密歇根新闻广播 从破冰钓鱼中的到的启发

Ann Arbor¹ writer Tamar Charney shares her thoughts about the connection between ice fishing and life.

Somewhere beneath the runways of the Toronto airport I found myself in a tunnel between concourses contemplating² something I'd never thought much about - ice fishing

The walls of the tunnel were lined with Richard Johnson's giant colorful photographs of ice fishing shacks⁴. Lovingly painted wooden ones and utilitarian⁵ scrap⁶ corrugated⁷ ones. Shacks in the midst of snowstorms and shacks on shore in the summer. Shacks in bright sun and in darkness. But most notably⁸ shacks in groups or alone.

In ice fishing as in life, people often sort themselves out into those who travel together and those who walk alone

Most pass times require you make that choice up front. Poet or part of a performance troop. Swimming or softball team. You might as well be signing up for Solitary⁹ Solace¹⁰ or Comradery of Companionship than the actual activity.

But ice fishing makes room for both.

You've got the community of the ice shanty¹¹ village where groups of people drink beer and tell fish tales surrounded by friends

For others ice fishing is quiet alone time in a tiny shack³ in middle of the frozen lake in the middle of nowhere.

Ice fishing is something I mostly see from the distance of a lakeside road. For all my years in Michigan, I've only been in an ice shack once.

Some friends and I were skiing across a frozen lake. I can't recall if we chatted up a fisherman or just opened up a shack somewhere out there. I do recall being instantly mesmerized¹² once inside.

With the door shut behind me, the searing wind and bright sun were gone. In the center of the dark shanty was the hole cut through the ice, glowing an otherworldly deep blue. Forget the fish, the poles, the beer, the shanty towns, and the rest of ice fishing culture, I could lose myself for hours in that blue glowing portal to the watery¹³ world beneath the ice.

Years later, looking at the photographs of ice shacks in the passage between two airport concourses, I made a connection I'd long been missing.

We overlook something pretty fundamental when we sort ourselves out as someone who ice fishes alone or as part of the village. The things we do for fun are ultimately about connecting to something beyond our mundane¹⁴ lives. It's just the form of it varies. The connection might be with others, it might be to a deeper part of our soul, or with forces of nature just beyond our full grasp.

It just so easy to notice shallow differences in how we live our lives, but harder to see the similarities that connect us all that lie deeper down below the surface.

It definitely wasn't a connection I'd expected to catch just before my flight. But one well worth making.

1 arbor   

n.凉亭；树木

参考例句：

• They sat in the arbor and chatted over tea.他们坐在凉亭里，边喝茶边聊天。
• You may have heard of Arbor Day at school.你可能在学校里听过植树节。

2 contemplating   

深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想

参考例句：

• You're too young to be contemplating retirement. 你考虑退休还太年轻。
• She stood contemplating the painting. 她站在那儿凝视那幅图画。

3 shack   

adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚

参考例句：

• He had to sit down five times before he reached his shack.在走到他的茅棚以前，他不得不坐在地上歇了五次。
• The boys made a shack out of the old boards in the backyard.男孩们在后院用旧木板盖起一间小木屋。

4 shacks   

n.窝棚，简陋的小屋( shack的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They live in shacks which they made out of wood. 他们住在用木头搭成的简陋的小屋里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Most people in Port au-Prince live in tin shacks. 太子港的大多数居民居住在铁皮棚里。 来自互联网

5 utilitarian   

adj.实用的，功利的

参考例句：

• On the utilitarian side American education has outstridden the rest of the world.在实用方面美国教育已超越世界各国。
• A good cloth coat is more utilitarian than a fur one.一件优质的布外衣要比一件毛皮外衣更有用。

6 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

7 corrugated   

adj.波纹的；缩成皱纹的；波纹面的；波纹状的v.（使某物）起皱褶(corrugate的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• a corrugated iron roof 波纹铁屋顶
• His brow corrugated with the effort of thinking. 他皱着眉头用心地思考。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

9 solitary   

adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士

参考例句：

• I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
• The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际，显得十分壮美。

10 solace   

n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和

参考例句：

• They sought solace in religion from the harshness of their everyday lives.他们日常生活很艰难，就在宗教中寻求安慰。
• His acting career took a nosedive and he turned to drink for solace.演艺事业突然一落千丈，他便借酒浇愁。

11 shanty   

n.小屋，棚屋；船工号子

参考例句：

• His childhood was spent in a shanty.他的童年是在一个简陋小屋里度过的。
• I want to quit this shanty.我想离开这烂房子。

12 mesmerized   

v.使入迷( mesmerize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The country girl stood by the road, mesmerized at the speed of cars racing past. 村姑站在路旁被疾驶而过的一辆辆车迷住了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• My 14-year-old daughter was mesmerized by the movie Titanic. 我14岁的女儿完全被电影《泰坦尼克号》迷住了。 来自互联网

13 watery   

adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的

参考例句：

• In his watery eyes there is an expression of distrust.他那含泪的眼睛流露出惊惶失措的神情。
• Her eyes became watery because of the smoke.因为烟熏，她的双眼变得泪汪汪的。

14 mundane   

adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的

参考例句：

• I hope I can get an interesting job and not something mundane.我希望我可以得到的是一份有趣的工作，而不是一份平凡无奇的。
• I find it humorous sometimes that even the most mundane occurrences can have an impact on our awareness.我发现生活有时挺诙谐的，即使是最平凡的事情也能影响我们的感知。