美国国家公共电台 NPR Luring More Women To Fishing In The Upper Great Lakes

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The polls say women are expected to make a difference in many key midterm elections. And our next story is also about women, poles and transforming an American institution. From Interlochen Public Radio, Morgan Springer reports.

MORGAN SPRINGER, BYLINE¹: Throughout the Great Lakes, fishing has always been a big deal. Each year, it brings about $7 billion to the region. But while the number of men who fish is declining in the upper Great Lakes, young women are taking up the sport in greater numbers. That's according to Michigan Tech professor Richelle Winkler who conducted a recent study and found not only does gender² matter but age does, too.

RICHELLE WINKLER: Young women today are about two times more likely than women born in about 1960 to buy a fishing license³.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Can go upriver, down river and pick your spot.

SPRINGER: It's a cold, gray morning, and it's drizzling⁴ as 11 women spread out along the Two Hearted River in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. These women are taking a class on steelhead fishing. This isn't fly fishing. This isn't catch and release. They're trying to catch one and keep it. Kristy Taylor casts her line. It's got a small bait bag on the hook filled with bright red salmon⁵ eggs. Right now, Taylor's tracking a fish with instructor⁶ Katie Urban.

KATIE URBAN: You see it? All right. She's coming back to this side. She’s going to that pocket. Go down this way.

SPRINGER: The fish swims close to the surface, leaving a swirl⁷ of water behind it as it moves away from the bait, then disappears heading toward the mouth of the river and Lake Superior.

KRISTY TAYLOR: Oh, she’s all the way up there.

URBAN: Yes, go.

SPRINGER: Taylor and Urban take off running through the dunes⁸, the dark-stained Two Hearted River below them. Winkler says it's not clear yet why more women are fishing these days, but she has a hunch⁹.

WINKLER: So I think it's part of a broader cultural pattern of the world opening up a bit to women's participation¹⁰ in activities that have traditionally been seen as more masculine.

SPRINGER: She says that's particularly true for women born after 1980 - women like Kristy Taylor who's 37 and says she learned to fish as a child.

TAYLOR: My parents divorced when I was really young. So whenever we would be with my dad, that was the activity he knew best. So he would take my sister and I both to go fishing.

SPRINGER: But not all these women are in their 30s. Ellen Rice is 63. And today, she is fishing for the first time.

ELLEN RICE: The men went out fishing and hunting. And the women - we just never thought about it.

SPRINGER: Did it feel like it wasn't available to you?

RICE: Right. I wouldn't have known how to do it or no man would ever take me out.

SPRINGER: As Taylor arrives at a new spot to fish, she spots a man sitting at a campfire across the river. He gets up, grabs his fishing rod and casts for the fish they've been chasing.

RICE: Oh, my God. He's going for your fish.

SPRINGER: The bait lands right by the fish.

URBAN: Yeah, she's running from him.

SPRINGER: Now the fish swims right to the shore by Taylor.

RICE: She's right in front of you. I mean, drop it.

SPRINGER: Taylor drops the bait, but the fish still does not bite.

TAYLOR: Oh, he's right there.

SPRINGER: Kristy Taylor says, for her, fishing is all about being in nature. And she finds it empowering.

TAYLOR: You're in charge of your pole. You're in charge of your bait. You're in charge of your cast. And when you catch a fish, it's then your doing.

SPRINGER: Taylor's line starts to drag.

URBAN: Keep that tension if you think you’ve got one.

SPRINGER: She starts to reel it in.

URBAN: Aw.

TAYLOR: I got one. It’s the biggest catch I’ve had all day (laughter).

SPRINGER: But it's not a fish. It's a long, wet stick snagged by her hook.

For NPR News, I'm Morgan Springer on Michigan's Two Hearted River.

(SOUNDBITE OF LYNN PATRICK'S "MEETING CHAVEZ")

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

3 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

4 drizzling   

下蒙蒙细雨，下毛毛雨( drizzle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The rain has almost stopped, it's just drizzling now. 雨几乎停了，现在只是在下毛毛雨。
• It was drizzling, and miserably cold and damp. 外面下着毛毛细雨，天气又冷又湿，令人难受。

5 salmon   

n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的

参考例句：

• We saw a salmon jumping in the waterfall there.我们看见一条大马哈鱼在那边瀑布中跳跃。
• Do you have any fresh salmon in at the moment?现在有新鲜大马哈鱼卖吗？

6 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

7 swirl   

v.(使)打漩，(使)涡卷；n.漩涡，螺旋形

参考例句：

• The car raced roughly along in a swirl of pink dust.汽车在一股粉红色尘土的漩涡中颠簸着快速前进。
• You could lie up there,watching the flakes swirl past.你可以躺在那儿，看着雪花飘飘。

8 dunes   

沙丘( dune的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The boy galloped over the dunes barefoot. 那男孩光着脚在沙丘间飞跑。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat. 将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

9 hunch   

n.预感，直觉

参考例句：

• I have a hunch that he didn't really want to go.我有这么一种感觉，他并不真正想去。
• I had a hunch that Susan and I would work well together.我有预感和苏珊共事会很融洽。

10 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。