I stood at the edge of the circle, rubbing ice from my eyelashes. It was too cold to take notes, so I watched faces and read the frostbite scars, little badges of honor that told of lives spent outdoors on one of the planet's most unyielding landscapes. The group soon broke up and began smoking last cigarettes before the long ride into darkness. Atqittuq walked over to ask whether I was warm enough. He was tall, broad shouldered, laughed easily. He'd been a ranger for many years before the others had voted him their new commander. In a friendly way, he warned me not to fall asleep on the journey ahead.
我站在圍成圈的人群外圍，把冰從睫毛上擦下來。天太冷了，記不了筆記，所以我盯著他們的臉，注意到凍傷所留下的疤痕，那是些小小的榮譽勛章，講述了人們在地球上最堅硬的土地上的戶外生活的故事。這群人很快散開，在展開黑暗中的漫漫長行前抽最后一根煙。艾奇圖克走過來問我是否穿得夠暖。他是個肩膀寬大的高個子，經常把笑容掛在臉上。在別人把他選為他們的新指揮官之前，他已經當了好多年的巡邏民兵。他親切地告誡我別在接下來的旅程中睡著。
It happened, he said. Sometimes people tumbled off their snowmobiles and went missing. He reminded me that there was currently no cell service on the island or anywhere else in the territory of Nunavut -- three times the size of Texas. "If anything happens and you get separated, just sit tight till someone comes back for you," he said. "And try not to meet any polar bears."
確實有這種情況發生，他說。有時會有人從雪地摩托車上摔落，接著就不見蹤影。他提醒我，島上以及整個奴納武特領地目前都沒有手機服務，這片領地是德州的三倍大。“如果發生了任何事讓你與隊伍走散，待在原地直到有人回來找你，”他說。“盡量不要碰上北極熊。”
The rangers are called "Canada's eyes and ears in the north," and their units have been patrolling the country's outermost regions since the 1940s. Most rangers in the far north are indigenous volunteers, and over the years they've acted as scouts, participated in war games, and helped regular troops learn to build igloos, navigate the tundra, and generally stay alive in the cold. Their role, like the far north itself, isn't well-known, and the rangers have always managed to keep going on shoestring budgets and hand-me-down equipment, including government-issued bolt-action rifles made in the 1940s and stamped with the British crown.
巡邏民兵有“加拿大北方耳目”之稱，他們自19世紀40年代起就在加拿大最偏遠地區執行巡邏任務。在這些遙遠的北方領土上的巡邏民兵大多是原住民志愿兵，多年來他們擔任偵察兵，參與軍事演習，也協助正規部隊學習搭建冰屋、在這片凍原上移動，大體上就是教他們如何在嚴寒中生存。他們的角色，就像遙遠的北方一樣，并不為人所知，巡邏民兵總是在預算吃緊和裝備代代相傳的狀況下設法維持，他們的裝備包括政府于19世紀40年代制造、印著英國王冠的步槍。
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