The brilliancy of the streams, which are commonly red at their base, green in the middle, and light yellow towards the zenith, increases, and at the same time they dart with greater vivacity athwart the skies. The colours are wonderfully transparent; the red approaching to a clear blood-red, the green to a pale emerald tint. On turning from the flaming firmament to the earth, this also is seen to glow with a magical light. The dark sea, black as jet, forms a striking contrast to the white snow plain or the distant ice mountain: all the outlines tremble as if they belonged to the unreal world of dreams. The imposing silence of the night heightens the charms of the magnificent spectacle.
这些光束的下面部分通常是红色，中间是绿色，上面的淡黄色直指天顶，光束的光泽度逐渐增强，同时在天空中飞快划过。光束的颜色非常透明，红色更接近清晰的血红色，绿色则更接近淡淡的绿宝石的颜色。当光束从火红的天空转向地面时，可以看到它发出的那道神秘的亮光。漆黑的海面，黑黝黝的，和白雪皑皑的平原以及远处的冰山形成了鲜明的对比：它们的轮廓抖动着，不像人世俗物，更似虚幻梦境，而极静的夜晚则将这般壮观的景象衬托得更加迷人。
But gradually the crown fades; the bow of light dissolves; the streams become shorter, less frequent, and less vivid; and finally the gloom of winter once more descends upon the northern desert.
可惜万物皆有亡时，王冠慢慢消退下去，弓形亮光开始消散，光束愈渐愈短，也愈加安静呆滞，直至最终冬季的阴霾再次将这北方的荒原笼罩。
In these desolate regions, which are winter-bound during the greater part of the year, man, elsewhere the lord of the Earth, plays but an insignificant part. He is generally a mere wanderer over its surface—a hunter, a fisherman, a herdsman. A few small settlements, separated by vast deserts, give proof of his having made some weak attempts to establish a footing.
这片荒芜之地一年大部分时间里都受寒冬的约束，因此人类，不管在哪里都以主人身份自居的人类，在这里只能充当无关紧要的小角色，只能是流浪者、猎人、渔民、和牧民。那被广袤平原相继隔开的零零星星的人类居住地，是努力而又显得无力的人类试图在这片土地上扎下根基的证据。
In the absence of manufactures and agriculture, man is entirely dependent on the lower animals for the means of subsistence. They constitute his wealth, and occupy all his care. They yield him food and clothing, and materials for shelter and for fashioning his rude implements and weapons. The defence with which nature has furnished them against the rigours of the climate, forms the very attraction which exposes them to the attacks of man. The rich furs yielded by the bear, the fox, the sable, the ermine, the lynx, the sea-otter, the seal, and many other Arctic animals, are valuable articles of commerce; and are, indeed, the only means by which the nomads of Siberia and the Esquimaux of North America can procure the foreign articles they require. The pursuit of the whale, the walrus, and the dolphin, the shark-fisheries of Greenland, the cod-fisheries of Greenland and Norway, and the eider-down trade of Iceland, complete the list of the mercantile resources of these regions.
由于无法进行制造业和农业生产，人类只能依赖低级动物来维持生存。低级动物就是他们的财富，是他们关注的全部焦点，人类的食物、衣服、房屋、粗糙的工具和武器材料全都离不开低级动物。正是大自然赋予它们的那身抵御严寒的皮毛吸引了人类的注意，致使它们暴露在人类的攻击之下。熊、狐狸、黑貂、白貂、猞猁、海獭、海豹以及许多其它北极动物的毛皮对人类来说是有价值的商品，也正是西伯利亚的游牧民族和北美的爱斯基摩人获取所需外来物的唯一途径，对鲸、海象、海豚的捕杀、格陵兰的鲨鱼渔场、格陵兰岛和挪威的鳕鱼渔业以及冰岛的羽绒贸易则是该地区商业资源清单的补充。
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