DEEP DIVES

When you click the “Create New World” button in Minecraft, a little bit of magic happens. An impossibly complex series of algorithms generate a totally new world, unlike any that has been seen before. You might spawn in a jungle, or in plains, or on a desert island. But my favourite place to spawn is snowy tundra.
当你在MC中点击“ 创建新世界 ” 时，会发生一些神奇有趣的事情。一系列看似无法实现的复杂算法为你生成了一个新世界，这个新世界和你以前见过的完全不一样。你可能会出生在丛林中，平原上，或者在一个沙漠荒岛里。但是我最期待的就是出生在积雪的冻原上。

Not because it’s an easy life, you understand. Tundra biomes are a difficult place to set up camp – wood is rare, wildlife is scarce, and water will fairly rapidly freeze into ice. But with some careful preparation, and knowledge of what you’re getting yourself into, it can be one of the game’s most beautiful experiences.
并不是因为这里易于生存，你懂的。冻原群系是很难建造营地的 ——因为木头真的很稀有，野生动物也是鲜有踪迹，水在这种地方会很快冻结。但是如果你能小心应对大自然，再有些自知之明，那冻原的生活可能是一段难忘的愉快经历。

The first snowy biomes in Minecraft came with the addition of “Winter Mode” in Alpha version 1.0.4, which were the first “biomes” to appear in the game. A map in winter mode would have snow instead of rain and ice instead of water, as well as fewer wild animals.
MC中的第一个雪地生物群落是Alpha版本1.0.4中添加的“冬季模式”，这是第一个出现在MC中的“生物群落”。冬季模式的地图会有雪代替雨，冰代替水，野生动物也会变得稀少。

When proper biomes were added in Alpha version 1.2.0, winter mode was removed and replaced with a Tundra biome that had most of the same features. In the Adventure Update, they were removed, and then added back in as Ice Plains in version 1.0.0. Eventually, in version 1.13 (The Update Aquatic), Ice Plains were renamed to Snowy Tundra.
Alpha版本1.2.0中添加了更完备的生物群落后，冬季模式被移除了，取而代之的是大致相似的苔原型生物群落。在冒险更新中，它们被移除了，然后在1.0.0版中添加为“冰原”。最终，在版本1.13(水域更新)，冰原被重新命名为积雪的冻原。

Today, snowy tundra isn’t a common biome. To find one, you’ll want to hunt around other cold biomes, like snowy taiga. You’ll know you’re in the right place if you see large, flat expanses of snowy ground, frozen lakes, a total lack of cows, sheep, pigs and horses, and the occasional spruce. Oh, and polar bears. Watch out for those. They’ll eat you alive if you get too close to their cubs.
如今的积雪冻原可不是一个普普通通的群系。为了找到一个这样的群系你可能需要在它周围的寒冷地区进行狩猎，比如积雪的针叶林。如果你看到一大片平坦的雪地，冻结了的湖泊，完全没有牛，羊，猪和马，还有稀稀拉拉的一些云杉树，那么恭喜你，你找对地方了。哦对了，可能还有北极熊，这些家伙你可要小心了，如果你离它们的孩子太近，他们会把撕成碎片。

The other danger to watch out for in the snowy tundra emerges when night falls. Strays are variants of skeletons that shoot arrows of Slowness, making it harder to run away before you’re turned into a pincushion. But the biome rewards the careful explorer. Villages and pillager outposts generate there, and it’s also one of the few places where igloos can generate, which hide a terrible secret.
当夜幕降临时，在冰雪覆盖的冻土里，可能会出现其他的危险！流浪者是骷髅的变种，它们射出的箭会减缓你的速度，在你变成筛子之前可别想逃走。但是细心的探险家能在这里找到巨大的宝藏。这里可能会生成一些村庄和掠夺者前哨站，同时这也是少数几个会生成冰屋的地方，那里可是藏着一个惊天大秘密。

In real life, tundra refers to places where it’s too cold for trees to grow – mostly along the very northern edges of continents. There’s still vegetation – mostly dwarf shrubs, grasses, mosses and lichens. There might not be snow on the surface the whole year round, but the soil is permanently frozen.
在现实生活中，冻原指的是那些因太冷而导致树木植被无法生长的地方——主要是分布在大陆的最北端。然后一般的植被就是矮灌木、草、苔藓和地衣。在那些地方也许一年到头都没有雪，但是土壤确实永久冻结着的。

Nonetheless, a few peoples make the tundra their home. Cities in the tundra include Nuuk in Greenland and Longyearbyen in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago. The Ngansan and Nenets in the northern parts of Siberia and the Sami in Scandinavia are nomadic reindeer herders. But climate change, which is happening much faster near the poles, is dramatically changing these herders’ way of life as the permafrost melts, species move in and out, and reindeer migration routes are permanently altered.
然而，有的民族把冻原地区作为他们的家。位于苔原上的城市包括格陵兰的努克和挪威斯瓦尔巴群岛的隆加贝。还有西伯利亚北部的Ngansan和Nenets以及斯堪的纳维亚的Sami，他们是驯鹿牧民。但是由于两极附近发生的气候变化，这些牧民的生活方式也是千变万化，因为很多冻土都融化了，各种动物的行踪不定，导致驯鹿迁徙路线也被迫改变。

Luckily, there’s no climate change in Minecraft. So next time the temperatures soar where you live, you can take shelter in the game’s snowy tundra biome, watching snowflakes fall as the sun sets.
幸运的是，MC里没有气候变化。所以下一次如果你居住的地方气温飞升，你可以前往游戏中的积雪冻原生物群系避暑，看着雪花随着太阳的落山而纷纷飘下。

【592764254 译自官网 2020 年 10 月 02 日发布的 Around the Block: Snowy Tundra；原作者 Duncan Geere】
【本文排版借助了：SPX】