英譯漢
Freed by warming, waters once locked beneath ice are gnawing at coastal settlements around the Arctic Circle. In Bykovsky, a village of 457 on Russia's northeast coast, the shoreline is collapsing, creeping closer and closer to houses and tanks of heating oil, at a rate of 15 to 18 feet a year. "It is practically all ice - permafrost - and it is thawing." For the four million people wholive north of the Arctic Circle, a changing climate presents new opportunities. But it also threatens their environment, their homes and, for those whose traditions rely on the ice-bound wilderness, the preservation of their culture.
A push to develop the North, quickened by the melting of the Arctic seas, carries its own rewards and dangers for people in the region. The discovery of vast petroleum fields in the Barents and Kara Seas has raised fears of catastrophic accidents as ships loaded with oil and,soon, liquefied gas churn through the fisheries off Scandinavia, headed to markets in Europe and North America. Land that was untouched could be tainted by pollution as generators, smokestacks and large vehicles sprout to support the growing energy industry.
Coastal erosion is a problem in Alaska as well, forcing the United States to prepare torelocate several Inuit villages at a projected cost of $100 million or more for each one. Across the Arctic, indigenous tribes with traditions shaped by centuries of living in extremes of cold and ice are noticing changes in weather and wildlife. They are trying to adapt,but it can be confounding.In Finnmark, Norway's northernmost province, the Arctic landscape unfolds in late winter as an endless snowy plateau, silent but for the cries of the reindeer and the occasional whine ofa snowmobile herding them.
A changing Arctic is felt there, too. "The reindeer are becoming unhappy," said Issat Eira,a 31-year-old reindeer herder. Few countries rival Norway when it comes to protecting the environment and preserving indigenous customs. The state has lavished its oil wealth on the region, and Sami culture hasenjoyed something of a renaissance.
And yet no amount of government support can convince Mr. Eira that his livelihood, intractably entwined with the reindeer, is not about to change. Like a Texas cattleman, he keepsthe size of his herd secret. But he said warmer temperatures in fall and spring were melting the top layers of snow, which then refreeze as ice, making it harder for his reindeer to dig throughto the lichen they eat. "The people who are making the decisions, they are living in the south and they are living in towns," said Mr. Eira, sitting inside his home made of reindeer hides. "They don't mark the change of weather. It is only people who live in nature and get resources from nature who mark it."
A push to develop the North, quickened by the melting of the Arctic seas, carries its own rewards and dangers for people in the region. The discovery of vast petroleum fields in the Barents and Kara Seas has raised fears of catastrophic accidents as ships loaded with oil and,soon, liquefied gas churn through the fisheries off Scandinavia, headed to markets in Europe and North America. Land that was untouched could be tainted by pollution as generators,smokestacks and large vehicles sprout to support the growing energy industry.
參考譯文
隨著全球變暖，海冰逐漸融化，海水水位上漲，侵蝕著北極圈附近的沿海居住區(qū)。 位于俄羅斯東北海岸的拜考夫斯凱村(Bykovsky)居住著 457 名村民，這里的海岸 線逐漸受到侵蝕，每年以 15 至 18 英尺的速度后退，日益逼近村舍和取暖用油桶。
“這里實際上是永凍層，全是冰，而現(xiàn)在冰層都在融化�！睂τ谏钤诒睒O圈以北的 400 萬居民來說，氣候變化帶來了新機(jī)遇，但也對他們的生活環(huán)境和住所構(gòu)成了威脅。很 多居民世代生活在冰天雪地的荒野里，形成了自己獨特的文化習(xí)俗，氣候變化給當(dāng)?shù)匚?化保護(hù)工作也同樣帶來了威脅。 隨著北冰洋海冰日漸融化，人們開始加速開發(fā)北極地區(qū)，這對于生活在極地的居民 來說利弊兼有。在巴倫支海和卡拉海地區(qū)發(fā)現(xiàn)了大型油田后，人們不禁擔(dān)心，滿載著石 油(不久后還會有液化氣)的船只穿行斯堪的納維亞沿岸的漁場前往歐洲和北美市場的 途中可能會發(fā)生災(zāi)難性事故。隨著北極地區(qū)能源工業(yè)的蓬勃發(fā)展，發(fā)電廠、煙囪和大型 運輸工具等配套設(shè)備、設(shè)施相繼建立或出現(xiàn)，這片未被人類染指的凈土也終將會受到污 染。 阿拉斯加也面臨海岸線遭受侵蝕的問題。
對此，美國政府計劃對因紐特人居住的幾 個村莊進(jìn)行遷移，每個村莊的遷移成本預(yù)計在 1 億美元以上。 北極地區(qū)的土著部落幾百年來都生活在冰封雪凍的極端自然環(huán)境里，形成了自己獨 特的文化傳統(tǒng)�，F(xiàn)在，他們開始注意到天氣和野生動物的變化，也在積極努力去適應(yīng)氣 候變化，但這又談何容易。 在挪威最北端的芬馬克省，冬末時節(jié)的北極地區(qū)是一望無際的雪域景象，萬籟俱寂， 偶爾能聽到馴鹿的嘶鳴聲和養(yǎng)鹿人駕駛的雪地摩托發(fā)出的轟鳴聲。
即使在這里也能感受到氣候變化的影響�，F(xiàn)年 31 歲的養(yǎng)鹿人埃拉說，“馴鹿越來越不 開心�！� 挪威的環(huán)保工作和土著文化保護(hù)工作走在世界前列。挪威政府拿出相當(dāng)部分的石油 收入用來保護(hù)這里的土著文化，薩米文化也由此迎來了復(fù)興。 埃拉的生活與馴鹿已經(jīng)密不可分。然而，他認(rèn)為，無論政府投入多少資金用于土著 文化保護(hù)，他的生活方式也終將會發(fā)生變化。像德克薩斯州的牧場主一樣，埃拉不愿透 露自己養(yǎng)了多少頭馴鹿。
不過，他說春秋季節(jié)天氣轉(zhuǎn)暖使得雪地的上層融化，之后融化 的雪水(到了夏冬季節(jié))再次結(jié)冰，馴鹿想要吃到底層的地衣就更不容易了。 “他們決策者都住在(北極圈)以南的城鎮(zhèn)里，”埃拉坐在自己用鹿皮搭建的屋子里 說道，“觀察不到氣候的真實變化。只有生活在大自然里、以大自然為生的人才能體會得 到。”
