拉普兰：追踪极光的足迹

by Anna Jenkinson

翻译：海月

Planet Travel / 环球风情

拉普兰：追踪极光的足迹

Hunting the Northern Lights in Finnish Lapland

by Anna Jenkinson

翻译：海月

旅行者是满怀各种希望的一群人——我们希望火车能准点到达，酒店不会突然忘记了预定的房间或者给我们安排一间没有窗户的房间……但我们最希望的，是大自然不负我们所望。

我们希望看到海豚从亚速尔群岛的海里跃出，在澳大利亚的荒原遇见袋鼠打拳，在玻利维亚的乌尤尼盐沼邂逅“天空之镜”……

到北极观看极光，可算是世上最可遇不可求的旅程。即使知道很可能无功而返，但许多旅行者依然顶着刺骨的寒风，千里迢迢来到极地，希望一睹极光的风采。也许，在追逐极光的过程中，等待才最动人。

极光

激光出现于星球的高磁纬地区上空，是一种绚丽多彩的发光现象。而地球的极光，来自地球磁层或太阳的高能带电粒子流（太阳风）使高层大气分子或原子激发（或电离）而产生。极光常常出现于纬度靠近地磁极地区上空，一般呈带状、弧状、幕状、放射状，这些形状有时稳定有时作连续性变化。极光不只在地球上出现，太阳系内的其他一些具有磁场的行星上也有极光。

许多世纪以来，激光一直是人们猜测和探索的天象之谜。从前，爱斯基摩人以为那是鬼神引导死者灵魂上天堂的火炬。13世纪时，人们则认为那是格陵兰冰原反射的光。1619年，伽利略以曙光女神奥罗拉（Aurora）之名创造出aurora borealis一词（在南极所见到的同样的光称为南极光aurora australis）。

I had set the alarm for 2∶30 a.m., but well before it went off, my boyfriend and I woke to a1)pounding on the2)chalet door. Waking from a deep sleep, we found our neighbors on the doorstep.

“Quick!” they shouted. “The clouds have cleared. It’s happening.”

Neil and I had arrived in Finnish Lapland the day before. With its short days and temperatures low enough to bring on3)frostbite, there was one goal in my mind: to catch a4)glimpse of the aurora borealis.

Since seeing photographs of this natural5)phenomenon, also known as the northern lights, I had dreamed of watching the sky fill with green, pink and white light. So I decided to make my dream come true.

我把闹钟调到了凌晨两点半，但时间还远远没到，我和男友就被小木屋门口一阵大力的敲门声吵醒了。睡眼惺忪的我们，发现门口台阶上站着我们的邻居。

“快！”他们大声喊道。“乌云已经散了，开始出现了！”

就在前一天，我和尼尔来到了芬兰的拉普兰。虽然这里白天很短，温度低到足以使人长冻疮，但此行我有一个目标：亲眼目睹极光（aurora borealis）的风采。

自从看过这种自然现象（又叫northern lights）的照片以后，我就梦想着有一天能亲眼看到铺满绿色、粉红和白色光芒的天幕。所以，我决定实现我的梦想。

The northern lights have been6)spotted as far south as Mississippi—though they are far more regularly seen in places such as Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Sweden, Alaska and Canada. I chose tohunt for them in Finnish Lapland, the northernmost part of the country.

虽然南至（美国）密西西比州都曾观测到北极光，但在挪威、冰岛、格陵兰、瑞典、阿拉斯加和加拿大等地更为常见。我选择到芬兰最北端的拉普兰寻找它们的踪迹。

补脑词汇

1) pounding [′paʊndIŋ] n. 重击；重击声

2) chalet [′∫æleI] n. 农舍式木造别墅

3) frostbite [′frɒstbaIt] n. 冻疮

4) glimpse [ɡlImps] n. 一瞥，一看

5) phenomenon [fI′nɒmInən] n. 现象

6) spot [spɒt] v. 发现/ n. 地点

7) stunningly [′stʌnIŋlI] ad. 极吸引人地

8) cozy [′kəʊzI] a. 温暖而又舒适的

9) average [′ævərIdʒ] n. 平均

10) inhabitant [In′hæbItənt] n. 居住者

11) sparkling [′spɑːklIŋ] a. 闪闪发光的

12) birch [bзːt∫] n. 桦树

13) anticipation [æntIsI′pe∫ən] n. 期望

Not only is the area7)stunningly beautiful, it has a good record for aurora borealis sightings—the lights appear here some 200 nights of the year. I booked a fve-day stay at Ukonjärvi Holiday Village, with8)cozy chalets on the edge of Lake Ukonjärvi.

This part of Finland is a true wilderness, with an9)average of just one10)inhabitant per square mile. It’s a land of11)sparkling lakes, snow-covered pine and12)birch forests, and clear blue skies. We arrived around lunchtime and took a walk while it was still light out. We quickly realized that snowshoes would make the going easier, so in early evening we put some on and headed out onto the frozen lake. For two hours we stood in the cold watching the sky, returning around midnight to do the same, hoping that the lights would come out to play.

这片地区不仅美得惊人，还有很高的北极光目击记录，一年约有两百个晚上会出现极光。我在乌空加维（音译）渡假村预订了五天的住宿，住在乌空加维湖边温馨舒适的小屋里。

芬兰的这片地区是一片真正的荒原，平均每平方英里只有一个居民。这片土地有着波光粼粼的湖泊、积雪覆盖的松林和桦树林，还有清澈的蓝天。我们差不多在午饭时间来到这里，趁着天色还亮走了一走。很快我们就发现，雪鞋对于在这里走路很有帮助，所以傍晚我们就穿着这种鞋走到了结冰的湖面上。我们在寒风里站了两个小时，望着天空，到了午夜又再回来观望，祈祷着北极光会出来嬉戏一下。

That frst night, my13)anticipation was met withdisappointment. We needed a clear sky to get a good view of the northern lights; all we got was cloud cover. It was said that the rest of the week would look similar.

头天晚上，我的期待落空了。观赏极光需要有晴朗的天空，而那天晚上云层密布。据说那个星期剩下的日子也差不多都是这种天气。

Despite the cold, we spent most of our days outdoors. We kept our focus closer to the ground, with14)hikes across a frozen landscape filled with15)hues of white, gray, blue and silver. Walking across Lake Ukonjärvi, I was struck by the hardiness of life in this climate. With no people or cars nearby, and a blanket of snow over everything, it’s little wonder that there was near-total silence. The only sound we could hear was that of the snow16)crunching beneath our feet.

One morning, we traded our snowshoes for a dogpowered sled.17)Whooshing through the Arctic18)snowscape behind a pack of19)husky dogs was an amazing experience. At times, the younger huskies seemed more eager to20)cuddle up with the older dogs, but when they started racing, it was hard to catch my breath as we sped along the21)steep, narrow trails through the forests.

Our nightly trips, though slower and quieter were still the most exciting. Each night, I put on every layer of clothing I’d brought with me, as well as Arctic22)overalls—pants designed to keep out the cold and23)damp—I had borrowed from the owner of our chalet. Neil and I put on our snowshoes and walked about ten minutes out to Lake Ukonjärvi.

冷归冷，我们大部分时间还是待在户外。我们穿行在这片充斥着白、灰、蓝、银色调的冰天雪地里，尽量把目光锁定在更靠近地面的地方。在走过乌空加维湖的时候，我不禁震撼于在这种气候下生命的顽强。周围不见一人一车，积雪如毯覆盖在万物之上——毫不奇怪，这里几乎寂静无声。唯一能听到的，只有我们脚下的雪发出的嘎吱嘎吱声。

一天早上，我们拿我们的雪鞋换了一辆狗拉的雪橇。跟在一群哈士奇犬身后呼啦啦地穿越极地的雪景，真是一次美妙的经历。比较年轻的哈士奇有时似乎更喜欢和老狗抱团嬉闹，但它们一拉起车来，带着我们在林中陡峭狭窄的小径上穿行时，我几乎总要被吓得上气不接下气。

我们夜里的活动虽然较为和缓安静，但依然带给我更大的刺激。每天晚上，我都要把我带来的每一层衣服全都穿上，最后还要套上从小屋主人那里借来的专为防寒防潮设计的极地工装裤。尼尔和我穿上雪鞋，走了大约10分钟，来到乌空加维湖。

补脑词汇

14) hike [haIk] n. 长途徒步旅行

15) hue [hjuː] n. 颜色，色彩

16) crunch [krʌnt∫] v. 发出嘎吱声

17) whoosh [wʊ∫] v. 使飞快移动

18) snowscape [′snəʊskeIp] n. 雪景

19) husky dog 哈士奇犬

20) cuddle up 紧贴着身子躺，依偎

21) steep [stiːp] a. 陡峭的

22) overall [əʊvər′ɔːl] n.（复数）工装裤

23) damp [dæmp] n. 湿气

24) bitterly [′bItəlI] ad. 苦苦地，残酷地

25) temptation [temp′teI∫ən] n. 诱惑

26) sauna [′sɔːnə] n.（芬兰）桑那浴

27) starlit [′stɑːlIt] a. 繁星闪耀的

28) band [bænd] n. 带子

29) directly [dI′rektlI] ad. 正好，直接地

30) sink [sIŋk] v. 沉下

31) streak [striːk] n. 条纹，痕

32) swirl [swзːl] v. 旋转

Sometimes we went light-watching at 8 p.m., other nights at midnight. It was always24)bitterly cold, and the25)temptation to return to a warm bed (or the hot26)sauna that came with our cottage) was almost enough to send me back inside. And yet, night after night I found myself standing on the ice in the dark and silent Arctic night, looking up at the sky, waiting for it to glow green.

When our neighbors woke us with the shouts that the clouds had cleared, I rushed out, met by what looked like a million stars. There was no aurora yet, which meant there was still time to get a good spot. My heart racing, I dressed as quickly as I could. This was one show I didn’t plan on missing—who knew if I would ever get to see it again?

Out on the lake, we stopped a few hundred feet from the shore. I started to calm down as I looked up at the27)starlit sky. Once again, we waited. Nothing. Time seemed to stand still.

After about 30 minutes, a28)band of white appeared in the heavens29)directly above our heads. For a moment, my hopes30)sank—it simply looked like a cloud.

Then the31)streak started32)swirling around, and was soon joined by a curtain of white-green light. The northern lights, moving and twinkling across the Arctic sky, had joined us.

有时我们晚上8点去看极光，有时是在午夜。外面永远天寒地冻，回到温暖的床上（或是我们小屋里配备的热桑拿房）的诱惑几乎足以叫我又溜回屋里。然而，夜复一夜，我还是站在了极地寂静暗夜里的寒冰上仰望天空，等待它发出绿色的幽光。

我们的邻居叫醒我们，说云已经散去时，我立刻冲了出去，迎面而来的仿佛是亿万颗星星。但还没有极光。这意味着还有时间找到一个更好的观测点。我的心怦怦直跳，以最快的速度穿好了衣服。这是一场我绝对无意错过的演出，谁知道我还能不能再次看到呢？

我们来到湖上，停在离岸边几百英尺的地方。当我抬头仰望着那片绝美的天空，我的心情开始平静下来。我们又一次等待着。然而，什么也没有。时间仿佛静止了。

大约过了三十分钟，一条白色的光带出现在我们头顶正上方。有那么一刻，我感到失望——它看起来只不过像一片云。

随后，那条光带开始四处旋转，很快又有一帘白绿色的光加入了这个漩涡。散发着幽幽的光，带着脉动划过北极的星空——北极光终于来到了我们中间。