国家地理 融化的北极正使一场新的冷战升温(3)

Around the time of my visit, though, the Canadian government had been reappraising the rangers¹. Rumblings about an international scramble² to stake new claims in the warming Arctic and on its vast trove³ of untapped resources had prompted politicians in Ottawa to promise the rangers better gear and funds to recruit more volunteers. Meanwhile U.S. military officials also were interested in the program, with an eye toward creating something similar in Alaska.

在我拜访期间，加拿大政府已开始重新评估巡逻民兵。有消息和传言指出，各国将对逐渐暖化的北极地区和其庞大尚未开发的资源提出新的所有权主张，因此首府渥太华的政治人物承诺给巡逻民兵更好的装备，以及用来招募更多志愿兵的资金。同时美国军方官员也对这项计划感兴趣，打算在阿拉斯加创立类似的计划。

Atqittuq welcomed the attention. He was raised in the Arctic and was now raising his own son there, so he understood the different ways the far-off government could go from friendly to fickle⁴ to forgetful. But this time it wasn't hard to guess what was on politicians' minds: After years spent ignoring the fact that the Arctic is warming faster than any other place on the planet, Canada was finally coming around.

艾奇图克乐见这些关注。他成长于北极地区，现在也在这里养育自己的儿子，因此他了解远在他方的政府可能从支持到反反复复，到最后忘了一干二净的态度转变。但这一次不难猜到政客们在想什么：在多年来忽视北极地区比世界其他地方暖化都快的事实后，加拿大终于要正视这个问题。

"We Inuit have been talking about this climate change stuff for a long time," Atqittuq told me before we headed out onto the tundra⁵. "Now the government's catching⁶ up, and they want us to keep a lookout⁷. Well, OK. We're proud Canadians." Then he grinned. "Just wish we were Canadian enough to get good phone service, eh?"

“我们因纽特人谈气候变迁很久了，”艾奇图克在我们动身前往冻原前跟我说。“现在政府跟上来了，他们要我们保卫这里。好吧，没问题。我们是爱国的加拿大人。”他接着笑着说：“只是希望我们能像一般加拿大人一样拥有好的电信服务，好吗？”

1 rangers   

护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员

参考例句：

• Do you know where the Rangers Stadium is? 你知道Rangers体育场在哪吗？ 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Now I'm a Rangers' fan, so I like to be near the stadium. 现在我是Rangers的爱好者，所以我想离体育场近一点。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

2 scramble   

v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料

参考例句：

• He broke his leg in his scramble down the wall.他爬墙摔断了腿。
• It was a long scramble to the top of the hill.到山顶须要爬登一段长路。

3 trove   

n.被发现的东西，收藏的东西

参考例句：

• He assembled a rich trove of Chinese porcelain.他收集了一批中国瓷器。
• The gallery is a treasure trove of medieval art.这个画廊是中世纪艺术的宝库。

4 fickle   

adj.(爱情或友谊上)易变的，不坚定的

参考例句：

• Fluctuating prices usually base on a fickle public's demand.物价的波动往往是由于群众需求的不稳定而引起的。
• The weather is so fickle in summer.夏日的天气如此多变。

5 tundra   

n.苔原，冻土地带

参考例句：

• The arctic tundra is at the top of the world around the North Pole.北极冻原是指北极点周边的地区，是世界最高的地方。
• There is a large amount of methane gas under the Siberian tundra.西伯利亚的冻土地带之下有大量的甲烷气体。

6 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

7 lookout   

n.注意，前途，瞭望台

参考例句：

• You can see everything around from the lookout.从了望台上你可以看清周围的一切。
• It's a bad lookout for the company if interest rates don't come down.如果利率降不下来，公司的前景可就不妙了。