本篇文章共分 6 段，將美國五大湖區的伐木業開發與企業化經營過程提出整理，並將伐木業的營運方式、砍伐技術、路面與水路交通運輸發展等一一加以說明陳述。

本篇考題英文原文與對應之中文翻譯整理如下。練習作答解題時若有對語意不清楚之處，請仔細查閱對照，以提升閱讀理解能力。

The Commercialization of Lumber 木材的商業化

1. 大湖區: 木材產業集中地

   In nineteenth-century America, practically everything that was built involved wood. Pine was especially attractive for building purposes. It is durable and strong, yet soft enough to be easily worked with even the simplest of hand tools. It also floats nicely on water, which allowed it to be transported to distant markets across the nation. The central and northern reaches of the Great Lakes states—Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota—all contained extensive pine forests as well as many large rivers for floating logs into the Great Lakes, from where they were transported nationwide.

   在 19 世紀的美國，幾乎所有的建築都涉及木材。松木在建築方面特別有吸引力。它堅固耐用，但又足夠柔軟，甚至可以用最簡單的手工工具來加工。它還能順利地漂浮在水面上，這使得它可以被運往全國各地的遙遠市場。大湖區各州的中部和北部—密西根州、威斯康辛州和明尼蘇達州—都有廣泛的松樹林以及許多大河，可以將原木漂流到大湖區，從那裡運輸到全國各地。

2. 企業性開發成主流

   By 1860, the settlement of the American West along with timber shortages in the East converged with ever-widening impact on the pine forests of the Great Lakes states. Over the next 30 years, lumbering became a full-fledged enterprise in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Newly formed lumbering corporations bought up huge tracts of pineland and set about systematically cutting the trees. Both the colonists and the later industrialists saw timber as a commodity, but the latter group adopted a far more thorough and calculating approach to removing trees. In this sense, what happened between 1860 and 1890 represented a significant break with the past. Farmers in search of extra income were no longer the main source for shingles, firewood, and other wood products. By the 1870s, farmers and city dwellers alike purchased forest products from large manufacturing companies located in the Great Lakes states rather than chopping wood themselves or buying it locally.

   到 1860 年，美國西部的開墾定居以及東部的木材短缺合流，對五大湖州的松樹林產生了越來越大的影響。在接下來的 30 年裡，伐木業在密西根州、威斯康辛州和明尼蘇達州成為一個成熟的企業。新成立的伐木公司買下了大片的松樹林，開始有計劃地砍伐樹木。殖民者和後來的工業家都把木材看作是一種商品，但後者在砍伐樹木時採取了更徹底、更有計劃的方法。從這個角度來看，1860 年至 1890 年間發生的事情代表了與過去的重大差異。尋求額外收入的農民不再是牆面板、木柴和其他木製品的主要來源。到 19 世紀 70 年代，農民和城市居民都從位於大湖區各州的大型製造公司購買森林製品，而不是自己砍伐木材或在當地購買。

3. 伐木業工具與設備的進步

   The commercialization of lumbering was in part the product of technological change. The early, thick saw blades tended to waste a large quantity of wood, with perhaps as much as a third of the log left behind on the floor as sawdust or scrap. In the 1870s, however, the British-invented band saw, with its thinner blade, became standard issue in the Great Lakes states' lumber factories. Meanwhile, the rise of steam-powered mills streamlined production by allowing for the more efficient, centralized, and continuous cutting of lumber. Steam helped to automate a variety of tasks, from cutting to the carrying away of waste. Mills also employed steam to heat log ponds, preventing them from freezing and making possible year-round lumber production.

   伐木業的商業化在一定程度上是技術變革的產物。早期厚重的鋸片往往會浪費大量的木材，可能有多達三分之一的原木作為鋸末或廢料留在地面上。然而，在 19 世紀 70 年代，英國發明的帶鋸，其較薄的鋸片，成為大湖區各州木材廠的標準配置。同時，以蒸汽為動力的工廠興起，使得木材的切割更加高效、集中和連續，從而簡化了生產。蒸汽幫助實現了各種任務的自動化，從切割到運走廢料。工廠還利用蒸汽加熱原木池，防止其結冰，使終年無休的木材生產成為可行。

4. 伐木業對天氣影響的應對

   For industrial lumbering to succeed, a way had to be found to neutralize the effects of the seasons on production. Traditionally, cutting took place in the winter, when snow and ice made it easier to drag logs on sleds or sleighs to the banks of streams. Once the streams and lakes thawed, workers rafted the logs to mills, where they were cut into lumber in the summer. If nature did not cooperate—if the winter proved dry and warm, if the spring thaw was delayed—production would suffer. To counter the effects of climate on lumber production, loggers experimented with a variety of techniques for transporting trees out of the woods. In the 1870s, loggers in the Great Lakes states began sprinkling water on sleigh roads, giving them an artificial ice coating to facilitate travel. The ice reduced the friction and allowed workers to move larger and heavier loads.

   為了使工業化伐木獲得成功，必須找到一種方法來消除季節對生產的影響。傳統上，伐木是在冬季進行的，那時，冰雪使人們更容易用雪橇 (sleds) 或雪橇 (sleighs) 將原木拖到溪流邊上。一旦溪流和湖泊解凍，工人們就用筏子將原木運到工廠，在夏天將它們切割成木材。如果大自然不配合，如果冬天成為乾燥與溫暖，如果春天的解凍被推遲，生產就會受到影響。為了應對氣候對木材生產的影響，伐木者嘗試了各種將樹木運出森林的技術。19 世紀 70 年代，大湖區各州的伐木工開始在雪橇道路上灑水，給它們塗上一層人工冰，以方便移動。冰層減少了摩擦，使工人們能夠搬運更大更重的貨物。

5. 鐵道運輸出現

   But all the sprinkling in the world would not save a logger from the threat of a warm winter. Without snow the sleigh roads turned to mud. In the 1870s, a set of snowless winters left lumber companies to ponder ways of liberating themselves from the seasons. Railroads were one possibility. At first, the remoteness of the pine forests discouraged common carriers from laying track. But increasing lumber prices in the late 1870s combined with periodic warm, dry winters compelled loggers to turn to iron rails. By 1887, 89 logging railroads crisscrossed Michigan, transforming logging from a winter activity into a year-round one.

   但是，全天下所有的灑水都不能使伐木者免受暖冬的威脅。沒有雪，雪橇路就變成了泥濘。在 19 世紀 70 年代，一連串無雪的冬天讓木材公司開始思考如何將自己從季節中解放出來。鐵路是一種可能性。起初，松樹林的偏遠使普通運輸商不願意鋪設鐵路。但在 19 世紀 70 年代末，木材價格不斷上漲，加上週期性的溫暖、乾燥的冬天，迫使伐木者轉向鐵軌。到 1887 年，89 條伐木鐵路橫貫密西根州，將伐木從冬季活動轉變為全年活動。

6. 河川運輸技術

   Once the logs arrived at a river, the trip downstream to a mill could be a long and tortuous one. Logjams (buildups of logs that prevent logs from moving downstream) were common—at times stretching for 10 miles—and became even more frequent as pressure on the northern Midwest pinelands increased in the 1860s. To help keep the logs moving efficiently, barriers called booms (essentially a chain of floating logs) were constructed to control the direction of the timber. By the 1870s, lumber companies existed in all the major logging areas of the northern Midwest.

   一旦原木抵達河流，順流而下到達工廠的過程可能是漫長而曲折的。原木堵塞（阻礙原木向下游移動的原木堆積物）是很常見的，有時會綿延 10 英里，而且隨著 19 世紀 60 年代中西部北部松樹林壓力的增加而變得更加頻繁。為了幫助保持原木的有效移動，人們建造了稱為圍欄的障礙物（基本上是一條漂浮的原木鏈）來控制木材的方向。到 19 世紀 70 年代，中西部北部的所有主要伐木區都有木材公司。