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These trees he cuts into logs about three feet long and floats them down to the dam, where he piles them up. Then when the great freeze comes, most of this wood will be frozen under the ice where the beaver can get at it. Day after day he comes out and gets a stick, carries it into his house, and eats the bark. When it is stripped clean and white, he puts it back on the dam and gets another stick. Thus he and his family live under the ice all winter long. His mud house by this time has frozen until it is as hard as steel, and it would take a strong enemy to break into it, although the top still shows above the ice and snow.
他把这些树砍成大约三英尺长的圆木，让圆木漂到水坝下面，堆积起来。当大冰冻来临时，大部分木材会被冻在冰下，海狸可以在那里找到它们。一天又一天，海狸出来把圆木搬到自己的房子里，吃树皮。当这个圆木被剥得干干净净的时候，他把它放回水坝上，又拿了一根新的。因此，海狸和家人整个冬天都住在冰下。这时，他的泥屋已经冻得像钢铁一样硬了，要想破门而入，得是一个强大的敌人，尽管泥屋顶部仍然露出冰雪之上。
Today the beaver has nearly disappeared from the United States. He is sometimes protected in the Adirondack region and in the State of Maine, but the timber-men soon get angry because of his destruction of their Trees. Then the law is again repealed, and the beaver again disappears. Away to the Northwest, in Idaho and Montana, he is probably still found in his wild state enjoying his freedom. But he is almost sure finally to dis- appear, like all his wild kindred whose fur is valuable or whose hides or bones can be made useful to man. So the beaver will go the way of the bison and the American Indian. He was most useful before the coming of the white man in clearing his beautiful meadows and in making them ready for the farmer, but he has served his day and done his work; so he disappears just as many other beautiful and wonderful creatures have done.
如今，海狸几乎在美国灭绝了。海狸有时在阿迪朗达克地区和缅因州受到保护，但是伐木工人很快就因为海狸毁坏了树木而生气了。然后法律又被废除了，海狸又消失了。在西北部的爱达荷州和蒙大拿州，人们可能还能发现海狸在自己的野生州享受着自由。但是几乎可以肯定的是，海狸最终会消失，就像所有的野生亲属一样，其皮毛是有价值的，其兽皮或骨头对人类是有用的。所以海狸会走野牛和美洲印第安人走过的路。在白人到来之前，海狸在清理他美丽的草地和为农民们做准备方面是最有用的，但他已经完成了他的工作；所以海狸消失了，就像其他许多美丽而奇妙的生物一样。
I always think of the beaver with gratitude and affection and sorrow when I remember that soon his sleek coat will wholly disappear, not only from the fur market, but from his own plump body where God first placed it. Good-by, little American. We are grateful to you for all you did for us even before we came to your wilderness.
每当我想起海狸那光滑的皮毛不久就会完全消失，不仅是在皮毛市场上消失，还会在上帝第一次让皮毛长出的海狸身体上消失，我感激、喜爱又悲伤。再见了，小亚美利加。我们感谢你们在我们来到你们的荒野之前为我们所做的一切。
