雙語科技百科(地理) 第28期:徐霞客與《徐霞客遊記》
Xu Xiake and The Travel Diaries of Xu Xiake
A traveler and geographer of the late Ming Dynasty(1368一1644) Xu Xiake, also named Hongzu(1587一1641)was born in today’s Jiangyin of East China’s Jiangsu Province. He studied the ancient classics as a small boy and teamed to write the eight-part essay prescribed for the imperial civil service examination，but refused to take part in the imperial examination. Instead，he de-veloped an interest in historical books，especially such books on different places，and devoted himself to traveling all over the country.
徐霞客(1587-1641)，原名弘祖，字振之，別號霞客，江蘇江陰人，明代傑出的地理學家、旅行家。童年上私塾時，即聽背經書，作八股文。但徐霞客偏偏沒興趣，有興趣的是看古今史書，尤其是地方誌並遍遊名山大川。From the age of 21，Xu Xiake began to travel around and for thirty years he conducted surveys in 16 provinces，leaving his footsteps in virtually every part of the country. In conducting his surveys and investigations，he would never blindly embrace the conclusions recorded in previous documents. Instead，he discovered that the documentations made by his predecessors in their geographical studies were quite unreliable in many aspects.
21歲開始出遊，30年間足跡遍及現在江蘇、浙江、安徽、山東、河北、山西、陝西、河南、湖北、湖南、福建、廣東、廣西、江西、貴州、雲南等16個省區。在他的調查研究中，他從不盲目輕信前人留下的文獻總結。相反，他發現了前人在文獻中記述的地理研究有很多謬誤偏差。
To ensure that his reconnaissance were real and detailed，he seldom traveled by ship or by wagon. He climbed over Mountains and hills and traveled long dis-lances almost entirely on foot.
爲了使自己的勘察具體準確，他幾乎捨棄了乘車或乘船，而是不畏艱險，徒步跋涉。Xu’s main contributions to geography include:
他在地理學上的重要貢獻主要有:-A detailed scientific study of the karst landform. Xu visited over 270 caves in the(South China) Guangxi Autonomous Region and in(Southwest) Guizhou and (Southwest)Yunnan provinces，kept records of their directions, height, and depth，and elaborated on the cause of the formation. He was a pioneer in system-alit karst studies in both China and the world.
對喀斯特地貌類型分佈和差異，有詳細的考察和科學的記述。僅在廣西、貴州、雲南三省，他親自探察270多個洞穴，且有方向、高寬、深度之具體記載並初步論述成因，他是中國和世界廣泛考察喀斯特地貌的卓越先驅;-Correcting some mistakes of the records on the source and waterways of Chinese rivers.
糾正了文獻記載的關於中國水道源流的一些錯誤;-Observing and recording the species of many plants，explicitly putting for-ward the influences that landform，temperature，and wind speed might have on the distribution and blooming of plants.
觀察記述了很多植物的生態品種，明確提出了地形、氣溫、風速對植物分佈和開花早晚的各種影響;-Conducting survey on the vol-cano relics of Tengchong Mountain in South China’s Yunnan kept records of the shape and quality of the red pumice expelled from the volcano，and provided sci-entific explanation on the phenome-non.
調查了雲南騰衝山的火山遺蹟，科學記錄與解釋了噴發出來的紅色浮石的形狀、質地或成因;-A detailed depiction of the phenomenon of terrestrial heat, the earliest of its kind in China.
對地熱現象的詳細描述在中國也是最早的;-An excellent account of the people and places he had traveled.
對所到之處的人文地理情況作了不少精彩的記述。Xu Xiake contribution to the ancient Chinese geography was unprecedented，especially his detailed narration of the karst landform. His travel journal was tom-piled by the later generations into a book called The Travel Diaries of Xu Xiake，which is of high scientific and literary value.
他在中國古代地理學史上作出了超越前人的貢獻，特別關於喀斯特地貌的詳細記述。經後人編輯的《徐霞客遊記》，不但具有極高的科學價值，而且具有很高的文學價值，被譽爲“千古奇書”。
