美丽中国1-中英文文档.

最后的隐世净土

The last hidden world

中国

China

数世纪来旅人传诵着关于这片神奇土地

For centuries, travellers to China have told tales of magical landscapes 以及那些神奇生物的传说

and surprising creatures

中国文明是世界最古老的文明

Chinese civilization is the world's oldest

而如今是最宏博的

and today it's largest

那数十亿的人民

with well over a billion people

现存超过五十个民族

It's home to more than 50 distinct ethnic groups

以及各式各样贴近自然的

and a wide range of traditional life styles

传统生活方式

often inclose partnership with nature

我们都知道中国面对着着众多社会环境问题

We know that China faces immense social and environmental problems 但这里也存在着令人窒息的美丽

but there is great beauty here too

中国有着世界最高峰

China is home to the world's highest mountains,

从无垠的炙热沙漠

vast deserts ranging from from searing hot

到麻木大脑的寒冷地带

to mind numbing cold

以及那蒸笼般的森林中

steaming forests

隐匿的各种珍稀生物

harboring rare creatures

天际下广阔无垠的草原

grassy plains beneath vast horizons

以及富饶的热带海洋

and rich tropical seas

现在我们第一次有机会

Now, for the first time ever

深入探索这片伟大的土地

we can explore the whole of this great country

接触栖息于此的珍奇生物

meet some of the surprising and exotic creatures that live here

目睹中国这片神奇土地上

and consider the relationship of the people and wildlife of China

人与野生世界的羁绊

to the remarkable landscaping which they live

这就是最原味的中国

This is wild China

仅以此献给我们多灾多难但美丽依旧的祖国

For our troubled but drop-dead beautiful motherland

我们的中国探索之旅始于南方的亚热带

Our exploration of China begins in the warm subtropical south

漓江的渔人和鱼鸟栖坐在竹筏上

On the Li River fishermen and birds perch on bamboo rafts

这个组合已延续千年之久

a partnership that goes back more than a thousand years

这景致已为世人所熟悉

This scenery is known throughout the world

那是中国水墨永恒的主题

a recurring motif in Chinese paintings

和旅人永远的胜地

and a major tourist attraction

中国南部是片有英国国土

The south of China is a vast area

九倍之大的广阔土地

eight times larger than the UK

这里

It's a landscape of hills

是山雨的国度

but also of water

这里一年之中有250天在降雨

It rains here for up to 250 days a year

到处都是积水

and standing water is everywhere

在扬子江的涝原

In a floodplain of the Yangtse River

黑尾鹬在泥泞中寻索着虫子

black-tailed godwits probe the mud in search of worms

并非只有野生动物在这样的环境下茁壮成长

But it isn't just wildlife that thrive in this environment

沼泽般湿润肥沃的土地为作物家族最显著的成员提供了最理想的环境

the swampy ground provides ideal conditions for the remarkable member of the grass family

这就是稻米

rice

中国有着至少8000年的稻米种植史

The Chinese have been cultivating rice for at least 8 thousand years 他们改变了这块土地

It has transformed the landscape

对云南南部的农民而言冬末是个繁忙的季节

Late winter in southern Yunnan is a busy time for local farmers

因为他们要为即将来临的春天整顿这片古老的稻田

as they prepare the age-old paddy field

ready for the coming spring

元阳县的山坡以2000M之势

These hill slopes of Yuanyang county

斜插于红河谷地的河床

plunge nearly 2000m to the floor of the Red River Valley

包含了上千由原始刨掘工具所创造出的梯田

each contains literally thousands of stack terraces carved out by hand using basic digging tools

云南的梯田是中国最古老人类耕作痕迹中

Yunnan's rice terraces are among the oldest human structures in China 依旧被耕种使用的土地

still ploughed as they always have been

正如千百年来的习俗一样

by domesticated water buffaloes

源自云南河谷的家养水牛承担了耕作的重任

whose ancestors originated in these very valleys

这片人力开拓的土地是工业化前中国最惊奇宏伟的壮景

This man-made landscape is one of the most amazing engineering feats of preindustrial China

似乎这里的每一寸土地

It seems as if every square inch of land