拉普蘭：追蹤極光的足跡

by Anna Jenkinson

翻譯：海月

Planet Travel / 環球風情

拉普蘭：追蹤極光的足跡

Hunting the Northern Lights in Finnish Lapland

by Anna Jenkinson

翻譯：海月

旅行者是滿懷各種希望的一群人——我們希望火車能準點到達，酒店不會突然忘記了預定的房間或者給我們安排一間沒有窗戶的房間……但我們最希望的，是大自然不負我們所望。

我們希望看到海豚從亞速爾群島的海里躍出，在澳大利亞的荒原遇見袋鼠打拳，在玻利維亞的烏尤尼鹽沼邂逅“天空之鏡”……

到北極觀看極光，可算是世上最可遇不可求的旅程。即使知道很可能無功而返，但許多旅行者依然頂著刺骨的寒風，千里迢迢來到極地，希望一睹極光的風采。也許，在追逐極光的過程中，等待才最動人。

極光

激光出現于星球的高磁緯地區上空，是一種絢麗多彩的發光現象。而地球的極光，來自地球磁層或太陽的高能帶電粒子流（太陽風）使高層大氣分子或原子激發（或電離）而產生。極光常常出現于緯度靠近地磁極地區上空，一般呈帶狀、弧狀、幕狀、放射狀，這些形狀有時穩定有時作連續性變化。極光不只在地球上出現，太陽系內的其他一些具有磁場的行星上也有極光。

許多世紀以來，激光一直是人們猜測和探索的天象之謎。從前，愛斯基摩人以為那是鬼神引導死者靈魂上天堂的火炬。13世紀時，人們則認為那是格陵蘭冰原反射的光。1619年，伽利略以曙光女神奧羅拉（Aurora）之名創造出aurora borealis一詞（在南極所見到的同樣的光稱為南極光aurora australis）。

I had set the alarm for 2∶30 a.m., but well before it went off, my boyfriend and I woke to a1)pounding on the2)chalet door. Waking from a deep sleep, we found our neighbors on the doorstep.

“Quick!” they shouted. “The clouds have cleared. It’s happening.”

Neil and I had arrived in Finnish Lapland the day before. With its short days and temperatures low enough to bring on3)frostbite, there was one goal in my mind: to catch a4)glimpse of the aurora borealis.

Since seeing photographs of this natural5)phenomenon, also known as the northern lights, I had dreamed of watching the sky fill with green, pink and white light. So I decided to make my dream come true.

我把鬧鐘調到了凌晨兩點半，但時間還遠遠沒到，我和男友就被小木屋門口一陣大力的敲門聲吵醒了。睡眼惺忪的我們，發現門口臺階上站著我們的鄰居。

“快！”他們大聲喊道。“烏云已經散了，開始出現了！”

就在前一天，我和尼爾來到了芬蘭的拉普蘭。雖然這里白天很短，溫度低到足以使人長凍瘡，但此行我有一個目標：親眼目睹極光（aurora borealis）的風采。

自從看過這種自然現象（又叫northern lights）的照片以后，我就夢想著有一天能親眼看到鋪滿綠色、粉紅和白色光芒的天幕。所以，我決定實現我的夢想。

The northern lights have been6)spotted as far south as Mississippi—though they are far more regularly seen in places such as Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Sweden, Alaska and Canada. I chose tohunt for them in Finnish Lapland, the northernmost part of the country.

雖然南至（美國）密西西比州都曾觀測到北極光，但在挪威、冰島、格陵蘭、瑞典、阿拉斯加和加拿大等地更為常見。我選擇到芬蘭最北端的拉普蘭尋找它們的蹤跡。

補腦詞匯

1) pounding [′pa?ndI?] n. 重擊；重擊聲

2) chalet [′∫?leI] n. 農舍式木造別墅

3) frostbite [′fr?stbaIt] n. 凍瘡

4) glimpse [ɡlImps] n. 一瞥，一看

5) phenomenon [fI′n?mIn?n] n. 現象

6) spot [sp?t] v. 發現/ n. 地點

7) stunningly [′st?nI?lI] ad. 極吸引人地

8) cozy [′k??zI] a. 溫暖而又舒適的

9) average [′?v?rId?] n. 平均

10) inhabitant [In′h?bIt?nt] n. 居住者

11) sparkling [′spɑ?klI?] a. 閃閃發光的

12) birch [bз?t∫] n. 樺樹

13) anticipation [?ntIsI′pe∫?n] n. 期望

Not only is the area7)stunningly beautiful, it has a good record for aurora borealis sightings—the lights appear here some 200 nights of the year. I booked a fve-day stay at Ukonj?rvi Holiday Village, with8)cozy chalets on the edge of Lake Ukonj?rvi.

This part of Finland is a true wilderness, with an9)average of just one10)inhabitant per square mile. It’s a land of11)sparkling lakes, snow-covered pine and12)birch forests, and clear blue skies. We arrived around lunchtime and took a walk while it was still light out. We quickly realized that snowshoes would make the going easier, so in early evening we put some on and headed out onto the frozen lake. For two hours we stood in the cold watching the sky, returning around midnight to do the same, hoping that the lights would come out to play.

這片地區不僅美得驚人，還有很高的北極光目擊記錄，一年約有兩百個晚上會出現極光。我在烏空加維（音譯）渡假村預訂了五天的住宿，住在烏空加維湖邊溫馨舒適的小屋里。

芬蘭的這片地區是一片真正的荒原，平均每平方英里只有一個居民。這片土地有著波光粼粼的湖泊、積雪覆蓋的松林和樺樹林，還有清澈的藍天。我們差不多在午飯時間來到這里，趁著天色還亮走了一走。很快我們就發現，雪鞋對于在這里走路很有幫助，所以傍晚我們就穿著這種鞋走到了結冰的湖面上。我們在寒風里站了兩個小時，望著天空，到了午夜又再回來觀望，祈禱著北極光會出來嬉戲一下。

That frst night, my13)anticipation was met withdisappointment. We needed a clear sky to get a good view of the northern lights; all we got was cloud cover. It was said that the rest of the week would look similar.

頭天晚上，我的期待落空了。觀賞極光需要有晴朗的天空，而那天晚上云層密布。據說那個星期剩下的日子也差不多都是這種天氣。

Despite the cold, we spent most of our days outdoors. We kept our focus closer to the ground, with14)hikes across a frozen landscape filled with15)hues of white, gray, blue and silver. Walking across Lake Ukonj?rvi, I was struck by the hardiness of life in this climate. With no people or cars nearby, and a blanket of snow over everything, it’s little wonder that there was near-total silence. The only sound we could hear was that of the snow16)crunching beneath our feet.

One morning, we traded our snowshoes for a dogpowered sled.17)Whooshing through the Arctic18)snowscape behind a pack of19)husky dogs was an amazing experience. At times, the younger huskies seemed more eager to20)cuddle up with the older dogs, but when they started racing, it was hard to catch my breath as we sped along the21)steep, narrow trails through the forests.

Our nightly trips, though slower and quieter were still the most exciting. Each night, I put on every layer of clothing I’d brought with me, as well as Arctic22)overalls—pants designed to keep out the cold and23)damp—I had borrowed from the owner of our chalet. Neil and I put on our snowshoes and walked about ten minutes out to Lake Ukonj?rvi.

冷歸冷，我們大部分時間還是待在戶外。我們穿行在這片充斥著白、灰、藍、銀色調的冰天雪地里，盡量把目光鎖定在更靠近地面的地方。在走過烏空加維湖的時候，我不禁震撼于在這種氣候下生命的頑強。周圍不見一人一車，積雪如毯覆蓋在萬物之上——毫不奇怪，這里幾乎寂靜無聲。唯一能聽到的，只有我們腳下的雪發出的嘎吱嘎吱聲。

一天早上，我們拿我們的雪鞋換了一輛狗拉的雪橇。跟在一群哈士奇犬身后呼啦啦地穿越極地的雪景，真是一次美妙的經歷。比較年輕的哈士奇有時似乎更喜歡和老狗抱團嬉鬧，但它們一拉起車來，帶著我們在林中陡峭狹窄的小徑上穿行時，我幾乎總要被嚇得上氣不接下氣。

我們夜里的活動雖然較為和緩安靜，但依然帶給我更大的刺激。每天晚上，我都要把我帶來的每一層衣服全都穿上，最后還要套上從小屋主人那里借來的專為防寒防潮設計的極地工裝褲。尼爾和我穿上雪鞋，走了大約10分鐘，來到烏空加維湖。

補腦詞匯

14) hike [haIk] n. 長途徒步旅行

15) hue [hju?] n. 顏色，色彩

16) crunch [kr?nt∫] v. 發出嘎吱聲

17) whoosh [w?∫] v. 使飛快移動

18) snowscape [′sn??skeIp] n. 雪景

19) husky dog 哈士奇犬

20) cuddle up 緊貼著身子躺，依偎

21) steep [sti?p] a. 陡峭的

22) overall [??v?r′??l] n.（復數）工裝褲

23) damp [d?mp] n. 濕氣

24) bitterly [′bIt?lI] ad. 苦苦地，殘酷地

25) temptation [temp′teI∫?n] n. 誘惑

26) sauna [′s??n?] n.（芬蘭）桑那浴

27) starlit [′stɑ?lIt] a. 繁星閃耀的

28) band [b?nd] n. 帶子

29) directly [dI′rektlI] ad. 正好，直接地

30) sink [sI?k] v. 沉下

31) streak [stri?k] n. 條紋，痕

32) swirl [swз?l] v. 旋轉

Sometimes we went light-watching at 8 p.m., other nights at midnight. It was always24)bitterly cold, and the25)temptation to return to a warm bed (or the hot26)sauna that came with our cottage) was almost enough to send me back inside. And yet, night after night I found myself standing on the ice in the dark and silent Arctic night, looking up at the sky, waiting for it to glow green.

When our neighbors woke us with the shouts that the clouds had cleared, I rushed out, met by what looked like a million stars. There was no aurora yet, which meant there was still time to get a good spot. My heart racing, I dressed as quickly as I could. This was one show I didn’t plan on missing—who knew if I would ever get to see it again?

Out on the lake, we stopped a few hundred feet from the shore. I started to calm down as I looked up at the27)starlit sky. Once again, we waited. Nothing. Time seemed to stand still.

After about 30 minutes, a28)band of white appeared in the heavens29)directly above our heads. For a moment, my hopes30)sank—it simply looked like a cloud.

Then the31)streak started32)swirling around, and was soon joined by a curtain of white-green light. The northern lights, moving and twinkling across the Arctic sky, had joined us.

有時我們晚上8點去看極光，有時是在午夜。外面永遠天寒地凍，回到溫暖的床上（或是我們小屋里配備的熱桑拿房）的誘惑幾乎足以叫我又溜回屋里。然而，夜復一夜，我還是站在了極地寂靜暗夜里的寒冰上仰望天空，等待它發出綠色的幽光。

我們的鄰居叫醒我們，說云已經散去時，我立刻沖了出去，迎面而來的仿佛是億萬顆星星。但還沒有極光。這意味著還有時間找到一個更好的觀測點。我的心怦怦直跳，以最快的速度穿好了衣服。這是一場我絕對無意錯過的演出，誰知道我還能不能再次看到呢？

我們來到湖上，停在離岸邊幾百英尺的地方。當我抬頭仰望著那片絕美的天空，我的心情開始平靜下來。我們又一次等待著。然而，什么也沒有。時間仿佛靜止了。

大約過了三十分鐘，一條白色的光帶出現在我們頭頂正上方。有那么一刻，我感到失望——它看起來只不過像一片云。

隨后，那條光帶開始四處旋轉，很快又有一簾白綠色的光加入了這個漩渦。散發著幽幽的光，帶著脈動劃過北極的星空——北極光終于來到了我們中間。