英國文化：英格蘭湖區(qū) 牧羊人過著令人著迷的生活

The Herdwick Shepherd, James Rebanks, is the latest of several generations to have tended flocks in the Lake District, but he now has a book and 45,000 Twitter followers entranced by the starkly beautiful scenes he photographs every day. Here he explains what his life is like and why his documenting of it appeals to so many people.

牧羊人詹姆斯·理班克斯是湖區(qū)最新幾代放牧人中的一員，他已經出版了一本書，在推特(Twitter)上有45000個粉絲，大家都被他每天用相機被拍下的純粹自然美景迷住了。下面他給我們介紹了他每天的生活，以及為什么他的記錄能吸引這么多人。

People have farmed sheep and cattle in the English uplands for 4-5,000 years - it is a culture as old as the pyramids.

在英格蘭的高地上，人們牧羊牧牛的歷史已經長達四、五千年了，這是一種跟金字塔一樣久遠的文化。

The Lake District fells are mostly "common land" - with legal grazing rights held by the graziers (the landlord often has no grazing rights). I have always been involved in the family farm and have worked with the sheep since I was very small with my grandfather. Today we farm about 600 sheep.

湖區(qū)的高地大都是公共用地，放牧權由放牧人持有(地主通常沒有放牧權)。自我小時候起，我就一直和我爺爺在自家的牧場里一起放羊。如今，我們有差不多600只羊。

I started tweeting about three years ago, initially as an experiment to see if anyone was interested. It quickly became clear that they were in large numbers. I have written poems and journalism for more than 15 years, and realised that this was a good way to be creative with pictures and words about our way of life. We now have 44,000 followers and some recent video clips of our puppies were viewed 600,000 times.

我大約從3年前開始發(fā)推特，一開始只是想看看有沒有人感興趣。很快我們就發(fā)現很多人都很喜歡。我有15年的寫詩和做新聞的經驗，我發(fā)現用圖片和文字記錄我們的生活方式很有新意。我們現在有44000個粉絲，最近我們家小狗的一些視頻短片已經有60萬次播放量了。

The Lake District is the UK's nominated site for World Heritage status in 2016-17 - its unique pastoral farming system is a key part of its historic significance. It is one of the world's most amazing surviving historic farming landscapes.

湖區(qū)是英國境內入選2016-17年世界文化遺產提名的地方，它獨特的畜牧系統(tǒng)是給這個地方賦予歷史性意義的關鍵。那里有世界上現存的最令人嘆為觀止的畜牧景觀。

The children's author Beatrix Potter left 15 farms and 4,000 acres in her will to the National Trust and specified the need to protect and sustain the traditional Herdwick farming system. The trust owns many thousands of sheep in its landlord's flocks and they are taken on by the tenants of their farms.

兒童文學作家比阿特麗克斯·波特在她的遺囑里給National Trust(旨在保護英國最具歷史價值和自然美的土地與建筑的組織)贈與了15個牧場和4000英畝的土地，并指明要用于保護和維持傳統(tǒng)的赫德威克畜牧系統(tǒng)。在地主的牧場里，這個組織擁有數千只綿羊，它們由牧場的承包人照管。

Herdwick sheep are native to the Lake District. There are about 50,000 breeding females, but the number is declining due to environmental schemes - 95% of them live in a 20-mile radius of each other. They are classed as "at risk" because of the threats to them.

赫德威克綿羊是湖區(qū)本地的品種。仍能繁育的雌性綿羊大約有5萬只，但是由于政府開發(fā)地產導致環(huán)境破壞，這個數字正在減少，它們中95%都相互隔著20英里的距離。由于種種威脅，它們已經被列為瀕危物種。

Herdwick sheep are "hefted", which means they hold without fences to a place on the fell, or hill or mountain, because they are taught a sense of belonging by their mothers in their first summer. This stretches back countless centuries and has never been broken.

赫德威克綿羊是很“戀家”的。也就是說，在高地或者山上，不用籬笆圈起來它們都會自己待在某一塊地方，因為在它們出生后的第一個夏天，母羊會教它們不要離開屬于它們的地方。這種現象已經有好幾個世紀的歷史了，而且從未被打破過。

DNA analysis suggests that Herdwick sheep really did come by boat with the Vikings a thousand or more years ago. Their closest relatives live far to the north.

DNA分析表明，赫德威克綿羊確實是一千多年前由維京人船運帶來的。與它們血緣關系最近的物種都生活在遙遠的北方。

Because flocks graze the fells together a system of lug (ear) and smit (body) marks has evolved to identify the sheep, and these are captured in the Lake District Shepherd's Guide which has been published for more than 200 years. Similar systems exist forreindeer herders in Norway and Sweden.

因為不同的羊群會一起在高地上吃草，所以牧羊人有一套耳朵和身體的標識系統(tǒng)來區(qū)分不同的羊群，這種方法被記錄在了200多年前出版的《湖區(qū)牧羊指南》里。挪威和瑞典的馴鹿牧人也用著類似的系統(tǒng)。

The average income of a Lake District fell farmer is £8,500, according to figures from Newcastle University. Lambs are sold for a quarter of their real price in 1970.

根據紐卡斯爾大學的數據，湖區(qū)高地農場主的平均收入是8500英鎊。在1970年，羊的售價僅是它真正價值的四分之一。

It is a tough way to make a living.

他們的生活十分艱難。