英国语文第六册(双语):热带地区(二)(2)
To the presence of mangrove trees must be attributed, in part at least, the unhealthy character of the estuaries of African rivers. From the roots, when left bare by the tide, a sickly odour arises; and the vicinity of a mangrove forest is always exposed to the deadly malaria. "The shore," says Kingsley, describing a mangrove forest, "sank suddenly into a low line of mangrove wood, backed by primeval forest. The loathsome floor of liquid mud lay bare beneath. Upon the endless web of inter-arching roots great purple crabs were crawling up and down. The black bank of dingy leathern leaves above; the endless labyrinth of stones and withes (for every bough had lowered its own living cord, to take fresh hold of the foul soil below); the web of roots, which stretched far away inland; —all seemed one horrid, complicated trap for the voyager: there was no opening, no relief—nothing but the dark ring of mangroves, and here and there an isolated group of large and small, parents and children, bending and spreading, as if in hideous haste to choke out air and sky. Wailing sadly, sad-coloured mangrove-hens ran off across the mud into the dreary dark. The hoarse night-raven, hid among the roots, startled the voyager with a sudden shout, and then all was again silent as the grave."
这里之所以生长着红树林，部分原因归结于非洲河流河口处的病态特质。每当潮水退去便会自树根处冒出有毒气体，而红树林周围的区域总是会暴露在这致命的瘴气当中。金斯利在描述红树林时说到：“海岸突然陷入一片低矮的红树林，后面是原始森林，下面是臭气熏天的液态泥浆；拱状的树根交错缠绕着连成一张巨大的树根网，上面有紫色的巨型螃蟹爬上爬下；树根上方是堆满了脏兮兮的烂树叶的河岸，下方则是错乱交织成迷宫的石头和树枝(因为每根大树枝都会长出小细枝向下探进土壤里)，树根大网会一路延伸到遥远的内陆地区。对航行者来说，这一切似乎都是一个可怕而复杂的陷阱：没有出口，没有救济，除了一片黑压压的红树林外什么都没有。到处都是一群或老或小的孤立的人、父母和孩子，他们弯着腰张开四肢，仿佛在忙着阻绝空气和天空，让人惊恐。颜色暗淡的红树林悲伤地哭泣着，母鸡们跑出泥泞之地进入一片凄凉的的黑暗当中，一只嘶哑的夜乌鸦藏在树根里发出一声惊叫，将航行者吓了一跳，接着，一切又重归坟墓般死寂。”
In the rivers of Africa the terrible crocodile takes the place held by the alligator in America. There also we encounter the hippopotamus and the still more frightful rhinoceros. Herds of elephants may be seen winding through the open plains, swimming across the rivers in majestic lines and with elevated trunks, or bathing in the shallow lakes for coolness or protection against insects. The antelope (of which Africa is the special nursery), the giraffe, the buffalo, the zebra, are all found in abundance in the plains of southern and central Africa, from Orange river in the south to the Senegal and Nubia in the north.
非洲的水里不像美洲那样生活着短吻鳄，而是可怕的鳄鱼。我们还在那里遇见过河马甚至还有更吓人的犀牛。在那里人们或许还能看到成群结队的大象在广阔的平原上蜿蜒前进，它们排着整齐壮观的队伍游过河流，时而用高处的树枝挠挠痒，或在浅湖里洗洗澡来给自己降温。非洲南部和中部的平原上—从南边的奥伦治河一直到北边的塞内加尔和努比亚生活着大量的羚羊(非洲是特别的羚羊孕育之地)、长颈鹿、水牛和斑马。
