国家地理 融化的北极正使一场新的冷战升温(7)

On King William Island, the rangers² traveled west in a long line of snowmobiles. Some pulled wooden sleds, heavy with food, camping gear, and military equipment. I joined the procession on a borrowed machine, and after several frigid³ hours driving into the enormous night, we reached a frozen lake called Kakivakturvik.

在威廉国王岛，骑警乘坐着雪地车一路向西。有些人拉着满载食物、露营装备和军用装备的雪橇。我坐在一个借来的机器上面，加入了他们，在寒冷的黑夜里开了几个小时后，我们终于到达了一个叫做卡齐瓦图维克的冻湖。

In bright beams of headlamps and headlights, the rangers scattered⁴ over the lake and began setting up large canvas tents on the ice. Caribou⁵ skins and tarps were dragged in, then foam⁶ mattresses⁷, sleeping bags, coolers filled with food.

在各种头灯的光线中，骑警在湖面上四散开来，开始在冰面上用帆布搭建帐篷。先搭好驯鹿皮和油布，在放泡沫垫子，睡袋，冷却器里塞满食物。

Soon the tents glowed with lantern light and whispered with the sound of kerosene⁸ stoves. Steaming cups of tea were passed around, a few stories shared about favorite sled dogs, and then it was back outdoors. In small groups the rangers fanned out over the lake, chopped holes in the foot-thick ice, and dropped fishnets into the black water.

很快帐篷里亮起了灯，伴着煤油灶发出的声音响起了人们低语。装着热茶的杯子被四处分发，人们讲着最爱的雪橇犬的故事，声音传到了帐篷外。骑警们呈扇形分小组坐着，在一足深的冰面上凿好窟窿，再把渔网扔进黑色的水里。

Across the Canadian Arctic, ranger¹ patrols mix military exercises with traditional activities such as hunting and fishing that are still a necessary part of life in the far north. Over the next several days Marvin's group tried to balance these with the martial⁹ stuff of navigation drills and training on GPS devices.

在加拿大的北冰洋沿岸，骑警们巡逻的时候还会做各种训练，以及诸如打猎、钓鱼这样的传统活动，这些在遥远的北方仍是生活必不可少的一部分。在接下来几天，马尔文的队伍想把这些跟他们的军事活动平衡一下，比如导航钻孔和用定位设备训练。

Strong winds hurtled off the frozen sea, and thick fog and clouds hung low over the tundra¹⁰. The temperature rose toward freezing a couple of times, then fell again and stayed far below zero. All this was typical for late November, and soon our lives collapsed¹¹ into the small white and gray world around camp.

强风席卷过冰冻的海面，浓雾和乌云沉沉的压在冰原上空。结冰的时候温度几次上升，然后再次落到零度以下。这是11月的典型特征，很快我们的生命就会终结在小小的白色或者灰色的帐篷周围。

1 ranger   

n.国家公园管理员，护林员；骑兵巡逻队员

参考例句：

• He was the head ranger of the national park.他曾是国家公园的首席看守员。
• He loved working as a ranger.他喜欢做护林人。

2 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

3 frigid   

adj.寒冷的，凛冽的；冷淡的；拘禁的

参考例句：

• The water was too frigid to allow him to remain submerged for long.水冰冷彻骨，他在下面呆不了太长时间。
• She returned his smile with a frigid glance.对他的微笑她报以冷冷的一瞥。

4 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

5 caribou   

n.北美驯鹿

参考例句：

• Afar off he heard the squawking of caribou calves.他听到远处有一群小驯鹿尖叫的声音。
• The Eskimos played soccer on ice and used balls filled with caribou hair and grass.爱斯基摩人在冰上踢球，他们用的是驯鹿的毛发和草填充成的球。

6 foam   

v./n.泡沫，起泡沫

参考例句：

• The glass of beer was mostly foam.这杯啤酒大部分是泡沫。
• The surface of the water is full of foam.水面都是泡沫。

7 mattresses   

褥垫，床垫( mattress的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The straw mattresses are airing there. 草垫子正在那里晾着。
• The researchers tested more than 20 mattresses of various materials. 研究人员试验了二十多个不同材料的床垫。

8 kerosene   

n.(kerosine)煤油，火油

参考例句：

• It is like putting out a fire with kerosene.这就像用煤油灭火。
• Instead of electricity,there were kerosene lanterns.没有电，有煤油灯。

9 martial   

adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的

参考例句：

• The sound of martial music is always inspiring.军乐声总是鼓舞人心的。
• The officer was convicted of desertion at a court martial.这名军官在军事法庭上被判犯了擅离职守罪。

10 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。

11 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。