Birkeskovene

På den anden morgen var toget allerede 400 kilometer øst for Moskva.

On the second morning, the train was already 400 kilometres east of Moscow.

Polly vågnede ved det lille bord. Lyset var blødt og gråt. Galina, den ældre kvinde, drak te fra et glas med en metalholder.

Polly woke on the small table. The light was soft and grey. Galina, the older woman, was drinking tea from a glass with a metal holder.

"Birketræer," sagde hun.

"Birches," she said.

Udenfor susede hvide træer forbi med tres kilometer i timen. De fortsatte i det uendelige. De fyldte hele landskabet.

Outside, white trees were rushing past at sixty kilometres per hour. They went on and on. They filled the whole landscape.

Dette er det russiske birkebælte. Hvide birketræer vokser mange kolde steder, hvor andre træer ikke kan.

This is the Russian birch belt. White birch grows in many cold places where other trees cannot.

Den unge mand, Pavel, kiggede op. "Du er papegøjen," sagde han. Han vendte tilbage til sin bærbare computer.

The young man, Pavel, looked up. "You are the parrot," he said. He went back to his laptop.

Galina hældte te op til Polly. Den var ravfarvet. En skive citron flød på toppen. Samovaren havde været varm i tolv timer.

Galina poured tea for Polly. It was amber. A slice of lemon floated on top. The samovar had been hot for twelve hours.

Polly tog en slurk. Den var varm og sød.

Polly drank a sip. It was hot and sweet.

"Den længste del af denne rejse er træerne," sagde Galina. "Man sidder i et tog i seks dage og kigger på træer. Der er ingen ende på dem."

"The longest part of this trip is the trees," Galina said. "You sit in a train for six days and look at trees. There is no end to them."

Fyrre procent af Rusland er skov. Rusland har tyve procent af alle træer i verden.

Forty percent of Russia is forest. Russia has twenty percent of all the trees in the world.

Polly drak igen. Pavel skrev. Galina læste sin bog. Udenfor fortsatte birketræerne med at passere.

Polly drank again. Pavel typed. Galina read her book. Outside, the birches kept passing.