WASTE LAND: A WILD-LIFE PRESERVE
荒原：野生动物保护区
Archibald Rutledge
作者：阿奇博尔德·拉特利奇
Once upon a time there were thousands of beautiful birds called passenger pigeons. Now they are gone. Herds of graceful antelope used to roam the prairies of the West. They are disappearing. Mr. Hawkes has told us that the beaver is in danger. In this story Mr. Rutledge tells us how we can help save these wild children of Nature.
从前，有成千上万的美丽的鸟，叫做旅鸽。现在都消失了。成群优雅的羚羊曾经在西部的大草原上漫步。而羚羊也正在消失。霍克斯先生告诉我们海狸有危险。在这个故事中，拉特里奇先生告诉我们如何帮助拯救这些野生的自然儿童。
Mr. Farmer, don’t keep your place too clean. Leave that patch of scrub growing over yonder by the creek; leave that fence row filled with briars. Your best friend of the great bird kingdom, bob-white, can’t live with you if you take away all his cover. Keep most fields clean, if you like, but leave some places untidy for the sake of those who will leave you if you clean away their shelters.
法默先生，不要把你的地方弄得太干净。把那边小溪边的那片灌木丛留下；留下那排长满荆棘的篱笆。如果你拿走他所有的掩护，那么你最好的朋友，大鸟王国的鲍勃-怀特，不能和你住在一起。你若愿意，可以使大多数田地洁净，也可以使一些地方不洁净，因为你若除掉他们的住处，他们必离开你。
Wild creatures will take what we leave. They will rejoice to live on our waste lands. There is no place so impossible for the home of man that it cannot be made into a home for wild life. It looks, then, as if in the years to come, man will take all the choice lands for himself. Then he will set aside waste lands for the wild children of the woods and the waters and the air.
野生动物会拿走我们留下的东西。他们将高兴地生活在我们的荒地上。对于人类的家园来说，没有什么地方是不可能建成野生动物的家园的。这样看来，似乎在未来的岁月里，人类将为自己夺取所有的土地。他必为树林、水、空气中的野地设立界限。
