If  you sail due south from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, you will eventually come to a tiny tear-shaped island with no beaches, no water and no human beings. Navassa, its enormous limestone cliffs rising straight out of the sea, is the oldest continuous overseas possession of the United States, older than Guantanamo, the Virgin Islands, Hawaii, and Alaska. Older than all of them, Navassa contains American history in microcosm.

如果從古巴關達那摩灣向南航行，最後會到一個狀似淚珠的小島， 島上沒有海灘，沒有水，也不見人煙。納弗沙島上巨大的石灰岩懸崖聳立海面上，是美國在海外持續擁有的最古老島嶼，比關達那摩、維京島、夏威夷和阿拉斯加還要古老。納弗沙比所有這些地方歷史悠久，也具體而微的具現美國歷史。

Although it came into American possession only 150 years ago, Navassa was first sighted, according to legend, during the second voyage of Columbus in 1493. From the beginning it appeared indistinct on maps, a tiny smudge not much bigger than a ladybug on a windshield, in the windward passage between Haiti and Jamaica.

雖然納弗沙150年前才為美國所有，傳說該島是哥倫布在1493年第二次南行時首次發現。從一開始，它在地圖上看來就若有似無，一個小汙點，不比擋風玻璃上的瓢蟲大，位於海地到牙買加迎風的航線上。

But around 1507, the year "America" became a word applied to the New World, maps began to show a small island in that spot.

但約1507年，也就是「美國」成為泛指新世界的那年，地圖上就開始在那個地點標示一個小島。

After bursting onto the page of history, Navassa sat quietly for a very long time. During all the wars fought along the Spanish Main, it remained uninhabited except for the occasional pirate crew. After coming into sight, Navassa seems to have become invisible all over again. No one knew or cared where it was until 1857, 364 years after its fabled discovery.

闖入史書後，納弗沙有很長一段時間遺世獨立。在西班牙的美洲大陸沿岸火熱連年之際，納弗沙仍不見人煙，只有海盜偶爾出沒。在被人發現後，納弗沙似乎又不見蹤影，沒有人知道或關心它在哪裡，直到1857年，也就是它傳奇性的被發現364年後。

On July 1 that year, an American sea captain happened upon the island and claimed it on the ground that it contained a valuable mineral, known as "white gold." Navassa became one of the world's most ample sources of guano — bird excrement — a substance prized for phosphate and its regenerative effects on tired crops.

那年7月1日，美國海軍艦長正好登上該島，以其蘊藏珍貴的礦物，也就是廣為人知的「白金」為由聲張主權。納弗沙成為世上蘊藏最豐富的鳥糞產地之一，烏糞因含磷酸鹽成分，對奄奄一息的作物起再生作用而貴。

The United States Congress quickly placed the island under American jurisdiction based on the Guano Islands Act of 1856. The act gave permission to the United States, to claim any island in the world rich in bird droppings. Consequently, Navassa became an American "appurtenance" — not quite a territory but still indisputably American.

美國國會很快根據1856年的鳥糞島法案，把納弗沙島納入美國管轄。該法案授權美國對世上任何盛產鳥糞的島嶼聲張主權。因此，納弗沙成為美國屬地，不完全是美國領土，但毋庸置疑的屬於美國。

Except the declaration was disputed by the island's nearest neighbor, Haiti, which has claimed Navassa since its independence in 1804.

但對這項聲明，納弗沙島最近的鄰邦海地提出異議，海地在納弗沙島1804年宣布獨立時就聲張主權。

After the Civil War, American business began to cultivate Navassa's rich bounty. Like most treasure, guano demanded a high price for its extraction. African-American laborers were sent there to dig, under oppressive conditions. In 1889, the workers rebelled, killing five whites.

南北戰爭後，美國企業界開始開採納弗沙豐富的物產。一如大部分珍貴資源，開採鳥糞層代價很高。非洲裔美國勞工被派到那裡去挖掘，條件十分嚴苛。1889年，勞工起而抗爭，五名白人遇害。

In 1898, as the United States busily acquired new possessions elsewhere, it lost interest in Navassa. The last Americans were removed from the island in 1901, and it was claimed by the same residents that live there today: rats, birds, scorpions, wild goats and feral dogs.

1898年，美國人正忙著購併其他地方的新領地，對納弗沙興趣漸失。最後一批美國人1901年從島上撤離，該島就由住在那裡的同一批住民，包括老鼠、鳥、 蠍子、野山羊和凶猛的野狗據地為王。

Humans come back to Navassa now and then. In 1917, a 162-foot lighthouse was built there, in part to light the approach to Panama and the new canal. A lighthouse keeper lived there until 1929, when an automatic beacon was installed. During World War II, an observation post was erected by the Navy. No Nazis were ever sighted.

人類偶爾回納弗沙。1917年，一座162呎高的燈塔建在島上，部分是為靠近巴拿馬及新運河的船隻照明。一名守燈塔的人在那裡留守到1929年，後來便安裝了一座自動燈塔。二戰期間，海軍曾在當地架設一個觀測站，但從來沒看過任何納粹出沒。

Just as Navassa survived war, new explorers are visiting. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has undertaken a "remote sensing experiment" to create a detailed topographical map of Navassa that will help monitor the island's reaction to climate change, hurricanes and the rise of water levels around the world. This seems a fitting result for a place that was never all that comfortably on the map in the first place.

就在納弗沙歷經戰火倖存之際，新的探險家又來了。美國太空總署決定進行「遙控偵測實驗」，幫納弗沙創造一個詳細的地形圖，以協助偵測島上對氣候變化、颶風及全球水平面上升的反應。對一個從一開始就對自己在地圖上的定位並不十分滿意的地點，這似乎不失為善終。

This island, so inhospitable to humans, is in its own way a natural paradise. Navassa may offer the most pristine Caribbean environment left, and in 1999 it was declared a National Wildlife Refuge. A huge number of plant and animal species can be found within its three square miles. Recent investigations have shown the number of known species, once thought to be 150, is closer to 650. Many of these species — lizards, insects and trees — exist nowhere else.

納弗沙島雖不適人居，本身卻是大自然的天堂。納弗沙或可提供加勒比海碩果僅存最原始的環境。1999年，納弗沙被宣布為全國野生物保留區，在方圓三平方哩內，可以發現無數動植物品種，最近的調查顯示，已知物種數字原本以為只有150種，實則已接近650種，其中很多物種，包括蜥蜴、昆蟲和樹木，其他地方從未見。

These efforts to learn more about Navassa's environment are not universally appreciated. Many Haitians, resentful of the American interest in Navassa, believe that the science is simply a cover for the same old greed. A lively topic of conversation in Haiti is that the United States has discovered gold on Navassa, or perhaps uranium, or even the gateway to Atlantis, the legendary lost civilization. In 1989, some Haitians occupied Navassa, albeit very briefly. After a couple of hours, they left it to the lizards.

這些想知道更多納弗沙環境生態的努力並非無往不利。很多海地人痛恨美國人對納弗沙重燃興趣，相信科學只是遂其古老貪欲的幌子。海地一則活靈活現的話題是：美國已在納弗沙島找到金礦，或者也許鈾礦，甚或通往傳說中失落的亞特蘭提斯文明的門戶。1989年，有些海地人占領納弗沙，但十分短暫，幾小時後，他們又把島嶼拱手讓給蜥蜴。

What lies ahead for this remote outpost of American sovereignty On the 150th anniversary of the year Navassa came into American possession, it feels a bit unseemly to see the world's richest nation entangled in a dispute with the poorest nation in our hemisphere over a remote rock that no one can live on.

美國主權這個遙遠的前哨站前景如何？在納弗沙被美國占領150周年紀念，眼見我們這個半球最富有的國家和最貧窮的國家，為一個沒有人能存活的遙遠岩石而捲入紛爭，有點不得體。

All that Navassa holds for us is the right — or more specifically, the power — of its possession. Perhaps we should celebrate the sesquicentennial by just giving it back — to Haiti, or an international trust or the state of nature itself. It would be a sublime gesture on behalf of freedom in its simplest state.

納弗沙賦予我們的，是擁有它的權利，或更明確的說，權力。或許我們慶祝150周年紀念，應該把納弗沙島還給海地，或交給國際託管，或保留自然狀態本身。這將是代表最單純狀態自由一項最崇高的動作。

Would it not confound our critics to witness an American act of pure altruism Would it not confound them even more if our oldest possession, the birthplace of American imperialism, became the birthplace of a better way of thinking about the way nations interact

論者目睹美國這項純粹利他主義的舉動，難道不會感到困惑？如果我們這塊最古老的屬地，也是美國帝國主義的發源地，搖身一變，成為思考不同國家互動方式的搖籃，毋寧會使他們更加困惑？

To admit that Navassa does not belong to us, or to anyone, would recognize an earlier condition, more pristine, before the rise of nations and the conflicts that define them. In so doing, we would take a small step toward an ancient and very American aspiration: to make the world new again.

承認納弗沙不屬於我們或任何人，不啻承認，較早國家興起及衝突不斷前更原始的狀態。這麼做，我們將朝更古老、更符合美國本土精神的目標邁開一小步：那就是，重新打造世界。

《詞解》
limestone石灰岩
microcosm具體而微
smudge 汙點
ladybug 瓢蟲
windshield擋風玻璃
windward 迎風
Spanish Main西班牙的美洲大陸
fabled 傳奇性的
guano 鳥糞層
phosphate 磷酸鹽
regenerative 再生
appurtenance屬地
scorpions蠍子
feral dogs凶猛的野狗
topographical 地形學的
unseemly不得體
sesquicentennial 150周年
international trust 國際託管