国家地理:牧野分歧(6)

In 1862, Congress passed the Homestead Act, which gave settlers title to 160 acres of federal land if they were able to "prove up" on the property by building a house and planting crops. But 160 acres weren't enough in the short-grass prairies, so Congress doubled it, then doubled it again to 640 acres for livestock¹. Today many ranchers feel they need to own thousands of acres and lease thousands more on nearby public land to make ends meet, and keeping the "home place" in the family can require King Lear–like decisions about succession planning. Ranches³ are big, or they're gone. In that context, land set aside for conservation is land unavailable for ranching⁴ families to expand. "It worries me more than water, wind, drought, prices," says rancher Craig French, whose family is involved with the anti-APR movement in Phillips County, across the Missouri River from LaTray.

1862年，国会通过了宅地法，给居民分配了160英亩联邦土地的所有权，前提是他们可以建起房子和种植作物来证明自己的财产。但是160英亩的浅草草场是不够的，于是国会把这个数字翻了倍，然后为了蓄养牲畜又把数字翻了一倍，变成640英亩。现在很多牧场主觉得他们应该有几千英亩的地，再在附近的公共用地上租几千英亩来满足需求，而要保留家庭用地可能就需要李尔王式的规划，比如同意牧场继承制。牧场一般要很大，否则就没了。在这种情况下，牧民家庭就不能占用留出来做保护区的用地。牧场主克雷格·弗伦奇说：“这一点比水、风、干旱和价格更让我担心。”他的家人都参与了菲利普斯县的反对美国草原保护区运动，菲利普斯县和拉特雷隔密苏里河相望。

French is standing⁵ in a corral on a cloudy morning in a pasture just north of APR, where his parents, Bill and Corky French, have convened⁶ four generations of family and neighbors to brand their calves⁷. Their forebears settled nearby more than a century ago; the couple run more than a thousand head of cattle on 60,000 public and private acres.

一个多云的早晨，弗伦奇站在美国草原保护区北边一片牧场旁的畜栏边，他的父母比尔和可奇·弗伦奇召集了家里的四代人还有邻居，去给他们的小牛打上烙印。他们的祖先一百多年前就定居在附近，这对夫妻在60000英亩的公共和私人用地上蓄养着超过一千头牛。

Brandings here are chaotic⁸, cooperative affairs, with families traveling from ranch² to ranch to help each other out. Then they get to work: sorting, roping and dragging, wrestling and branding, vaccinating⁹ and castrating, calves squealing¹⁰ wild-eyed in rebuke¹¹ ("Some are kind of theatrical," Craig French says). We associate this part of the world with rugged¹² individualism, but brandings are remarkably¹³ communitarian rituals, willing exchanges of time and labor¹⁴.

打烙印在这里是很混乱的，涉及到合作，一个个家庭从一个牧场跑到另一个牧场，互相帮助。然后他们就开始工作：分类、套绳、拖拽、扭打和烙印，注射疫苗和阉割，小牛犊怒瞪着眼睛鸣叫着。（“有一些是在演戏”，克雷格·弗伦奇说。） 我们把世界的这个部分跟粗犷的个人主义联系在一起，但打烙印是非常显著的共产主义的仪式，需要人们自愿交换时间和劳动力。

"We don't always agree with all our neighbors," says Craig's wife, Conni, "but we always help each other out."

克雷格的妻子康妮说：“我们并不是一直跟邻居的意见相同，但我们总是会互相帮忙。”

1 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

2 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

3 ranches   

大农场， （兼种果树，养鸡等的）大牧场( ranch的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They hauled feedlot manure from the ranches to fertilize their fields. 他们从牧场的饲养场拖走肥料去肥田。
• Many abandoned ranches are purchased or leased by other poultrymen. 许多被放弃的牧场会由其他家禽监主收买或租用。

4 ranching   

adj.放牧的

参考例句：

• They cleared large tracts of forest for farming, logging and ranching. 他们清除了大片的森林以经营农耕、采伐与畜牧。
• This is a trade center in a ranching and oil-producing region. 这是一个牧场与产油区的贸易中心。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 convened   

召开( convene的过去式 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合

参考例句：

• The chairman convened the committee to put the issue to a vote. 主席召集委员们开会对这个问题进行表决。
• The governor convened his troops to put down the revolt. 总督召集他的部队去镇压叛乱。

7 calves   

n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解

参考例句：

• a cow suckling her calves 给小牛吃奶的母牛
• The calves are grazed intensively during their first season. 小牛在生长的第一季里集中喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

9 vaccinating   

给…接种疫苗( vaccinate的现在分词 )； 注射疫苗，接种疫苗

参考例句：

• At first blush, vaccinating the wolves against rabies seems a simple solution. 乍一看来，为狼群注射防狂犬病疫苗是一种简单的办法。
• Also vaccinating children against misers (measles) has saved many lives. 还有，给儿童进行疫苗接种防止麻疹也挽救了许多生命。

10 squealing   

v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Pigs were grunting and squealing in the yard. 猪在院子里哼哼地叫个不停。
• The pigs were squealing. 猪尖叫着。

11 rebuke   

v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise

参考例句：

• He had to put up with a smart rebuke from the teacher.他不得不忍受老师的严厉指责。
• Even one minute's lateness would earn a stern rebuke.哪怕迟到一分钟也将受到严厉的斥责。

12 rugged   

adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的

参考例句：

• Football players must be rugged.足球运动员必须健壮。
• The Rocky Mountains have rugged mountains and roads.落基山脉有崇山峻岭和崎岖不平的道路。

13 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

14 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。