北极熊（2022）

家园
Home.
是承载着童年美好回忆的地方
It’s the place where childhood and memory live together.
但我童年的家园正在变化
But the home of my childhood is changing.
我们依赖的冰川正在消融
The ice we depend on is melting away.
我和孩子处境堪虞 前途未卜
My cub and I are in uncharted waters.
《北极熊》
我出生在高山的一个冰洞里 高耸入云
I was born in an ice cave, high in the mountains.
但是覆盖着海冰的海洋才是我们的家园
But the frozen ocean, the sea ice, was our home.
这里承载着我最早的记忆
Here is where my earliest memories are.
和双胞胎弟弟 也是我的好友
Playing with my best friend,
一起嬉戏玩闹
my twin brother.
妈妈在旁边亦步亦趋地
And she was never far from us.
保护着我们
Our protector.
寸步不离
Our mother.
我比弟弟更强壮 也更好奇
I was stronger than my brother. More curious.
但他比我更独♥立♥自主
But he was the independent one.
我喜欢整天黏着妈妈
I always followed Mom’s lead.
妈妈想让我们见识外面的世界
And there was a whole world she wanted to show us.
要学的东西还有很多
There was so much to learn here.
她是我们唯一的老师
She was our only teacher.
我模仿妈妈的一举一动
I copied everything she did.
虽然不太懂 但我们应该是在
I didn’t know it, but we were hunting…
追捕猎物
for something.
是猎物的气味
For a smell.
气味来自冰原下面
-A smell under the ice.
闻着味就让我垂涎欲滴
Whatever it was, it smelled good.
弟弟准备好扑倒猎物
My brother was ready to attack, too…
-Me, usually.
也就是我
妈妈一直努力在冰面上凿个洞
Mom just kept pounding through the ice.
我也想帮她 但是
I wanted to help her, but…
我正忙着呢
I was busy.
然后 我突然间回过神来
Then suddenly, the whole thing became clear.
我们在捕猎海豹
We were seal hunting.
应该说是妈妈在捕猎海豹
Well, Mom was seal hunting.
妈妈是英雄
She was our hero.
我们愿意追随妈妈到天涯海角
We would’ve followed her anywhere.
也必须这样做
And we needed to.
整个冬天公熊都在冰面上游荡 饿得饥肠辘辘
Male bears spend all winter roaming the ice, and are very, very hungry.
我和弟弟很可能会成为盘中餐
My brother and I would make an easy meal.
妈妈带领我们来到冰架 这是一片开阔的水域
So Mom led us to the ice edge, to the open ocean.
最头疼的是我们从没下过水
The problem was, we didn’t know how to swim.
以前也并没有机会学游泳
We’d never even been in the water before.
水里很冷
It was freezing.
妈妈是海里唯一可以依靠的孤岛
And the only dry land in sight was Mom.
她知道我们不能就这样学会游泳
She knew we weren’t going to learn to swim like this.
不断划桨也是很好的训练
And there was good reason to keep paddling.
我以为终于能在这里歇脚 然而
Finally, a place to rest… I thought.
我却想错了
And I was wrong.
我和弟弟感到体力不支 妈妈带我们爬上岸
When my brother and I could swim no more, she led us ashore.
妈妈叼着把我拖拽上岸 我从来没什么开心过
I’ve never been happier to be bitten and tugged by the scruff of the neck.
现在安全了
We were safe.
终于可以休息了
Now we could rest.
北极迎来了春天 太阳高悬在天空
Every spring, as the sun climbs higher in the sky,
白昼渐长 天气渐暖
the days become longer and warmer.
坚硬的冰川开始消融
Our world of solid ice starts to break apart.
我明白这是大自然的规律
I learned this was the natural way of things.
脚下支离破碎的冰面障碍重重 难以穿行
But this new, broken, shifting ground was hard to get used to.
要跟上妈妈的步伐并不容易
Keeping up with Mom was not easy.
她的一小步对我们来说 却是迈出了一大步
One small step for her was a giant leap for us.
现在她第一次留下我和弟弟 准备独自下海
And now, for the first time, she would leave my brother and me on our own.
她锁定了目标
She had a new mission.
我看着她一路潜游缓缓逼近 与浮冰融为一体
I watched her as she silently disappeared, becoming one with the ice floes.
她是伏击高手
Master of the stalk.
根据经验 妈妈知道 只有海豹待在浮冰上
Mom knew, from experience, her only chance at grabbing a seal
才是抓捕的唯一机会
was when it was up on an ice floe.
一旦海豹钻入水中 猎捕也便毫无希望
As soon as it was in the water, she wouldn’t be able to catch it.
我们也帮不上什么忙
There wasn’t much for us to do.
只能留在原地等她回来
We just waited for her to return.
但她迟迟未归 只是继续捕猎
But she didn’t return. She kept on hunting.
第一个夏天 妈妈抓了很多海豹
Mom caught many seals that first summer.
我们吃饱喝足 别无他求
We were well fed and wanted for nothing.
那时 在冰盖上的家园生活 感觉很安稳
Back then, life on our frozen ocean home felt secure.
如今 曾经称为家园的冰层正逐渐消失
Today, the sea ice we once called home is disappearing.
海豹需要海冰来繁殖
Seals need the sea ice to breed.
而我们以海豹为食
We need seals to hunt.
我们是冰熊
We are ice bears.
没有海冰便难以生存
How are we to survive without ice?
多亏了妈妈 第一个冬天过得安全又温暖
Our mother kept us safe and warm that first long winter.
除了璀璨的极光滑过夜空
Other than the lights that danced in the sky,
半年的时间都是一片漆黑
it was total darkness for half of the year.
我以为太阳永远消失了
I thought the sun had gone forever.
直到它再次出现的那一天
I remember the day it finally reappeared.
我和弟弟都很喜欢阳光
My brother and I loved the sunshine.
可以再次探索新世界
We could go and explore again.
但妈妈打算把力气花在刀刃上
But Mom was going to put all that energy to use.
给我们安排了一个忙碌的春天
She had a busy spring planned for us.
因为春天要准备全年所需的食物
Spring is when we need to catch nearly all our food for the entire year…
而且要快
and quickly.
因为随着浮冰破裂 海豹也随之消失
Soon, most of the sea ice will disappear, and with it, the seals.
今年 妈妈对我们的期望很高
This year, Mom would expect a lot from us.
她希望我们真正了解如何狩猎海豹
She wanted us to really understand seal hunting.
不再嬉戏打闹 消耗旺盛的精力
No more spectating in between wrestling matches.
我也学会了永远不要放松警惕
I also learned to never drop my guard.
公熊是始终存在的威胁
Males were an ever-present threat.
这只公熊猝不及防地出现
And this one caught us completely by surprise.
饥不择食时 便不惜猎杀幼熊来充饥
He was hungry, determined, and relentless.
对公熊要避而远之
There is no safe distance from a male ice bear.
妈妈知道怎么找安全的
But there is safe ice.
浮冰阻止公熊靠近
And Mom knew how to find it.
她沿着通往海冰边缘的裂缝穿梭
She followed the cracks that led to the edge of the sea ice.
这里海冰太薄 体型庞大的公熊会陷下去
It was so thin here, a large male bear would fall right through.
最重要的是 我和弟弟一起
Most importantly, for my brother and me,
玩得乐不思蜀
we could play together.
海冰上的那段日子给我们上了宝贵的一课
In those days, every moment out on the sea ice taught us new lessons.
针对不同类型的冰
About the different kinds of ice,
不同的厚度
the different thicknesses,
如何策划完美的俯冲攻击
how to plan the perfect belly-flop attack.
我们尽情享受下午慵懒的惬意
It was an afternoon of pure relaxation.
弟弟也进行了额外的海豹狩猎练习
Plus, some extra seal-hunting practice for my brother.
在雪里翻滚擦干皮毛后
A quick roll in the snow to dry our fur…
我们又开始行动了
And we were on the move again.
那年春天 我们变得更有自信
We did grow a lot more confident that spring.
但是妈妈仍然是我们世界的中心
But Mom was still the center of our world.
今天玩乐的时间很少
Today, there is little time for play.
我们把所有精力都花在寻找食物上
All of our energy is spent searching for food.
我想教我的女儿在哪里可以找到海豹
I want to teach my daughter where to find seals.
以前的老地方 越难寻觅到它们的踪影
But the old places I was shown are harder and harder to find.
当夏季再次来临时 冰层似乎与往年不同
When summer came around again, the ice seemed different than the year before.
天气更热 冰也融化得更早
It felt hotter. And the melt came earlier.
然而碎裂的海冰让新鲜的猎物进入了我们的家园
But the ice break-up allowed fresh prey into our home.
这些不是我们所熟知的海豹
And these were not the seals we’d come to know.
而是白鲸
Beluga whales.
我以前从来没见过白鲸
I had never seen a beluga whale before.
不过 妈妈见过
Mom had, though.
她打算抓一只回家当晚饭
And she was set on bringing one home for dinner.
在水中捕捉猎物极其困难
Catching prey in the water is incredibly hard.
但她仍不断尝试 因为我们需要进食
But she was persistent. We needed to eat.
终于 有一只直接朝她游了过来
Finally, one swam straight at her.
又溜走了
It got away.
但她在教我们 每一次机会都值得一试
But she was teaching us every chance at food was worth taking.
夏天的太阳几乎有大半年总不落山