翻译练习15

Watch out for the seagulls. They eat Yorkshire terriers.

小心海鸥，捕食猎犬

More than 20 species of whale, dolphin and shark live in the plankton-rich waters that circulate Britain, and as we go about our business on land, these majestic cetaceans live unseen lives, sharing fish dinners with the seals, gannets, and shearwaters that breed on the craggy cliffs of remote islands. Observing their watery lifestyles was once the preserve of sailors and fishermen, but now several boat operators run tours for interested landlubbers. If you’re lucky, and happen to arrive in the right place at the right time, you can have a wildlife encounter at sea to match any foreign safari.

英国附近富含浮游生物的水域里生活着各种鲸鱼、海豚和鲨鱼，品种繁多多达20种。我们在陆地上忙碌工作的时候，水底下这些庞大的鲸类动物也过着它们自己的生活，与海豹、塘鹅以及在远方岛屿嶙峋峭壁上繁衍的海鸥分享着鱼肉盛宴。曾经它们经常与水手和渔民打交道，而现在更多的是游客乘船到此游览。如果你够幸运，在对的时间刚好来到对的地方，你就可以遇到水下的这些野生动物，这比得上你在任何一个国外的野生动物园里可以看到的画面。

I travelled to St David’s, in west Wales, to join a wildlife-watching tour around its jagged coast. As well as being the smallest city in the UK thanks to its 12th-century cathedral, St David’s is blessed with offshore riches. Nearby Ramsey Island is home to one of the UK’s largest colonies of grey seals, and in summer its rocky ledges spill over with guillemots, razorbills and kittiwakes. Away from the land, on the edge of the Celtic Deep, nutrient-rich Atlantic waters regularly draw minke and orca whales, common and bottlenose dolphins, and porpoises.

我来到了威尔士西部的圣大卫，去参加了一个环绕锯齿海岸的野生动物观看旅游团。由于城内有一座12世纪的教堂，所以圣大卫得以成为英国最小的一个城市，并享受着丰富海洋资源的恩赐。不远处的拉姆齐岛是英国最大的灰海豹栖息地，夏天的时候有很多海鸽、刀嘴海雀和三趾鸻在岛上的岩架筑巢。离开了岛屿去到凯尔特人深海，那里富含营养物质的大西洋海水吸引了小须鲸、逆戟鲸、海豚、宽吻海豚和钝吻海豚定期游到该海域。

As we glide away from St David’s lifeboat station, the rippling green hues of the glassy water reflect a sullen sky. These are good wildlife-watching conditions and it’s not long before a couple of common dolphins come alongside the boat. We watch them surf the bow wave until Malcolm Gray, our mustachioed skipper, suggests we may experience better sightings farther out. We’re soon speeding towards Grassholm Island, our powerful orange “rib”– rigid inflatable boat – casting back sheets of white, salty droplets as we skim the gentle swell.

我们划过了圣大卫的救生艇站，泛起的绿色澄明的海水映照着阴沉的天空。这是观看野生动物的最好时机，不久就有一群普通海豚游到我们的船的旁边。看着他们迎风破浪，我们的大胡子船长麦肯·格雷建议我们可以去更远的地方体验观看的最佳视角。然后我们就立即迅速向草滩岛驶去，我们强大的橙色“排骨船”——硬式充气艇——在掠过水面的时候溅起了白色咸咸的水滴。

Lying some 15km offshore, Grassholm has the third largest gannet colony in the northern

hemisphere. Today, the dark, 20m-high cliffs are stippled white with the birds, and their screeching calls travel across the water to greet us. Senior skipper Fion Rees explains that at peak breeding time in the summer there can be as many as 100,000 birds here. They build their nests high on the cliffs from pretty much anything they can find. Sadly, this includes bits of orange and green plastic fishing net, which can ensnare young chicks. “At the end of the breeding season, a member of the RSPB comes to the island to check young chicks have not been caught in the mesh,” she explains.

离岸约15公里的草滩岛是北半球第三大的塘鹅栖息地。今天，20米高的漆黑峭壁上绘满了白色的斑点，那是塘鹅在峭壁上向我们发出尖叫表示欢迎。高级船长费安·瑞斯解释道在夏天的繁殖高峰期，那里可以达到10万只塘鹅筑巢。它们会尽量找高处的峭壁筑巢。可惜的是在高处的峭壁会布有很多橙子诱饵和绿色塑料渔网陷阱，很容易捕捉到幼鸟。“繁殖季快要结束时，一名RSPB的成员会来到岛上视察幼鸟是否安全，”她解释道。

Other creatures have made Grassholm their home, too. As we slowly circle the island’s barnacle encrusted base, Fion points out frolicking whiskery seals, a cluster of shags and the fearsome greater black-backed gull. This is the largest gull in the area and it feeds itself by scavenging. “They will take eggs, chicks, young adults –even rabbits,”she explains. “You wouldn’t want to mess with them. Last year one ate a Yorkshire terrier.”

其他生物也在草滩岛栖息。我们环岛绕行，藤壶镶嵌在岛岩上，费安为我们逐一介绍长着胡子在嬉戏的海豹、簇拥成群的鸬鹚和令人生畏的大型黑背海鸥。黑背海鸥是这片区域里最大型的海鸥，以吃腐肉为生。“它们会吃鸟蛋、雏鸟、幼鸟，甚至是兔子，”她解释道。“你们千万别惹它们。去年有一只黑背海鸥吃了一条约克郡?。”

The pungent smell of guano hits us as we reach the far end of the island, so Malcolm opens the throttle and we drink in the fresh air as we head for the open sea. The water looks pristine, but it was only 20km from here that the Sea Empress leaked 72,000 tonnes of oil into the sea in 1996. The polluting oil affected an area south of where we are, but the chemicals used to disperse the oil may still linger in the environment.

靠近岛屿的尽头时，我们闻到强烈的鸟粪味，麦肯转向海域，打开气门，让我们呼吸新鲜空气。这里的水澄清得看似没有受到过一丝的污染，殊不知1996年海洋女皇号泄漏72,000公吨油的海域离这里仅20公里。那次的油泄漏污染了我们现在所在位置的南边海域，那些消散油污渍的化学物质现在可能还残留在那片区域。

Every so often we slow down and Malcolm scans the horizon from beneath the worn peak of his Breton cap. Soon he spots a flock of circling gannets, flashes of white illuminated by the sun against dark storm clouds. As we draw near, the sea’s surface is ruffled with foam, created by an energetic school of common dolphin. They are working together to round up a shoal of herring or mackerel, to which the hovering gannets are happily helping themselves. Malcolm cuts the engine and the 12 of us on board sit and watch, mesmerized.

每当我们减速前行的时候，麦肯都是顶着那顶边缘破损的布列塔尼鸭嘴帽，四处扫视。很快他就发现了一群塘鹅在上空盘旋，阳光照耀驱散了乌云。当我们靠近时，海面泛起了泡沫，那里有一群活力四射的海豚。它们正在合力围捕一群鲱鱼还是鲭鱼，盘旋的塘鹅正在积极助力。麦肯停下了船，我们一行12人上岛观看，为此情此景所迷。