a promise of spring

2023年12月20日发(作者：)

导读

捧读此文，实实存在的感受是：在享受。

本文的难能可贵处是：既写出了朱自清《荷塘月色》的清俊飘逸，同时又向读者从容展示了许多“留守寒带”的动物如何过冬的丰富知识，意趣无穷!

文章的开头，空灵而清新：

Nothing. No tracks but my own are stitched into the dusting of fresh snow, white as birch bark,

that fell during the night.

Nothing一词，独立篇首，让人暗生联想：天地间白茫茫一片! 而后句的动词stitched则把自己印住雪地里的一长串脚印，比作缝上白布的一条细密针脚！翻译此词，谈何容易!

What sun there is this time of year shines weakly, halfheartedly through the white gauze of clouds,

offering not even the slightest pretense of warmth.

想必读者不会放过上句里的一个副词，品后又击节叹赏：halfheartedly。

作者在赏美国何处的冬景? 文中随意流露：

For nearly a week temperatures around my Wisconsin cabin have not risen above zero.

冬日虽然快走到了尽头，但是作者似乎有点失望：

At first glance nature doesn't seem to have invested much in this late-winter day.

细心的读者可能已经感到句中的At first glance是一个漂亮的伏笔！果然，他听到了春天的脚步声：

Just as I start to turn back home I hear it: the soft, two-toned whistle of chickadees. …On the

ground, I notice rabbit tracks where moments ago I had seen only unbroken snow.

作者不再失望：Take heart, they seem to say, spring is coming soon!

这情景交融的笔触让读者感奋，共鸣，遐思。

地球北部的野外“居士”们如何越冬? 作者分析：

Winter gives wildlife two basic choices: leave or tough it out.

翩翩然的弱蝴蝶，居然有“远游”之壮举：

A hundred million monarch butterflies, like wildflowers on wings, travel sometimes 4000 miles to

Mexico, Texas and California.

水中的庞然大物也不例外：

Gray whales travel thousands of miles seeking warmth, food and sunlight.

作者在一个非常自然的转折后，描写了10多种“就地越冬”的动物的憨态，令读者耳目一新：

Other creatures devise their own ways to deal with the harsh realities of winter.

北极熊：Polar bears stay warm by laying on layers of fat up to seven inches thick beneath a coat of

fur with nearly 10,000 hairs per square inch.

“猛吃”后积累脂肪、以御寒冷，并非北极熊之“专利”：

To keep their internal furnace stoked, chickadees eat twice as much food in winter as in summer.

They feed almost constantly during daylight to accumulate a layer of fat that will burn slowly

through the cold night.

“冬眠”则是另一些动物的“绝招”：

Wood frogs actually freeze solid, like lumps of ice, and thaw out come spring.

…black bears go on a feeding frenzy. They consume up to 20,000 calories a day, adding 30

percent to their body weight. With the first snow, they den—deep in hollow logs, caves, shallow

holes lined with grass.

A Promise of Spring

春之希望

By Jeff Rennicke

Nothing. No tracks but my own are stitched into the dusting of fresh snow, white as birch bark,

that fell during the night. No flittering shadows in the trees, not a sliver of bird song in the air.

天地一片空寂。昨夜刚刚飘落的一场大雪，像白桦树皮那样洁白，白雪皑皑的大地上只留下一行我自己的足迹，仿佛缝在白布上的一行细密针脚。树上没有飞鸟的影子掠过，空中也没有一丝鸟儿的歌声。

What sun there is this time of year shines weakly, halfheartedly through the white gauze of clouds,

offering not even the slightest pretense of warmth. For nearly a week temperatures around my

Wisconsin cabin have not risen above zero. The mercury seems painted to the bottom of the

thermometer. A shiver runs through me as I stomp my feet for warmth and then listen again for

any sign of life. The only sound is from the bare tips of branches chattering like teeth.

一年中此时的太阳发出微弱的光线，懒洋洋地透过薄薄的云层，没有一丝暖意。几乎有一个星期了，我在威斯康星州的小屋里的气温还没有到过零度以上。温度计里的水银柱降到了底端。当我跺着脚取暖时，一个冷战传遍全身。然后我侧耳倾听，判断是否有动物活动。唯一听到的就是光秃秃的枝杈发出的声响，听起来就像牙齿打战的声音。

At first glance nature doesn't seem to have invested much in this late-winter day. The forest can

seem like a rough etching—barren, lifeless and gray. The sight of flakes parachuting into the front

lawn, which swept you up in December, now just means you have to scrape your car windshield.

There are subtle beauties—pine branches tipped in white, the pale-blue glow of moonlight off the

snow. But this deep into winter, you look less for beauty than for signs that spring has not been

forgotten.

乍看上去，在这种深冬日子里，大自然似乎没有赋予它多少景致，森林看上去像一幅粗糙的蚀刻版画——单调，灰暗，毫无生气。在12月份，片片雪花飘落在屋前的草坪上，大雪狂舞，令你心旷神怡；而现在你只须刮除汽车挡风玻璃上的积雪。然而也有些微妙的美景——松枝上顶着的白尖，遥远的淡蓝色月光照在白雪上。但是在这深冬季节，与其说你在寻美，不如说你在寻找春天没有忘记留下的种种迹象。

They are not easy to find. Once it was believed that nature simply wiped the slate clean every

winter, a kind of yearly apocalypse followed by a miracle rebirth each spring. Mice were thought

to regenerate spontaneously from rag piles. Frogs and turtles climbed out of puddles, spawned by

magic spring rains. Birds changed with other animals to get through the frigid months.

要发现这些迹象并不容易。人们曾经相信，大自然每年冬季只不过是把大地打扫干净，这是一种每年一次的天启，它预示了一个神奇的万物复苏的春天紧接着要到来。老鼠们好像就从破烂儿堆中自然而然地跑了出来；青蛙和海龟从水塘中爬了出来，一场神奇的春雨让它们破卵而出；鸟儿也和别的动物一样发生了变化，以度过严寒的季节。

The real ways nature copes with the cold are almost as amazing as these old tales. Winter gives

wildlife two basic choices: leave or tough it out. In some places, the landscape empties like a jug

of water kicked over. Branches bend under the weight of mixed flocks of blackbirds, cowbirds and

starlings, a hundred thousand strong, gathering for mass migrations. Two-thirds of the bird species

that nest in North America move to warmer climates.

大自然应对寒冷的真实方法几乎和这些传说同样令人惊奇。冬季给野生动物两种选择：离去或者忍耐。在有些地方，陆地景观就像被踢倒了的一杯水，已经被腾空了。一群群的各种黑鸟、燕八哥和椋鸟聚集在一起，有十万之众，把许多树枝都压弯了。它们聚在一起要进行大规模的迁徙。在北美筑巢的鸟类中，三分之二都迁徙到了温暖气候的地方去了。

A hundred million monarch butterflies, like wildflowers on wings, travel sometimes 4000 miles to

Mexico, Texas and California. Caribou stream out of the high Arctic with the first frosts of winter.

Gray whales travel thousands of miles seeking warmth, food and sunlight.

一亿只黑脉金斑蝶，就像长了翅膀的野花，有时要飞行4000英里，到达墨西哥州、德克萨斯州和加利福尼亚州。北美驯鹿在冬季第一场霜冻来临时就如潮水般涌出高纬度寒带地区。灰鲸们要游到几千英里以外去寻找温暖、食物和日光。

Not all migrations span the globe, however. Many species make short trips, sometimes only a few

miles, to take advantage of local conditions known as microclimates. Elk in Colorado move from

high country to nearby valleys. Bald eagles in Alaska seek open water. White-tailed deer in these

Wisconsin woods search out a south-facing slope to catch the morning sun.

然而并非所有的迁徙都要长途跋涉。许多动物只做短途旅行，有时仅仅是几英里，它们利用了被称作“小气候”的当地气候条件。科罗拉多州的马鹿从高原国家转移到附近的山谷里；阿拉斯加州的秃鹰去寻找空旷的水域；威斯康星州森林里的白尾鹿找寻一面朝南的斜坡来以便上午去晒太阳。

Other creatures devise their own ways to deal with the harsh realities of winter. Musk ox stand

with their backs to the below-zero wind, slowly breathing through nostrils that warm the

supercooled arctic air before it is taken into the lungs. Polar bears stay warm by laying on layers

of fat up to seven inches thick beneath a coat of fur with nearly 10,000 hairs per square inch. Their

rough footpads are skid-resistant on the ice.

其他动物也都各自想办法来应对冬季严酷的天气状况。麝牛背对着零度以下的寒风，超级寒冷的北极空气缓慢通过鼻孔时，变得温暖了些，然后才会进入肺部。北极熊的皮毛每一平方英寸几乎就有10,000根毛发，而厚厚的皮毛下面还堆积有厚达7英寸的脂肪，这样北极熊就能使身体保持温暖。它们粗糙的熊掌可以在冰上防滑。

The survival of some species seems nothing short of miraculous. The chickadee, for example,

weighing just one-third of an ounce, seems a tiny spark of life to throw to the mercy of frigid,

40-m. p. h. winds.

有些物种的存活简直是奇迹。例如美洲山雀，体重还不到三分之一盎司，像一个生命小火花，任凭时速40英里的凛冽寒风的吹打。

To keep their internal furnace stoked, chickadees eat twice as much food in winter as in summer.

They feed almost constantly during daylight to accumulate a layer of fat that will burn slowly

through the cold night. They also have 30 percent more feathers in the winter and can fluff them

up, trapping a layer of warm air.

为了保持体内热量供应，山雀在冬天进食量是夏天的两倍。他们在白天几乎不停地进食来积聚一层脂肪，用来在寒冷的夜晚慢慢消耗。它们的羽毛在冬季也要增加30%，它们把羽毛蓬松开，来保留住一层温暖的空气。

When it gets very cold, chickadees lower themselves into a kind of controlled hypothermic state,

dropping their body temperatures as much as 20 degrees below the normal 104, thereby slowing

energy consumption. With any hint of warmth, chickadees emerge from their sheltered caverns of

thick brush, chirping softly and eating, always eating.

当天气异常寒冷时，山雀就会让自己处于一种可控的低温状态，体温从正常的（华氏）104度降下20度，因而就减缓了能量消耗。一有天气转暖的迹象，山雀就会从藏身的厚厚的树枝洞里出来，轻轻地唱上几句，然后就是吃，总是在吃。

Many coldblooded species bury themselves in the mud to avoid freezing, slowing themselves to

near-death states. Wood frogs actually freeze solid, like lumps of ice, and thaw out come spring.

The frog floods its bloodstream with glucose, a natural antifreeze that prevents cell damage—a

trick also used by garter snakes, insects and painted turtles.

许多冷血动物都藏在泥土里，以避免被冻僵。它们让自己的体内循环变慢，处于一种几死的状态。树蛙实际上已经冻僵，成了一块冰疙瘩，春回大地时，它才融化苏醒。树蛙让自己的血液内充满了葡萄糖，葡萄糖是一种天然的防冻剂，能防止细胞损伤。束带蛇和一些昆虫，以及彩龟都是采用这种方法过冬的。

I cross a small creek. Bending down, I shovel the snow off the surface and tap the ice with my

mittened hand, imagining a painted turtle somewhere beneath it half-hearing the thud as it waits

patiently for spring.

我穿过一条小溪，弯下身，把表面的雪铲走，然后用带着手套的手敲了敲冰面。我猜想在冰下的某处，彩龟在耐心等待着春天的到来吧，这会儿也许它隐约听到了这敲击声呢。

Somewhere in these woods, too, are the hibernating black bears. Each fall, triggered by some

ancient memory of winter, black bears go on a feeding frenzy. They consume up to 20,000 calories

a day, adding 30 percent to their body weight. With the first snow, they den—deep in hollow logs,

caves, shallow holes lined with grass. Sometimes they den up to 90 feet high in the broken-off

trunks of ancient trees. Their heart rates drop to ten heats a minute, and they settle in for four to

six months.

有时在这些森林里的某处还有冬眠的黑熊。每年秋季，黑熊们一想到冬季即将来临，就疯狂

地吃个不停，每天可以吃掉20,000卡路里的食物，体重将会增加30%。第一场雪来临时，它们就藏进洞穴——深的树洞、山洞、里面铺有野草的坑洞。有时它们也会爬到90英尺高的古树的树桩里去。它们的心跳降到了每分钟10次，而且要这样冬眠4至6个月。

They do not eat, drink, urinate or defecate. Research on how they recycle waste without poisoning

their systems has helped in treating kidney patients. Learning how they manage long periods of

inactivity without calcium loss or atrophied muscles may help prevent osteoporosis and have

implications for long-term spaceflight.

它们不吃不喝，也不拉不尿。对于这些冬眠动物如何循环利用体内产生的废物而不至于损害到各种身体系统进行研究，将会有利于肾脏病人的治疗。了解它们如何能长时间静止不动却不会导致钙流失或者肌肉萎缩，将会有助于防止骨质疏松症，而且还会对长期的航天飞行活动方面有所启示。

The bear’s utter faith in the return of spring keeps coming to my mind. Standing here on the thin

edge, a few degree from a climate unsuitable for life, it is comforting to know that under the snow,

bears are sleeping with an innocent belief that the sun will come again and unlock the rivers and

make the flowers bloom.

我总是会想起黑熊们对春天的坚定信念。站在这儿，冬季所剩时日已经不多。气温略升几度，气候就宜人了。令人欣慰的是，积雪下面，熊正沉睡，它们坚信太阳将重新温暖大地，消融坚冰，催开百花。

Just as I start to turn back home I hear it: the soft, two-toned whistle of chickadees. As I search for

them, I see a downy woodpecker spiraling up a birch tree, its blaze of reds as sharp as a tongue of

flame. On the ground, I notice rabbit tracks where moments ago I had seen only unbroken snow.

就在我转身要回去时，我听到了两声轻轻的山雀啼叫。我四处查看，发现了一支身披厚厚羽毛的啄木鸟正沿着白桦树盘旋上升，它那鲜红的色彩宛如跳跃的火焰。地面上，我注意到，在我刚才看到的一片平整的雪地上有兔子的爪印。

These slight signs of life make it possible to believe in spring again. They help me appreciate the

beauty of what is left of winter and remind me that the cold won't last forever. Each track, each

snippet of bird song, each frozen seed-pod, is an affirmation of life, a defiance to the cold, a

promise.

这些微妙的生命迹象会让你相信，春天还会回来。这些迹象让我欣赏到了冬天残余的美丽，同时也提醒我，寒冷不会永远持续。每一个足迹，每一声鸟鸣，每一粒冰冻的种子，都是对

生命的一种肯定，对寒冷的一种抗拒，也是一个希望。

Take heart, they seem to say. Spring is coming soon.

它们好像在说，打起精神，春天不久就要来了。