国家地理 融化的北极正使一场新的冷战升温(9)

One evening, as we lay in our sleeping bags, Marvin told me he'd once tried to leave the Arctic. He'd found a vocational school in southern Canada that offered classes in small engine repair. But years before, Jacob had watched another son taken from home and forced to attend one of Canada's notorious residential¹ schools, where indigenous² knowledge and traditions were cruelly repressed. He asked Marvin to stay. Learn the old ways. Keep the family whole.

一天晚上，当我们躺进睡袋时，马尔文告诉我他曾经想过离开北极。他在加拿大南部找到了一家教授修小型引擎的职业学校。但因为几年前雅各布的另一个儿子被带走，人们逼着他进入加拿大一所臭名昭著的寄宿学校，在那里本地的知识和传统被残酷的压制。于是雅各布告诉马尔文留在这里。按照老一辈的方式生活。一家人在一起。

Marvin didn't regret his decision. He was a father himself and a volunteer fireman in Gjoa Haven³. He'd found a job with a company maintaining telephone lines, and he was slowly learning all he could from Jacob. But Jacob also seemed to inhabit a simpler, older Arctic.

马尔文并不后悔做这个决定。他自己也是个父亲，同时还是约阿港的志愿消防员。他找到了一份维护电话线路的工作，并且在慢慢跟随雅各布学习一切知识。但雅各布只想继续做一个简单的北极老人。

The one Marvin knew was complicated. There were fewer opportunities, more drugs. There were social media and the internet. Marvin understood his Arctic was becoming something new. He'd read that the ice was melting, that another war might come north. He knew the weather was different from what he'd known as a child -- not necessarily warmer but more unpredictable.

马尔文知道的消息很复杂。机会总是不如毒品多。世界上还有社交媒体和因特网。马尔文知道北极正在变得不一样了。他读到冰川正在融化，另一场战争就要在北方开始。他知道天气也变得跟小时候不一样了--不一定是变得更暖和，只是更加难以预测了。

As for the gold rush he kept hearing about, he couldn't see it. "All these things are supposed to be happening," he told me, referring to the predictions of new infrastructure⁴ and jobs to harvest the region's hidden riches. "I don't really feel much change. I definitely don't feel like I'm part of it."

至于他经常听说的淘金热，他并没有见过。提到对新的基础设施和挖掘这里隐藏的宝藏的工作的预测时，他跟我说：“所有这些事情都是应该发生的。我并没觉得有很大变化。我觉得我并没有参与其中。”

The next morning I left camp to scout⁵ for caribou⁶ with the Atqittuqs and a few others. When a blizzard⁷ blew in and swallowed our hunting party, it was Jacob who led us back to camp, using a combination of GPS and some other, inner map. I drove my snowmobile slowly behind Marvin's, nearly blinded by a skin of ice that formed inside my goggles⁸. Soon the world became so intensely white that I could no longer tell where the earth ended and the storm began.

第二天早上我离开帐篷，跟阿提库父子和其他一些人出去寻找驯鹿。突然到来的一场暴风雪毁掉了我们的狩猎聚会，雅各布用定位装置和某种内置地图带我们回到了帐篷。我慢慢开着雪地车跟在马尔文身后，眼睛里的冰几乎快让我变成盲人。很快世界变成一片白，我再也分不清哪里是地面，哪里是雪暴。

At some point, the balaclava covering my face slipped out of place, exposing an inch of skin. I felt a burning sensation, as though someone had pressed a hot coin to my cheek, but I was busy keeping up. Hours later, in our tent, Jacob saw the burn. He pressed his thumb to it. "Good," he said.

在某一刻，遮住我脸部的帽子开始移位，我的一小块皮肤暴露了。我感到一种灼烧的感觉，就像是有人拿着一枚烧红的硬币按在了我脸上，但我忙着赶路。几个小时后，在我们的帐篷里，雅各布看见了那块伤口。他把拇指按上去。他说道：“很好。”

1 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

2 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

3 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。

4 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

5 scout   

n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索

参考例句：

• He was mistaken for an enemy scout and badly wounded.他被误认为是敌人的侦察兵，受了重伤。
• The scout made a stealthy approach to the enemy position.侦察兵偷偷地靠近敌军阵地。

6 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。

7 blizzard   

n.暴风雪

参考例句：

• The blizzard struck while we were still on the mountain.我们还在山上的时候暴风雪就袭来了。
• You'll have to stay here until the blizzard blows itself off.你得等暴风雪停了再走。

8 goggles   

n.护目镜

参考例句：

• Skiers wear goggles to protect their eyes from the sun.滑雪者都戴上护目镜使眼睛不受阳光伤害。
• My swimming goggles keep steaming up so I can't see.我的护目镜一直有水雾，所以我看不见。