本次選取的文章是來自衛報（The Guardian）的一篇有關保護大象的文章。由於偷獵行為的猖獗，政府的無能，非洲的大象遭到慘無人道的捕獵。而象牙貿易屢禁不止，象牙價格的升高更讓大象的未來危在旦夕。文章的前言很好地概括了文章的主旨：Across Africa, poaching is on the rise. Progress is being made here and there, but the battle to save the largest animals on the Earth is far from being won 大家可以自己練習翻譯一下寫在留言區哦。文章篇幅非常長，這裡選取了開頭幾段，後面的內容請聽下回分解。
In the Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya, when the fierce heat of the sun has softened into a gentle evening glow, David Daballen and I climb into a jeep to find some elephants.
第一段話，由三個短句組成一個長句，看似很長，其實分解出來是挺簡單的句子。第一個句子說了事情發生的地點：In the Samburu National Reserve.... 第二個句子when... 也就是表明了發生的時間：在陽光變弱，要進入夜晚了，可以推測出應該是傍晚黃昏之時。最後一句，說了發生了什麼事情：我和David要尋找大象。
the fierce heat of the sun has softened into a gentle evening glow 注意這個表達，soften into：在這裡指光線暗淡，軟化下來。soften是由soft變形出來的動詞形式，其可以運用的場合是非常多的，在這裡介紹幾個常用的地方。[重點單詞]
（使）變軟，（使）變柔滑
Use moisturizer to soften your skin. 使用潤膚霜讓你的肌膚變柔滑。
（使）〔影響〕變柔和 ，（使）〔態度等〕軟化
The impact of the tax was softened by large tax-free allowances. 這個稅項的影響因為免稅額大而得到了緩和。
The government has softened its stance on public spending. 政府對公共開支問題的態度軟化了。
在肯亞北部的桑布魯國家保護區，當炙熱的陽光已經軟化成輕柔的夜光時，我跟著大衛·達巴倫鑽進一輛吉普車，去尋找大象。
As we drive through the savannah, Daballen, a conservationist at Save the Elephants, points out family groups and individuals within them. 「These are the Butterflies, this group is Storms, here are the Spices,」 he says. We have been looking out for Cinnamon, the Spices』 matriarch, and suddenly there she is: around 50 years old, huge and tuskless, having been born without any precious ivory. Close to her is Habiba, who was orphaned along with seven siblings when poachers killed their mother in 2011. The orphans were adopted by Cinnamon and the rest of the Spices.
我們一邊駛過熱帶草原，來自拯救大象組織的達巴倫（Daballen）一邊給我指出草原上生活的大象族群以及其中的個體。「這一群叫蝴蝶；這一群叫風暴；這是香料，」他說道。我們要找的是香料族群的雌性族長「肉桂」。正說著，她就突然出現在我們的視線中：她大約50歲的年紀，體型龐大，生來就沒有長著珍貴的象牙。跟在她身邊還有小象哈比巴。2011年，這隻小象的母親被盜獵者殺害，它和它的七個兄弟姐妹此後就成了孤兒。之後他們被肉桂和香料族群收養。
Daballen reckons he can identify and name between 400 and 500 elephants. In the jeep, he keeps up a stream of names. 「That’s Jonathan,」 he says as we spot an elephant’s rear end, some 50 metres away. How can he tell one from another? 「Look at their ear patterns: the nicks and holes and tears. Look at their tusks: some are short, some are long, some are curved, some are straight. Look at the pigmentation: some have pink skin, some are light, some are dark. But also look at their faces. They are like our faces, every one is individual.」 It’s not just physical characteristics that are distinguishing, he adds. 「When you spend time with elephants you understand they all have different personalities. They get into your mind. I probably know more elephants than people.」
a stream of a long and almost continuous series of events, people, objects etc〔事件、人、物等的〕一連串，一系列，流[+ of]
a stream of traffic 川流不息的車輛
a stream of abuse 一連串的辱罵
達巴倫說他可以認出大約四百到五百隻大象並叫出他們的名字。在吉普車裡，他一直不斷地叫著一連串的名字。「那是喬納森，」他朝著五十米開外一頭屁股正衝著我們的大象說。他是怎麼區分這些大象的？「看耳朵：缺口啊，孔洞啊，裂痕啊。看象牙：有些短一點，有些長一點，有些是彎曲的，有些是筆直的。看顏色：有些皮膚帶有粉色，有些膚色較淺，有些膚色較深。但是也要看臉。他們的臉跟我們的臉一樣，每一隻都不同。」他接著補充說，區分不同大象的不僅僅是身體上的特徵。「當你花些時間和大象呆在一起的時候，你會明白他們都有不同的個性。他們可以給你留下不同的印象。我對大象的理解或許比我對人的理解還要深刻。」
One of Daballen’s colleagues tells me later that the recognition and respect is mutual. 「The elephants trust him, they will come to him,」 she says. Indeed, one evening our jeep, parked with the engine switched off, is surrounded by a dozen elephants, nudging against the vehicle, trunks nosing almost under our tyres to find clumps of grass, their eyes slowly blinking as they meet ours. It’s a magical moment.
達巴倫的一個同事後來告訴我，這種認知和尊重是相互的。「大象相信他，就會到他身邊來，」她說。的確，有一天晚上我們的吉普車熄火之後，我們的車旁圍繞著十多隻大象。他們拱著車身，把鼻子伸到車胎下面找草吃。當我們與他們目光相對時，他們的眼睛會緩緩地眨動。真是一個神奇的時刻。
After the group moves on, we drive back though near-darkness without headlights. Daballen navigates the jeep between thorn bushes and over furrows, guided by a rising moon and his intimate knowledge of the terrain.
navigate (為…)導航，指引方向。注意navigate在外刊中的另一個常見表達：找到正確方法（對付困難複雜的情況）。比如最近開始的美朝峰會，我們可以用這個事件來造句：
Donald Trump is trying to navigate through the summit with North Korea to reach a deal.川普想方設法讓美朝峰會能達成協議。
thorn （玫瑰之類植物的）刺，棘刺
習語：a thron in sb『s flesh a person or thing that repeatedly annoys sb or stops them from doing sth 不斷讓人煩心的人（或事）；肉中刺；眼中釘
我們等象群離開之後，才熄著大燈在黑暗中行駛起來。達巴倫駕駛吉普車穿過荊棘，越過溝壑，引導他的除了正在攀升的月亮，還有他對這裡地形的熟悉。
At 36, Daballen has spent 16 years working for Save the Elephants (STE), and the 20 years before that living among them and other wild animals in the village of Marsabit, some 200km north of Samburu. When he was a child, he tells me, 「there were a huge number of elephants up there, but they』ve been devastated by poaching.」
達巴倫今年36歲，在拯救大象組織工作16年了。在加入拯救大象組織之前的20年中，他一直居住在桑布魯以北200公裡的瑪薩比特村，與大象和其他野生動物朝夕相處。他告訴我，當他還是個小孩子的時候，「那裡還有好多好多大象，但是盜獵毀了他們。」
He would often encounter the animals walking to and from school, or while herding his father’s cows and goats. 「Every other day we would be chased by elephants. At first it was frightening, and then it became a game,」 he recalls. 「I grew up close to them. Wildlife was part of us, part of our lives.」
他上下學路上或者為父親放牛放羊時常常會遇到各種動物。「我們經常會被大象追趕。起初我們十分害怕，後來就慢慢成了遊戲，」他回憶說。「我從小在他們身邊長大。野生動物是我們的一部分，是我們生活的一部分。」
After finishing high school, he went to join his older brother, who was by then working for the Kenya Wildlife Service in Samburu. One day Daballen saw a jeep with a Save the Elephants logo on the side. Curious, he discovered the organisation researched elephants – how they live, and how they die.
上完高中後，他追隨兄長的足跡加入了位於桑布魯的肯亞野生動物服務機構。有一天，達巴倫看到一輛車身印著拯救大象組織徽標的吉普車。好奇的達巴倫發現這個組織是專門研究大象的——研究它們的生活，也研究它們的死亡。
「I asked if I could intern with them. Then it was just two tents and a vehicle – almost nothing. I spent two months with them, then two months became four months, and four months became a year, and then they never let me go.」 Now, he adds, 「I think it’s very likely I』ll spend my life doing this.」
「我問他們能否成為他們的實習生。當時他們只有兩支帳篷和一輛汽車，別的什麼也沒有。我跟他們一起待了兩個月，然後變成了四個月，然後又變成一年，最後他們不讓我走了。」他接著說，如今「我覺得我很可能這輩子就幹這個了。」
During Daballen’s time at STE, the tents have become a cluster of rudimentary eco offices, communal areas for meeting and eating, and cabins for sleeping. The one vehicle has become a fleet of battered jeeps and a Cessna 185 for aerial surveillance and transport across the vast tracts of savannah and hills in northern Kenya. Daballen the intern has become head of field operations, and an eloquent ambassador for the elephants of Samburu.
a cluster of a group of things of the same kind that are very close together 串，束，簇；群，組（同類事物的聚集）
tract大片土地 ，在這裡可以和stretch替換，也可以用vast area/land/expanse等。
a wide/vast expanse of blue sky 廣闊╱無垠的藍天
savanna（尤指非洲的）稀樹草原
達巴倫在拯救大象組織的這些年中，帳篷逐漸變成了一片簡易的生態辦公室，有用來會客和就餐的公共區域，也有可以小憩的木屋。起初的一輛車變成了一個舊吉普車車隊外加一架用於在空中巡查肯亞北部廣袤的草原和山區的賽斯納185型飛機。實習生達巴倫不僅升職成了野外行動主管，更成為了一位健談的桑布魯大象大使。
翻譯·子明@chinadialogue
注釋·劉銘minglau