2021年经济学人 拉多娜·“勇敢的公牛”·阿拉德(2)

It happened because they were living in prophecy, the sort the old women liked to discuss round the kitchen table while she, and the other young, pretended not to hear.

这样的情况再次上演，是因为他们活在预言里，那种年迈女族人喜欢围在餐桌旁谈论的、拉多娜和其他年轻人假装不感兴趣的预言。

One was of Zuzeca Sapa, a black snake that would destroy the world unless her people stood up to defeat it.

其中一则预言是关于祖泽卡蛇妖（Zuzeca Sapa）的，这是一条足以毁灭世界的黑蛇，除非她的族人挺身而出毁灭它。

Back then the snake was taken to be the new Interstate highway, surfaced with black tar¹.

当时，这条蛇被公认为铺着黑沥青的新州际公路。

Now it was clearly the pipeline², 1,170 miles long and costing $3.8bn, intended to carry black oil from the North Dakota shale-oil fields to Illinois.

现在显然指的是这条长达1170英里、耗资38亿美元的输油管道，这条管道将北达科他州页岩油田的黑色原油输送到伊利诺伊州。

On the way it threatened 380 archaeological sites; 26 were in the 40-mile stretch round the meeting of the Missouri and Cannonball rivers,

这条输油管道沿途威胁到380处考古遗址，其中有26处位于密苏里河（Missouri）和坎农博尔河（Cannonball）交汇处方圆40英里的地方，

where roots had first grown out of her feet.

而拉多娜就是在这里出生、在土地的滋养下长大的。

This was her father’s land. As a child she had noted³ every feature which later, as historian of the Standing⁴ Rock Sioux, it became her job to catalogue and preserve.

这是她父亲的土地。孩提时代，她就注意到了那里的每一处特征，后来，作为立岩苏族（Standing Rock Sioux）历史学家，她的任务就是整理和保存这些特征。

The low rolling hills carried the remains⁵ of Arikara villages, with effigies⁶ arranged in stones and prayers laid for years on the ground.

低矮起伏的山丘承载着阿里卡拉（Arikara）村落的遗迹，以及悠久的被刻意排列过的石头雕像，还有长年累月祈祷仪式的祷文。

On the peak above her camp her father was buried, along with one of her sons.

在她营地上方的山峰上，葬着她的父亲和她的一个儿子。

At the confluence⁷ of the rivers was a whirlpool that carved the sand into great spheres strewn along the banks, the sacred stones.

在河流的交汇处有一处漩涡，漩涡把砂砾雕刻成散落在河岸的巨石圆球，那就是圣石。

Here beside the Cannonball river her grandfather had sun dances with Wise Spirit, her uncle climbed trees for honeycombs and the family hauled up water every day, to drink and live.

在坎农博尔河岸这边，她的祖父和“智慧精灵”一同跳着祭日舞，她的叔叔爬树采蜜，一家人每天都得汲河水供日常饮用和生活。

Soon afterwards that history was part-destroyed by the damming of the Missouri,

没过多久，这段历史就因密苏里河上的大坝而部分被毁：

which left the water unsafe to drink, the whirlpool flat and bleached⁸ trees, skeletons of spirits, poking⁹ from the water.

河水无法再安全饮用了、漩涡变平了、树木褪色了（即精灵的骷髅）从水里探了出来。

The pipeline map provided by the company showed nothing there; her people’s footprints had been taken out of the earth.

管道公司提供的管道地图上那里什么也没有；苏族人的脚印从这片土地上销声匿迹了。

1 tar   

n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于

参考例句：

• The roof was covered with tar.屋顶涂抹了一层沥青。
• We use tar to make roads.我们用沥青铺路。

2 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

3 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 effigies   

n.（人的）雕像，模拟像，肖像( effigy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• stone effigies in the church 教堂里的石雕像
• On 5 November British children burn effigies of Guy Fawkes. 每逢11月5日英国儿童都焚烧盖伊．福克斯的模拟像。 来自辞典例句

7 confluence   

n.汇合，聚集

参考例句：

• They built the city at the confluence of two rivers.他们建造了城市的汇合两条河流。
• The whole DV movements actually was a confluence of several trends.整个当时的DV运动，实际上是几股潮流的同谋。

8 bleached   

漂白的，晒白的，颜色变浅的

参考例句：

• His hair was bleached by the sun . 他的头发被太阳晒得发白。
• The sun has bleached her yellow skirt. 阳光把她的黄裙子晒得褪色了。

9 poking   

n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• He was poking at the rubbish with his stick. 他正用手杖拨动垃圾。
• He spent his weekends poking around dusty old bookshops. 他周末都泡在布满尘埃的旧书店里。