In Bykovsky（）, a village of 457 people on Russia's northeast coast, the shoreline is collapsing, /creeping（爬行） closer and closer to houses and tanks（大容器） of heating oil（采暖用油）, /at a rate of 15 to 18 feet a year.

　　"It is practically all ice – permafrost（永久冻土） - and it is thawing（融化）." For the four million people /who live north of the Arctic Circle, a changing climate presents new opportunities. But it also threatens their environment, their homes and, for those /whose traditions rely on the ice-bound wilderness, /the preservation of their culture.

　　A push to develop the North, /quickened by the melting of the Arctic seas, carries its own rewards and dangers for people in the region. The discovery of vast petroleum（石油） fields in the Barents and Kara Seas /has raised fears of catastrophic accidents /as ships loaded with oil and, soon, liquefied（液化的） gas churn（作动词－搅动翻腾） /through the fisheries off Scandinavia, /headed to markets in Europe and North America. Land that was untouched could be tainted by pollution /as generators（发电机）, smokestacks（大烟囱） and large vehicles sprout（发芽、发展） to support the growing energy industry.

　　Coastal erosion is a problem in Alaska （阿拉斯加）as well, forcing the United States to prepare to relocate several Inuit（因纽特人/爱斯基摩人） villages /at a projected（计划的） cost of $100 million or more for each one.

　　Across the Arctic, indigenous（本地的） tribes with traditions /shaped by centuries of living in extremes of cold and ice are noticing changes in weather and wildlife. They are trying to adapt, but it can be confounding（不知所措、困惑）.

　　In Finnmark（）, Norway's northernmost province, the Arctic landscape unfolds in late winter /as an endless snowy plateau（高原）, silent but for the cries of the reindeer /and the occasional whine（鸣叫） of a snowmobile（摩托雪橇） herding（放牧） them.

　　A changing Arctic is felt there, too. "The reindeer are becoming unhappy," said Eira, a 31-year-old reindeer herder.

　　Few countries rival Norway /when it comes to protecting the environment and preserving indigenous customs. The state has lavished（过分慷慨、浪费） its oil wealth on the region, /and Sami（萨米人） culture has enjoyed something of a renaissance（文艺复兴）.

　　And yet no amount of government support can convince Eira that his livelihood, /intractably（strongly） entwined(使缠绕) with the reindeer, is not about to change. Like a Texas cattleman, he keeps the size of his herd secret. But he said warmer temperatures in fall and spring were melting the top layers of snow, /which then refreeze as ice, making it harder for his reindeer to dig through /to the lichen（地衣） they eat.

　　"The people who are making the decisions, they are living in the south and they are living in towns," said Eira, sitting inside his home /made of reindeer hides（兽皮）. "They don't mark the change of weather. It is only people /who live in nature and get resources from nature /who mark it."