Aurochs①　野牛

An Aurochs in blind rage,charging through thick and thin②,has had a fascination for me as long as I can remember.The true aurochs and this,the European Bison,ceased to exist in the British Isles,except in the Zoological Gardens;but the latter is still found wild in Lithuania,and is also carefully preserved in other parts of Russia,of which the Emperor has a herd.There is much talk about their being untamable—that they will not mix with tame cattle—that tame cows shrink from the aurochs'calves;but does not any cow shrink from any calf not her own？The American Bison,with which you are all pretty familiar,is very similar to the one just mentioned.There have been several attempts made to domesticate the American bison,and have been so far successful.The size and strength of the animal make it probable that if domesticated,it would be of great use.

狂怒中的非洲野牛不顾一切地横冲直撞，这个情景一直让我痴迷。现在，在大不列颠诸岛上已经看不到真正的非洲野牛了，图中的这种欧洲野牛也从大不列颠诸岛上消失了，要看也只能去动物园看；不过，在立陶宛③依然可以找到欧洲野牛的踪影，在俄罗斯的其他一些地方，这种野牛也得到了精心的保护，俄罗斯的沙皇就有一群这样的野牛。人们都说野牛无法驯服，说它们不会和驯牛同居一处，还说驯牛见了小野牛都会远远地躲开；不过，话说回来，所有的牛不都是这样吗？见了别家的小牛犊，都躲得远远的，唯恐避之不及。大家都很熟悉美洲野牛吧？其实这种野牛和我们刚才说的野牛非常相似。有人试图驯化美洲野牛，而且现在看来卓有成效。野牛身强体壮，力大无比，一旦被驯化，将大有用途。

【注】

①Aurochs和以下出现的Bison是居住在不同地方的野牛，在这里统一翻译成野牛。

②through thick and thin：英语习语，意思是“不畏艰难险阻。”

③立陶宛现在是一个独立的国家，但是，在历史上曾经几次隶属于俄罗斯。这本书说的就是立陶宛隶属于俄罗斯的时期，因此作者前面提到立陶宛，后面接着说in other parts of Russian，意思是立陶宛也是俄罗斯的一部分，而且当时的最高统治者是沙皇（Tsar或emperor）。