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It happened because they were living in prophecy, the sort the old women liked to discuss round the kitchen table while she, and the other young, pretended not to hear.
這樣的情況再次上演，是因為他們活在預言里，那種年邁女族人喜歡圍在餐桌旁談論的、拉多娜和其他年輕人假裝不感興趣的預言。
One was of Zuzeca Sapa, a black snake that would destroy the world unless her people stood up to defeat it.
其中一則預言是關于祖澤卡蛇妖（Zuzeca Sapa）的，這是一條足以毀滅世界的黑蛇，除非她的族人挺身而出毀滅它。
Back then the snake was taken to be the new Interstate highway, surfaced with black tar.
當時，這條蛇被公認為鋪著黑瀝青的新州際公路。
Now it was clearly the pipeline, 1,170 miles long and costing $3.8bn, intended to carry black oil from the North Dakota shale-oil fields to Illinois.
現在顯然指的是這條長達1170英里、耗資38億美元的輸油管道，這條管道將北達科他州頁巖油田的黑色原油輸送到伊利諾伊州。
On the way it threatened 380 archaeological sites; 26 were in the 40-mile stretch round the meeting of the Missouri and Cannonball rivers,
這條輸油管道沿途威脅到380處考古遺址，其中有26處位于密蘇里河（Missouri）和坎農博爾河（Cannonball）交匯處方圓40英里的地方，
where roots had first grown out of her feet.
而拉多娜就是在這里出生、在土地的滋養下長大的。
This was her father’s land. As a child she had noted every feature which later, as historian of the Standing Rock Sioux, it became her job to catalogue and preserve.
這是她父親的土地。孩提時代，她就注意到了那里的每一處特征，后來，作為立巖蘇族（Standing Rock Sioux）歷史學家，她的任務就是整理和保存這些特征。
The low rolling hills carried the remains of Arikara villages, with effigies arranged in stones and prayers laid for years on the ground.
低矮起伏的山丘承載著阿里卡拉（Arikara）村落的遺跡，以及悠久的被刻意排列過的石頭雕像，還有長年累月祈禱儀式的禱文。
On the peak above her camp her father was buried, along with one of her sons.
在她營地上方的山峰上，葬著她的父親和她的一個兒子。
At the confluence of the rivers was a whirlpool that carved the sand into great spheres strewn along the banks, the sacred stones.
在河流的交匯處有一處漩渦，漩渦把砂礫雕刻成散落在河岸的巨石圓球，那就是圣石。
Here beside the Cannonball river her grandfather had sun dances with Wise Spirit, her uncle climbed trees for honeycombs and the family hauled up water every day, to drink and live.
在坎農博爾河岸這邊，她的祖父和“智慧精靈”一同跳著祭日舞，她的叔叔爬樹采蜜，一家人每天都得汲河水供日常飲用和生活。
Soon afterwards that history was part-destroyed by the damming of the Missouri,
沒過多久，這段歷史就因密蘇里河上的大壩而部分被毀：
which left the water unsafe to drink, the whirlpool flat and bleached trees, skeletons of spirits, poking from the water.
河水無法再安全飲用了、漩渦變平了、樹木褪色了（即精靈的骷髏）從水里探了出來。
The pipeline map provided by the company showed nothing there; her people’s footprints had been taken out of the earth.
管道公司提供的管道地圖上那里什么也沒有；蘇族人的腳印從這片土地上銷聲匿跡了。
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