美国国家公共电台 NPR A Lifetime Of Planting Trees On A Remote River Island: Meet India's Forest Man

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

Deep inside Northeast India, a forest has come bounding back thanks to one man. He's a farmer. NPR's Julie McCarthy traveled to see him, and she has this report.

JULIE MCCARTHY, HOST:

We've come to one of the most geographically¹ isolated² parts of India, the Northeast, nestled along the borders of China, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

(SOUNDBITE OF WATER SPLASHING)

MCCARTHY: We arrange ourselves in a boat for a short journey to a river island in Assam, a state famous for tea, the mighty³ Brahmaputra River we're crossing and the Forest Man.

JADAV PAYENG: (Foreign language spoken).

MCCARTHY: Jadav Payeng, a 58-year-old farmer, keeps the hours of an insomniac⁴. By 4:30 a.m., we're gliding⁵ across a moonlit channel. A pink sky pushes out the stars. The slap of his oar⁶ is all that breaks the predawn tranquility.

(SOUNDBITE OF WATER SPLASHING)

MCCARTHY: We alight on an island of some 250 families from the Mishing tribe that lives along the river banks, and Jadav begins the daily trek⁷ to his vegetable fields and his life's mission, reviving the ecosystem⁸ here. It's now become full of grasslands⁹ and plants and a forest. When Jadav was young, the son of a poor buffalo¹⁰ trader, this strip of land in the middle of the river was attached to the mainland. Erosion from the river severed¹¹ it. Jadav of picks up a handful of earth and explains how the landscape has changed.

PAYENG: (Through interpreter) Earlier, this was all sand. No trees, no grass, nothing was here. Only driftwood.

(SOUNDBITE OF COWS MOOING)

MCCARTHY: Now pastures nourish cows. Cotton trees stand straight in rows as far as the eye can see. Jadav planted them, his hands transforming this once barren island the size of Martha's Vineyard.

PAYENG: (Through interpreter) First with bamboo trees. I kept planting all different kinds of trees.

MCCARTHY: He says once a tree seeds, the wind, the birds, the entire ecosystem knows how to sow them. Jadav started planting here in 1979, stirred by a freakish sight, snakes piled on the sand in scorching¹² heat. They'd perished from lack of shade.

PAYENG: (Foreign language spoken).

MCCARTHY: "When I saw it," he says, "I thought even we humans will have to die this way in the heat. In the grief of those dead snakes, I created this forest." Local tribesmen advised Jadav of to plant tall grasses to protect the reptiles¹³.

PAYENG: (Foreign language spoken).

MCCARTHY: Over the course of nearly four decades, Jadav says he's planted so many trees he's lost count.

(SOUNDBITE OF FOREST NOISES)

MCCARTHY: Barefoot, this Mishing tribesman prunes¹⁴ plants as he guides us to some of his oldest trees. He leans against a 30-year-old teak tree and points to scratches on the bark. A tiger has sharpened its claws.

PAYENG: (Foreign language spoken). Eighty-five cow. Ninety-five buffalo.

MCCARTHY: Jadav is saying that he's lost 85 cows and 95 buffalo to tigers who have eaten them, killed them.

PAYENG: (Foreign language spoken).

MCCARTHY: He describes coming face to face with one of the big cats.

What went through your head? Were you scared to death?

PAYENG: (Through interpreter) No, no. I wasn't scared. I know that tigers have half the courage of women. This one killed a buffalo, saw me and slinked off.

MCCARTHY: He says, unafraid of the wild elephants that cross the river to roam his forest, island villagers complain the herd¹⁵ tramples¹⁶ their rice fields and homes. But Jadav defends the animal and says it is man that must adjust to these woods.

Jadav has received one of India's highest civilian¹⁷ awards. The dense¹⁸ forest bears his name and now sprawls¹⁹ over 1,300 acres. India's Forest Man personifies dedication²⁰ to a dream, rising at 4 a.m., paddling across the river nearly every day for almost 40 years.

Certainly most people, if they acted on it, wouldn't stick with it for 40 years. How did you do that? How do you do that?

PAYENG: (Foreign language spoken).

MCCARTHY: "No one sees God," says Jadav Payeng. "I see God in nature. Nature is God," he says. "It gives me inspiration. It gives me power." Julie McCarthy, NPR News, Assam, India.

1 geographically   

adv.地理学上，在地理上，地理方面

参考例句：

• Geographically, the UK is on the periphery of Europe. 从地理位置上讲，英国处于欧洲边缘。 来自辞典例句
• All these events, however geographically remote, urgently affected Western financial centers. 所有这些事件，无论发生在地理上如何遥远的地方，都对西方金融中心产生紧迫的影响。 来自名作英译部分

2 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

3 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

4 insomniac   

n.失眠症患者

参考例句：

• She's an insomniac ; she only sleeps for two or three hours a night. 她患失眠症，每晚只睡两三个小时。 来自辞典例句
• The insomniac is habitually afflicted with wakefulness at times when he wishes to sleep. 失眠症患者，这种病人在他想睡觉时经常特别清醒。 来自互联网

5 gliding   

v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的

参考例句：

• Swans went gliding past. 天鹅滑行而过。
• The weather forecast has put a question mark against the chance of doing any gliding tomorrow. 天气预报对明天是否能举行滑翔表示怀疑。

6 oar   

n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行

参考例句：

• The sailors oar slowly across the river.水手们慢慢地划过河去。
• The blade of the oar was bitten off by a shark.浆叶被一条鲨鱼咬掉了。

7 trek   

vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行

参考例句：

• We often go pony-trek in the summer.夏季我们经常骑马旅行。
• It took us the whole day to trek across the rocky terrain.我们花了一整天的时间艰难地穿过那片遍布岩石的地带。

8 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

9 grasslands   

n.草原，牧场( grassland的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Songs were heard ringing loud and clear over the grasslands. 草原上扬起清亮激越的歌声。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Grasslands have been broken and planted to wheat. 草原已经开垦出来，种上了小麦。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

11 severed   

v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂

参考例句：

• The doctor said I'd severed a vessel in my leg. 医生说我割断了腿上的一根血管。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We have severed diplomatic relations with that country. 我们与那个国家断绝了外交关系。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 scorching   

adj. 灼热的

参考例句：

• a scorching, pitiless sun 灼热的骄阳
• a scorching critique of the government's economic policy 对政府经济政策的严厉批评

13 reptiles   

n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Snakes and crocodiles are both reptiles. 蛇和鳄鱼都是爬行动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Birds, reptiles and insects come from eggs. 鸟类、爬虫及昆虫是卵生的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 prunes   

n.西梅脯，西梅干( prune的名词复数 )v.修剪（树木等）( prune的第三人称单数 )；精简某事物，除去某事物多余的部分

参考例句：

• Dried fruits such as prunes, pears, and peaches, are stewed. 梅干、梨脯、桃脯等干果，都是炖过的。 来自辞典例句
• We had stewed prunes for breakfast. 我们早饭吃炖梅干。 来自辞典例句

15 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

16 tramples   

踩( trample的第三人称单数 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯

参考例句：

17 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

18 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

19 sprawls   

n.（城市）杂乱无序拓展的地区( sprawl的名词复数 )；随意扩展；蔓延物v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的第三人称单数 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• The city sprawls out to the west, north and south. 该市向西、北、南方不规则地扩张[延伸]。 来自互联网
• Explanation: Our magnificent Milky Way Galaxy sprawls across this ambitious all-sky panorama. 说明：我们宏伟的银河系蜿蜒穿过这幅高企图心之全天影像。 来自互联网

20 dedication   

n.奉献，献身，致力，题献，献辞

参考例句：

• We admire her courage,compassion and dedication.我们钦佩她的勇气、爱心和奉献精神。
• Her dedication to her work was admirable.她对工作的奉献精神可钦可佩。