendar, is falling into rhythm with the rest of the planet. The Socotris, whose sultan was deposed by the Marxists of South Yemen and later found themselves ruled from even-more-distant Sana’a, feel aloof from Yemen’s troubles. Will their enchantment last?

也门政府在1999年将一条老旧的英国空军跑道铺上了柏油路。自那时起，喷气机每天都会降落于此，带来数量不多的旅游者、环保人士和成捆的夸特。铺面道路现在一直延伸至主要城镇。在多石的内陆地带，一些原始村庄甚至炫起了卫星锅。以前，这里的时间依循的是13天一个月的古代索科特拉历，现在正在落入和世界其它地方同步的节奏。索科特拉人的苏丹王虽然是被南也门的马克思主义政党给废黜的，但后来他们却归更远的萨那政府的统治，这使得索科特拉人对于也门的动荡感到漠然。它们的魅力会继续吗？