EZCNN 易英网

Yosemite and the Invention of Wilderness 优胜美地国家公园的人造天工

課文朗讀

課文講解

繁體中文譯本  

When people consider California’s grand Yosemite Valley, they often think of the valley as a refuge from the modern world, a place undisturbed by the hand of man. The notion that nature is virginal is a powerful, yet erroneous, concept that has influenced American practice in everything from forestry management to landscape photography. And few places have inspired the American idea of an untouched wilderness as greatly as the breathtaking Yosemite Valley.

一般人思及加州的优胜美地国家公园时，想到的都是它远离现代俗世喧嚣，不食人间烟火般的幽隐山谷。视大自然若处女地这般的想法根深柢固，但却有所偏差，影响美国的层面极广，从林相管理到风景摄影皆然。而几乎没有其他任何地方像优胜美地国家公园这样，让美国人激发出自然天成这样强烈的信念。

When white Americans first encountered Yosemite, it was a well-populated landscape: home to the Ahwahneechee Indians. Following clashes between gold rush miners and the Ahwahneechee, the government of California sent the military into Yosemite in 1851 to punish and relocate the Ahwahneechee.

当年美国白人初到优胜美地，早已经有不少人住在那儿：它是安华尼基印地安人的家园。在淘金热时期矿工与印地安人冲突之后，加州政府在1851年派遣军队去优胜美地惩罚印地安人，并迁移了他们。

By 1855, the first tourists were beginning to visit the valley. Influential figures such as Frederick Law Olmstead, the man who designed New York’s Central Park, urged that Yosemite be protected. Thus, in 1864, Abraham Lincoln signed a bill putting aside Yosemite “for all time.” The federal government had never before set aside land simply so that people might enjoy it. Great American photographers rushed there to document the so-called uninhabited paradise. But ironically, Yosemite’s original inhabitants, the Ahwahneechee, were removed from the picture before the pictures were taken.

时至1855年，首批观光客开始造访优胜美地峡谷，其中的有力人士，譬如设计纽约中央公园的腓特烈．罗．翁斯德，就大力提倡优胜美地须加以保护。因而在1864年美国总统亚伯拉罕林肯签署了一项法案，让优胜美地受到「永久」的保护。在这之前，联邦政府从未为了让民众可以去欣赏山光水色而拨出一块土地。不过说来讽刺，优胜美地的原始居民安华尼基印地安人，却是在拍这些照片之前就先被移开的。

Vocabulary

refuge: [ˋrɛfjudʒ] n. 避难所 protection or shelter, as from danger or hardship

virginal:[ˋvɝdʒɪn!] adj. 纯洁的; 处女的 untouched or unsullied; fresh

erroneous: [ɪˋronɪəs] adj. 错误的；不正确的 based on or containing error; mistaken; incorrect

well-populated: adj.人口众多的

clash: [klæʃ] n. 冲突 a conflict, as between opposing or irreconcilable ideas

put aside: 搁置 to hold something in reserve for some purpose

set aside: 留出 to save something for a particular purpose

so-called: [ˋsoˋkɔld] adj. 所谓的 commonly called

Sentence of the Day

They didn’t see the forest for the trees.

它们见树不见林。

not see the forest for the trees 见树不见林 (指注意小处而忽略大处)。

課文講解

The tale that photography, magazines, even science told of an uninhibited nature was irresistible to nineteenth-century America. Many legendary American photographers, such as Eadweard Muybridge and Ansel Adams, directed their talents towards the Yosemite Valley. They crafted photographs of a landscape unsullied by man, but what these legendary artists did not realize is that the nature they had captured on celluloid was hardly free of human influence.

摄影作品、杂志、甚至科学报导所描绘的荒无人烟的大自然，对十九世纪美国人而言，是股无法抵挡的魅力。不少著名的美国摄影家，像是爱得华穆布里奇和安瑟亚当斯，都把他们的才华集中在优胜美地山谷。他们抓住未被人类污染的大地美景，不过这些著名艺术人士没察觉的是，他们捕捉在胶卷上的大自然仍然无法摆脱人类的影响。

For one thing, ecologists have determinedthat the Ahwanheechee used fire to burn away brush and saplings in Yosemite. This practice created the park atmosphere for which Yosemite is admired. Moreover, contemporary photographers who were recently recapturing a famous Adams perspective of Yosemite discovered that the renowned photographer had concealed the parking lot from which he took his photograph. Our image of an untouched Yosemite was created by the all-too-much acts of controlling burns and ignoring parking lots.

譬如，生态学者已经表明安华尼基印地安人曾在优胜美地用火来清除灌木和小树苗。就是这种做法造就了优胜美地如今令人赞叹的山水灵气。再者，近来有当代摄影家在同一角度重现知名的亚当斯所拍的优胜美地，发现这位赫赫有名的摄影家隐匿了他拍照所在的停车场。我们眼中优胜美地的无人境界实际上却是人为的焚烧林野和蓄意忽略停车场所得的结果。

Appropriately, the view that nature is an unpeopled paradise may be changing. Today, Yosemite’s park rangers again use controlled burns, but this time to prevent uncontrollable forest fires. Photographers are including people and machinery in photographs. Tourist literature is published in English and the Ahwahneechee language. Perhaps, people are coming to recognize their stewardship of nature. Yosemite itself, though, remains implacable in its grandeur.

很明显地，自然是未经人类污染的天堂这样的概念正在改变中。如今，优胜美地国家管理员再度使用管制性焚烧，不过这回是用来防止森林大火。摄影家也开始把人与机器摄入画面里。给观光客的说明书同时印有英文和安华尼基印地安语两种文字。或许，一般人开始了解他们对于大自然该有的作为。不过这都无损优胜美地的雄伟壮丽。

－by Jerry Lin

Vocabulary

irresistible [͵ɪrɪˋzɪstəb!] adj. 不可抗拒的；诱人的

craft [kræft] v.【美】精巧地制作

unsullied: [͵ʌnˋsʌlɪd] adj. 未受污染的  not stained or tarnished

celluloid [ˋsɛljə͵lɔɪd] n. 赛璐珞; 电影胶片

sapling [ˋsæplɪŋ] n. 幼树，树苗 a young tree

admire: [ədˋmaɪr] v. 称赞，夸奖regarded with admiration            

conceal [kənˋsil] v. 隐蔽，隐藏 to keep from being seen, found, observed, or discovered; hide

appropriately: [əˋproprɪ͵etlɪ] adv. 恰如其分地 suitable for a particular person, condition, occasion, or place; fitting

unpeopled [ʌnˋpip!d] adj. 无人的，无居民的

stewardship: [ˋstjuwɚd͵ʃɪp] n. 管理工作 the position of steward

implacable: [ɪmˋplækəb!] adj. 不能安抚的；难平息的 not able to be satisfied or won over

grandeur: [ˋgrændʒɚ] n. 宏伟，壮观 the quality or condition of being grand; magnificence

Sentence of the Day

They’re starting to get the picture.

他们开始懂了。

get the picture 了解情况; 【口】明白; 理解

Yosemite National Park - Spring 2009

Yosemite National Park Documentary - Part 1

Yosemite National Park Documentary - Part 2

Yosemite National Park Documentary - Part 3

Yosemite National Park Documentary - Part 4

Yosemite National Park Documentary - Part 5

Yosemite National Park Documentary - Part 6

Yosemite National Park Documentary - Part 7