The Bryce Canyon1)
Situated in Utah State,the Bryce Can yon is one of the National Parks in the United States of America,of which many stories were told,here is one of them.
Before there were any lndians,the Legend2) People lived in that place,there were many of them.They were of many kinds--birds,animals,lizards3),and such things--but they looked like people...For some reason,the Legend People in that place were b ad.Because they were bad,Coyote turned them all into rocks.You can see them in that place now;all turned into rocks;some standing in rows,some sitting down,some holding on to others.You can see their faces,with paint on them just as they were before they became rocks...This is the story the people tell.The Paiute Indian legend of Bryce Canyon as told by Indian Dick.To the Paiutes,Bryce Canyon was one thing.But to Mormon pioneer Ebenezer Bryce,the badlands of the Canyon that now bears his name were simply“a helluva4) place to lose a cow.”
In 1875Ebenezer Bryce was 45years old.By that time,he had already served as a shipyard apprentice,a carpenter,a millwright,a sawmill operator,an architect,and a Mormon pioneer in Utah.He'd also emigrated from Scotland,survived a cholera epidemic in St.Louis,and found time to raise a large family.
Ebenezer traded his home in Pine Valley,Utah,for some livestock and moved to the warmer climate of the upper Paria Valley,hoping that his wife's health would improve.Water wasn't where he needed it,so he dug ditches to bring it from the Paria River to his farm near the present town of Tropic.To get timber and fire wood from the forest along“the breaks”of the plateau to his farm,he built a road.Among the residents who used the road,the canyon became known as Bryce's Canyon.
Bryce left the valley in 1880and moved to Arizona.Perhaps the climate was not warm enough,or perhaps he just tired of searching for strays among the bewildering labyrinth of rocks.But he left the valley a little more habitable than when he came,and he left the canyon with the name it still bears.
布 賴 斯 峽 谷
布賴斯峽谷是美國的一個國家公園,位于猶他州境內(nèi)。關(guān)于這個峽谷,有許多傳說,其中有這樣一段故事。
在印第安人來到這片土地之前,這里居住著許多各式各樣的神話人物,如鳥、獸、蜥蜴等等,它們的形狀全都像人一樣……。出于某種原因,神話人物都很壞,于是草原狼把它們?nèi)孔兂闪耸^。你現(xiàn)在在那里就可以看到,它們?nèi)汲闪耸^,有的一排排地站著,有的坐在那里,有的互相靠著。你可以看到它們臉上還保留著變成石頭以前的原有色彩……,這就是傳說中的故事。這是印第安人講的有關(guān)布賴斯峽谷派尤特印第安人的神話。對派尤特人來說,布賴斯峽谷是這么回事,而對現(xiàn)在以其名字命名這片峽谷不毛之地的拓荒者---摩門教徒埃比尼澤·布賴斯來說,這里只不過是“丟失母牛的活地獄”。
1875年,埃比尼澤·布賴斯時年45歲。在此之前,他當過造船廠學(xué)徒、木工、水磨匠、鋸木廠操作員、建筑師,后來成了猶他地方的摩門教徒拓荒人。他也是從蘇格蘭移民過來的;在圣路易斯險些喪生于流行的霍亂病,活下來后他得供養(yǎng)他的一大家子人。
埃比尼澤將他在猶他派因山谷的家舍變賣成了一些牲畜,而后全家遷往氣候較暖和、地勢較高的帕里阿山谷,期待著他妻子的身體能在那里逐漸好起來。在那里,他要水而沒有水,于是他挖溝從帕里阿河引水灌溉他的田地,即在現(xiàn)在的特羅匹克鎮(zhèn)附近。為了從高原上運送斷層兩旁森林的木材和木柴,他又修了一條道路。使用這條道路的居民因而就把這個峽谷叫做布賴斯峽谷,于是這個名字就傳開了。
布賴斯于1880年離開山谷遷往亞利桑那。也許是由于氣候不夠暖和,也可能是他厭煩了在迷宮般的石頭山中終日煩擾不安地尋找走失的牲畜。不過,他留下的山谷比他來時更適于人居住了,同時也留下了直到現(xiàn)在仍以他姓氏命名的峽谷。
NOTE 注釋:
1. canyon [5kAnjEn] n. <美>峽谷, 溪谷
2. legend [5ledVEnd] adj. 傳奇的,神話的
3. lizard [5lizEd] n. [動]蜥蜴
4. helluva [`helEvE] adj. 很難的, 很大的
5. cholera [5kClErE] n. [醫(yī)]霍亂
6. epidemic [7epi5demik] adj. 流行的, 傳染的, 流行性