这是一片霜封的舞台，汇集了丹顶鹤，大天鹅，梅花鹿，雪猴等动物。日本能够将他们对动物的古老崇敬转化成现代的动物保护吗?in othr sasons thr might b 20 of us and only a fw of thm. but now, in th hart of wintr, thr ar 20 of us and 150 of thm. w ar homo sapins, a gaggl of bird-watchrs, scintists, and photographrs; thy ar grus japonnsis, th rar and clbratd rd-crownd cran.如果是在别的季节，我们这边的人马大概会有20个，而对方只会有几个。但是现在正值隆冬，我们这边的数目还是20，对方却增加到150。我们是人类，一群嘈杂的赏鸟人士、科学家和摄影师;它们则是grus japonnsis，也就是罕见而知名的丹顶鹤。th fild is whit and th woodd dgs dark with vrgrn. out in th opn in th fin snow of hokkaido clustr th grat whit crans, th black trtial plums of thir broad wings arrangd ovr thir rumps lik lgant bustls. known in japan as tancho (rd pak), th rd-crownd is th scond rarst cran spcis, aftr th whooping cran, with a world population of fwr than 2,500 birds. it is in othr sasons fircly trritorial, but now th birds ar gathrd in on clangorous flock to scoop up th wintr fd laid down for thm by farmrs. som stalk th fild or stand in pairs, lifting thir bills to trumpt a shrill, rolling cry, a "unison" call that carris across th filds. on flars its wings and archs its back in a dramatic thrat display to rliv th tnsion of crowding. a swoop of six arrivs on motionlss wing from thir roost sit in a narby rivr, drop lightly to th ground amid th othrs, and lowr thir hads to pluck th scattrd corn, flashing thir brilliant caps of crimson lik blood on snow.野地上银白一片，远处围绕着暗绿色的常绿树木。在北海道的旷野上，丹顶鹤群聚在柔细的白雪上，它们双翅上醒目的黑色羽毛优雅地围在尾部，很像贵妇优雅的裙撑。丹顶鹤是世上第二罕见的鹤，仅次于美洲鹤，目前全球幸存数量低于2500只。在其它季节中，它们的领土意识很强，但现在它们喧闹地聚集成群，抢着享用农夫为它们准备的冬季美食。有些鹤在原野上高视阔步或成双站立，仰头发出尖锐响亮的叫声，这是鹤的“齐鸣”，声音响遍四野。有一只丹顶鹤展翅拱背，摆出威吓的姿态以纾解拥挤的压力。六只丹顶鹤从附近河中的巢址翩然而至，轻盈地在其它鹤群之间落地，低头啄食四散的谷粒，露出一顶顶艳红色的头冠，一如雪中之血。th japans hav a word, awar, for th flings that aris from th poignant bauty of an phmral thing. th word rfrs not to th fragility or loss of th thing itslf, but to th human flings vokd by its passing. thos of us prssd against th rail ar latd and gratful for this clos look at th crans concntratd hr lik a vision—and which, lik a vision, may just as quickly vanish. no wondr popl fly halfway around th world, board buss and trains and frris, and wait patintly in th havy snow to s ths birds gathr to prn and flar and danc thir wild courtship dancs. no wondr th cran is rvrd by th japans and so admird that thir art nvr tirs of rprsnting it.日本人用“哀”这个字来形容美丽却短暂易逝的事物给人的感受。这个字指的不是事物本身的脆弱或消逝，而是指它的消逝在人心中激起的情感。我们紧贴着栏杆，心中充满喜悦与感激，只因我们能在近距离欣赏如梦似幻的鹤群──而且正如梦幻一般，它们很可能迅速消失。难怪有人愿意飞越大半个地球，搭公车、火车和渡船前来，耐心地在大雪中守候，只为欣赏这些鹤整理羽毛，展翅跳着热烈的求偶之舞。也难怪日本人如此尊崇丹顶鹤，并且永不厌倦地透过艺术表现对它们的欣赏。only in japan's wintr dos this spctacl occur, and othrs as wll, a striking assmblag of animals, from crans and agls to snow monkys and sika dr, that ndur th sason's hard tnancy in small rfugs, natural and man-mad, on hokkaido and in th mountains of japan's main island, honshu. som of th animals that tak shltr in ths spots ar abundant, vn ovrabundant; othrs ar rar, having bn huntd to th brink of xtinction or chivid out of thir last natural rdoubts by human prssurs. som ar in th wintr of thir xistnc and ndur only through th couragous fforts of a fw popl working against grat odds.唯有在日本的冬季，才见得到这个群鹤共食的奇观和其它特殊景致。这里聚集的动物种类之多令人称奇，从鹤、鹰、雪猴到梅花鹿都有;它们栖息在北海道及日本主岛本州岛的山区间，在自然或人造的小庇护区内度过严冬。在这些地点找寻庇护的动物，有些数量很多、甚至过多;有些则很稀有，正因人类的猎杀而处于灭绝边缘，或是因人类造成的压力而逐渐离开最后的自然堡垒。其中有些动物正处于生存的严冬，多亏有些人不畏艰难地在种种不利条件下努力，它们才能继续生存。th concntration of ths craturs in small shards of habitat on a crowdd island nation crats scns of startling bauty—and somtims, startling conflict. i'v com to hokkaido to larn what lssons might undrli ths spctacls, what thy might tach us about wildnss and survival and th riddl of our own rlations to natur.在日本这个拥挤的岛国上，这些动物集中在几块小栖息地上，创造出如此惊人的美丽──有时也会造成惊人的冲突。我之所以来到北海道，就是为了找出这些奇景背后可能的意义，看它们能否让我们更加了解原野、了解生存之道，以及人类与自然之间的不解之迷。wintr brings 2,000 stllr's sa-agls to th coast of hokkaido—almost a third of th spcis' population. com spring, thy had north to russia to brd. with a wingspan of up to nin ft (two mtrs) and wight of up to 20 pounds (tn kilograms), th stllr's far outsizs north amrica's bald agl.冬天，2000只虎头海雕来到北海道海岸，这个数字占了该物种总数量的三分之一。春天一到，它们都前往北方的俄罗斯繁殖。翼展几达三公尺、重可达九公斤的虎头海雕，体型上远超过北美洲的白头海雕。vn cloakd in ic, an oldsquaw duck finds hokkaido's wintr climat barabl. th ducks' dnsly packd fathrs trap nough air to insulat thm from frigid watrs.即使身上被冰块覆盖，这只长尾鸭还是经得起北海道冬天的气候;这是因为它紧密的羽毛能够留住足够空气，让它在冰寒的水中保持温暖。it may b calld th jigokudani wild monky park, but th japans macaqus hr hav takn up on of lif's mor civilizd plasurs: hot tubbing. a sris of hot springs hlp kp th monkys warm through th cold wintrs. also known as snow monkys, japans macaqus ar th world's northrnmost non-human primats.这里虽然名为“地狱谷野生猴园”，但这里的日本猕猴已经开始享受生命中比较文明的乐趣：泡热水澡。一连串火山池使猕猴能在酷寒的冬天保持温暖。日本猕猴又称为雪猴，是人类以外生活在地球最北方的灵长类动物。rd-crownd crans sing a "unison" call on hokkaido, th northrnmost of japan's main islands. onc almost xtinct in japan, hundrds of th rvrd crans now wintr hr, hlpd by handouts of grain from local farmrs.丹顶鹤在日本最北的主岛北海道发出“齐鸣”。虽然丹顶鹤在日本备受崇敬，然而它们却一度几乎灭绝，现在有几百只在北海道过冬，当地农民以谷物喂食来帮助它们生存。punctuatd by laps that can rach tn ft, th danc of th rd-crownd cran is so arrsting that japan actually namd a city for it: maizuru, or dancing cran.丹顶鹤的舞蹈中也包含高达三米的跳跃，它们的舞蹈如此迷人，日本人甚至以它们的舞蹈为一座城市命名：舞鹤。too many animals, too littl spac: it's not an uncommon problm in japan. considr th japans macaqu, a natural trasur and wintr spctacl. ths monkys ar famous for thir cultural transmission bhavior (young monkys larn from thir ldrs novl kinds of bhaviors, from grooming tchniqus to food prparation) and for living farthr north than any othr primat xcpt humans. som 110,000 liv in japan, 7,000 of thm in th cold, snowy alps of honshu, whr thy hav arnd th monikr "snow monky."动物太多，空间太少：在日本，这是个常见的问题。日本的自然珍宝与冬季奇观日本猕猴就是一个例子。日本猕猴最出名的是它们的文化传递行为(幼猴会从年长猴处学习新的行为，从理毛技巧到食物处理)，它们也是人类以外，生活在地球最北处的灵长类动物。约有11万日本猕猴居住在日本，其中7000只住在本州岛寒冷而多雪的高山，使它们赢得了“雪猴”的别名。jigokudani wild monky park draws hundrds of thousands of visitors a yar to watch th macaqus, spcially in wintr. to hlp kp th monkys in th ara, th park staff fds thm svral tims a day and has don so for 40 yars. whn th fding startd, th troop numbrd 23 individuals; now it has about 200.地狱谷野生猴园每年吸引几十万游客前来观赏日本猕猴，尤其在冬季。为了将猴子留在园区内，园区的工作人员40年来每天都会喂食猴子几次。园区刚开始喂食猴子时，猴群内共有23只猴子，现在已有大约200只。hr and lswhr in japan, artificial fding of th monkys with "human" foods and thir burgoning numbrs in populatd aras hav bgun to caus problms. in ancint japans folktals, monkys oftn appar as trickstrs, clvrly duping othr animals out of thir ric ball or prsimmon fruit. th macaqus at jigokudani and othr spots in japan ar living up to thir bad rap, raiding orchards and gardns, taking appls, priz graps, and othr crops. th situation is spcially bad whr xpanding numbrs of monkys ar moving closr to villags and growing boldr in thir xploits, occasionally attacking humans and staling food from insid houss.不论在这里或是日本其它地方，用人类的食物喂食猴子，以及它们在有人类居住地区的数量增长，都已经开始造成问题了。在古老的日本民间故事里，猴子往往扮演爱恶作剧的妖精，狡狯地骗走其它动物的饭团或柿子。地狱谷和其它地方的日本猕猴也还真是不负它们的坏名声，侵袭果园和花园，偷走苹果、葡萄和其它作物。越靠近村庄的地方问题越严重，在数目膨胀的猴群中，猴子们的行为越来越胆大妄为，偶尔还会攻击人类，甚至从住屋内偷取食物。