“绝佳处境”：加拿大一镇与北极熊共处
📖 逐句对照翻译
Churchill, Manitoba is a small, rural Canadian town that lives with neighboring predators and loves it.
马尼托巴省的丘吉尔是一个小小的加拿大乡村小镇，它与邻近的掠食者共同生活，并乐在其中。
That is because the predators — a polar bear population — attract the visitors who saved the town’s economy after a military base there closed.
这是因为这些捕食者——一群北极熊——吸引了游客，而这些游客在该镇的一个军事基地关闭后拯救了小镇的经济。
Tourists wanting to see the bears bring millions of dollars into the local economy.
想要看熊的游客为当地经济带来了数百万美元的收入。
However, the bears are entering the town more often in search of food.
然而，熊为了寻找食物而更频繁地进入小镇。
Researchers say the sea ice where the bears normally hunt is shrinking.
研究人员表示，北极熊通常捕猎的海冰正在缩小。
Geoff York is with Polar Bears International, a nonprofit environmental group based in Manitoba.
杰夫·约克就职于北极熊国际组织，这是一个总部位于曼尼托巴省的非营利环保团体。
York said: “You're seeing more bears because there are more bears on the land for longer periods of time to be seen” and they are willing to take more risks, getting closer to people.
约克说：“你们看到更多熊，是因为这片土地上有更多的熊，而且它们待的时间更长，所以更容易被看到。”它们还愿意冒更多风险，离人更近。
There are about 600 polar bears in this Western Hudson Bay population.
西哈德逊湾的北极熊种群大约有600只。
Environmentalists say that is about half what it was 40 years ago.
环保人士表示，这一数字大约是40年前的一半。
Humans in Churchill outnumber the bears although not by very many.
在丘吉尔镇，人类的数量超过了熊的数量，尽管超出得并不多。
It has been more than 10 years since a polar bear attacked anyone in Churchill.
在丘吉尔，已经超过10年没有发生过北极熊袭击人的事件了。
But townspeople look out for each other and tourists with a warning system and guards.
但镇上的居民通过预警系统和守卫互相照应，也保护着游客。
There is even a polar bear jail.
甚至还有一座北极熊监狱。
Controlling Churchill’s bears
控制丘吉尔的熊
Sergeant Ian Van Nest is a Manitoba province conservation officer.
伊恩·范内斯特中士是马尼托巴省的保育官员。
He recently guarded the streets of Churchill in his truck.
他最近开着卡车在丘吉尔的街道上巡逻。
It was the beginning of polar bear season in Churchill.
那是丘吉尔镇北极熊季节的开始。
The vehicle is equipped with a rifle and a barred back seat to hold anyone he might have to arrest.
这辆车配备了一支步枪和一个带栏杆的后座，用来关押他可能需要逮捕的人。
Van Nest saw a crowd of people who were watching a bear.
范内斯特看到一群人正在观看一只熊。
He looked around for trouble in the area and then quietly spoke to the group's leader.
他环顾四周，看看该地区有没有麻烦，然后悄悄地对这群人的首领说话。
“How are you today?”
你今天怎么样？
Van Nest asked.
范内斯特问道。
The group leader answered that they were all right and then asked if their gathering place is acceptable to Van Nest.
组长回答说他们都还好，然后问他们的集合地点对范内斯特来说是否可以接受。
“You’re good,” the officer answered.
“你没事，”警官回答道。
“You [have] got a lot of distance there,” he added.
“你在那里有很大的距离，”他补充道。
So, the tour group continued to watch a polar bear on some nearby rocks.
于是，旅行团继续观察着附近岩石上的一只北极熊。
The importance of visitors
访客的重要性
Visitors interested in seeing the polar bears saved Churchill from shrinking out of existence when a military base there closed in the 1970s.
对想看北极熊的游客的兴趣，在上世纪70年代丘吉尔的一个军事基地关闭时，拯救了这座小镇，使其免于萎缩消亡。
The closure led to a drop in Churchill’s population, from a few thousand residents to about 870.
基地的关闭导致丘吉尔镇人口从几千名居民下降到约870人。
A 2011 government study found that the average polar bear tourist spent about $5,000 per visit.
2011年的一项政府研究发现，平均每位北极熊游客每次旅行花费约5000美元。
The tourism adds more than $7 million yearly to the economy of the little town.
旅游业每年为这个小镇的经济带来超过700万美元的收入。
Churchill has a few nice restaurants and more than 25 places where visitors can stay.
丘吉尔有几家不错的餐厅，还有超过25处可供游客住宿的地方。
“We’re…used to bears so (when you see one) you don’t start to tremble,” Mayor Mike Spence said.
“我们……对熊已经习以为常了，所以（当你看到一只熊时）你不会开始发抖，”市长迈克·斯彭斯说。
“It’s their area too. It’s important how the community coexists with bears and wildlife in general to really get along. We’re all connected.”
这也是它们的领地。社区如何与熊以及整体野生动物共存，对于真正和谐相处至关重要。我们都是相互关联的。
Churchill residents show polar bear pride in a way that mixes terror and fun.
丘吉尔镇的居民以一种既恐惧又有趣的方式展现着对北极熊的自豪感。
“You know we're the polar bear capital of the world, right? We have the product, it's just about getting out there to see the bears safely,” said Dave Daley, who owns a gift shop, runs dog sleds and promotes the city.
“你知道我们是世界北极熊之都，对吧？我们有产品，关键是如何安全地出去看熊，”戴夫·戴利说。他拥有一家礼品店，经营狗拉雪橇，并推广这座城市。
He also is a former president of the Chamber of Commerce, an office that supports business activity.
他也是商会的前任主席，该机构支持商业活动。
The former military base had a rocket launch area.
前军事基地设有一个火箭发射区。
It seemed to keep bears away.
这似乎能把熊赶走。
When it closed, the bears started entering the town more often, longtime residents said.
长期居住在那里的居民说，动物园关闭后，熊开始更频繁地进入小镇。
So, Churchill and province officials “put together a polar bear alert program to make sure the community members were looked after, [and] protected,” said Spence who has been Churchill's mayor since 1995.
因此，自1995年起担任丘吉尔市市长的斯彭斯表示，丘吉尔市和省政府官员“共同制定了一项北极熊预警计划，以确保社区成员得到照顾和保护”。
The town's old curfew siren sounds nightly, warning people that it is time to go inside to be safe from bears.
镇上每晚都会响起古老的宵禁警报声，提醒人们该进屋躲避熊的袭击了。
Georgina Berg recalls growing up in the 1970s near Churchill, where many First Nations people lived.
乔治娜·伯格回忆起20世纪70年代在丘吉尔附近长大的经历，那里居住着许多原住民。
“First Nations” is used in Canada to identify native people.
“第一民族”在加拿大用来指代原住民。
She remembers how differently her father and mother would react to seeing a bear in the past.
她记得过去父亲和母亲看到熊时的反应有多么不同。
She said her father would not pay attention to them.
她说她父亲不会理会他们。
“He said, ‘If you don’t bother them, then they won’t bother you,’" she recalled.
她回忆道：“他说：‘如果你不打扰它们，它们就不会打扰你。’”
When a bear came near in later years, after her father had died, her mom was frightened.
多年以后，父亲去世后，当一只熊靠近时，她妈妈吓坏了。
“Everybody was yelling, and all the kids had to come in and everybody had to go home. And then we stayed silent in the house for a long time until we knew for sure that bear was gone,” Berg recalled.
伯格回忆道：“所有人都在大喊大叫，孩子们都得进屋，大家都得回家。然后我们在屋里沉默了很久，直到我们确定那头熊已经离开了。”
For Van Nest, the provincial officer, the recent meeting with a group of bear watchers was different.
对于省警官范内斯特来说，最近与一群观熊者的会面则有所不同。
The group was about 100 meters away from the bear.
这群人距离那只熊大约100米。
He said the bear was “putting on a bit of a show” for the tourists.
他说这只熊是在为游客“表演一番”。
“This is a great situation to be in," he said. “The tourists are a safe distance away and the bear’s doing his natural thing and not being harassed by anybody.”
他说：“这是一个很好的情况。游客们在安全的距离之外，熊在做它自然的事情，没有受到任何人的骚扰。”
I’m Jill Robbins.
我是吉尔·罗宾斯。
And I'm Caty Weaver.
我是凯蒂·韦弗。
Seth Borenstein reported this story for the Associated Press.
塞思·博伦斯坦为美联社报道了这则新闻。
Caty Weaver adapted it for VOA Learning English.
凯蒂·韦弗为VOA英语学习频道改编了它。
