导读
捧读此文，实实存在的感受是：在享受。
本文的难能可贵处是：既写出了朱自清《荷塘月》的清俊飘逸，同时又向读者从容展示了许多“留守寒带”的动物如何过冬的丰富知识，意趣无穷!
文章的开头，空灵而清新：
Nothing. No tracks but my own are stitched into the dusting of fresh snow, white as birch bark, that fell during the night.
Nothing一词，独立篇首，让人暗生联想：天地间白茫茫一片! 而后句的动词stitched则把自己印住雪地里的一长串脚印，比作缝上白布的一条细密针脚！翻译此词，谈何容易!
What sun there is this time of year shines weakly, halfheartedly through the white gauze of clouds, offering not even the slightest pretense of warmth.
想必读者不会放过上句里的一个副词，品后又击节叹赏：halfheartedly。
作者在赏美国何处的冬景? 文中随意流露：
For nearly a week temperatures around my Wisconsin cabin have not risen above zero.
冬日虽然快走到了尽头，但是作者似乎有点失望：
At first glance nature doesn't seem to have invested much in this late-winter day.
细心的读者可能已经感到句中的At first glance是一个漂亮的伏笔！果然，他听到了春天的脚步声：
Just as I start to turn back home I hear it: the soft, two-toned whistle of chickadees. …On the ground, I notice rabbit tracks where moments ago I had seen only unbroken snow.
作者不再失望：Take heart, they seem to say, spring is coming soon!
这情景交融的笔触让读者感奋，共鸣，遐思。
地球北部的野外“居士”们如何越冬? 作者分析：
Winter gives wildlife two basic choices: leave or tough it out.
翩翩然的弱蝴蝶，居然有“远游”之壮举：
A hundred million monarch butterflies, like wildflowers on wings, travel sometimes 4000 miles to Mexico, Texas and California.
水中的庞然大物也不例外：
Gray whales travel thousands of miles seeking warmth, food and sunlight.
作者在一个非常自然的转折后，描写了10多种“就地越冬”的动物的憨态，令读者耳目一新：
Other creatures devise their own ways to deal with the harsh realities of winter.
北极熊：Polar bears stay warm by laying on layers of fat up to seven inches thick beneath a coat of fur with nearly 10,000 hairs per square inch.
“猛吃”后积累脂肪、以御寒冷，并非北极熊之“专利”：
To keep their internal furnace stoked, chickadees eat twice as much food in winter as in summer. They feed almost constantly during daylight to accumulate a layer of fat that will burn slowly through the cold night.
“冬眠”则是另一些动物的“绝招”：
Wood frogs actually freeze solid, like lumps of ice, and thaw out come spring.
…black bears go on a feeding frenzy. They consume up to 20,000 calories a day, adding 30 percent to their body weight. With the first snow, they den—deep in hollow logs, caves, shallow holes lined with grass.
A Promise of Spring
春之希望
By Jeff Rennicke
Nothing. No tracks but my own are stitched into the dusting of fresh snow, white as birch
bark, that fell during the night. No flittering shadows in the trees, not a sliver of bird song in the air.
天地一片空寂。昨夜刚刚飘落的一场大雪，像白桦树皮那样洁白，白雪皑皑的大地上只留下一行我自己的足迹，仿佛缝在白布上的一行细密针脚。树上没有飞鸟的影子掠过，空中也没有一丝鸟儿的歌声。
What sun there is this time of year shines weakly, halfheartedly through the white gauze of clouds, offering not even the slightest pretense of warmth. For nearly a week temperatures around my Wisconsin cabin have not risen above zero. The mercury seems painted to the bottom of the thermometer. A shiver runs through me as I stomp my feet for warmth and then listen again for any sign of life. The only sound is from the bare tips of branches chattering like teeth.
一年中此时的太阳发出微弱的光线，懒洋洋地透过薄薄的云层，没有一丝暖意。几乎有一个星期了，我在威斯康星州的小屋里的气温还没有到过零度以上。温度计里的水银柱降到了底端。当我跺着脚取暖时，一个冷战传遍全身。然后我侧耳倾听，判断是否有动物活动。
唯一听到的就是光秃秃的枝杈发出的声响，听起来就像牙齿打战的声音。
At first glance nature doesn't seem to have invested much in this late-winter day. The forest can seem like a rough etching—barren, lifeless and gray. The sight of flakes parachuting into the front lawn, which swept you up in December, now just means you have to scrape your car windshield. There are subtle beauties—pine branches tipped in white, the pale-blue glow of moonlight off the snow. But this deep into winter, you look less for beauty than for signs that spring has not been forgotten.
乍看上去，在这种深冬日子里，大自然似乎没有赋予它多少景致，森林看上去像一幅粗糙的蚀刻版画——单调，灰暗，毫无生气。在12月份，片片雪花飘落在屋前的草坪上，大雪狂舞，令你心旷神怡；而现在你只须刮除汽车挡风玻璃上的积雪。然而也有些微妙的美景——松枝上顶着的白尖，遥远的淡蓝月光照在白雪上。但是在这深冬季节，与其说你在寻美，不如说你在寻春天没有忘记留下的种种迹象。
They are not easy to find. Once it was believed that nature simply wiped the slate clean every winter, a kind of yearly apocalypse followed by a miracle rebirth each spring. Mice
were thought to regenerate spontaneously from rag piles. Frogs and turtles climbed out of puddles, spawned by magic spring rains. Birds changed with other animals to get through the frigid months.
要发现这些迹象并不容易。人们曾经相信，大自然每年冬季只不过是把大地打扫干净，这是一种每年一次的天启，它预示了一个神奇的万物复苏的春天紧接着要到来。老鼠们好像就从破烂儿堆中自然而然地跑了出来；青蛙和海龟从水塘中爬了出来，一场神奇的春雨让它们破卵而出；鸟儿也和别的动物一样发生了变化，以度过严寒的季节。
The real ways nature copes with the cold are almost as amazing as these old tales. Winter gives wildlife two basic choices: leave or tough it out. In some places, the landscape empties like a jug of water kicked over. Branches bend under the weight of mixed flocks of blackbirds, cowbirds and starlings, a hundred thousand strong, gathering for mass migrations. Two-thirds of the bird species that nest in North America move to warmer climates.
>hibernating

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