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《美国家公园》2：天上裁下的圆环

（美国科雷特湖国家公园）

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宋德利  译

    From any hight point in the Pacific Northwest, volcanoes can be seen reaching above the rest of the Cascade Range. Against the sky they soar into realms of their own, reflecting light from their snow-fields and breaking the horizon with their massive bulks. One volcano, though, is not visible. The glory of this fallen giant lies not in its height but in what it cradles in its sumit ? Crater Lake, the clearest, deepest, bluest, most breathtakingly beartiful lake in the United States.

美国西北部，俄勒冈州太平洋沿岸，卡斯卡特山脉层峦叠嶂，白雪皑皑的火山，奇峰突兀，壮美至极。著名的科雷特湖就镶嵌在火山的顶峰。它是全美国最洁、最蓝、最深、最美的湖泊。其秀气可餐的程度简直令人惊讶得透不过气。

Hidden from view, the lake seems little more than a promise to first-time visitors. Roads climb slowly, offering not even a hint that they lead to one of the world’s greatest natural wonders. Near the top, after rising 2,000 feet or so in 10 miles ? not an uinusual climb for theCascades ? the roads should logically continue their gentle ascent. But instead of reaching toward the heavens, the mountain plunges earthward, disappearing into an immense bowl.

    科雷特湖隐藏在群山之中，总是羞答答避开人们的视线。尤其是在初访者的眼中，它似乎比一处房基地大不了多少。道路像疲惫不堪的蛇，慢慢吞吞地在山间爬行，丝毫没有迹象表明它会通向人间仙境。这条路弯弯曲曲，爬向两千英尺高的山顶。按道理说，快接近山顶时本该继续攀升，但奇怪的是，它不仅没有攀援而上，反而随坡就势，转而一降千尺，直向平地，以至竟然消失在一个巨大的盆地之中。这个盆地就是科雷特湖。

In a sense, the Crater Lake experience is like the Grand Canyon ? the sudden jolt that comes with discovering you are at the edge of a precipice when you didn’t even know the precipice was there. In one lavish crescendo you are simultaneously presented with a lke ive miles across, canyonlike depths, mountainous cliffs, and a natural amphitheater where light and color play lead roles. Visitors seldom react indifferently. Some are astonished. Some step back, uncertain. Fewcan look away.

    从某种意义上讲，到科雷特湖与到大峡谷的感觉极其相似，都是令人震惊地发现，自己
突然之间就置身于悬崖峭壁的边缘，若不慎再往前跨出一步，立时便会坠入可怕的深渊。而定睛一看，波光粼粼的湖水赫然展现在眼前。此时此刻，游人往往惊讶不已，更有甚者，竟至不相信自己的眼睛，因而下意识地倒履相观。

    On each side, the rim of the large bowl slowly circles into the distance. Below the rim, steep slopes srop nearly 2,000 feet to the lake, itself a circle that seems cut from the sky. A small island in the lake, Wizard Iland, juts from the water. From its shores, the feeling of being inside a vast basin is awesome. Smooth slopes and jagged cliffs with great bands and swirls of light and dark rock rise all around and up to the rim, creating a world that would seem harsh and forbidding without the firs and hemlocks that soften the contours.The deep green trees are proof that life ixists.

从盆地边缘向下皆为陡坡，到湖面为止竟然深达两千英尺。居高临下，俯瞰全湖，恰似天上裁下的圆环。湖中有孤岛一座，刚刚露出湖面，仅此而已。立足于小岛之上，举目环视，置身于硕大无朋的盆地之中，会令人莫名其妙地产生望而生畏之感。湖面四周和缓的斜坡和参差不齐的绝壁，以至上升到盆地边缘，满处都是黑色的岩石。若不是那些咬定青山不放松的绿色杉树，恐怕所见到的就只是一个棱角分明，线条僵硬的黑色岩石世界。郁郁葱葱的林木就是生命存在的最好见证。
 

July and August are the only times when snow does not colver the entire rim, when the landscape exchanges its ermine-white blanket for an eimerald-green one flecked with flowers. Although occasional storms sweeping in from the Pacific may disrupt the peace, this is the season of serenity at Crater Lake. In the clear mountain air the sky is lawlessly blue, and the horizon is so sharply defined it seems chiseled from the earth.

七八月份，大自然已悄然从这里撤掉那条白雪铺就的绒毯，换上有鲜花点缀其间的艳绿
迷人的地毯。虽然来自太平洋的风暴有时也会光顾此地，但这毕竟是科雷特湖一年之中最宁静的季节。山地特有的那种清新的空气，使天空显得碧蓝无暇。地平线清晰可辨，宛若从地面雕凿而成。
 

    Imagine a summer dawn, crsp and still, with frst shining coldly on the firs’ needled boughs. A robin calls uncertainly somewhere in a lofty sugar pine, breaking a silence that is otherwise complete. Within a few moments the bird sounds are more inisitent. An orange-glow on Garfield Peak, along the southestern rim, heralds the sunrise across the water, but in the thin, dry air the lake remains in shadow. Wisps of vapor rise off the water. In the stillness the rim’s relection, even more perfect than the rim itseld, transforms the lake into a giant mirror and seems to glow with a light of its own. Steadily the sunshine moves down the wall until finally the reflection is lost.

夏日的黎明，这里清新宁静，霜花在那些满是针刺的杉树枝干上冷寂地微光闪烁。一只知更鸟在高耸入云的甜叶松上啁啾不止，打破了此地神秘的幽寂。沿着西南边缘的山峰已是曙光初照，那抹美丽的桔红色，就是太阳从湖面升起的先导。但有时干燥稀薄的空气，会使湖面依然处在阴影的笼罩之下。一缕缕蒸气开始在湖面升腾。在无比静谧的清晨，盆地边缘地带在湖中的倒影比其本身还要完美。此时，湖面已然变成一面硕大无朋的镜子，似乎是因为自身的光，它才闪烁明亮。渐渐地，阳光沿着石壁稳步下移，直到倒影全然消失。

But it is summer now, and large,puffy clouds with dark gray bottoms move across the sky. Breezes draw arcs of dull silver on the water’s gunmetal-gray surface. The rim’s tall peaks ? Cloudcap, Llao Rock, Hillman Peak, the Watchman, and Dutton Cliff ? become shrouded in mist. Within an hour, like a prelude to a percussion concerto, a rumble of thunder reverberates from behind Mount Scott, the highest in the park. Sddently the drops fall uncertainly and then cease, leaving the pungent smell of rain on dust. But soon a long veil of moisture begins to fall softly. The ground becomes soggy, and the only sounds are a steady plop, plop, plop. The rain seems settled in.

    此时正值夏日。大团大团的乌云从天空飘浮而过。清风徐来，铁灰色的湖面泛起层层银色的涟漪。云冠、老岩、山翁峰、更夫、大灯崖 ? 诸如此类的山峰，高耸于深深的盆地周围，笼罩在蒙蒙的雾气之中。片刻之后，山背后就会传来隆隆的雷声，恰似一首打击器乐协奏曲的序曲。空气旋即冷嗖嗖，湿漉漉。星星点点的雨滴，七零八落地从天而降，散发出雨水落在泥土上特有的刺鼻的腥味儿。不久，一条长长的雾纱轻轻地飘然而落。地面湿淋淋的，唯一可以听到的就是噼里啪啦的响声。雨，似乎已经下起来了。

Toward late afternoon the rain tapers off to a drizzle and then stops. As the mist clears, therim gradually reappears. Two thin gray clouds hang suspended over the lake, and streamers of fog trail up the rocky slopes, disappearingover the rim. Low clouds turn gold, and Cloudcap, in the east, is bathed in brilliant light. The lake again becomes its sparkling blue. After a lingering moment of shadow, the surrounding forest is transformed. Countless drops of water hang from the pine needles, the leaves, the petals ? each droplet an instant prism. Wet cliffs glisten in counterpoint to the lake’s rhythmic ripples, both dancing to the music of sunlight.

    薄暮时分，细雨如丝，迷迷蒙蒙。待到云收雨住，盆地的边缘才开始原形再现。几片稀薄的灰色云朵，悬浮在湖的上方；状似飘带的雾气，沿着岩坡一路飙升，直到最后消失在盆地边缘的上方。与此同时，低处的云团则被涂上一层金色。位于东面的云冠峰随即沐浴在灿烂的阳光之中。科雷特湖逐渐重新还原成它那独具魅力的蓝色。阴影逗留一段时间之后，周围的森林也都景色一新。无数只水滴从树叶花瓣上落下，熠熠生光，犹如童话中的明珠一般璀璨迷人。湿漉漉的山崖，在湖面充满节奏的涟漪辉映之下，光华四射，蔚然壮观。

Crater Lake mirrors the color of the sky. As in other lakes, when light enters the water its rays are separated into the colors of the rainbow. All but blue are absorbed and lost from view. The deeper the lake, the purer the color ? and with a depth of almost 2,000 feet, Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and the seventh deepest in the world. In addition, the purere a lakek, the cluer it is.

蔚蓝的天空倒映在科雷特湖面上，湖水越发湛蓝可爱，设若蓝宝石在此，也会黯然失
色。究其原因，是由于科雷特湖如同其它湖泊一样，当光线射入湖水时，其色彩就被分解成霓虹的各种颜色。而除了蓝色之外，其它所有的颜色都被湖水吸收化解，因此才显现出诸般颜色皆无，唯蓝独尊的美妙景致。湖水越深，颜色越纯。科雷特湖水之深近乎二百英尺，这在美国洵属首屈一指。此外，湖水越纯，颜色越蓝。

Crater Lake is a self-contrained bowl of rainwater, snowmelt, and nothing else. No water that might breing impurities flows in, and very little flows out. What evaporates is replaced by about the same amount from rian or snow, and the lake is kept at a nearly constant leverl. The crystal clear water is no pure that sunlight can penetrate to great depths, with astonishing reluts. Moss grows 425 feet below the surface, probably a world record. Fishermen can watch their lures flash through deep water and occasionally are lucky enough to see a trout or salmon strike at their lines. On very calm days, it is even possible to watch the bottom of the lake drop away from beneath your boat. In less than a mement you are suspended over the edge of a great abywss, staring into the eye of eternity.

科雷特湖是一个雨水和雪水兼收并蓄，自给自足的盆地，完全用不着其它水源。那些可能造成湖水不纯的水源根本流不进去。不仅如此，科雷特湖还有一些水会外流。湖水蒸发多少，雨雪就能补充多少，所以湖水一直能保持在近乎不变的水平。晶莹剔透的湖水及其纯洁，阳光能照
到很深的水中，产生令人惊诧不已的效果。苔藓竟然能在425英尺的深水中繁殖衍生，这也许算是一项世界纪录也未可知。当地渔民能透过深深的湖水看到钓饵在摆动。运气好的时候，真能看到鲑鱼或鳟鱼去咬线。宁静的日子里，你坐在小船上划行，甚至能看到从你船下一掠而过的湖底景象。凝视那只堪称永恒之眼的万丈深渊，你便旋即被辽挂于深渊之边了。
 

As twilight deepens, the musical trill of juncos searching for seeds is joined by the husky song of the siskin. A last golden ray of sunlight touches Mount Scott and slowly fades into power blue as the sun slips below the horizon. Soon nothing is visible except the broad, sharp strokes of the jagged horizon and the dim reflection of the lake far below. A few stars appear, and then more. An owl hoots, perhaps well over a mile away, but the sound carries in the chill of night.

夜幕降临，金翅雀一展歌喉，边飞边唱。夕阳把最后一道金光投向山峦，而后缓而慢之地坠落在地平线之下。片刻之前还是金光熠熠的群山，此时此刻已然逐渐褪色，继而变成深蓝。转瞬之间，除了远方的地平线那粗重曲折的轮廓，以及低陷的湖面那冥冥漠漠的影子之外，其它什么也看不见了。这时，偶或有一只猫头鹰发出凄厉的哀鸣，这哀鸣也许在遥远的山峰之后，但它确实存在，而且在冷寂的夜空中传送回响。

2001年秋 纽约