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| 教 育 專 題 深 入 報 導《2007-04-13》 |
| 國際專題：Fame hurts Ecuador's "valley of eternal youth"美名反噬壽命，厄瓜多長壽村愈發短命 | |
| 策劃、編譯■唐澄暐、侯美如 | |
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卡皮歐（Nestor Carpio）拖著89高齡的孱弱身體，想著自己大概無福消受像自己父親同樣的長壽了。他的父親享年124歲，是享譽全球的厄瓜多長壽村名符其實的一份子。 這個座落於厄瓜多安地斯山區的維卡班巴村（Vilcabamba）本號稱「西半球的長壽鄉」，平均每64人中就有一個百歲人瑞，為國際自然醫學會認定的5個世界長壽鄉之一，其他的地區是高加索、巴基斯坦罕薩、中國的新疆及廣西巴馬；然而隨著遊客帶進都市喧擾、汲營尋求長壽密笈的醫療團隊進出，維卡班巴長壽村的人們，開始在不長壽的年齡凋零。 帶著厚重眼鏡的卡皮歐感嘆：「以前我們的生活很寧靜，現在實在變太多了。」泥磚牆外正一輛輛響著電音的汽車諷刺地呼嘯而過，卡皮歐道出維卡班巴的新景象：「真的上年紀的老人們很快地相繼過世。」 勤勉的老人們還能背著一天的豐收──馬鈴薯、洋蔥及各式穀類──穩健行走於安地斯陡峭的山路上，反觀新世代青年倒是群集廣場，大啖香菸啤酒。老一代的說摩登生活腐蝕瓦解了村落原本的無憂寧靜，這些可都是長壽的秘訣。 過去人瑞們總精神飽滿聚集廣場打牌、或在教堂裡禮拜，但近幾年他們相繼過世，健康銀髮族聚在一起聊天的盛況已不在。村人相信，最近的兩次喪禮送走的老伙伴應該有118和124歲。「我們不再像過去一樣吃天然食品了。」89歲的薩安庭（Ramon Santin）搓著厚實髒污的大手說著，最近他才因為胃痛而進過一次醫院：「日子真的變了很多。」 維卡班巴長壽的原因眾說紛紜，除了天然生機飲食，有專家認為是當地飲用泉水富含礦物質，鐵鎂比例理想、有人則指出當地高原氣候均溫介於攝氏18到22度間，氣候宜人、另外也有學者將健康祕訣歸功於當地一種能潔淨空氣的獨特植物。 長期研究維卡班巴的老年病學者朱拉多（Nelson Jurado）則指出，當地人良好基因和健康環境維持一個微妙的平衡，就是這個秘訣讓維卡班巴獲得長壽村的美名。「維卡班巴脆弱的生態圈已被發展的海嘯吞沒。」朱拉多在首都基多發言：「現在他們生活步調加快，而這影響了生活品質和壽命。」 科學家表示，由於缺乏像是出生年月日等官方數據，目前無法得知維卡班巴實際的平均壽命。但目前世界金氏紀錄上登記有案的「全世界最長壽的人」卡波維拉（Maria Capovilla）正是土生土長的維卡班巴人，去年8月她在瓜亞基爾（Guayaquil）海港辭世，享年116歲。 目前維卡班巴打著長壽村的名號，蓬勃發展觀光業，從「永春谷香菸」到瓶身上印著白鬍老伯的「維卡淨水」，只要和長壽扯上關係，商品五花八門。然而當地官員指出，在外來世俗的衝擊下，維卡班巴村民得非常辛苦才能好好拿捏觀光業與健康生活間的平衡。「我們樂見觀光客到來，但他們正在改變我們的文化。」社區組職會長高納（Adalber Gaona）的祖母才剛歡慶百歲就蒙主恩昭了，他表示，年輕人開始喝汽水、抽菸、吃垃圾食物，「看來我們的長壽美譽正在縮減我們自己的生命。」 正如厄瓜多其餘鄉間村落一樣，上百名為維卡班巴人也為了追尋更好的工作機會移民美國或歐洲。留下的人對於能不能保住祖先留下的長壽招牌則感憂心。「天呀！這不可能，我這輩子不可能活到100歲了！」23歲的年輕運將維拉（Carlos Vera）坐在自己新買的小貨車上叫道：「人能活那麼久的年代已然逝去。」 http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSELK48010820070404 Nestor Carpio, frail at 89, says he doesn't expect to live as long as his father Miguel, who reached 124 and made this tiny valley famous around the world for the longevity of its inhabitants. These days, the famous elders of Vilcabamba are dying at a younger age, the result of the stresses of modern life brought by the scores of tourists and health buffs who flock here in search of eternal youth. "Before life was tranquil, now the town has turned too big," said the bespectacled Carpio, sitting outside his adobe home as cars blasting techno-cumbia cruised nearby. "The really old ones are dying off quickly." Gangs of youths drinking beer and smoking around the village's main square contrasted sharply with the hardy elders carrying the day's harvest of potatoes, onions and herbs through the steep roads of the Ecuadorian Andes. Old timers say modern life has encroached on and disrupted the valley's tranquil and carefree lifestyle, which was key to their longevity. Centenarians used to be seen playing cards at the main square or sitting in church, villagers say, but there are fewer now as many have died in recent years. They cited recent funerals of two elders believed to be 118 and 124. "We are not eating the natural food we used to," said Ramon Santin, an 89-year-old peasant with thick, dirty hands who has only been in the hospital once because of a stomach ache. "Life is different."BALANCE UPSET Nelson Jurado, a gerontologist who has studied Vilcabamba's seniors, said that a delicate balance between good genes and a healthy environment has helped prolong lives. "The fragile ecosystem of Vilcabamba has been affected by this tsunami of development," said Jurado, who is based in Quito, Ecuador's capital. "Now these people live at a faster pace and that has affected their quality of life and longevity." Foreign scientists have questioned the real age of Vilcabamba's super-centenarians because most lack official documentation such as birth records. But Ecuador was home to the world's verified oldest person, Maria Capovilla, until her death in the port city of Guayaquil in August, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Vilcabamba thrives on tourism and uses its fame to sell everything from "Valley of Eternal Youth" cigarettes to Vilcawater with the face of a white-bearded elder stamped on the bottle. But local officials said the hamlet struggles to keep a balance between tourism and a healthy way of life. "We are happy with tourists, but they are changing our culture," said Adalber Gaona, the president of the neighborhood association, who said his grandmother died just short of her 100th birthday. "The young are now drinking sodas, smoking and eating junk food." "It seems our own longevity fame is hurting us."Like many other hamlets in rural Ecuador, hundreds of Vilcabamba natives have migrated to the United States and Europe in search of better-paying jobs. Those who stayed say they doubt they will reach the age of their forefathers. "Hell no, I'm never going to reach 100," hollered 23-year-old taxi driver Carlos Vera inside his brand new pickup truck. "Those times when people lived that long are gone." |
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| Brazil and Ecuador Want to Do Without IMF and World Bank厄瓜多與巴西打造南美自足金融體系 | |
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巴西總統魯拉和厄瓜多總統柯瑞爾於4月4日討論成立「南方銀行」。在隨後的記者會中，柯瑞爾表示銀行將為區域內的各政府提供財政協助。 根據柯瑞爾表示，該機構將負責運行「區域貨幣基金」，以讓拉丁美洲國家不再需要依賴國際貨幣基金（IMF）和世界銀行的援助，藉以擺脫富裕國家政府的控制。「拉丁美洲有將近2千億美金的外匯，多數是在已開發國家。換句話說，向拉丁美洲這樣窮困的地方現在其實是在為已開發國家提供資金。這很不合理。」柯利亞表示。「若能將這筆資金整合成基金，稱作南方銀行，來替區域本身提供資金的話，拉丁美洲就不需要依靠外部的資助了。」他表示。 總統的內政顧問馬可‧奧略理‧賈西亞證實巴西政府帶保留地認為這個資金單位的「構想不錯」。「目前為止，南方銀行的計畫還沒有達成技術上的一致性。」「巴西目前仍捍衛南美洲金融體系的建立，其中包括其他議題，例如和阿根廷協定使用國內貨幣進行交易等。」 根據柯瑞爾表示，魯拉對計畫展現高度興趣。「魯拉對這個點子有興趣。他告訴我說這個概念還有一點點疑惑。」他表示，南方銀行的第一個草圖是由厄瓜多、玻利維亞、阿根廷和委內瑞拉的經濟部長所共同策劃的發展銀行。「這樣的機構早已存在，就是『安蒂斯山發展公司』。這個計畫的目標是建立區域的貨幣基金，以資助區域內的國家，也是未來全南美貨幣統一，建立中央銀行的第一步。」 南方銀行的最初想法是由阿根廷與委內瑞拉政府在2月時提出。接著，厄瓜多和玻利維亞也加入。巴西和巴拉圭則以觀察員的身分加入。 http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/8118/54/ Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his counterpart Rafael Correa from Ecuador discussed this Wednesday, April 4, the creation of a Southern Bank. In an interview after the meeting, Correa said the bank would be a financing instrument for governments in the region. According to Correa, the institution would function as a Regional Monetary Fund, so Latin American countries would no longer need to request financial aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), from the World Bank, and from governments of wealthy countries. "Latin America has approximately US$ 200 billion in reserves invested abroad, mostly in the developed world. In other words, a poor region like Latin America is now financing the developed world, this is absurd," said Correa. "If combined, these reserves can be a fund, which we called the Southern Bank, to finance governments in the region itself, so Latin America would not require external extraordinary financing," he said. The presidential advisor for internal affairs, Marco Aurelio Garcia, confirmed that the Brazilian government considers as "good," with reservations, the idea of a financial institution for the region. "So far, the projects that appeared for a Southern Bank had no technical consistency," he claimed. According to him, Correa will propose a meeting for ministers of Finance, so the project can gain "technical consistency." "Brazil defends the creation of a South American financial system, which also involves other issues, such as the agreement we reached with a Argentina for doing trade using domestic currency," Garcia claimed. President Lula is interested in the project, according to Correa. "Lula showed interested in the idea. What he told me is that the concepts are a little bit confused," he said. According to the president of Ecuador, a first draft of the Southern Bank, made by ministers of Economy from Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina and Venezuela, forecasted a development bank. "Such an institution already exists, it is the CAF [Andean Development Corporation]. The idea is to establish a Regional Monetary Fund, aimed at financing countries, and which should be a preamble to a future Central Bank, to be created when the entire region has an unified currency," said Correa, to whom Latin America must seek a regional currency. The idea of a Southern Bank was launched in February by the governments of Argentina and Venezuela. Further on, Ecuador and Bolivia joined. Brazil and Paraguay participate as observers. |
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| La Nina may form, but timing and strength uncertain新一波反聖嬰現象 可能在厄瓜多海域形成 | |
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根據美國國家海洋大氣局的氣候預測中心指出，時間難以捉摸的反聖嬰現象可能將在厄瓜多的太平洋海岸成形，但何時出現和其強度目前仍陷在一片迷霧中。 在該中心每個月的固定報告中指出「目前的大氣和海洋狀態與過去發生太平洋降溫（反聖嬰）現象的趨勢一致」，且可能在今年5月至7月間發生。一旦發生，2007年6月1日到11月30日的颶風季節，大西洋將會出現更多的颶風。然而，最新的電腦模型「顯示反聖嬰現象的發展時機和強度都有相當強的不確定性」。 跟海水溫度變暖的聖嬰現象相比，反聖嬰現象較不為人知。聖嬰現象一旦發生，可能在整個亞太地區造成災難，秘魯和厄瓜多會發生洪水，澳洲、印尼和菲律賓則會出現旱災。聖嬰現象也會在大西洋盆地造成更強的亂流，妨礙了2006年的颶風產生，造成該年僅有10個颶風，遠比2005年的28個要少。2005年的連番颶風包括了卡崔娜、麗塔和威爾瑪等破壞力極強的颶風。 而反聖嬰現象的效果正好相反，美國政府及私人氣象預測單位都表示，颶風的出現量可能是正常的兩倍，目前多數的預測都認為今年將有17個颶風。在1998年至2001年的反聖嬰現象期間，美西的大半部都陷入乾旱之中。 A La Nina weather anomaly may be forming in the equatorial Pacific, but a fog of unpredictability enshrouds when it may strike and how strong it might be, according to the Climate Prediction Center of the U.S. National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. In its monthly update issued Thursday, the center said "atmospheric and oceanic conditions are consistent with a trend towards a Pacific cold (La Nina) episode." The formation of La Nina could lead to more storms in the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, forecasters say. The weather anomaly could occur between May and July of this year. However, the latest computer models "indicate considerable uncertainty as to when La Nina might develop and how strong it might be," according to the CPC. La Nina is less famous than El Nino, during which waters in the Pacific turn abnormally warm. That warming could wreak havoc in the weather across the Asia-Pacific region, causing flooding in Peru and Ecuador in South America and withering drought in Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines. El Nino also spurs stronger wind shear in the Atlantic basin. This greatly hindered storm formation in 2006 when only 10 occurred, sharply lower than the record 28 storms of the year before which included monsters like hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. La Nina has the opposite effect, and U.S. government and private forecasters said it may cause a higher-than-normal number of hurricanes. Most predictions pegged the number of storms this year at 17. El Nino means literally "little boy" in Spanish. The name was used by Latin American anchovy fishermen in the 19th century who first noticed the anomaly because it usually peaked during Christmas. The last La Nina occurred from 1998 to 2001, leading to drought across much of the western United States. The CPC forecast is available on: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/ensodisc |
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