北极熊之都是什么（世界北极熊之都）

There are no roads leading to the tiny Canadian town of Churchill, which sits near the north-east tip of Manitoba.

But that doesn’t stop thousands of tourists from taking a train or a plane and visiting every fall.

That’s because in this area, near the shores of the Hudson Bay, you can go out on a tour and get a glimpse of the world’s largest land carnivore: the polar bear.

加拿大小镇丘吉尔位于马尼托巴岛东北端附近，没有通往该镇的道路。

但这并不能阻止成千上万的游客每年秋天乘坐火车或飞机来这里旅游。

这是因为在哈德逊湾海岸附近的这个地区，你可以出去旅游，一睹世界上最大的陆地食肉动物：北极熊。

The Churchill region is one of the southernmost places you’ll find polar bears. These bears spend most of the year on the Hudson Bay ice, hunting for seals. But when the ice melts in the summer, they have to come ashore for a few months.

丘吉尔地区是发现北极熊最南端的地方之一。这些熊一年中的大部分时间都在哈德逊湾的冰面上捕食海豹。但是当冰在夏天融化时，它们必须上岸几个月。

Sometimes, the bears wander near town.

“During bear season, (locals) say that’s pretty common,” said photographer Carlos Osorio, who visited Churchill earlier this month. “I asked people this question a lot, too, because I was super interested: ‘Hey, how common are bears in town?’ I asked the taxi driver who drove me from the airport to my hotel and he said: 'Oh, we just had a bear in town last nigh-t. He was like right there on the corner.’ ”

有时，熊会在城镇附近游荡。

本月早些时候访问丘吉尔的摄影师卡洛斯·奥索里奥（Carlos Osorio）说：“在熊季，（当地人）说这很常见。”。“我也经常问人们这个问题，因为我非常感兴趣：‘嘿，熊在城里有多常见？’我问开车送我从机场到酒店的出租车司机，他说：‘哦，我们昨晚刚在城里遇到一只熊。他就在拐角处。’”

In Churchill, there’s always the possibility of a polar bear encounter; it literally comes with th-e territory.

在丘吉尔，总是有可能遇到北极熊；它实际上是与领土相伴而来的。

But the town has taken steps to reduce risks.

但该镇已采取措施降低风险。

There is a “bear patrol” with staff members who monitor the area. There’s a 24/7 hotline tha-t people can call to report a sighting: 675-BEAR. The town has also started to test a new radar system, or “beardar,” to warn of approaching bears.

有一个“熊巡逻队”，工作人员负责监控该地区。有一条24/7热线，人们可以拨打举报目击事件：675-BEAR。该镇还开始测试一种新的雷达系统，即“熊达”，以警告熊的接近。

Attacks have been rare. The last one was in 2013, according to the Reuters news agency, and there hasn’t been a fatal attack since the early 1980s.

袭击事件非常罕见。据路透社（Reuters news agency）报道，上一次是在2013年，自20世纪80年代初以来就没有发生过致命袭击。

Only about 900 people live in Churchill, but those who do know to stay aware and be prepa-red at all times. There’s also a custom of leaving car doors unlocked, just in case someone is outside and needs to quickly find protection from a bear.

“You just have to be careful,” Osorio said. “You can't be anywhere by yourself. You have to have a vehicle or someone with you or some means of scaring a bear.

“Some people carry shotguns and fire whatever guns they have into the air. But if you don't have a gun permit, then you could just fire off 'bear bangers,' which are basically like really l-oud cap guns with a little flare on them. That's how you scare the bear away if you get cau-ght in a predicament like that.”

只有大约900人住在丘吉尔，但那些知道要时刻保持警觉并做好准备的人。还有一种习惯是不锁车门，以防有人在外面，需要迅速找到熊的保护。

“你只需要小心，”奥索里奥说。“你不能一个人呆在任何地方。你必须有一辆车或一个人在身边，或者用某种方式吓唬一只熊。

“有些人带着猎枪，向空中发射他们所有的枪。但是如果你没有持枪许可证，你可以直接发射‘熊炮’，这基本上就像是带着一点照明弹的大口径枪。如果你陷入这样的困境，你就是这样把熊吓跑的。”

Scaring away the bear is the first tactic that the bear patrol will use if they see a bear gettin-g close to town. If that doesn’t work, they’ll use rubber bullets or a paintball gun to persuade the bear to move on.

吓跑熊是熊巡逻队在看到熊接近城镇时使用的第一种策略。如果这不起作用，他们会用橡皮子弹或彩弹枪迫使熊离开。

A longer bear season means a shorter hunting season — while on land, the bears subsist on their fat reserves — and that has had a dramatic effect on the bear population over the years.

熊的狩猎季节越长意味着狩猎季节越短——而在陆地上，熊靠它们的脂肪储备生存——多年来，这对熊的数量产生了巨大的影响。

“There's so much more in Churchill to do than just see polar bears,” he said. “The people are super friendly, everybody in town is super nice. But then there's also beluga whales tha-t congregate in the bay. It's one of the best places for birding. You get to see the Northern Lights like almost every night of the year.

“丘吉尔有太多的事情要做，而不仅仅是看北极熊，”他说。“这里的人非常友好，镇上的每个人都非常好。但是还有聚集在海湾的白鲸。这是最好的观鸟地点之一。你几乎可以像每年的每个晚上一样看到北极光。”。

“There's so much wilderness, and different times of the year offer different things for differe-nt people.”

“这里有很多荒野，一年中不同的时间为不同的人呈现不同的景色。”