偉大航海家：庫克船長

中譯／陳怡君

1.若提到知名探險家或船長，許多人的腦海中肯定立刻浮現「庫克船長」的名號。有時候有些人可能會把庫克船長和迪士尼電影「彼得潘」中反派人物虎克船長搞混。1728年在英國約克郡出生的庫克船長，是位探險家與英國皇家海軍製圖師。

庫克船長的成就讓後人歎為觀止，他不僅環繞地球兩圈，還成為踏上並繪製出世上許多地方的第1位歐洲人，最知名的是澳洲、紐西蘭與夏威夷島嶼。

2.庫克船長曾經寫道，他不只打算「比前人走得更遠，而是要盡人所能走到最遠 」。但是他可能做得太超過了，曾在1779年企圖為了贖金而綁架夏威夷酋長。

傳說由於庫克船長的船隻與移動神似波里尼西亞的羅諾神(Lono) ，當地人認為他是羅諾神的化身，因此對他百般景仰。距離庫克船長首度抵達夏威夷幾年後，當他回到夏威夷最大島嶼基亞拉凱庫亞灣，因為某些偷竊事件使得船員和當地居民的衝突升高，庫克強行進入村莊挾持酋長、回到自己船上打算威脅贖金，但村民持亂棍攻擊他的頭部，最後將他刺死。

3.庫克遭到殺害絕非夏威夷人的勝利，但許多人仍視他是重要與值得尊敬的人物。庫克雖為島民殺害，但葬禮備極哀榮，依夏威夷的傳統將他屍身內臟悉數移除，然後再烘烤屍身以便除去肉體，好將這副神聖的骨頭保存下來供奉。

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當代也隨處可見庫克船長的遺澤。首先，許多地方紛紛以他為名，像是玻里尼西亞的庫克群島、澳洲的庫克縣 、加拿大的庫克港、夏威夷的庫克船長（夏威夷的一座城鎮名）、甚至還有月球上的「庫克撞擊坑 」。

此外，著名科幻電視影集「星際爭霸戰」開場前言就是直接取自庫克日記中「勇踏前人未至之境」，除了劇中人物寇克艦長和庫克船長的名字相當接近外，寇克艦長的「企業號」 與庫克的「奮進號」在英文的船艦名上也有異曲同工之意。

4.雖然庫克是個頗富盛名的探險家，但也招致許多人批評他的航行為當地居民帶來傷害。由於許多船員患有天花與梅毒，因此造成當地許多人感染，半數以上人口身亡。1778年以前，夏威夷人口超過25萬，但到了1900年估計僅剩3萬7,500人。儘管有些爭議，許多人仍認為庫克船長是努力、決心以及冒險犯難等強大理想的代表人物。

儘管庫克船長在當地罹難，夏威夷公主特別准許英國議會在在基亞拉凱庫亞灣一小處豎立紀念碑，來紀念這位了不起的探險家。

1.If asked to name a famous explorer, or to think of a well-known captain, certainly “Captain Cook” would pop into many people’s heads. Captain James Cook, sometimes confused with Captain Hook, the antagonist of the popular Disney movie, Peter Pan, was born in Yorkshire, England in 1728, and was an explorer and cartographer in the British Royal Navy.

His accomplishments are mind blowing! He circumnavigated the globe two times, and was the first European to make contact and map out many parts of the world, most notably Australia, New Zealand, and the Hawaiian Islands.

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2.Captain Cook once wrote that he intended to go not only "farther than any man has been before me, but as far as I think it is possible for a man to go.” He may, however, have gone too far when he tried to kidnap the King of Hawaii for ransom in 1779.

Cook first arrived in Hawaii years before the incident. Legend has it that since his ship and its movements resembled the Polynesian god Lono, the locals thought he was an incarnation of the god and worshipped him. When he returned to Kealakekua Bay on the big island of Hawaii, tensions arose over some thievery. Cook marched into the village and took the king, intending to return to his ship and hold him for ransom. The villagers struck him on the head then stabbed him to death.

3.Cook’s murder was in no way a victory for the people of Hawaii. Many still considered him an important and respectable person. He was treated to a proper funeral, which in Hawaii, meant disemboweling then cooking his body in order to remove the skin and preserve the sacred bones. His legacy reaches into modern times as well. First of all, many places are named after him, including the Polynesian Cook Islands, Cook County, Australia, Cook’s Harbour, Canada, Captain Cook (the actual name of a town in Hawaii), and even a crater on the moon (Cook Crater)!

The tagline from the famous science fiction television show “Star Trek” was taken directly from one of Cook’s journals: “To boldly go where no man has gone before”. The name of the captain in the TV show, James T. Kirk, is clearly close to James Cook, and the name of their vessels (Cook’s “Endeavour” and Kirk’s “Enterprise”), are also strikingly similar.

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4.While Cook is obviously a famous and celebrated explorer, many have criticized him for the harm his voyages brought to the people he encountered. Many of his crew were ill with diseases like smallpox and syphilis, and it spread to many locals, resulting in the death of (sometimes) over half of the population. Before 1778, there were over 250 thousand people living on Hawaii; in 1900, the population was estimated at only 37,500. Regardless, he is believed by many to represent strong ideals like hard work, determination, and the willingness to take risks.

Despite the unfortunate events that took place there, a princess in Hawaii gave a tiny plot of land in Kealakekua Bay to the British Council who erected a monument dedicated to the memory of this truly amazing explorer.

•pop into many people’s heads -突然想到If something “pops into your head”, you think of it suddenly, without any effort • antagonist - 對手in a movie, a person who opposes or prevents another from achieving a goal • cartographer -製圖師a person who makes maps • mind blowing - 難以置信的amazing; incredible; hard to believe • gone too far - 太超過to “go too far” means to do more than is acceptable •ransom -贖金money demanded for the return of somebody who has been kidnapped • legend has it -傳說 a popular story handed down from earlier times •incarnation - （神靈等的）化身a god in a bodily form •disembowel -除去……的內臟to remove the internal organs from a body •tagline -宣傳標語in entertainment, it’s a small amount of text which describes or summarizes the main idea or theme

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1. Captain Cook only sailed around Hawaii, Australia, and New Zealand. (F) 2. Cook was killed because he was trying to take over the island of Hawaii and demand that everyone consider him the new king. (F) 3. Even though he was killed there, many people in Hawaii liked Cook. (T) 4. Some episodes of the TV program, Star Trek, are based on stories about Cook. (NG) 5. Cook was ill with smallpox, and this resulted in many deaths. (F) Choose the paragraph (numbered 1-4) which contains the following information: 1. A description of a cultural ritual performed for the deceased. (3) 2. An argument for why Captain Cook is not always admired for his good deeds and contributions to world exploration. (4) 3. An example of how some local people mistakingly gave Captain Cook qualities that are associated with religious beliefs. (2) 4. Several examples of the ways Cook continues to influence current life. (3) 5. Statistics suggesting that Cook’s explorations, while impressive, were not always without consequences. (4)

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