2019年经济学人 正在消失的冰岛冰川(1)（在线收听）

Okjokull, in western Iceland, was officially declared dead in 2014, aged around 800

冰岛西部的奥乔屈尔冰川于2014年正式宣布死亡，享年约800岁

It was not the smallest glacier around, nor the most remote. You could see it from outlying parts of Reykjavik, Iceland's capital, and from a long section of the country's ring road. Nor was it striking. It had none of the beauty of its neighbour Snafellsjokull, draping the perfect volcanic cone where Jules Verne found the tunnelthat led to the centre of the Earth, nor the unearthly blueness of Svinafellsjokull, which played a background in "Game of Thrones".

它不是周围最小的冰川，也不是最遥远的冰川。从冰岛首都雷克雅未克的偏远地区，以及该国环形公路的一段长路上，你都能看到它。奥乔屈尔冰川也不壮观。它也没有斯奈菲尔半岛的美丽，斯奈菲尔半岛覆盖着完美的火山锥，那里是儒勒·凡尔纳发现通往地心的隧道的地方，它也不像作为《权利的游戏》的一个背景的拥有神秘的蓝的斯维纳冰川。

Among 300 or so other glaciers sprawling across Iceland, covering 11% of the land surface, it was easily ignored. It sat low above the valley it had helped hollow out, a white cloak across the flattened peak of a shield volcano called Ok. From this it drew its full name, Okjokull, "the yoke glacier". It remained "Ok" for short. The writers of the Icelandic sagas noticed Ok only once, when a man crossing Iceland on horseback passed it by.

在遍布冰岛的覆盖了11%的地表的大约300个冰川中，它很容易被忽略。它低低地坐落在它帮助挖空的山谷之上，它是一座名为Ok的覆盖在盾状火山的平顶上的白色冰川。由此，它得到了它的全名，奥乔屈尔冰川，“OK冰川”。它在短时间内保持完好。冰岛传奇的作家只注意到OK冰川一次，当时有个人骑马跨越冰岛时从那经过。

The mountain was compared back then, when the sky was "the dwarf's helmet" and the earth "Odin's bride", to a dead female troll lying on her back. The snow, only starting then to compact into Okjokull, was the whiteness of her breast. How she came to be lying there was amystery; the story had disappeared. An odd image and an odder name, which made Icelanders laugh—if they had heard of Ok at all.

这座山那时被拿来作比较，当时天空是“侏儒的头盔”，大地是“欧订神的新娘”，直到一个死去的女山精躺在她的背上。雪，从那时才开始把它压成奥乔屈尔冰川，是她洁白的胸脯。她怎么会躺在那里是一个谜，故事已经消失了。一副奇怪的景象，一个更加奇怪的名字，这让冰岛人发笑-如果他们听过OK冰川的话。