What life is like in the ‘polar bear capital of the world’
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.
加拿大小鎮丘吉爾位于馬尼托巴島東北端附近，沒有通往該鎮的道路。
但這并不能阻止成千上萬的遊客每年秋天乘坐火車或飛機來這裡旅遊。
這是因為在哈德遜灣海岸附近的這個地區，你可以出去旅遊，一睹世界上最大的陸地食肉動物：北極熊。
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.
丘吉爾地區是發現北極熊最南端的地方之一。這些熊一年中的大部分時間都在哈德遜灣的冰面上捕食海豹。但是當冰在夏天融化時，它們必須上岸幾個月。
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.’ ”
有時，熊會在城鎮附近遊蕩。
本月早些時候通路丘吉爾的攝影師卡洛斯·奧索裡奧（Carlos Osorio）說：“在熊季，（當地人）說這很常見。”。“我也經常問人們這個問題，因為我非常感興趣：‘嘿，熊在城裡有多常見？’我問開車送我從機場到酒店的計程車司機，他說：‘哦，我們昨晚剛在城裡遇到一隻熊。他就在拐角處。’”
In Churchill, there’s always the possibility of a polar bear encounter; it literally comes with th-e territory.
在丘吉爾，總是有可能遇到北極熊；它實際上是與領土相伴而來的。
But the town has taken steps to reduce risks.
但該鎮已采取措施降低風險。
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.
有一個“熊巡邏隊”，從業人員負責監控該地區。有一條24/7熱線，人們可以撥打舉報目擊事件：675-BEAR。該鎮還開始測試一種新的雷達系統，即“熊達”，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.
襲擊事件非常罕見。據路透社（Reuters news agency）報道，上一次是在2013年，自20世紀80年代初以來就沒有發生過緻命襲擊。
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.”
隻有大約900人住在丘吉爾，但那些知道要時刻保持警覺并做好準備的人。還有一種習慣是不鎖車門，以防有人在外面，需要迅速找到熊的保護。
“你隻需要小心，”奧索裡奧說。“你不能一個人呆在任何地方。你必須有一輛車或一個人在身邊，或者用某種方式吓唬一隻熊。
“有些人帶着獵槍，向空中發射他們所有的槍。但是如果你沒有持槍許可證，你可以直接發射‘熊炮’，這基本上就像是帶着一點照明彈的大口徑槍。如果你陷入這樣的困境，你就是這樣把熊吓跑的。”
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.
吓跑熊是熊巡邏隊在看到熊接近城鎮時使用的第一種政策。如果這不起作用，他們會用橡皮子彈或彩彈槍迫使熊離開。
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.
熊的狩獵季節越長意味着狩獵季節越短——而在陸地上，熊靠它們的脂肪儲備生存——多年來，這對熊的數量産生了巨大的影響。
“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.
“丘吉爾有太多的事情要做，而不僅僅是看北極熊，”他說。“這裡的人非常友好，鎮上的每個人都非常好。但是還有聚集在海灣的白鲸。這是最好的觀鳥地點之一。你幾乎可以像每年的每個晚上一樣看到北極光。”。
“There's so much wilderness, and different times of the year offer different things for differe-nt people.”
“這裡有很多荒野，一年中不同的時間為不同的人呈現不同的景色。”