Polar Bear Cubs Taking Their First Steps

It's March and light returns to the High Arctic, sweeping away four months of darkness.
现在是三月，光线重返北极高纬度地区，扫除了四个月的黑暗。

A polar bear stirs. She has been in her den the whole winter. Her emergence marks the beginning of spring. After months of confinement underground, she toboggans down the slope, perhaps to clean her fur, perhaps for sheer joy.
一只北极熊动起来了。她整个冬天都在洞穴里。她的出现标志着春天的开始。在地下禁闭了几个月后，她滑下斜坡，也许是为了清洁她的皮毛，也许是为了纯粹的快乐。

Her cubs gaze out of their bright new world for the very first time. The female calls them, but this steep slope is not the easiest place to take your first steps.
她的幼崽第一次凝视着他们明亮的新世界。母熊在呼唤它们快点出来，但在这个陡坡上迈出第一步并不容易。

But they are hungry and eager to reach their mother, whose delayed feeding them on this special day. Now she lures them with the promise of milk, the only food the cubs have known since they were born deaf and blind beneath the snow some two months ago.
但它们很饿，急切想去找它们的妈妈，因为母亲在这个特殊的日子耽误了给它们喂食。现在，她用乳汁的承诺来诱导它们，幼崽在雪下出生时看不见也听不见，这是两个月以来它们所知道的唯一食物。

Their mother has not eaten for five months and has lost half her body weight. Now she converts the last of her fat reserves into milk for her cubs.
他们的母亲已经五个月没吃东西了，体重减轻了一半。现在，她把最后的脂肪储备转化为幼崽的乳汁。

The spring sun brings warmth, but also a problem for the mother. It starts to melt the sea ice. That is where she hunts for the seals she needs to feed her cubs and she must get there before the ice breaks up.
春天的阳光带来了温暖，但也给母亲带来了难题。海冰开始融化。那是母亲寻找海豹的地方，她需要喂养她的孩子，她必须在冰层破裂之前到达那里。

For now, though, it's still minus 30 degrees and the cubs must have the shelter of the den.
但是现在，气温仍然是零下30度，幼崽们必须在洞穴里躲避。

词汇表
sweep away 清除，一扫而空
stir 动，活动，醒来
den 兽穴，窝，书房
confinement 限制，禁闭，监禁
toboggan 乘橇滑下，急剧下降；平底雪橇
cub 幼崽，小伙子
steep slope 陡坡
lure  诱惑，引诱
convert 转变，转换
fat reserve 脂肪储备
seal 海豹

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