The birthplace of skis isunder debate, but the ski is believed to be even older than the wheel. "So they're one of the very firstforms of transportation," travel writer Mark Jenkins says.
雪橇的发源地在哪里仍是一个存在争议的话题，但是人们一致认同雪橇有着比车轮更悠久的历史。旅行作家马克·詹金斯（Mark Jenkins）说：“因此它们是最早的交通形式之一。”
Jenkins recently traveled to China, whichclaims to have invented skis almost 10,000 years ago. His exploration isdocumented in the December issue of National Geographic.
詹金斯最近去了趟中国，这个国家称他们差不多在1万年前就发明了雪橇。12月发行的《国家地理》杂志发表了他的探索成果。
Jenkins went to the Altai Mountains inNorthwest China, about where Kazakhstan,Mongolia and Siberia cometogether — "kind of dead-center Central Asia" — where the Tuvan people have been skiing for at least4,000 years.
詹金斯去了位于中国西北部的阿尔泰山脉，这里也是哈萨克斯坦，蒙古和西伯利亚这3个国家交汇的地方——“差不多正好位于亚洲中部”——这里的图瓦人有着至少4千年的滑雪历史。
"Their skis are remarkable," hetells NPR's Arun Rath. "They cut them from red spruce. They bend them byheating them and steaming them, and then they nail on horsehair on the bottom of the skis, which is very slick to glide forward butthen grabs when you go uphill."
“他们的雪橇不同寻常，”詹金斯告诉美国国家公共电台记者艾伦·拉特（Arun Rath），“他们砍伐红云衫作为雪橇木，通过加热气蒸的方式使木材弯曲变形，然后再把马毛固定到雪橇底部，如此制作而成的雪橇前行时畅通无阻，但爬坡时又具备阻力。”
But this isn't just about making it downthe mountain: The skis are for hunting. In a region that can get temperaturesof 40 degrees below zero, these hunters don't even know what frostbite is. In asingle-file line, pulling sleds, the men search for elk — elk tracks areobvious in the snow because of the animals' heavy weight. On skis, they cantrack the elk for three to seven days.
但雪橇的用途不仅限于下山：雪橇是用来狩猎的。在一个温度可以降至零下40度的地方，猎人们甚至不知道霜寒为何物。单行道上，猎人们乘着雪橇寻找麋鹿——因为麋鹿的体重，它们陷在雪地里的脚印清晰可见。猎人们乘着雪橇上追踪麋鹿，通常要费去3到7日的光景。
The "most remarkable part,"Jenkins says, is when they finally spot the elk.
詹金斯说，而“最非凡的时刻”就在最终看到麋鹿的时候来临。
"They're using a technique that'sseveral thousand years old. They have lassos, and they ski downhill, screaming,wild ... just like a cowboy, but they're on skis," he says.
他说：“他们使用着有数千年历史的技术。手持套索，他们带着狂放的叫声滑下了山坡。。。就像个牛仔似的，不过他们是乘坐着雪橇的牛仔。”
With a loop large enough to go over theelk's antlers, the ski cowboys lasso their prey.
借助足以绕过麋鹿角的大套圈，雪橇上的牛仔套住了自己的猎物。
"The elk is bucking and kicking andsnorting and they fall sideways, perpendicular ... like an anchor — OldMan and the Sea sort of thing," Jenkins says. "They're beingpulled by this elk through the snow. Of course, the elk is so deep in the snowit's practically swimming, so within an hour or two, the elk has worn itselfout."
詹金斯说，“麋鹿狂跳着，反踢着并发出喷鼻声，猎人们就像是锚似的被垂直抛到了路边。。。有点像《老人与海》中的场面。猎人们在雪地里被麋鹿拽来拽去。当然，，麋鹿身陷在雪地里，几乎像是在游泳。不用一两个小时，麋鹿就筋疲力尽了。”
But then, they let it go. One of the mentold Jenkins, "In the old days we hunted. Now we only chase."
但接下来，他们会放走麋鹿。一个猎人告诉詹金斯，“过去我们捕猎，但现在只追赶猎物。”