英國語文第五冊(雙語):格陵蘭島(4)

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The best sledges have their runners made of the jaw-bones of the whale; the upper part consisting of bones, pieces of wood, or deer horns lashed across. Sledge-runners are sometimes made of frozen walrus skin. By an ingenious contrivance they are also formed out of seal-skin. Cases of this skin are filled with earth and moss, a little water is added, and the whole soon becomes frozen into a solid piece. The length of a bone sledge is from four to fourteen feet, and the breadth about twenty inches.

最好的雪橇上一定有鯨魚的下頜骨制成的滑行裝置，由骨頭、木片或鹿角組成的上面部分被捆綁在一起。有時，雪橇的滑軌是由冰凍了的海象皮制成的。通過一個巧妙辦法，海豹皮也可以制成滑軌。用這種皮做成的小箱子里面填滿了土和苔蘚，再加上一點水后，很快就被凝結(jié)成一個塊狀實體。骨質(zhì)的雪橇長度在4~14英尺，寬度約20英尺。

Scarcely any coasts in the world teem more abundantly with animal life than the sterile and ice-bound shores of the Arctic regions. From Greenland westward, along the northern coasts of America. thousands of bears, seals, walruses, foxes, dogs, and other Arctic mammals, and millions of gulls, geese, auks, and other far-flying aquatic birds, are continually passing to and fro, some through the air, and others upon vast fields of ice, either fixed or moving.

世界上幾乎沒有任何一個海岸像北極地區(qū)的海岸一樣，蘊含著如此豐富的動物種類。從格陵蘭島西部開始，一直到美國的北部沿岸，來回穿行著成千上萬的熊、海豹、海象、狐貍、狗和其他北極哺乳動物，以及數(shù)以百萬計的海鷗、鵝、海雀和其他能夠遠(yuǎn)程飛行的水鳥，有些從空中掠過，有些則在遼闊的冰面上穿行，或停或行。

The animals found in these frozen regions have a double interest to the voyager; for besides supplying him with nourishing food, they interrupt the intense solitude of that vast and silent land. Vegetable life grows more scant and stunted as he advances north; but animal life is larger and more abundant in development, although seen in less variety. The Arctic animals show less beauty of colouring than those of warmer climates; white and different shades of brown principally supplying the place of the more brilliant tints.

這些生長在冰凍地區(qū)的動物們，對航行有著雙重的興趣；因為除了尋找可提供的營養(yǎng)豐富的食物之外，他們還打破了這片廣闊無垠的陸地的寂靜，終結(jié)了強烈地孤獨感。越往北走，植物越稀少，而且越發(fā)矮小且發(fā)育不良；盡管只能看到少數(shù)幾種動物，可是能看到的動物個頭越大、數(shù)量越多。北極的動物比溫帶地區(qū)的顏色單調(diào)；白色和深淺不一的棕色是主色調(diào)，替代了明亮地色彩。

There is nothing more wonderful than the adaptation of the clothing of creatures to their natural condition. In warm latitudes the quadrupeds have thin and short hair, but those of the polar regions are supplied with the thickest furs. The aquatic birds, also, are protected by a coat of oily feathers, so that they can plunge securely into the icy waters.

自然界的生靈們的著裝都適應(yīng)于自然環(huán)境，沒有什么比這種天然適應(yīng)更令人驚奇的了。在溫帶地區(qū)，四足動物的毛發(fā)又細(xì)又短，但是寒帶地區(qū)的四足動物則長著濃厚的毛發(fā)。連水鳥也有一層油性的羽毛，以便他們可以安全的跳進(jìn)冰冷的水中。

Almost all Arctic animals are beasts and birds of prey; and they derive their sustenance mainly from the sea, the land furnishing very scanty means of supporting life.

幾乎所有的北極動物都是獸類和食肉鳥；他們賴以為生的食物都來自大海，陸地上能為其提供生計的資源極其匱乏。