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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.
他把這些樹砍成大約三英尺長的圓木，讓圓木漂到水壩下面，堆積起來。當大冰凍來臨時，大部分木材會被凍在冰下，海貍可以在那里找到它們。一天又一天，海貍出來把圓木搬到自己的房子里，吃樹皮。當這個圓木被剝得干干凈凈的時候，他把它放回水壩上，又拿了一根新的。因此，海貍和家人整個冬天都住在冰下。這時，他的泥屋已經凍得像鋼鐵一樣硬了，要想破門而入，得是一個強大的敵人，盡管泥屋頂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 Then the law is again repealed, and the beaver again disappears.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，海貍幾乎在美國滅絕了。海貍有時在阿迪朗達克地區和緬因州受到保護，但是伐木工人很快就因為海貍毀壞了樹木而生氣了。然后法律又被廢除了，海貍又消失了。在西北部的愛達荷州和蒙大拿州，人們可能還能發現海貍在自己的野生州享受著自由。但是幾乎可以肯定的是，海貍最終會消失，就像所有的野生親屬一樣，其皮毛是有價值的，其獸皮或骨頭對人類是有用的。所以海貍會走野牛和美洲印第安人走過的路。在白人到來之前，海貍在清理他美麗的草地和為農民們做準備方面是最有用的，但他已經完成了他的工作；所以海貍消失了，就像其他許多美麗而奇妙的生物一樣。
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.
每當我想起海貍那光滑的皮毛不久就會完全消失，不僅是在皮毛市場上消失，還會在上帝第一次讓皮毛長出的海貍身體上消失，我感激、喜愛又悲傷。再見了，小亞美利加。我們感謝你們在我們來到你們的荒野之前為我們所做的一切。
