阿拉斯加：荒野的精神（1997）

humpback whales swim nearly 4,000 miles from Hawaii
吸引大齿鲸从夏威夷北游将近四千英哩
to revel in Alaska’s season of abundance
到阿♥拉♥斯加来尽情觅食
Humpbacks fast for eight months
大齿鲸将近八个月
in the relatively sparse waters of the tropics
在食物稀少的热带海域滞留
where they breed and give birth
在那里繁衍生育下一代
For survival they depend almost entirely upon the krill
它们几乎全靠捕食夏天集中在此的磷虾
and small fish that concentrate here in summer
及小鱼来维生
To capture the immense quantities
为能捕捉到它们所需要的大量食物
of food they need
有些大齿鲸发展出
some humpbacks have devised an extraordinary technique
of cooperative feeding
一套很独特的合作捕食技术
Diving in unison
它们一起下潜
they surround a school of herring
把一群猎物围在中间
while one or more sings a ritual feeding song
并由一头或数头大齿鲸高声吟唱捕猎之歌♥
Simultaneously a whale blows a circular net of bubbles
同时一头大齿鲸喷出一圈气泡网
around the fish
将小鱼群团团围住
Then as the trap is completed
捕捉的陷阱设置完成后
the entire group rockets upward through the bubble bath
整群大齿鲸便猛然张大嘴冲过气泡网往水面浮升
Each species finds a way to survive
每种生物都会想办法求生存
Humpbacks have learned to invent
大齿鲸学习发明创造
and more importantly to cooperate
更重要的学习如何分工合作
In summer a miracle arrives from the sea
夏日里一个奇迹从海中来临
in wave after wave
随着一波波的浪潮
salmon return from the open ocean
鲑鱼从大海中回到这
and embark on a final migration inland
并开始它们最后一段往内陆迁徙的艰辛历程
to spawn in the same streams of their birth
前往它们出生的河川产卯
Silver bodies transfiguring for the act of spawning
盈亮的身体为了产卵而变形，非凡的嗅觉引导它们
a phenomenal sense of smell guiding them
在生命循环的驱使下，成千上万的鲑鱼
they sweep into Alaska by the millions
涌入阿♥拉♥斯加
in a vast flood of life
They face a marathon journey upstream
它们面临的是一条艰辛漫长的溯溪之旅
sometimes hundreds of miles long
有时候长达数百英哩
yet they persist
即使遇到无法超越的险阻，
even in the face of impossible obstacles
鲑鱼仍是不怕困难努力不懈
For brown bears the arrival of salmon
而对棕熊来说鲤鱼的到来
is the most important feeding event of the year
意味著每年最重要的摄食大事
It’s the last opportunity to add the bulk they need
这是它们储存营养增加体重
for the months of winter hibernation ahead
以渡过冬眠岁月的最后进补机会
Dominant bears claim the best fishing spots
最有势力的熊占住最好的捕鱼地点
Such confrontations are rarely bloody
这样的对峙很少有血腥的结局
Size is power
通常体型就是权力
The subordinate merely finds another spot
体型小的居下风者，只好走开去寻找另外一个地点
Bears are not born with fishing skills
熊不是与生倡来就会捕鱼的
Each develops a highly specialized
style of fishing
每一头熊发展出它自成一套的捕鱼方式
There’s the scanner
有的用眼侦察
and the apprentice scanner
有的学著东看西看
The pouncer
也有的猛力突袭
The submariner
有的会潜水
Easily distracted
却容易分心
The snatcher
或是如土匪般用抢的
For the submariner
潜水抓鱼的秘诀不是姿态优不优美
the key is not to be graceful but persistent
而是弃而不舍
Most bear fish singly and selfishly
大部份的熊单独且自私的捕鱼
Only a mother shares her catch
只有母熊才会将捕到的鱼跟幼熊分享
For some greed prompts its own style of fishing
有时候贪婪也会驱使熊的行为
the mugger
甚至以暴♥力♥抢鱼
The salmon banquet is brief
鲤鱼大餐为期短暂
Nothing is wasted
而且物尽其用
Many feed but with hibernation time approaching
喂饱了许多动物
none more urgently than bear
而对于即将冬眠的熊来说这是最迫切重要的一件事
To store up fat bears may fish 20 hours a day
为了增胖并储存热量，熊能一天捕食二十个小时
Large males can put on 300 pounds
大公熊可以一下子增加三百磅的体重
Success in the world of the brown bear
在棕熊的世界里，成功的标准很简单
is a simple matter of reaching one’s sleeping weight
只要能达到冬眠的体重就行了
Some reach it a little too soon
有些熊好像太早了点
For salmon that make it past the gauntlet of predators
另一方面对饱受捕猎者爪牙威胁的鲑鱼来说
time is running out
一点时间也不能浪费
Powerful instincts have brought them back
强烈的直觉本能驱使鲑鱼回来
to lay and fertilize the eggs of the next generation
产卵、受精，孕育下一代
Only one of a hundred born here have survived to perform
但是只有百分之一的存活者
this final act
能完成这项最后的任务
and in giving life all will die
之后也会死亡
Their eggs will develop beneath the ice of winter
它们的卵将在冬天冰层下的水里逐渐孵化
in water enriched
水中充满了
by their parents decaying bodies
它们父母身体腐化所释出的营养
turning loss to renewal ending to beginning
由旧生命的死亡与结束转换成新生命的发生与开始
After as few as six weeks of warmth
温暖的日子只有短短的六个星期
the air grows chilly
之后天气便逐渐转凉
Summer visitors head south to escape the fierce cold ahead
夏日的访客纷纷启程前往南方，以躲避即将到来的严冬
The first snowfall can arrive in August
这场大雪八月就会降下
Now Alaska’s animals must employ every instinct and adaptation
现在阿♥拉♥斯加的动物们，必须采取一切的天赋本能与适应技巧
for winter survival
来度过寒冬
As many as 4,000 eagles gather along the Chilkat River
in the southeast
多达四千只的白头鹰，聚集在东南部捷恰克河沿岸的树上
the largest known congregation of bald eagles in the world
这是世界上所知最大的白头鹰群聚
Though most Alaskan rivers freeze
虽然阿♥拉♥斯加大部分的河流在冬天里会冻结
geothermal heat keeps the Chilkat open
但地热却保持捷恰克河不会冻结
enabling the eagles to feed
让白头鹰能捕食到河中
on the river’s unusually late salmon run
或者比一般季节还久的鲑鱼
Somehow bald eagles know to return late each fall
不知道什么原因白头鹰，总是知道在每个晚秋回到
to the one place that will help ensure their survival
同一个地方以确保它们的生存
One Alaskan animal actually yearns for the onset of winter
有一种阿♥拉♥斯加的动物，确切渴望著冬天的来临
Where most creatures would perish from exposure
当大部分的生物在寒冬中枯竭消失时
polar bears thrive
只有北极熊能健康又自在的生活著
Their body heat is preserved by thick fat
它们有厚厚的脂肪保持体温
and an insulating fur of translucent hollow hairs
还有一层半透明而像光学纤维般的中空体毛，都有利于传导太阳能，以温暖它们黑色的皮肤
The summer breakup of offshore ice
夏天里沿岸的破冰
has marooned them on land
将北极熊孤立在内陆
where they can’t hunt their favorite prey
使它们没办法捕捉到
the ringed seal
它们最爱吃的海豹
For now they survive only on stored fat
现在它们仅靠囤积在体内的脂肪
and buried seaweed and wait patiently
和埋在冰下的海草维生，耐心的等待海面冻结
for the sea to freeze over so the hunt can resume
才能再开始猎食的行动
Some males while away the time in friendly play fighting
有些公熊在这等待的时期里会友善的玩耍打斗
For a female and her youngster the long wait is a time
这漫长的等待对北极熊母子来说
of both motherly affection and danger for the cubs
是段温馨的亲子时刻，但也是小北极熊的危险期
Despite the fierce protection of mothers
虽然有母亲的保护
fewer than half survive their first year
但只有一半不到的小熊能活过它们的第一年
Accidents and starvation are persistent threats
除了意外事故和饥饿是经常的危险之外
but she must also avoid her own kind
母熊还必须避免同类的侵袭
Male polar bears will eat unprotected cubs
公熊会猎食没受到保护的幼熊
Few mothers in all of nature are as devoted as a polar bear
自然界里很少有像北极熊这样克尽母职的
Cubs learn early to obey her commands
小熊早早的就学会遵从它的命令
Finally the sea freezes over
终于海水冻结了
The season of waiting and fasting ends
等待与计时的日子终于结束
With their extraordinary sense of smell
凭藉著它们异常灵敏的嗅觉
they can detect a seal 20 miles away
北极熊能侦测到一头远在二十英哩以外的海豹
The feast of winter is about to begin
一场冬天的盛宴即将开始
Elsewhere in Alaska
但是黑暗与资源缺乏
a time of darkness and scarcity arrives
却开始笼罩阿♥拉♥斯加的其他地区
Caribou migrating to wintering grounds
北美驯鹿迁徒到渡冬的场所
scrape beneath the snow day or night
不分昼夜的掘食
for moss and sedge grass
埋在雪下的苔鲜及芦苇
Searching for food
觅食中的驯鹿更是
they re vulnerable to hungry predators
容易遭受饥饿的猎食者所攻击
For a family of wolves
对狼群家族来说
prey are easier to track in snow
在雪地里较易为捕到猎物
With jaws powerful enough
具有强劲上下颚足以
to crush the caribou’s largest bones
咬碎驯鹿大骨
they will leave little behind
狼群可以将一头鹿一丝不剩的吃个精光
For a species that must cooperate
对于一种仰赖合作来求生存的动物来说