美丽中国1 中英文文档

2021年1月26日发(作者：hbl)
——

最后的隐世净土

The last hidden world
中国

China
数世纪来

旅人传诵着关于这片神奇土地

For
centuries,
travellers
to
China
have
told
tales
of
magical
landscapes
以及那些神奇生物的传说

and surprising creatures
中国文明是世界最古老的文明

Chinese civilization is the world's oldest
而如今是最宏博的

and today it's largest
那数十亿的人民

with well over a billion people
现存超过五十个民族

It's home to more than 50 distinct ethnic groups
以及各式各样贴近自然的

and a wide range of traditional life styles
传统生活方式

often inclose partnership with nature
我们都知道中国面对着着众多社会

环境问题

We know that China faces immense social and environmental problems
但这里也存在着令人窒息的美丽

but there is great beauty here too
中国有着世界最高峰

China is home to the world's highest mountains,
从无垠的炙热沙漠

vast deserts ranging from from searing hot
到麻木大脑的寒冷地带

to mind numbing cold
以及那蒸笼般的森林中

steaming forests
隐匿的各种珍稀生物

harboring rare creatures
天际下广阔无垠的草原

grassy plains beneath vast horizons
以及富饶的热带海洋

and rich tropical seas
现在

我们第一次有机会

Now, for the first time ever
深入探索这片伟大的土地

we can explore the whole of this great country
—

——

接触栖息于此的珍奇生物

meet some of the surprising and exotic creatures that live here
目睹中国这片神奇土地上

and consider the relationship of the people and wildlife of China
人与野生世界的羁绊

to the remarkable landscaping which they live
这就是最原味的中国

This is wild China
仅以此献给我们多灾多难但美丽依旧的祖国

For our troubled but drop-dead beautiful motherland
我们的中国探索之旅始于南方的亚热带

Our exploration of China begins in the warm subtropical south
漓江的渔人和鱼鸟栖坐在竹筏上

On the Li River fishermen and birds perch on bamboo rafts
这个组合已延续千年之久

a partnership that goes back more than a thousand years
这景致已为世人所熟悉

This scenery is known throughout the world
那是中国水墨永恒的主题

a recurring motif in Chinese paintings
和旅人永远的胜地

and a major tourist attraction
中国南部是片有英国国土

The south of China is a vast area
九倍之大的广阔土地

eight times larger than the UK
这里

It's a landscape of hills
是山雨的国度

but also of water
这里一年之中有
250
天在降雨

It rains here for up to 250 days a year
到处都是积水

and standing water is everywhere
在扬子江的涝原

In a floodplain of the Yangtse River
黑尾鹬在泥泞中寻索着虫子

black-tailed godwits probe the mud in search of worms
—

——

并非只有野生动物在这样的环境下茁壮成长

But it isn't just wildlife that thrive in this environment
沼泽般湿润肥沃的土地为作物家族最显著的成员提供了最理想的环境

the
swampy
ground
provides
ideal
conditions
for
the
remarkable
member
of
the grass family
这就是稻米

rice
中国有着至少
8000
年的稻米种植史

The Chinese have been cultivating rice for at least 8 thousand years
他们改变了这块土地

It has transformed the landscape
对云南南部的农民而言

冬末是个繁忙的季节

Late winter in southern Yunnan is a busy time for local farmers
因为他们要为即将来临的春天整顿这片古老的稻田

as they prepare the age-old paddy field
ready for the coming spring
元阳县的山坡以
2000M
之势

These hill slopes of Yuanyang county
斜插于红河谷地的河床

plunge nearly 2000m to the floor of the Red River Valley
包含了上千由原始刨掘工具所创造出的梯田

each contains literally thousands of stack terraces carved out by hand
using basic digging tools
云南的梯田是中国最古老人类耕作痕迹中

Yunnan's rice terraces are among the oldest human structures in China
依旧被耕种使用的土地

still ploughed as they always have been
正如千百年来的习俗一样

by domesticated water buffaloes
源自云南河谷的家养水牛承担了耕作的重任

whose ancestors originated in these very valleys
这片人力开拓的土地是工业化前中国最惊奇宏伟的壮景

This man-made landscape is one of the most amazing engineering feats of
preindustrial China
似乎这里的每一寸土地

It seems as if every square inch of land
都被打上了农耕的痕迹

has been pressed into cultivation
当薄暮降临

As evening approaches
另一场古老的仪式上演

an age- old ritual unfolds
现在是交配的季节

It's the mating season
—

——

雄禾田蛙们为了吸引异性而卖力高鸣

and male paddy frogs are competing for the attention of females
但这并非总能为你吸引来关注的目光

But it dosen't always pay to draw too much attention to youself
中国池鹭是个饕餮掠食者

The Chinese Pond Heron is a crapulous predator
就算在耕作过的稻田中央

Even in the middle of a ploughed paddy field
也会上演喙与爪的血腥剧目

nature is red in beak and claw
或许这看上去像一场屠杀

This may look like a slaughter
但每只池鹭一次只能吞噬一只蛙

but as each heron can swallow only one frog at a time
此时剩余的多数派得以逃生并获得了明日再度高歌的机会

the vast majority will escape to croak another day
元阳县这样广泛种植水稻的

Terrace paddies like those of YunYang county are found across much of
southern China
梯田横贯中国南部

This whole vast landscape is dominated by rice cultivation
苗族人在炎热的贵州发展了高度发达的水稻种植

In
heated
Guizhou
province
the
Miao
minority
have
developed
a
remarkable
rice culture
苗族人把木屋建立在陡峭低产的山壁上

With every inch of fertile land given over to rice cultivation
用其余每寸丰饶的土地来种植水稻

the Miao build their wooden houses on the steepest and least productive
hillsides
所有东西在中国农村都自有其用处

In Chinese rural life everything has a use
牛棚里的肥料在太阳下晒干用作煮饭的燃料

dried in the sun manure from the cowsheds would be used as cooking fuel
中午时分

宋家人正饱餐以米和蔬菜为主的中饭

It's midday and the Song family are
tucking into a lunch of rice and vegetables
老祖父宋古永置身于天伦之乐外

Oblivious to the domestic chitchat
寻思着重要的事情

granddad Guyong Song has serious maters on his mind
春季是稻禾生长的伊始时节

Spring is a start of the rice growing season
庄稼的长势决定了来年宋家人的生计

—

——

the success of the crop will determin how well the family will eat next
year
因而选择合适的时机进行耕作是至关重要的

so planting at the right time is critical
时机的选择取决于当年的天气情况

The ideal date depends on what the weather will do this year
而这些却是永难估料的

never easy to predict
但是身边就存在着贴心小帮手

But there is some surprising help at hand
宋家厅堂房梁上的是一对刚从冬季迁徙中归来的金腰燕

On the cielling of the Song's living room
a pair of red-rumped swallow newly arrive from their winter migration
他们正在为装潢新一年度的宅邸而忙碌

is busy fixing up last year's nest
在中国

动物们被赋予独特的象征意义并被细心呵护

In China animals are valued does much for their symbolic meaning as for
many good they may do
苗族人笃信成双燕终身相伴不离不弃

Miao people believe that swallow pairs remain faithful for life
因此他们的存在被视为

so their presence is a favor and a blessing
幸福生活与美满婚姻的象征

bringing happiness to a marriage and good luck to a home
如大多数苗人一样

宋家起居室的窗子可以眺望见成片的梯田

Like most Miao dwellings, the Song's living room windows look out over
the paddy fields
从早春起

一扇窗子便为了方便燕子往返穿飞而敞开

From early spring, one of these windows is always left open to let the
swallows come and go freely
古老爹知晓每年燕子归来的确切时间

Each year granddad Gu knows the exact day the swallows return
苗族人坚信这些鸟儿的归来预示着春季的来临

Miao
people
believe
the
birds
arrival
predicts
the
timing
of
a
season
ahead
然而今年

他们姗姗来迟

This year, they were late
因而古老爹和其他族中长老一致认为今年的插秧应当推迟

so
Gu
and
the
other
community
elders
have
agreed
that
rice
planting
should
be delayed accordingly
当苗族人为了插秧而整备田地时

As the Miao prepare their fields for planting
燕子们或搜集修整巢穴用的泥巴

the swallows collect mud to repair their nests
—

——

或穿越新耕的稻田追逐昆虫

and chase after insects across the newly ploughed paddies
最终

经过了几周的准备

Finally, after weeks of preparation
这个预定种植的时刻来临了

the ordained time for planting has arrived
首先

秧苗必须从苗床上连根拔起

but first the seedlings must be uproot from the nursery beds
扎成捆移植到高处山地

and bundled up ready to be transported to their new paddy
那崭新的苗床上

higher up the hillside
宋家邻里乡亲全员出动帮助移植

All the Song's neighbors have turned out to help with the transplanting
这是一直来他们的集体协作方式

It's how the community has always worked
当然一旦时刻来临

宋家人也会做出相同行为来报恩

when the time comes, the Songs will return the favor
当农户们忙碌在田埂间时

While the farmers are busy in the fields
飞燕们则衔着修整巢穴的材料来来往往

the swallows fly back and forth with material for their nest
人多力量大

Many hands make light work
插秧的整个过程只持续了仅一个多小时

planting the new paddy takes a little more than an hour
当工作完成

农户们得以休息

Job done, the villagers can relax
至少在明天来临之前

at least until tomorrow
然而对这些筑巢的飞鸟而言

修筑家园的宏大工程

But for the nesting swallows, the work of raising a family
才刚刚开始

has only just begun
新耕种的田地里

In the newly planted fields
白鹭在寻找食物

little egrets hunt for foods
稻田成了虫

鱼

蝌蚪的乐园

The rice paddy harbor tadpoles fish and insects
而白鹭正好以此哺育幼鸟

and egrets have chicks to feed
重庆自然保护区建立于
1996
年

This colony in Chongqing province is established in 1996
—