IN 1989 Edward Kennedy tried to stop time. TheUnited States Coast Guard was preparing toautomate and remove all remaining personnelfrom the old lighthouse in Boston Harbour. ButKennedy, a liberal senator from a family withdeep roots in Boston, sponsored a bill requiring theBoston Light to be permanently manned. And so itsoldiered on for nearly another decade,stubbornly holding to the old ways. Built in 1783,it is one of Americas oldest lighthouses . In 1998 time and Senator Kennedy reached a compromise:the light itself was at last automated, but it remains the last one with resident Coast Guardkeepers.

　　愛德華.肯尼迪試圖讓時間定格1989年。當時，美國海岸防衛隊正準備從波士頓港撤走所有留守人員，實現燈塔全自動化。然而與波士頓有著深厚淵源的自由派參議員肯尼迪，提出了一份議案，要求派人長期駐守燈塔。因此，燈塔由士兵守候了又是近十年光景，這樣燈塔頑強地得以維持其原狀。興建于1783年的波士頓燈塔是美國最古老的燈塔之一。經過長期的爭取，肯尼迪最終于1998年出臺了一項折衷方案：波士頓燈塔最終實現自動化，而且也是全美唯一一座由海岸警衛隊駐守的燈塔。

　　The Coast Guard took charge of Americas more than 1,000 lighthouses in 1939, when itabsorbed the United States Lighthouse Service. But it has been slowly letting them go. In2000 the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act allowed the sale or transfer oflighthouses deemed excess to service requirements by the Coast Guard to private entities.Since then the federal government has moved 84 lighthouses of the 600 that were left off itsbooks. Most have been transferred to local governments or non-profits, but 28 have beenauctioned off to private individuals.

　　1939年，美國燈塔管理局劃歸到海岸警衛隊。自那以后，海岸警衛隊負責管理美國1000多座燈塔。但漸漸地，美國海軍看護的燈塔越來越少。2000年《國家歷史燈塔保存法案》允許海岸警衛隊將那些被認為是其服務已不再必要的燈塔出售或轉讓給私有個體。從此，美國聯邦政府出售轉讓了書中記載的僅存的600座燈塔中的84座。大部分燈塔轉交給當地政府或非營利機構，但28座燈塔已被拍賣給個人。

　　The sad truth is that satellite navigation has made many lighthouses surplus torequirements. Shifting commercial trends have done their damage, too. More than 1,500ships lie wrecked off North Carolinas Outer Banks, but today these islands depend far moreon tourism than on maritime trade.

　　遺憾的是，現在有了衛星導航技術，好多燈塔根本就用不上了。貿易趨勢的轉變也讓燈塔越來越沒有用武之地。北卡羅來納州外班克斯港有1500多艘觸礁的船只殘骸，然而今天這些島嶼主要依靠旅游業而不是海上貿易。

　　Still, some fishermen enjoy navigating by light rather than satellite. Sometimes they forget totake their navigation systems on board. Bett Padgett, who heads the Outer BanksLighthouse Society, which petitioned the federal government for funds to restore BodieIslands once-crumbling lighthouse, warns of solar flares knocking out satellites.

　　然而，有許多漁民仍然喜歡利用燈塔而不是衛星來導航，所以有時候，他們會忘記帶導航系統。外班克斯列島燈塔協會會長Bett Padgett提醒人們太陽耀斑會讓衛星暫時失靈。

　　All that is true, but defending lighthouses as a matter of utility surely misses the point.。 Ofcourse, lighthouses draw tourists, who spend money; one informal study estimated thatrestoring the Bodie Island lighthouse, which is scheduled to open to visitors for the first timein April 2023, would add $8.7m in total income to the regional economy.But for Ms Padgett,preserving them is a way to give our children and grandchildren a feel for what happened inthis place a hundred or two hundred years ago. Men built them by hand to stand watch overthe sea. Lighthouses remind people that as mariners battled what Walt Whitman called thewild unrest, the snowy, curling capsthat inbound urge and urge of waves, Seeking theshores forever, someone was watching over them, and wishing them safely home.

　　上面說的沒錯，但從實用性角度為燈塔辯護，顯然沒有說到關鍵之處。當然，燈塔吸引了大批來此消費的游客;一項非官方調查預計修整 Bodie燈塔將為當地經濟帶來總計870萬美元的收入，該燈塔預計于2023年4月首次向游客開放。但在Padgett女士看來，保存好燈塔是讓我們子孫感受一兩百年來這里變遷的一種方式。人們建造燈塔來讓它們守候大海。燈塔讓人們想到，當水手們與沃爾特.惠特曼筆下那永不寧靜的奔騰,那白浪般的滾卷的浪峰----那向陸地急推又急推的浪頭搏斗時，有人在燈塔上眺望，盼望他們安全歸來。

　　IN 1989 Edward Kennedy tried to stop time. TheUnited States Coast Guard was preparing toautomate and remove all remaining personnelfrom the old lighthouse in Boston Harbour. ButKennedy, a liberal senator from a family withdeep roots in Boston, sponsored a bill requiring theBoston Light to be permanently manned. And so itsoldiered on for nearly another decade,stubbornly holding to the old ways. Built in 1783,it is one of Americas oldest lighthouses . In 1998 time and Senator Kennedy reached a compromise:the light itself was at last automated, but it remains the last one with resident Coast Guardkeepers.

　　愛德華.肯尼迪試圖讓時間定格1989年。當時，美國海岸防衛隊正準備從波士頓港撤走所有留守人員，實現燈塔全自動化。然而與波士頓有著深厚淵源的自由派參議員肯尼迪，提出了一份議案，要求派人長期駐守燈塔。因此，燈塔由士兵守候了又是近十年光景，這樣燈塔頑強地得以維持其原狀。興建于1783年的波士頓燈塔是美國最古老的燈塔之一。經過長期的爭取，肯尼迪最終于1998年出臺了一項折衷方案：波士頓燈塔最終實現自動化，而且也是全美唯一一座由海岸警衛隊駐守的燈塔。

　　The Coast Guard took charge of Americas more than 1,000 lighthouses in 1939, when itabsorbed the United States Lighthouse Service. But it has been slowly letting them go. In2000 the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act allowed the sale or transfer oflighthouses deemed excess to service requirements by the Coast Guard to private entities.Since then the federal government has moved 84 lighthouses of the 600 that were left off itsbooks. Most have been transferred to local governments or non-profits, but 28 have beenauctioned off to private individuals.

　　1939年，美國燈塔管理局劃歸到海岸警衛隊。自那以后，海岸警衛隊負責管理美國1000多座燈塔。但漸漸地，美國海軍看護的燈塔越來越少。2000年《國家歷史燈塔保存法案》允許海岸警衛隊將那些被認為是其服務已不再必要的燈塔出售或轉讓給私有個體。從此，美國聯邦政府出售轉讓了書中記載的僅存的600座燈塔中的84座。大部分燈塔轉交給當地政府或非營利機構，但28座燈塔已被拍賣給個人。

　　The sad truth is that satellite navigation has made many lighthouses surplus torequirements. Shifting commercial trends have done their damage, too. More than 1,500ships lie wrecked off North Carolinas Outer Banks, but today these islands depend far moreon tourism than on maritime trade.

　　遺憾的是，現在有了衛星導航技術，好多燈塔根本就用不上了。貿易趨勢的轉變也讓燈塔越來越沒有用武之地。北卡羅來納州外班克斯港有1500多艘觸礁的船只殘骸，然而今天這些島嶼主要依靠旅游業而不是海上貿易。

　　Still, some fishermen enjoy navigating by light rather than satellite. Sometimes they forget totake their navigation systems on board. Bett Padgett, who heads the Outer BanksLighthouse Society, which petitioned the federal government for funds to restore BodieIslands once-crumbling lighthouse, warns of solar flares knocking out satellites.

　　然而，有許多漁民仍然喜歡利用燈塔而不是衛星來導航，所以有時候，他們會忘記帶導航系統。外班克斯列島燈塔協會會長Bett Padgett提醒人們太陽耀斑會讓衛星暫時失靈。

　　All that is true, but defending lighthouses as a matter of utility surely misses the point.。 Ofcourse, lighthouses draw tourists, who spend money; one informal study estimated thatrestoring the Bodie Island lighthouse, which is scheduled to open to visitors for the first timein April 2023, would add $8.7m in total income to the regional economy.But for Ms Padgett,preserving them is a way to give our children and grandchildren a feel for what happened inthis place a hundred or two hundred years ago. Men built them by hand to stand watch overthe sea. Lighthouses remind people that as mariners battled what Walt Whitman called thewild unrest, the snowy, curling capsthat inbound urge and urge of waves, Seeking theshores forever, someone was watching over them, and wishing them safely home.

　　上面說的沒錯，但從實用性角度為燈塔辯護，顯然沒有說到關鍵之處。當然，燈塔吸引了大批來此消費的游客;一項非官方調查預計修整 Bodie燈塔將為當地經濟帶來總計870萬美元的收入，該燈塔預計于2023年4月首次向游客開放。但在Padgett女士看來，保存好燈塔是讓我們子孫感受一兩百年來這里變遷的一種方式。人們建造燈塔來讓它們守候大海。燈塔讓人們想到，當水手們與沃爾特.惠特曼筆下那永不寧靜的奔騰,那白浪般的滾卷的浪峰----那向陸地急推又急推的浪頭搏斗時，有人在燈塔上眺望，盼望他們安全歸來。