英國語文第六冊(雙語):極地世界(二)(2)

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The brilliancy of the streams, which are commonly red at their base, green in the middle, and light yellow towards the zenith, increases, and at the same time they dart with greater vivacity athwart the skies. The colours are wonderfully transparent; the red approaching to a clear blood-red, the green to a pale emerald tint. On turning from the flaming firmament to the earth, this also is seen to glow with a magical light. The dark sea, black as jet, forms a striking contrast to the white snow plain or the distant ice mountain: all the outlines tremble as if they belonged to the unreal world of dreams. The imposing silence of the night heightens the charms of the magnificent spectacle.

這些光束的下面部分通常是紅色，中間是綠色，上面的淡黃色直指天頂，光束的光澤度逐漸增強(qiáng)，同時在天空中飛快劃過。光束的顏色非常透明，紅色更接近清晰的血紅色，綠色則更接近淡淡的綠寶石的顏色。當(dāng)光束從火紅的天空轉(zhuǎn)向地面時，可以看到它發(fā)出的那道神秘的亮光。漆黑的海面，黑黝黝的，和白雪皚皚的平原以及遠(yuǎn)處的冰山形成了鮮明的對比：它們的輪廓抖動著，不像人世俗物，更似虛幻夢境，而極靜的夜晚則將這般壯觀的景象襯托得更加迷人。

But gradually the crown fades; the bow of light dissolves; the streams become shorter, less frequent, and less vivid; and finally the gloom of winter once more descends upon the northern desert.

可惜萬物皆有亡時，王冠慢慢消退下去，弓形亮光開始消散，光束愈漸愈短，也愈加安靜呆滯，直至最終冬季的陰霾再次將這北方的荒原籠罩。

In these desolate regions, which are winter-bound during the greater part of the year, man, elsewhere the lord of the Earth, plays but an insignificant part. He is generally a mere wanderer over its surface—a hunter, a fisherman, a herdsman. A few small settlements, separated by vast deserts, give proof of his having made some weak attempts to establish a footing.

這片荒蕪之地一年大部分時間里都受寒冬的約束，因此人類，不管在哪里都以主人身份自居的人類，在這里只能充當(dāng)無關(guān)緊要的小角色，只能是流浪者、獵人、漁民、和牧民。那被廣袤平原相繼隔開的零零星星的人類居住地，是努力而又顯得無力的人類試圖在這片土地上扎下根基的證據(jù)。

In the absence of manufactures and agriculture, man is entirely dependent on the lower animals for the means of subsistence. They constitute his wealth, and occupy all his care. They yield him food and clothing, and materials for shelter and for fashioning his rude implements and weapons. The defence with which nature has furnished them against the rigours of the climate, forms the very attraction which exposes them to the attacks of man. The rich furs yielded by the bear, the fox, the sable, the ermine, the lynx, the sea-otter, the seal, and many other Arctic animals, are valuable articles of commerce; and are, indeed, the only means by which the nomads of Siberia and the Esquimaux of North America can procure the foreign articles they require. The pursuit of the whale, the walrus, and the dolphin, the shark-fisheries of Greenland, the cod-fisheries of Greenland and Norway, and the eider-down trade of Iceland, complete the list of the mercantile resources of these regions.

由于無法進(jìn)行制造業(yè)和農(nóng)業(yè)生產(chǎn)，人類只能依賴低級動物來維持生存。低級動物就是他們的財富，是他們關(guān)注的全部焦點，人類的食物、衣服、房屋、粗糙的工具和武器材料全都離不開低級動物。正是大自然賦予它們的那身抵御嚴(yán)寒的皮毛吸引了人類的注意，致使它們暴露在人類的攻擊之下。熊、狐貍、黑貂、白貂、猞猁、海獺、海豹以及許多其它北極動物的毛皮對人類來說是有價值的商品，也正是西伯利亞的游牧民族和北美的愛斯基摩人獲取所需外來物的唯一途徑，對鯨、海象、海豚的捕殺、格陵蘭的鯊魚漁場、格陵蘭島和挪威的鱈魚漁業(yè)以及冰島的羽絨貿(mào)易則是該地區(qū)商業(yè)資源清單的補(bǔ)充。