NEW DELHI–Over the centuries, the Taj Mahal has endured its share of attacks–plundered by the Jats of northern India and looted by British soldiers, among other indignities¹. In recent years, officials have worried that growing air pollution could permanently² darken the tomb’s brilliant white exterior³.

新德里——数百年来，印度泰姬陵可谓历尽坎坷——它被印度北部的贾特人掠夺过，被英国士兵洗劫过，还饱受其它种种的侮辱。最近几年，官员们又担心，它那光彩照人的白色外观会因为日渐严重的空气污染而永久性变暗。

But few people anticipated the latest affront–millions of mosquito-like insects, their numbers supercharged by nutritious⁴ algae⁵ blooming profusely⁶ along the banks of the polluted Yamuna River nearby. Like generations of romance-driven human couples before them, the bugs⁷ have swarmed⁹ the Taj Mahal on a mating flight, excreting a green substance on parts of its marble walls.

而它刚刚遭受的袭击出乎所有人的预料——前来撒野的竟是数百万只长相类似蚊子的昆虫。泰姬陵附近的亚穆纳河污染严重，获得丰富营养的藻类沿着河岸疯涨，进而让此种昆虫的数量出现激增。和世世代代受浪漫驱使的情侣一样，这些昆虫涌入泰姬陵婚飞，把一种绿色的物质排泄在大理石墙壁上。

The Yamuna has suffered mightily¹⁰ in recent years from the dumping of solid waste in its waters, says an environmental activist¹¹ in Agra, India, the site of the Taj Mahal.

据悉，泰姬陵位于印度阿格拉市，当地的一名环保活动人士说，近几年来，亚穆纳河饱受倾倒在河水中的固体垃圾之害。

“I have been constantly watching how the river pollution has gone from bad to worse,” said D.K. Joshi, who filed a petition over the insects in the National Green Tribunal, an environmental court last week. “The encroachments on and around the riverbed, the sewage going directly into the river” are choking it, he said.

“我持续观察，目睹了污染越来越严重的过程，”D.K.乔希说。上周，乔希向一个环保法庭——国家绿色法庭——递交了与前述昆虫有关的请愿书。他说，“河床及其周边地区正在遭到侵蚀，下水道污物直接排入河中”，这条河都快窒息了。

On Monday, the National Green Tribunal issued notices to the central and local authorities, including the Ministry¹² of Environment and Forests, telling them to respond to the petition this month.

星期一，印度国家绿色法庭向包括环境林业部在内的中央和地方当局发出了通知，要求它们于本月对这份请愿书做出回应。

With India’s cities ranking among the most polluted in the world by the World Health Organization, public concern over toxic¹³ air and water is mounting. The central government has pledged billions of rupees to cleaning the Ganges River. But the effect of pollution on India’s cultural heritage, though less obvious than its health effects, is also worthy¹⁴ of attention, experts say.

由于印度多个城市都登上了世界卫生组织发布的全球污染最严重城市排行榜，公众对有毒的空气和水源的担忧与日俱增。专家称，污染给印度文化遗产带来的影响虽然不像对健康的影响那样明显，但也值得关注。

Sohail Hashmi, a Delhi-based writer and expert on heritage monuments, told Press Trust of India in an interview that the recently revived white limestone¹⁵ doors of the historic Red Fort, a former residence the Mughal emperor that was completed in 1648, “have become yellow in about six years.” Like the Red Fort, the Taj Mahal was built on the orders of Shah Jahan, a Mughal emperor, as a mausoleum for his beloved wife, and it was also finished in 1648.

德里的作家兼文物古迹专家苏海尔,哈什米在接受印度报业托拉斯通讯社采访时说，红堡的石灰岩门前些年刚刚得到修复，才过了6年左右时间就变黄了。红堡是一座历史悠久的建筑，建成于1648年，曾为莫卧儿帝王的居所。和红堡一样，泰姬陵由莫卧儿帝国的皇帝沙贾汗下令修建，以埋葬他深爱的妻子.泰姬陵同样建成于1648年。

The green secretions¹⁶ on the back wall of the Taj Mahal, a residue¹⁷ of the chlorophyll the insects consume, are not themselves harmful to the monument beyond the discoloration, said Girish Maheshwari, the head of the department of entomology at St. John’s College in Agra, who analyzed¹⁸ the problem for the Archaeological¹⁹ Survey of India.

阿格拉市圣约翰学院昆虫学专业负责人吉里什·马赫什瓦里说，泰姬陵后墙上的绿色分泌物，是那些昆虫消化的叶绿素的残余物质，除了会让墙壁变色，对泰姬陵并没有其他害处。

But the explosive numbers of the insects–called Goeldichironomus–were an alarming indication of how polluted the river has become, he said, since their eggs thrive on phosphorus and sediment²⁰ in the water. And he worried over the “highly synchronized²¹” swarm⁸ of insects that descend²² on the monument in the evening.

但他表示，那种名叫格莱德摇蚊的昆虫数量激增，表明了一个令人不安的问题：河水的污染已经到了极为严重的程度。因为格莱德摇蚊的卵只有在富含磷和沉淀物的水体中才会茁壮成长。他还对傍晚时分“高度同步地”出现在泰姬陵上方的大群昆虫感到担心。

“They can create problems for the visitors,” he said.

“它们可能会给参观者带来困扰。”他说。

The walls have been cleaned with clay packs, said Manoj Bhatnagar, an official in the Agra office of the archaeological survey. The excretions could also be removed with water, but the day-to-day cleaning is “very challenging.”

印度考古调查机构阿格拉办公室的一名官员称，泰姬陵的墙壁已经被人用粘土“面膜”清理过了。用水也可以清洗掉那些分泌物，但日复一日的清洗“非常具挑战性”。

The insects do not seem to have deterred²³ tourists, as yet. Samir Uberoi, who runs a tour company based in Mumbai, visited the Taj Mahal with groups twice in the last two weeks and did not notice a change. When asked what would happen if there was a significant recurring²⁴ greening on the most loved monument in the country, he said, “I’m only hoping to God they find a solution before that.”

截至目前，游客们似乎并未因为昆虫而却步。过去两周里，在孟买开了一家旅游公司的萨米尔·乌贝罗伊曾两次带团参观泰姬陵，没觉得情况有什么变化。当被问及印度最令人向往的这处古迹如果非常明显地反复变绿，会发生什么事情时，他说，“我只能祈求神灵，让他们在那之前找出解决之道。”

Puneet Dan, a tour guide in Agra, said he noticed the discoloration on the boundary wall of the Taj Mahal and on the back of the monument. So did his tourists, who he said flew into “semipanic mode.”

阿格拉市一位名叫普尼特.丹的导游说，他曾注意到泰姬陵的围墙以及陵墓后墙有变色的地方。他带去的游客也注意到了，他说他们迅速进入了“半恐慌模式”。

He said all he could do was assure them that officials were not about to let one of the greatest monuments in the world turn green.

他说自己当时只能向游客保证：官员们不会让世界上最伟大的历史遗迹之一变绿的。