-
导读
捧读此文，实实存在的感受是：在享受。
本文的难能可贵处是：既写出了朱自清《荷塘月色》的清俊飘逸，
同时又向读者从容
展示了
许多
“
留守寒带
”
的动物如何过冬的丰富知识，意趣无穷
!
文章的开头，空灵而清新：
Nothing. No tracks but my own are
stitched into the dusting of fresh snow, white as
birch bark,
that fell during the night.
Nothing
一词，
独立篇首，
让人暗生联想：
天地间白茫茫一片
!
而后句的动词
stitched
则把自
己印住雪地里的一长串脚印，比作缝上白布的一条细密针脚！翻译此词，谈何容易
!
What sun there is this time of
year shines weakly, halfheartedly through the
white gauze of clouds,
offering not
even the slightest pretense of warmth.
想必读者不会放过上句里的一个副词，品后又击节叹赏：
halfheartedly<
/p>
。
作者在赏美国何处的冬景
?
文中随意流露：
For
nearly a week temperatures around my Wisconsin
cabin have not risen above zero.
冬日虽然快走到了尽头，但是作者似乎有点失望：
At first glance nature doesn't seem to
have invested much in this late-winter day.
细心的读者可能已经感到句中的
At
first
glance
是一个漂亮
的伏笔！果然，他听到了春天的
脚步声：
Just
as
I
start
to
turn
back
home
I
hear
it:
the
soft,
two-
toned
whistle
of
chickadees.
…On
the
ground, I notice rabbit
tracks where moments ago I had seen only unbroken
snow.
作者不再失望：
Take heart,
they seem to say, spring is coming soon!
这情景交融的笔触让读者感奋，共鸣，遐思。
地球北部的野外
“
居士
”
们如何越冬
?
作者分析：
Winter
gives wildlife two basic choices: leave or tough
it out.
翩翩然的弱蝴蝶，居然有
“
< br>远游
”
之壮举：
A hundred million monarch butterflies,
like wildflowers on wings, travel sometimes 4000
miles to
Mexico, Texas and California.
水中的庞然大物也不例外：
Gray
whales travel thousands of miles seeking warmth,
food and sunlight.
作者在一个非常自然的转折后，
描写了
10
多种
“
就地越冬
”
的动物的憨态，
令读者耳目一新：
Other creatures
devise their own ways to deal with the harsh
realities of winter.
北极熊：
Polar bears stay warm by
laying on layers of fat up to seven inches thick
beneath a coat of
fur with nearly
10,000 hairs per square inch.
“
< br>猛吃
”
后积累脂肪、以御寒冷，并非北极熊之
“
专利
”
：
To keep their internal furnace
stoked, chickadees eat twice as much food in
winter as in summer.
They
feed
almost
constantly
during
daylight
to
accumulate
a
layer
of
fat
that
will
burn
slowly
through the cold
night.
“
冬眠
”
则是另一些动物的
“
绝招
”
：
Wood frogs
actually freeze solid, like lumps of ice, and thaw
out come spring.
…black
bears
go
on
a
feeding
frenzy.
They
consume
up
to
20,000
calories
a
day,
adding
30
percent
to their body weight. With the first snow, they
den
—
deep in hollow logs,
caves, shallow
holes lined with grass.
A Promise of Spring
春之希望
By Jeff
Rennicke
Nothing. No tracks
but my own are stitched into the dusting of fresh
snow, white as birch bark,
that fell
during the night. No flittering shadows in the
trees, not a sliver of bird song in the air.
天地一片空寂。
昨夜刚刚飘落的一场大雪，
像白桦
树皮那样洁白，
白雪皑皑的大地上只留下
一行我自己的足迹，<
/p>
仿佛缝在白布上的一行细密针脚。
树上没有飞鸟的影子掠过，
空中也没
有一丝鸟儿的歌声。
What sun there is this time of year
shines weakly, halfheartedly through the white
gauze of clouds,
offering
not
even
the
slightest
pretense
of
warmth.
For
nearly
a
week
temperatures
around
my
Wisconsin
cabin
have
not
risen
above
zero.
The
mercury
seems
painted
to
the
bottom
of
the
thermometer. A shiver runs through me
as I stomp my feet for warmth and then listen
again for
any sign of life. The only
sound is from the bare tips of branches chattering
like teeth.
一年中此时的太阳发出微弱的光线，
懒洋洋地透过薄薄的云层，
没有一丝暖意。
几乎有一个
星期了，
我在威斯康星州的小屋里的气温还没有到过零度以上。
温度计里的水银柱降到了底
端。当我跺着脚取暖时，一个冷战传遍全身。
然后我侧耳倾听，判断是否有动物活动。唯一
听到的就是光秃秃的枝杈发出的声响，听起
来就像牙齿打战的声音。
At first glance
nature doesn't seem to have invested much in this
late-winter day. The forest can
seem
like a rough etching
—
barren,
lifeless and gray. The sight of flakes parachuting
into the front
lawn, which swept you up
in December, now just means you have to scrape
your car windshield.
There are subtle
beauties
—
pine branches
tipped in white, the pale-blue glow of moonlight
off the
snow. But this deep into
winter, you look less for beauty than for signs
that spring has not been
forgotten.
乍看上去，
在这种深冬日子里，
大自然似乎没
有赋予它多少景致，
森林看上去像一幅粗糙的
蚀刻版画
——
单调，灰暗，毫无生气。在
12
月份，片片雪花飘落在屋前的草坪上，大雪狂
舞，
令你心旷神怡；
而现在你只须刮除汽车挡风玻璃上的积雪。
然而
也有些微妙的美景
——
松枝上顶着的白尖，遥远的淡蓝色月光照
在白雪上。但是在这深冬季节，与其说你在寻美，
不如说你在寻找春天没有忘记留下的种
种迹象。
They
are
not
easy
to
find.
Once
it
was
believed
that
nature
simply
wiped
the
slate
clean
every
winter, a kind of yearly apocalypse
followed by a miracle rebirth each spring. Mice
were thought
to regenerate
spontaneously from rag piles. Frogs and turtles
climbed out of puddles, spawned by
magic spring rains. Birds changed with
other animals to get through the frigid months.
要发现这些迹象并不容易。
人们曾经相信，
大自然每年冬季只不过是把大地打扫干净，
这是
一种每年一次的
天启，
它预示了一个神奇的万物复苏的春天紧接着要到来。
老鼠
们好像就从
破烂儿堆中自然而然地跑了出来；
青蛙和海龟从水塘
中爬了出来，
一场神奇的春雨让它们破
卵而出；鸟儿也和别的动
物一样发生了变化，以度过严寒的季节。
The real
ways nature copes with the cold are almost as
amazing as these old tales. Winter gives
wildlife two basic choices: leave or
tough it out. In some places, the landscape
empties like a jug
of water kicked
over. Branches bend under the weight of mixed
flocks of blackbirds, cowbirds and
starlings, a hundred thousand strong,
gathering for mass migrations. Two-thirds of the
bird species
that nest in North America
move to warmer climates.
大自然应对寒冷的真实方法几乎
和这些传说同样令人惊奇。
冬季给野生动物两种选择：
离去
或者忍耐。
在有些地方，
陆地景观就像被踢
倒了的一杯水，已经被腾空了。
一群群的各种黑
鸟、燕八哥和椋
鸟聚集在一起，
有十万之众，
把许多树枝都压弯了。它们聚在一
起要进行大
规模的迁徙。在北美筑巢的鸟类中，三分之二都迁徙到了温暖气候的地方去了
。
A hundred million monarch
butterflies, like wildflowers on wings, travel
sometimes 4000 miles to
Mexico, Texas
and California. Caribou stream out of the high
Arctic with the first frosts of winter.