⊙ By James Honeyborne

翻譯：丁一

The1)Thawing of the Rivers Is a Season of Its Own in Alaska

阿拉斯加：河流解凍，自成一季

⊙ By James Honeyborne

翻譯：丁一

世界之大，無(wú)奇不有，在迎春這件事上也不例外。有人往身上涂顏料，有人“棒打”親朋，有人燃燒紙偶。而在美國(guó)阿拉斯加中部的一個(gè)鎮(zhèn)上，人們將冰河上木架倒下的一刻視為春天到來(lái)的神圣時(shí)刻。一切從每年的三月一日開(kāi)始……

An Alaskan spring moves fast and if you don’t seize the moment, it will pass you by. The exact arrival of spring is hard to predict. But for some, working out when it might arrive has become a total2)obsession.

Deep in central Alaska, the Tanana River freezes to over one metre down. And every spring the3)townsfolklook forward to the day when it will break up and flow again. It’s such abig deal; they’ve held a festival for nearly a hundred years to celebrate. It begins on the first of March with the digging out of the heart of the frozen river, setting the stage for a truly Alaskan event. The whole town joins in.

(People are setting up a wooden4)tripod.)

“On the count of three: one, two, three!”

The day the river breaks up, this wooden tripod will fall,5)markingthe first day of spring, a day everyone is waiting for. As part of the celebrations, everyone has a bet or two on when the tripod will actually drop.6)Whoevergets it right to the nearest second will hit the7)jackpot.

And then, the wait begins. The tripod is8)tetheredto a9)watchtowerwhere the official clock will stop as soon as the tripod10)collapses. They take it so seriously, there is even a watchman on 24-hour duty. The nights become shorter. Still the tripod stands. Each day11)bulks upwith seven minutes more daylight. Four weeks later, the tripod is starting to shift. At long last, on the 25th of April at 3:48 in the afternoon, spring arrives. Round here though, they don’t call it spring. This season is what they call “break-up.” The thawing of the rivers is a season all of its own. That’s how much it means to an Alaskan soul.

1) thawing [θ????] n. 解凍，融化

2) obsession [?b?se?(?)n] n. 迷戀，著魔

3) townsfolk [?ta?nzf??k] n. 市鎮(zhèn)居民

4) tripod [?tra?p?d] n. 三腳架

5) mark [mɑ?k] v. 標(biāo)示

6) whoever [hu??ev?(r)] pron. 不論什么人，不論是誰(shuí)

7) jackpot [?d??kp?t] n. （彩票）頭獎(jiǎng)

8) tether [?tee?(r)] v. 拴，系

9) watchtower [?w?t?ta??(r)] n. 望塔

10) collapse [k??l?ps] v. 倒坍

11) bulk up 積累，增加

On the count of three∶ one, two, three!

日常生活中在做某件事時(shí)為了保證眾人步調(diào)一致，我們常常會(huì)一起數(shù)數(shù)，on the count 正是領(lǐng)頭人說(shuō)的話，目的是在數(shù)數(shù)之前提醒大家準(zhǔn)備好。當(dāng)然，后面的“of three”可以視具體情況而變，也可以省略不要，因?yàn)閿?shù)到三是一種慣例。這個(gè)表達(dá)的變通方式可以是on my count，如：On my count, one, two, three!（聽(tīng)我的口令，一、二、三?。?/p>

At long last, on the 25th of April at 3∶48 in the afternoon, spring arrives.

At last我們都很熟悉，其含義與finally相同，義為“終于”，但它不僅僅是指發(fā)生在最后的事，更指在經(jīng)過(guò)許多煩惱或麻煩之后，或經(jīng)過(guò)漫長(zhǎng)等待之后才發(fā)生的事。如果你要對(duì)等待的過(guò)程或等待者的急切心情加以強(qiáng)調(diào)，那么at long last正好可以表達(dá)這個(gè)意思。這個(gè)詞組與其說(shuō)是時(shí)間的表示，還不如說(shuō)它是心情的反映，如：Here,at long last, was the moment he had waited for.（經(jīng)過(guò)漫長(zhǎng)的等待后，他終于迎來(lái)了盼望已久的時(shí)刻。）

阿拉斯加的春天來(lái)去匆匆，你若不抓緊時(shí)機(jī)，便會(huì)與其失之交臂。春天來(lái)臨的準(zhǔn)確時(shí)刻難以預(yù)測(cè)，但有些人對(duì)于計(jì)算春天到來(lái)的日子極度執(zhí)迷。

位于阿拉斯加內(nèi)陸中部的塔納諾河結(jié)了超過(guò)一米厚的冰。每年春天，鎮(zhèn)民都熱切期待著河冰破裂，河水再度流動(dòng)的那天。他們很重視這一天，近百年來(lái)都會(huì)舉行慶?；顒?dòng)。慶典在3月1日開(kāi)始，人們先挖出冰河中間的冰，為這個(gè)真正屬于阿拉斯加人的慶典設(shè)好舞臺(tái)。整個(gè)鎮(zhèn)的居民都會(huì)參與其中。

（人們正在豎起木制三腳架。）

“數(shù)三下，一……二……三！”

河冰破裂，木制腳架倒下的那一天便是萬(wàn)眾期待的春季首日。作為慶?；顒?dòng)的其中一項(xiàng)內(nèi)容，每人都會(huì)買(mǎi)上一兩注，預(yù)測(cè)腳架倒下的準(zhǔn)確時(shí)間。時(shí)間以秒計(jì)算，答案最接近者將獲得大獎(jiǎng)。

然后眾人開(kāi)始等候。腳架用繩連著一座望樓，腳架一旦倒下，望樓上眾人認(rèn)可的計(jì)時(shí)鐘便會(huì)停止。他們對(duì)此事高度重視，甚至派了看守員24小時(shí)值班。黑夜越來(lái)越短，腳架仍然屹立不倒。每一天的日照時(shí)間都比前一天長(zhǎng)7分鐘。四周后，腳架開(kāi)始有動(dòng)靜了。終于，在4月25日下午3點(diǎn)48分，春天來(lái)了。不過(guò)，這里的人不稱其為春天，他們稱這個(gè)季節(jié)為“破冰”——河流解凍，自成一季，可見(jiàn)阿拉斯加人對(duì)此事的重視程度。