随着城市迁移，工厂化畜牧，和企业化食品体系的出现，曾经的11000多个苹果品种已经灭绝。美国工程师退休后成了“苹果猎人”，寻找失传已久的古老苹果。过去25年，他把1200种古苹果从灭绝的边缘救了回来。
Meet the Appalachian Apple Hunter Who Rescued 1,000 ‘Lost’ Varieties
As Tom Brown leads a pair of young, aspiring homesteaders through his home apple orchard in Clemmons, North Carolina, he gestures at clusters of maturing trees. A retired chemical engineer, the 79 year old lists varieties and pauses to tell occasional stories. Unfamiliar names such as Black Winesap, Candy Stripe, Royal Lemon, Rabun Bald, Yellow Bellflower, and Night Dropper pair with tales that seem plucked from pomological lore.
当汤姆•布朗带领一对年轻、有抱负的自耕农穿过他位于北卡罗来纳州克莱蒙斯的自家苹果园时，他指着一簇簇成熟的树木。作为一名退休的化学工程师，这位 79 岁的老人列数了苹果的品种，偶尔会停下来讲述一些故事。黑醇露，糖果条纹，皇家柠檬，黄色风铃草，夜滴管…这些不熟悉的品种，每个品种背后都有一个传说。
注释：
homesteaders：自耕农
例句：Other farmers moved farther west to reestablish themselves on other farms as squatters or homesteaders.
有些农民继续向西发展，作为“擅自占地者”或“定居移民”另建自己的农场。
lore: (尤指口头流传的)某一方面的学问; (某一群体的)传说，传统;
[例句]They have become part of American business lore.
小企业成了美国商业学上的一个重要章节。
Take the Junaluska apple. Legend has it the variety was standardized by Cherokee Indians in the Smoky Mountains more than two centuries ago and named after its greatest patron, an early-19th-century chief. Old-time orchardists say the apple was once a Southern favorite, but disappeared around 1900. Brown started hunting for it in 2001 after discovering references in an Antebellum-era orchard catalog from Franklin, North Carolina.
以朱纳卢斯卡苹果为例。传说这个品种在两个多世纪前被大烟山的切诺基印第安人标准化，并以19 世纪早期的酋长命名。旧时的果园主说，苹果曾经是南方人的最爱，但在 1900 年左右消失了。布朗在北卡罗来纳州富兰克林的战前时代果园目录中发现了参考资料后，于 2001 年开始寻找它。
Detective work helped him locate the rural orchard, which closed in 1859. Next, he enlisted a local hobby-orchardist and mailman as a guide. The two spent days knocking door-to-door asking about old apple trees. Eventually, an elderly woman led them to the remains of a mountain orchard that’d long since been swallowed by forest. Brown returned during fruiting season and used historic records to identify a single, gnarled Junaluska tree.
侦探工作帮助他找到了 1859 年关闭的农场果园。接下来，他请一位当地的果园爱好者和邮递员作为向导。两人花了几天时间挨家挨户询问老苹果树。最终，一位老妇人带领他们来到了一座早已被森林吞没的山间果园的遗迹。布朗在结果季节返回并利用历史记录确定了一棵多节的朱纳卢斯卡树。
Brown has dozens of apple-hunting tales like these from the nearly 25 years he’s spent searching for Appalachia’s lost heirloom apples. To date, he has reclaimed about 1,200 varieties, and his two-acre orchard, Heritage Apples, contains 700 of the rarest.
布朗在寻找阿巴拉契亚地区丢失的传世苹果的近 25 年里，讲述了许多类似的苹果狩猎故事。迄今为止，他已经挽救了大约 1,200 个品种，他的两英亩果园 Heritage Apples 包含 700 个最稀有的品种。
注释：
heirloom：传家宝; 世代相传之物
Thousands of varieties probably still exist, but saving them is a race against time. The people who hold clues about their locations are typically in their 80s or 90s. Each year trees are lost to storms, development, beetles, and blights.
成千上万的品种可能仍然存在，但保存它们是一场与时间的赛跑。掌握位置线索的人通常是 80 多岁或 90 多岁。每年，树木都会因风暴、发展、甲虫和枯萎病而消失。
Ironically, Brown didn’t know what a heritage apple was until he stumbled on them at a historic farmer’s market in 1998.
具有讽刺意味的是，直到 1998 年，布朗在一个历史悠久的农贸市场偶然发现了一种古苹果，从此才与古苹果结缘。
“There was a little stand with a bunch of strange-looking apples laid out in baskets,” says Brown.
“有一个小摊子，篮子里放着一堆看起来很奇怪的苹果，”布朗说。
Colors ranged from bright green to yellow-streaked, sunset pink, and purplish black. Some were plum-sized, others as big as softballs.
颜色范围从亮绿色到黄色条纹、日落粉红色和紫黑色。有的像李子那么大，有的像垒球一样大。
Brown tasted Jonathans that had rosé wine-colored flesh. Rusty Coats were soft like pears and sweet like honey. The mammoth Twenty Ounce was crisp with a tart, peachy finish. Semi-firm Etter’s Gold brought peony bouquets and grape flavors. Grimes Golden were sweet with a hint of nutmeg and white pepper.
布朗品尝了具有桃红葡萄酒色果肉的乔纳森。铁锈色的外皮柔软如梨，甜如蜜。巨大的Twenty Ounce苹果脆脆的，有一种酸桃味。略硬的Etter’s Gold带有牡丹花和葡萄的味道。Grimes Golden甜中带着一丝白胡椒和肉豆蔻的感觉……
Brown’s enthusiasm led to a conversation with the vendor, late orchardist Maurice Marshall. The varieties of apples he was selling were standardized in the 1700s and 1800s, and had vanished from commercial circulation by 1950. Marshall had obtained most of the scionwood for them from elderly mountain homesteaders. But two or three varieties came from clippings taken during apple-hunting expeditions at the ruins of old orchards. What’s more, hundreds of lost apples could likely be reclaimed at similar sites throughout Appalachia.
布朗与曾经是果园主的摊主莫里斯马歇尔进行了交谈。他销售的苹果品种是十七世纪到十八世纪的品种，到 1950 年已从市场上消失。Maurice这些古苹果的嫁接枝大多是从老果园主那里要来的，但有两三个品种，是他自己去古苹果园废墟探险找到的。更重要的是，在美国阿巴拉契亚一带，这样的废墟还有很多，估计可以找回几百个失传的苹果品种。
“That part stayed with me,” says Brown. “I kept thinking: ‘How neat would it be to find an apple nobody’s tasted in 50 or 100 years?’”
“我一直在想，”布朗说。 “找到一个 50 年或 100 年没人尝过的苹果该有多好？”
Then it struck him: Had so many interesting, great-tasting fruits really just disappeared? It seemed impossible. Brown threw himself into researching the history of Appalachia’s heritage apples. What he learned was awe-inspiring and devastating.
然后他突然想到：这么多有趣、美味的水果真的消失了吗？这似乎是不可能的。布朗全身心地研究阿巴拉契亚古苹果的历史。而他所了解到的历史却令人心碎。
Commercial orchards in the U.S. grew about 14,000 unique apple varieties in 1905, and most of them could be found in Appalachia.
1905 年，美国的商业果园种植了大约 14,000 个独特的苹果品种，其中大部分都可以在阿巴拉契亚地区找到。
The diversity was rooted in early colonial precautions. Water wasn’t always safe to drink. Fermented beverages were the go-to alternative. Importing wine was expensive, and native pests killed Old World grapes. Apple orchards were easier to maintain and more utilitarian than growing fields of barley for beer, so cider became the colonists’ choice beverage. By the mid-1700s, virtually every East Coast farm and homestead had an apple orchard.
这种多样性植根于早期的殖民预防措施。喝水并不总是安全的。发酵饮料是首选的替代品。进口葡萄酒很昂贵，来自旧大陆的葡萄会被当地害虫杀死。与种植啤酒大麦相比，苹果园更容易维护和更实用，因此苹果酒成为殖民者的首选饮料。到 十八世纪中期，几乎每个东海岸农场和宅基地都有一个苹果园。
注释：
go-to：【美口】值得信赖的
But apple varieties were cultivated for more than cider. For Appalachian farmers and homesteaders, “a diverse orchard was fundamental to survival and good-eating alike,” says Brown. Residents were expert gardeners and developed varieties that matured at different intervals, tasted unique, and catered to specific culinary functions.
但种植苹果品种的目的不仅仅是苹果酒。对于阿巴拉契亚的农民和自耕农来说，“多样化的果园是生存和美食的基础，”布朗说。居民是专业的园丁，开发出在不同时间成熟、口味独特并满足特定烹饪功能的品种。
注释：
culinary：烹饪的; 食物的;
But Appalachian traditions around heritage apples were eroded and ultimately destroyed by urban migration, factory farming, and corporatized food systems. Conglomerates negotiated national contracts and switched to apples that matured fast and were suited to long-distance shipping. By 1950, most smaller orchards had been forced out of business. Gardens began to disappear.
但是，随着城市迁移，工厂化畜牧，企业化食品体系的出现，这种农民种苹果的热潮，后来慢慢就被侵蚀并最终摧毁了。大企业都转向那些熟得快，适合长途运输的苹果。到 1950 年，大多数较小的果园都被迫停业。花园开始消失。
By the late 1990s, U.S. commercial orchards grew fewer than 100 apple varieties—and just 11 of them accounted for 90 percent of grocery-store sales. Experts estimated 11,000 heirloom varieties had gone extinct.
到90 年代后期，美国商业果园种植的苹果品种不到 100 个，其中11种占市场份额的90%。专家估计有 11,000 种传世品种已经灭绝。
“It upset me to learn about that,” says Brown. Two-hundred-fifty years of culinary culture had been squandered. “These were foods that people had once cared about deeply, that’d been central to their lives.”
“知道这件事让我很沮丧，”布朗说。两百五十年的烹饪文化就这么消失了。 “这些食物曾经是人们生活的中心，曾被人们无比珍视。”
Brown realized he’d stumbled onto “what could only be described as a ‘calling.’”
布朗意识到拯救这些苹果“像是一种使命，在向他‘召唤’”。
Years of ad-hoc efforts helped him develop central strategies for hunts. First he gathers clues about trees’ possible whereabouts. For instance, discovering the address of someone’s great-grandparents who once kept a large orchard can pinpoint a rural community where special trees may still exist. Brown then draws a radius around the property and canvasses nearby homes. He stops at local businesses to make inquiries.
多年的工作帮助他制定了搜寻的核心策略。首先，他收集有关果树可能下落的线索。例如，发现曾经拥有一个大果园的某人的曾祖父母的地址可以确定一个可能仍然存在特殊果树的社区。然后，布朗在周围绘制一个半径并检查附近的房屋。他在当地企业驻足询问。
When Brown finds a tree, he takes clippings and returns during fruiting season to identify them. He compares leaves and apples to catalog entries, and uses photos to correspond with experts for further verification.
每当Tom发现疑似的古老苹果树，他会先剪一束枝回去，等果期再回来，根据叶子和果子进行品种确认。
Brown drives about 30,000-plus miles a year and devotes around three days a week to apple-hunting.
每年，为了寻找这些失传的苹果，Tom要开车3万多英里，每周3天，他都在寻找苹果。
“Saving an apple from the brink of extinction is a miraculous feeling,” says Brown. “It’s incredibly rewarding—and incredibly addictive!”
“将苹果从濒临灭绝的边缘拯救出来是一种奇妙的感觉，”布朗说。 “这是令人难以置信的成就感 – 一下就上瘾了！”