Endangered Peoples

濒危民族

Today, it is not distance, but culture that separates the peoples of the world. The central question of our time may be how to deal with cultural differences. So begins the book, Endangered Peoples, by Art Davidson. It is an attempt to provide understanding of the issues affecting the world's native peoples.

现今，隔绝世界上各个民族的不是距离而是文化。我们这个时代的中心问题也许是如何解决文化差异。因此，请打开这本亚特·戴维生写的《濒危民族》。它试图了解影响世界上各土著民族的一些问题。

This book tells the stories of 21 tribes, cultures, and cultural areas that are struggling to survive. It tells each story through the voice of a member of the tribe.

这本书里讲诉了21个挣扎求存的部落、文化和文化区域的故事。它的每一个故事都是通过该部落的一员来讲述的。

Mr. Davidson recorded their words. Art Wolfe and John Isaac took pictures of them. The organization called the Sierra Club published the book.

戴维生先生记录了他们的话语。亚特·沃尔夫和约翰·艾萨克为他们拍了照。名为塞拉俱乐部的组织出版了这本书。

The native groups live far apart in North America or South America, Africa or Asia. Yet their situations are similar. They are fighting the march of progress in an effort to keep themselves and their cultures alive.

这些土著民族居住在南美洲或北美洲、非洲或亚洲的偏远地区。然而，他们的境况相似。他们正在进步的征程上抗争，试图要让他们和他们的文化存活下来。

Some of them follow ancient ways most of the time. Some follow modem ways most of the time. They have one foot in ancient world and one foot in modem world. They hope to continue to balance between these two worlds. Yet the pressures to forget their traditions and join the modem world may be too great.

他们中的一些人大多时候遵循古法。一些人大多时候采用新方法行事。他们一脚踩在古代世界，一脚踏入了现代世界。他们希望继续在两个世界中取得平衡。然而，忘记传统和融入现代世界的压力也许会很大。

Rigoberta Menchu of Guatemala, the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1992, offers her thoughts in the beginning of the book. Endangered Peoples. She notes that many people claim that native peoples are like stories from the past. They are ruins that have died. She disagrees strongly. She says native communities are not remains of the past. They have a future, and they have much wisdom and richness to offer the rest of the world.

1992年的诺贝尔和平奖获得者，危地马拉的里戈韦塔·门楚在《濒危民族》一书的开头表达了她的想法。她注意到很多人声称土著民族就像过去的故事。他们是死去的废墟。她强烈反对这种说法。她说土著社区不是过去的遗物。他们有未来，他们拥有很多智慧和财富可以提供给外面的世界。

Art Davidson traveled thousands of miles around the world while working on the book. He talked to many people to gather their thoughts and feelings. Mr. Davidson notes that their desires are the same. People want to remain themselves, he says. They want to raise their children the way they were raised. They want their children to speak their mother tongue, their own language. They want them to have their parents' values and customs.

亚特·戴维生在写作这本书的时在全世界旅行了数千英里。他跟很多人交谈，然后汇总他们的想法和情感。戴维生先生注意到他们的愿望都是相同的。他说人们想要保存他们自己。他们想用自己被养大的方法抚养的孩子。他们想让孩子们说母语，说自己的语言。他们希望孩子们承袭父辈的价值观和习惯。

Mr. Davidson says the people's cries are the same: "Does our culture have to die? Do we have to disappear as a people?"

戴维生先生说人们的呼喊都是相同的：“我们的文化必须消亡吗？我们整个民族必须消失吗？”

Art Davidson lived for more than 25 years among native peoples in the American state of Alaska. He says his interest in native people began in his boyhood when he found an ancient stone arrowhead. The arrowhead was used as a weapon to hunt food. The hunter was an American Indian, long dead. Mr. Davidson realized then that Indians had lived in the state of Colorado, right where he was standing. And it was then, he says, that he first wondered: 'Where are they? Where did they go?'

亚特·戴维生在美国阿拉斯加州的土著民族中居住了25年多时间。他说他对土著民族的兴趣始于孩童时代发现的一枚古代石制箭镞。箭镞过去用来作为猎食的武器。猎人是一个美洲印第安人，死了很久了。戴维生先生后来意识到印第安人以前就住在他当时站的地方——科罗拉多州。他说就是在那个时候他第一次好奇：“他们在哪？他们去了哪里？”

He found answers to his early question. Many of the native peoples had disappeared. They were forced off their lands. Or they were killed in battle. Or they died from diseases brought by new settlers. Other native peoples remained, but they had to fight to survive the pressures of the modern world.

他后来找到了早前那个问题的答案。很多的土著民族消失了。他们被迫离开自己的土地，或者他们在战争中死于杀戮，又或者他们死于

The Gwich'in are an example of the survivors. They have lived in what is now Alaska and Canada for 10,000 years. Now about 5, 000 Gwich'in remain. They are mainly hunters. They hunt the caribou, a large deer with big horns that travels across the huge spaces of the far north. For centuries, they have used all parts of the caribou: the meat for food, the skins for clothes, the bones for tools. Hunting caribou is the way of life of the Gwich'in.

哥威迅人是存活下来的族群中的一个。他们已在现在的阿拉斯加和加拿大所在地居住了一万年。现在世界上约有5 000个哥威迅人。他们大多是猎人。他们猎取北美驯鹿。这是一种有着大大的鹿角的巨型鹿。它们在遥远北方的巨大空间里穿行。几个世纪以来，哥威迅人一直使用着驯鹿身上的各个部分：肉用来做食物，皮用来做衣服，骨头用来做工具。猎取驯鹿是哥威迅人的生存方法。

One Gwich'in told Art Davidson of memories from his childhood. It was a time when the tribe lived quietly in its own corner of the world. He spoke to Mr. Davidson in these words: "As long as I can remember, someone would sit by a fire on the hilltop every spring and autumn. His job was to look for caribou. If he saw a caribou, he would wave his arms. Or he would make his fire to give off more smoke. Then the village would come to life! People ran up to the hilltop. The tribes seemed to be at its best at these gatherings. We were all filled with happiness and sharing!"

一个哥威迅人对亚特·戴维生讲述了他童年的记忆。那个时候部落宁静地居住在世上属于它们自己的角落里。他是这样对戴文生讲述的：“在我的记忆里，每年春秋时节，总有某个人坐在山顶上，旁边燃着一个火堆。他的工作是寻找驯鹿。如果他看见了驯鹿，就会挥舞手臂或是让火堆冒出更多的烟。接着村子就会活跃起来！人们都跑上山顶。部落在这种聚会的时候看起来特别好。我们都满含着幸福和分享的感觉！”

About ten years ago, the modern world invaded the quiet world of the Gwich'in. Oil companies wanted to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Preserve. This area was the place where the caribou gave birth to their young. The Gwich'in feared the caribou would disappear.

大约十年前，现代世界入侵了宁静的哥威迅世界。石油公司想要在极地国家野生动物保护区开采石油。这个地区是驯鹿生育下一代的地方。哥威迅人怕驯鹿会消失。

One Gwich'in woman describes the situation in these words: "Oil development threatens the caribou. If the caribou are threatened, then the people are threatened. Oil company officials and American lawmakers do not seem to understand. They do not come into our homes and share our food. They have never tried to understand the feelings expressed in our songs and our prayers. They have not seen the old people cry. Our elders have seen parts of our culture destroyed. They worry that our people may disappear forever."

  一位哥威迅妇女是这样描述这种状况的：“石油开发威胁到驯鹿的生存。如果驯鹿受到威胁，那么人类也会受到威胁。石油公司和美国的立法者似乎并不了解这一状况。他们没有来过我们的家园分享过我们的食物。他们从未试图理解我们的歌曲和祷告词中所表达的情感。他们没有看见老人们的哭泣。长辈们已经见到我们的部分文化被毁灭了。他们担忧我们民族会永远消失。”

A scientist with a British oil company dismisses the fears of the Gwich'in. He also says they have no choice. They will have to change.

在一家英国石油公司工作的一位科学家解除了哥威迅人的这种恐惧。他也表示他们别无选择。他们将必须改变。