The Perfect Trip: Lapland (II)

by Anthony Ham

The Perfect Trip: Lapland (II)

by Anthony Ham

本期，咱們繼續(xù)游走拉普蘭，再一次感受那來自冰封荒野的呼喚。

★Inari: Best for Sami Culture

1) roam [r??m] v. 漫游，徘徊

2) fiercely ['f??sl?] adv. 〈口〉非常，很，極度地

3) retain [r?'te?n] v. 保留

4) patriarch ['pe?tr?α?k] n. 最年長者，家長

5) herd [h??d] v. 放牧

6) replica ['repl?k?] n. 復制品

7) absent-mindedly 心不在焉地

8) spatula ['sp?tj?l?] n. 抹刀，小鏟

9) timber ['t?mb?] n. 木材

10) gale [ge?l] n. 強風，大風

11) hearth [hα?θ] n. 灶臺，爐邊

12) toasty [t??st?] adj. 暖和舒適的

No one knows Lapland like its original inhabitants, the Sami people. They have probably lived as far north as you can go in Finland for the last 11,000 years,1)roamingwith their reindeer across the icy plains. The quiet town of Inari serves as the capital for Finland’s Sami. The story of the Sami is not best reflected in towns, however, but instead on the wild plains of their ancestors, where many still hold on2)fiercelyto their traditions.

Few have3)retainedtheir link to the past like this family. It is the father Heikki, the4)patriarchof the family, who anchors them in their Sami past. “I’ve been5)herdingreindeer since I was fourteen,” he says. “And I have taught these skills to my sons.”

“What makes us strong is the reindeer,” he says. “Our clothes, our food, our tradition of being on the land—everything in our culture comes from the reindeer. If there were no reindeer, there would be no Sami. That’s why we have survived, because we never stopped herding.”

Deep in the national park, Heikki takes a rest in a brick-built6)replicaof the traditional Sami tent. He7)absent-mindedlycarves out a8)spatulafrom a piece of discarded9)timber. Outside, it’s blowing a10)galeand freezing cold, but in here, gathered around the Sami11)hearth, the temperature is12)toastyand welcoming.

“Things may have changed, but I still remember all the lessons I learned,” he says. “I don’t need maps. I know every stone, every tree. I have spent my life following the reindeer. Our connection to the land remains very deep.”

★Lemmenjoki National Park: Best for Wilderness

Lemmenjoki National Park is the traditional homeland for northern Finland’s Sami people. And it also happens to be one of Lapland’s most beautiful corners. At 1,100 square miles, the park is one of the largest uninhabited13)territoriesin Europe: an immense14)wildernessof forest. In winter, the park is woven with trails that15)meanderalong ice-bound rivers and narrow16)bywayscarved by summer hiking tracks, through deep snow and between tall17)pines18)dwarfedby the19)fellnearby.

From the fell’s summit, Lapland’s20)forestedvastness21)undulatesto the horizon in low, rolling hills. “This is one of the last and largest22)refugesfor the old pine forests of Western Europe,” says the park’s director, surveying the scene. “Most of the pines are around 500 years old, but some have been here for 800 years. And Lemmenjoki is one of very few places to have been sculpted almost entirely by nature, not by man. Yes, there are Sami here with their reindeer, but this landscape hasn’t changed in centuries.”

The park’s director makes her way down from the high country,23)windingthrough forests where various sets of paw prints lead off into the trees—a sign of the many reindeer,24)elk,25)wolverines, brown bears,26)lynxand wolves that inhabit the park. She at last arrives in the river valley that gives the park its name—Lemmenjoki means “warm river” in Sami, or “river of love” in27)Finnish.

At first broad and28)fringedwith trees, the Lemmenjoki river narrows as it passes beneath29)steep-sidedhills filled with30)boulders. Here in a river canyon, deep in the Arctic, Lapland’s call is once again that of a frozen wilderness—the sound of perfect silence.

13) territory ['ter?t?r?] n. 領土，領域

14) wilderness ['w?ld?n?s] n. 荒野，曠野

15) meander [m?'?nd?] v. 蜿蜒而行

16) byway ['ba?we?] n. 小路，小道

17) pine [pa?n] n. 松樹，松木

18) dwarf [dw??f] v. 使矮小

19) fell [fel] n. 丘原，荒高地

20) forested ['f?r?st?d] adj. 草木叢生的

21) undulate ['?ndj?le?t] v. 起伏，波動

22) refuge ['refju?d?] n. 庇護地

23) wind [wa?nd] v. 蜿蜒而行

24) elk [elk] n. 麋，麋鹿

25) wolverine ['w?lv?ri?n] n. 狼獾，豹熊

26) lynx [l??ks] n. 山貓，猞猁

27) Finnish ['f?n??] n. 芬蘭語

28) fringe [fr?nd?] v. 作為……的邊緣

29) steep-sided陡邊的

30) boulder ['b??ld?] n. 大卵石

伊納里：薩米文化的最佳體驗地

沒有人能像當?shù)卦∶袼_米人那樣了解拉普蘭了。11000年前，薩米人很可能已經(jīng)在人類所能涉足的芬蘭最北的地方生活著，和他們的馴鹿群一起流浪在冰原之上。寧靜的伊納里小鎮(zhèn)成為了芬蘭薩米人的首府。可最能夠體現(xiàn)薩米人歷史的并非這個小鎮(zhèn)，而是薩米人的祖先們曾經(jīng)走過的荒蠻之地，其中還有許多地方至今仍在牢牢地堅持著薩米人的傳統(tǒng)。

極少數(shù)薩米人能像這個家庭一樣繼續(xù)保留著祖先的生活方式。海基，這個薩米家庭的最年長者，已將家人們扎根于古老的薩米傳統(tǒng)中。“我從14歲起便開始牧養(yǎng)馴鹿，”他說。“我還把這些技藝傳給了我的兒子們。”

“馴鹿讓我們的民族更加強大，”他說。“我們的衣物、我們的食物、我們在這片土地上的傳統(tǒng)—我們文化里的一切都源自馴鹿。沒有馴鹿，就沒有薩米人。這便是我們這個民族能夠生存至今的原因，因為我們未曾停止過放牧（馴鹿）。”

在國家公園的深處，海基在仿照傳統(tǒng)薩米帳篷所建的磚砌小屋里小憩著。他心不在焉地用一塊廢棄的木頭鑿出了一把抹刀。外面正刮著大風，寒冷刺骨，不過在這里，圍聚著坐在薩米式的壁爐旁，十分舒適暖和。

“世事也許發(fā)生了改變，但我依然記得我學到過的全部經(jīng)驗教訓，”他說。“我不需要地圖。我了解每一塊石頭、每一棵樹。我一生都在追隨著馴鹿。我們與這片土地的聯(lián)系依然十分深厚。”

拉門喬基國家公園：野生動物的最佳體驗地

拉門喬基國家公園是北芬蘭薩米人的傳統(tǒng)故鄉(xiāng)，同時它也是拉普蘭最美麗的角落之一。這個公園占地1,100平方英里，是歐洲大陸最大的無人居住的地區(qū)之一：一片廣袤的原始森林。在冬天，公園里的小徑隨著冰封的河流蜿蜒，與夏日的徒步小徑刻畫出的狹窄的偏僻小路相織交錯著，深入厚厚的積雪，又穿過高高的松樹林。而附近山崗的高度足以將這些高聳的松樹給比下去。

從山崗的頂峰俯瞰，拉普蘭那被森林覆蓋的廣闊山丘綿延起伏，像波浪一樣延伸至地平線。“這是西歐大陸上最后一片、也是最大一片古老的松樹林保護區(qū)，”公園主管在巡查林區(qū)時如是說。“絕大部分的松樹已有約500年的樹齡，但有些已經(jīng)在這里存活了800年。拉門喬基國家公園幾乎完全出自大自然的鬼斧神工，不經(jīng)人工雕飾，然而這樣的地方已經(jīng)所剩無幾了。是的，這里還住著薩米人和他們的馴鹿。但數(shù)個世紀以來，這里的景色未曾變更過。”

公園主管從高處的鄉(xiāng)村朝下走，而后在森林中蜿蜒前行，各種動物的爪印在前面引領著進入到樹林里—這是生活在公園里那許許多多的馴鹿、麋鹿、狼獾、棕熊、山貓和狼的印記。最后她來到了公園因其而命名的河谷—拉門喬基在薩米語里表示“溫暖的河流”，又或是芬蘭語中“愛之河”的意思。

拉門喬基河的起源處寬闊且兩岸樹木成蔭，在向下穿過滿是大卵石的陡峭山丘時逐漸收窄，深入到了北極圈這一河谷之中。拉普蘭的呼喚是又一次來自冰封荒野的呼喚—它是完美的靜謐之聲。

完美假期：游走拉普蘭（Ⅱ）

翻譯：寒星