An unprecedented worldwide effort to document every living species on Earth has been launched by scientists.

科學家已發起一項空前計畫，將登錄地球上每一種物種。

Over the next 10 years, researchers will gather every scrap of information that exists on the planet's 1.8 million known species of animals, plants and other organisms to build up an enormous Encyclopedia of Life. When completed, it will be made available freely to anyone with an internet connection, as the most comprehensive repository of life as we know it.

未來十年，研究人員將收集這個星球上現存已知1,800萬物種，包括動植物和其他生物的每一則相關資訊，以建立龐大的生命百科全書。一旦完成，任何人只要靠網路連線，均可自由取閱，這是我們所知最周延的知識寶庫。

The encyclopedia will describe every aspect of every species from aardvark to zorilla, an African skunk-like mammal. Among the records will be descriptions of habitats, prey and predators, genetic make-up and diseases carried, and assessments of populations around the world.

這套百科全書會描述一切物種，從非洲食蟻獸到非洲艾虎，非洲一種類似臭鼬的哺乳動物。紀錄將涵蓋有關棲息地、獵物和掠奪者的描述，及基因組成和所帶的疾病，及全球總數的評估。

A complete archive has been a long-held dream among biologists who believe it will revolutionise their work. It will make life easier for taxonomists charged with assigning names to 5 million to 100 million distinct but so far nameless species.

一個完整的檔案是生物學家長久以來的夢想，他們相信這將會使他們的工作起革命性變化，這將使負責為五百萬到一億目前尚未命名的物種取名字的分類學者工作簡單得多。

"Bringing this critical mass of information together, and for people to have it at their fingertips wherever they are in the world, will create a fantastic resource for understanding our ecosystems," said Jim Edwards, executive director of the project. "This will be an enormously powerful tool for professional scientists, the general public, educators, schoolkids, and citizen scientists."

「要彙整這麼大量的資訊，同時不管在世界任何角落，人們只要按按指尖就可以找到資訊，將可創造驚人的資源，以了解我們的生態系統，」該計畫執行主任愛德華茲說。「這將成為專業科學家、一般普羅大眾、教育家、學童和平民科學家強有力的工具。」

《詞解》
aardvark非洲食蟻獸
zorilla非洲艾虎
Noah's Ark 諾亞方舟
skunk 臭鼬
mammal哺乳動物
habitat棲息地