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"The ancient Hawaiians were astronomers," wrote Queen Liliuokalani, Hawaii's last reigning monarch, in 1897.
“古夏威夷人都是天文學家，夏威夷最后一位統治君主——利留卡拉尼女王在1897年寫道。
Star watchers were among the most esteemed members of Hawaiian society.
觀星人曾經是夏威夷社會中最受人敬重的群體。
Sadly, all is not well with astronomy in Hawaii today.
但可悲的是，夏威夷如今的天文學卻發展地不那么好。
Protests have erupted over construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope(TMT), a giant observatory that promises to revolutionize humanity's view of the cosmos.
三十米望遠鏡（簡稱TMT）是一座巨型天文觀測臺，它有望徹底改變人類對宇宙的認知，它的修建遭到了人們的抗議。
At issue is the TMT's planned location on Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano worshiped by some Hawaiians as the piko, that connects the Hawaiian Islands to the heavens.
有爭議的是TMT的計劃建造地點——莫納克亞山，它是被一些夏威夷人信奉為“piko”（夏威夷本地語言中代表著“大海的浪花”，“沖浪運動”，并引申有“陽光”，“生命”，“健康”等含義）的休眠火山，他們認為此山連接著夏威夷群島和天堂。
But Mauna Kea is also home to some of the world's most powerful telescopes.
但是莫納克亞山也是世界上一些功能最強大的天文望遠鏡的集中地。
Rested in the Pacific Ocean, Mauna Kea's peak rises above the bulk of our planet's dense atmosphere, where conditions allow telescopes to obtain images of unsurpassed clarity.
莫納克亞山坐落于太平洋，其頂峰穿透地球濃密的大氣層。在那里，天文望遠鏡可以捕捉到無比清晰的畫面。
Opposition to telescopes on Mauna Kea is nothing new.
反對在莫納克亞山建造天文望遠鏡已經不是什么新鮮事了。
A small but vocal group of Hawaiians and environments have long viewed their presence as disrespect for sacred land and a painful reminder of the occupation of what was once a sovereign nation.
長久以來，少數夏威夷人和環保主義者把那些天文望遠鏡看作是對那片神圣土地的褻瀆，并且會使人們想起這個曾經的主權國家被占領的慘痛回憶。
Some blame for the current controversy belongs to astronomers.
一些人把如今的爭議歸因于天文學家。
In their eagerness to build bigger telescopes, they forgot that science is the only way of understanding the world.
他們渴望建造更大的天文望遠鏡，卻忘記了科學不是理解世界的唯一途徑。
They did not always prioritize the protection of Mauna Kea's fragile ecosystems or its holiness to the island's inhabitants.
他們并不總是把保護莫納克亞山脆弱的生態環境或維護莫納克亞山對島上居民而言的神圣地位放在優先位置。
Hawaiian culture is not a relic of the past; it is a living culture undergoing a renaissance today.
夏威夷文化并非歷史的遺產；實際上，它是正在復興的、有著生命力的文化。
Yet science has a cultural history, too, with roots going back to the dawn of civilization.
然而科學也是有文化史的，其發展史也要追溯到文明之初。
The same curiosity to find what lies beyond the horizon that first brought early Polynesians to Hawaii's shores inspires astronomers today to explore the heavens.
起初，探索地平線外的世界的好奇心將波利尼西亞人帶到了夏威夷海岸，如今同樣的好奇心也在吸引著天文學家不斷探索天空。
Calls to disassemble all telescopes on Mauna Kea or to ban future development there ignore the reality that astronomy and Hawaiian culture both seek to answer big questions about who we are, where we come from and where we are going.
呼吁拆除莫納克亞山上的所有的天文望遠鏡或者未來禁止安裝新天文望遠鏡的人們忽視了一個事實：即天文學和夏威夷文化二者都在尋求回答關于我們是誰，我們來自哪里，以及我們將向何處去的嚴肅問題。
Perhaps that is why we explore the starry skies, as if answering a primal calling to know ourselves and our true ancestral homes.
可能這就是為什么我們要不斷探索星空，就好像回應最初的召喚，了解我們自己以及我們真正的祖籍。
The astronomy community is making compromises to change its use of Mauna Kea.
天文學界正在做出讓步來改變其對莫納克亞山的使用。
The TMT site was chosen to minimize the telescope's visibility around the island and to avoid archaeological and environmental impact.
TMT的選址將最大程度縮小天文望遠鏡在島上的可見度，來避免對考古及環境產生影響。
To limit the number of telescopes on Mauna Kea, old ones will be removed at the end of their lifetimes and their sites returned to a natural state.
為了限制莫納克亞山上的天文望遠鏡數量，舊的天文望遠鏡在壽命終結后會被拆除，其原址也會恢復自然狀態。
There is no reason why everyone cannot be welcomed on Mauna Kea to embrace their cultural heritage and to study the stars.
任何人都有理由去欣然接受莫納克亞山的文化遺址，同時還可以去研究星空。
