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On December 10, 1997, Julia Butterfly Hill climbed into a tree. She did not come down for two years. She ate in the tree. She slept in the tree. She became the tree's protector. But why would Hill do this? And what made her finally come down? Today’s Spotlight is on Julia Butterfly Hill and her work for the environment.

一九九七年十二月十日，Julia Hill （文内简称 茱利亚） 爬上了一棵树。从此，在树上生活了两年没下来过。她在树上吃饭睡觉，成了那棵树的保护者。她为什么要这么做？最后又怎么下来的？今天我们聚焦来看这位女士和她从事的环保工作。

"I never thought that I was going to live in a tree. If I had seen what was coming, I would have gone screaming in the other direction. But life does not give it to us that way. Life just gives it to us moment by moment, day by day. We show up and live it the best that we can."

“我从来没料到我会住在树上。如果当时我知道后来会发生什么事，我可能会大声尖叫，转头离去。但生活中就是有一些不能预知的事发生。我们是每个瞬间每个片刻每一天去体验生活的，以我们所能、最好的方式去面对生命里所发生的事。”

Julia Butterfly Hill said these words during a conference in Washington. She told a large group of people about how she became an environmental activist. Environmental activists work to protect the earth. They believe that people should protect all plants and animals. But Hill did not always care about these things.

茱利亚是在华盛顿首府的一个会议上说出以上的话。她告诉一大群的听众，她是如何成为致力于大地环境保护工作的环保人士的。环保人士相信，人们应该要保护所有的植物和动物。但以前的她，并不全然在乎这些事情的。

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At the age of 16 Hill quit school and worked at a restaurant. For many years, she was only interested in making money and material things. Then one day she had a serious car accident. It changed her life. Hill told the magazine Grist what happened:

她16岁时，辍学在一家餐馆打工。那时的她只对赚钱和丰裕的物质生活感兴趣。一天，她经历了一个严重的车祸，这改变了她的生命。她对访问她的Grist杂志记者叙述发生的经过：

 “I had a car wreck in August of 1996. I was driving my friend’s car. We were hit from behind by a drunk driver. It took 10 months of physical and brain therapy to recover from the wreck. During that time, I realized I wanted to find a more powerful purpose for being here on this planet.”

“一九九六年八月，我碰上了一场车祸。当我时开着朋友的车。一个喝醉酒的人开车从后头撞上了我们。那场车祸，导致我在接下来十个月都在做物理治疗和脑部治疗。在那段时间里，我了解到我活在这个世界上，该有个更重大的目的。”

As soon as her body healed, Hill travelled to the west of the United States. There she saw an amazing sight - the ancient redwood trees of California. These trees are reddish brown in colour. Many of them are thousands of years old. But what is most amazing is their size; redwood trees can grow up to 120 metres high. And they can be up to 8 metres across. These giant redwoods are the largest trees in the whole world.

当她的身体复原之后，她到美国西部旅游。在那儿，她见到了一个奇妙的景观- 加州古老的红木森林。这些树是红棕色，有许多都是千年老树。最让人感奇特的，是红木的外型。它们高可以长达120米，树宽可以到8米。这些树是全世界最巨大的红木森林。

The wood from redwood trunks is very hard. This wood makes strong building structures such as parts of railroads and buildings. So logging companies cut down many of the giant redwoods to use for construction. There are not many forests of these trees left. Many environmental activists want to protect the remaining trees. The redwoods are very important to the environment.

红木的树干很坚硬，是兴建一些铁路轨道和建筑物的好建材。也因此，许多伐木公司把巨大的红木砍下用来做建筑，这造成 红木森林所剩无几。许多环保人士主张要保护仅存的红木林，因为这对环境是相当重要的。

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In 1997 a group called Earth First was working to protect a particular group of trees. They were negotiating with the logging company but they needed more time. They decided to send someone up into a redwood tree. They hoped this would stop the company from cutting the trees down. Julia Butterfly Hill volunteered. She wanted to go up in the tree. She tells reporter Judith Fertig about the day she went up into the tree. She named it ‘Luna’.

一九九七年，一群叫 地球在先 的环保人士致力要保护某个特定的树林区。他们当时正和伐木公司做协调沟通，但因时间迫近，需要有更多时间交涉，于是决定派个人爬上一棵红木树。茱莉亚主动请缨爬上树。她对采访记者Fertig提到那天上树的光景。她给了那棵树一个名字：露娜。

 “On December 10, 1997, I put on the belt and ropes and went up into Luna. It was 55 metres up. I thought it would be three or four weeks in the tree. But it turned into two years and eight days. I returned to the ground only after the company agreed to protect Luna and the surrounding wooded area.”

“一九九七年十二月十日，我系上了腰带，带上了绳索，爬上了露娜。它高约五十五米。我本以为在那上头呆个三四个星期就成了，结果竟然一呆是两年又八天。我是等到伐木公司同意要保护露娜和周围的树林后，才从树上下来的。”

Julia Hill lived in the tree for over two years without ever coming down. She learned to survive in this difficult environment. She walked barefoot on the tree branches. She never washed the sticky sap from the tree off of her feet. It helped her to walk on the tree branches. Hill built two small platforms to live on. She had a large piece of plastic material to protect her. But she was never comfortable. It is always cold and wet in a redwood tree. There were even very serious winter storms while Hill was in the tree. The wind and cold almost knocked Hill out of the tree. But she did not fall - she survived.

茱莉亚住在树上两年多，从没下来过。她学会在这样一个困难的环境里过活。她赤足在树枝间走动。沾着树木粘液的双脚从来没清洗过。这反倒帮助她在树枝间走动自如。她建了两个小平台，在其上生活，用一块大塑胶板来遮阳避雨保护自己，但从来都不是很舒服。红木林向来都非常寒冷潮湿。当她住在树上时，还经历过严冬的暴风雪来袭。暴风和严寒差点使她从树上掉下来。但她并没有摔下，反存活了下来。

Hill cooked her food with a small stove. Her friends visited her two times every week. They sent what Hill needed up through a pulley system of ropes. Once, they even sent her a chocolate birthday cake! But most of the time, it was very difficult and lonely to live in a tree.

茱利亚用一个小炉子煮热食。她的朋友一周两回会来探望她。他们会把她所需用的东西，用绳索滑轮系统，吊上去给她。有一回，他们甚至把一个巧克力生日蛋糕吊上去给她。但多半时候，她在树上的生活都是极其孤单且困难的。

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Finally, after years of arguing, the logging company decided to protect Luna. They signed an agreement to never cut down this giant redwood tree or the trees around it. When Hill put her feet on the earth, she began to cry. But from that moment Hill has continued her work to protect the environment. People around the world want to meet her and hear her story. Hill uses her fame to encourage people to work for the environment in their own communities. She told the San Francisco Chronicle:

终于，经过几年的争论后，伐木公司决定要保护 露娜。他们签署了一个协议，注明不会砍掉这棵巨大的红木，和其周围的树木。当茱利亚的双足踏在地上时，她哭了。那时之后，她就不间断持续环保的工作。世界各地的人想和她见面，听她的经历。茱利亚用她的名气鼓励人们，要在自己社区做维护环境的工作。她告诉 旧金山纪事报 的记者说：

 “Everywhere I go to talk about my experiences, I relate it with what is happening locally. I hope to get the general public listening, the ones who want to see the woman who sat in the tree for two years."

“每回我去到某个地方分享经历时，我总会提到那里当地正发生的和环保有关的事。我希望那些群众，那些来看我这个在树上生活两年的女人的，会听进我的忠告。”　

Since her time in the redwood tree, Hill has done other kinds of environmental activism. She even had to leave the country of Ecuador. She was supporting indigenous people in their protests against mining companies. Hill works with many different groups. But she still lives a very simple life. She does not eat any products made from animals. She does not use things that create waste when they are thrown away. And Hill encourages other people to do these things also. She told the conference in Washington:

从红木下来后的茱利亚，也从事其他和环保有关的事。她甚至被迫要离开厄瓜多尔，因为她参与支持那里的原著民向采矿公司提出抗议活动。她与许多不同的群体合作，也仍然过着非常单纯俭朴的生活。她不吃所有和动物有关的食品。凡丢弃后会造成垃圾的东西她也不使用。她也鼓励其他人跟着她这么做。她在华府举行的大会上这么说：

 “We live in a world that is full of problems. And we are the solutions to those problems. After I came down from living in that tree, I started realizing how every moment we make choices. Every single choice changes the world - every single one of them. Every moment of every day we are looking for ways to be living examples of all that is beautiful and humble and just and amazing about our world."

“我们生活在一个充满问题的世界。而我们也是这些问题的解决之道。我从树上下来后，明了到一件事，我们每时每刻都在做选择；而每个选择，每个决定，都能改变这个世界。每天每时每刻，我们都致力寻求，如何用自己的生命来彰显这世上所有美丽的，谦逊的，公正的，和令人惊奇的事物。”

（本文经Sportlightradio同意做转载和翻译，你能上网听慢速读出这篇文章 Julia Hill Lives in a Tree  http://spotlightenglish.com/listen/julia-hill-lives-in-a-tree ）