阿拉斯加非凡之旅

Track 7

by Matt Scott

翻譯：范婕

阿拉斯加非凡之旅

Track 7

by Matt Scott

翻譯：范婕

Amazing alaska

這個暑假，一齊去阿拉斯加玩玩如何？讓我們與作者一同，全身心地感受大自然的奇妙饋贈吧！

This is Alaska, which might as well have been a different country.

Seeing the Alaskan Wildlife for the First Time

Early morning is the best time to see the brown and black bears. They usually come here to fsh for1)salmon.

There were a surprising number of people at the2)walkway. We sat down by the bridge, looking at the salmon as they3)raced. In fact, salmon could be found almost anywhere in Alaska, and for a bargain price. I turned my attention to wondering about this miracle of nature.

A few bald eagles sat on trees close to the river. One of them dived down to the river and4)clenched a salmon between its5)talons.

After an hour, we decided to move on.

Know More

bald eagle（白頭海雕），別稱禿鷹，因其體態威武雄健，且又是北美洲的特產物種，深受美國人民喜愛。后來，美國總統克拉克和美國國會通過決議立法，選定白頭海雕為美國國鳥。如今，無論是美國的國徽，還是美國軍隊的軍服，上面都描繪著一只白頭海雕，它一只腳抓著橄欖枝，另一只腳抓著箭，象征著和平與強大武力。

詞組加油站

a number of 若干，一些

bargain price 低價，賤價

wonder about 對……感到驚奇

dive down 俯沖

1) salmon ['s?m?n] n. 鮭魚

2) walkway ['w??kwe?] n. 走道

3) race [re?s] v. 疾行

4) clench [klent?] v. 捏緊，抓牢

5) talon ['t?l?n] n. 猛禽的爪

Gazing at the Glaciers

As we gradually got higher into the mountains, small6)patches of snow formed on the ground. ln the distance, the white7)peaks of mountains showed above the trees. We were on our way to see one of Alaska’s greatest8)glaciers.

Salmon Glacier, the fifth largest in North America, appeared out of nowhere. The van we were in gradually9)leant to the left. Everyone looked out of the window, not knowing which particular point to gaze in awe at. The air was clearly cooler at this height, cool enough to10)preserve snow that was at our feet—in August!

While the theory behind glaciations is a little debated, they are known to be tens of thousands of years old. The water that is running out of the face hasn’t been in11)liquid form since before the start of12)civilization in the Western world.

“What are the13)cracks?” someone asked.

“I was hoping someone was going to ask me that,” said our leader Mike.“This is a glacier. Ice expands and here are the cracks. These cracks are huge. Sometimes they’re covered with a layer of snow and you could easily lose a man in there.”

“The worst thing is global warming.” Mike chews a mouthful of the imaginary glacier. We all looked up and nodded.

這就是美國阿拉斯加州，仿佛是另一個國度。

初識阿拉斯加野生動物

想要看棕熊和黑熊，清晨正是最佳時機，它們通常會來野生動物觀察區這兒捕捉鮭魚。

走道上有很多很多人在往來穿梭。我們在橋邊坐了下來，看著那些正在競游的鮭魚。實際上，在阿拉斯加州幾乎處處都可以找得到鮭魚，而且價格便宜。于是我想，這也許就是大自然的神奇饋贈吧。

河邊的樹上停著幾只禿鷹，其中一只朝河水俯沖下去，雙爪一下子就抓住了一條鮭魚。

我們在那里待了一個小時，然后便決定繼續往前走。

欣賞壯觀冰川

我們進山了，隨著一路往上走，地上開始出現一小片一小片的積雪。越過樹梢向遠方望去，可以看到被白雪覆蓋的山頂。我們此行的目的地是阿拉斯加州最大的冰川之一。

鮭魚冰川是北美第五大冰川，它就這樣突然出現在我們眼前。我們坐在面包車里，車都漸漸向左邊傾斜了。每個人都向窗外望去，那景色真是令人嘆為觀止。在這個海拔高度上，氣溫明顯更低了，低到足以讓我們腳下的白雪不會消融——而現在已是八月！

雖然人們對于冰川是如何形成的有些爭論，但眾所周知，它們已經存在了成千上萬年。早在西方文明出現以前，這個地方流出地表的水體就不是液態了。

“這些裂縫是什么？”有人問道。

“我正希望有人向我提出這個問題呢，”我們的領隊邁克說。“這是個冰川。當冰慢慢擴張，就會形成裂縫，這些裂縫可大呢。有時候上面還會覆蓋一層雪，人一不小心就會掉下去。”

“最糟糕的就是全球變暖?！边~克想象著吃下了一口冰雪。我們望向遠方，一起點了點頭。

6) patch [p?t?] n. 塊，片

7) peak [pi?k] n. 山峰

8) glacier ['gl?s??] n. 冰川

9) lean [li?n] v. 傾斜，傾向

10) preserve [pr?'z??v] v. 保存

11) liquid form 液態

12) civilization [,s?v?la?'ze??n] n. 文明，文化

13) crack [kr?k] n. 裂縫

詞組加油站

in the distance 在遠處

out of nowhere 突然冒出來

in awe 敬畏地

Know More

glaciation（冰川作用），在廣義上指的是冰川的生成、運動和后退，而狹義上僅指冰川運動對地殼表面的改變作用，包括冰川的侵蝕、搬運和堆積。冰川運動的前端叫冰前。當供冰量大于消融量，則向前推進，反之則向后推進。