文/瓊·克雷格黑德·喬治 譯析/吳文安

By Jean Craighead George

My Side of the Mountain (Excerpt III)《我的山林》（節(jié)選三）

文/瓊·克雷格黑德·喬治 譯析/吳文安

ByJean Craighead George

The fire warden made a fire some time in the colder hours of the night. At dawn he was asleep beside white smoldering ashes. I crawled back to the gorge, fed Frightful rabbit bites,and slipped back to the edge of the meadow to check a box trap I had set the day before. I made it by tying small sticks together like a log cabin. This trap was better than the snares or deadfalls.It had caught numerous rabbits, several squirrels, and a groundhog.

[2] I saw, as I inched toward it, that it was closed. The sight of a closed trap excites me to this day. I still can’t believe that animals don’t understand why delicious food is in such a ridiculous spot.

[3] Well, this morning I pulled the trap deep into the woods to open it. The trapped animal was light. I couldn’t guess what it was. It was also active,flipping and darting from one corner to the next. I peeked in to locate it, so that I could grab it quickly behind the head without getting bitten. I was not always successful at this, and had scars to prove it.

護林防火員在夜里寒冷的時候生了一會兒火。清晨，他躺在白色余燼旁邊睡著了。我爬回峽谷，給“驚悚”喂了幾口兔子肉。然后又溜回草地邊緣，檢查我前天設置的一個箱子陷阱。就是把小木棍綁在一起，像個圓木屋。這個陷阱比套索和重物陷阱好用。我用它抓了好多兔子、幾個松鼠，還有一個土撥鼠。

[2]我一點點靠近，看到箱子陷阱門關上了。直到今天，看到陷阱門關上還讓我很激動。食物竟然會放在如此可笑的地方，這一點動物們竟然搞不明白，簡直難以置信。

[3]這天早上，我把小箱子拖到樹林深處才打開。抓到的動物很輕。我猜不到是什么。它也非常活躍，不停地轉(zhuǎn)動，從箱子一角沖到另一角。我往里瞅，想看它在哪兒，這樣才能從后脖頸處快速抓住它不被咬。我并不是每次都能抓住，手臂上的傷疤就能證明。

[4] I put my eye to the crack. A rumpus arose in the darkness. Two bright eyes shone, and out through that hole that was no wider than a string bean came a weasel. He flew right out at me, landed on my shoulder, gave me a lecture that I shall never forget,and vanished under the scant cover of trillium and bloodroot leaves.

[5] He popped up about five feet away and stood on his hind feet to lecture me again. I said, “Scat!” so he darted right to my knee, put his broad furry paws on my pants, and looked me in the face. I shall never forget the fear and wonder that I felt at the bravery of that weasel.He stood his ground and berated me. I could see by the flashing of his eyes and the curl of his lip that he was furious at me for trapping him. He couldn’t talk,but I knew what he meant.

[6] Wonder filled me as I realized he was absolutely unafraid. No other animal, and I knew quite a few by now,had been so brave in my presence.Screaming, he jumped on me. This surprised and scared me. He leapt from my lap to my head, took a mouthful of hair and wrestled it. My goose bumps rose. I was so frightened to move. A good thing, too, because I guess he figured I was not going to fight back and scream of anger changed to a purr of peace. Still, I couldn’t move.

[4]我把眼睛靠近縫隙。黑暗中傳來一陣吵鬧。兩只明亮的眼睛閃了閃，從菜豆莢那么寬的縫隙里鉆出了一個黃鼠狼。他徑直朝我沖了過來，落到我的肩膀上，朝我尖叫一番，那叫聲難聽極了。然后他就消失在稀疏的延齡草和血根草葉下面。

[5]他從五英尺之外的地方鉆了出來，后腿直立，又朝著我尖叫一番。我說“走開！”，他卻沖到我的膝蓋上，把毛茸茸的寬爪放在我褲子上，盯著我的臉看。黃鼠狼這么勇敢，讓我又害怕又好奇，永遠都忘不了。他原地不動，朝我尖叫。他的眼睛閃閃發(fā)光，嘴唇卷起來，看得出是因為我抓了他而怒不可遏。他不會講話，但我知道他的意思。

[6]他完全不怕我，這讓我充滿疑惑。我認識不少動物，卻沒有一個其他動物在我面前這么勇敢。他尖叫著朝我跳了過來。我大吃一驚，嚇了一跳。他從我的膝頭跳到頭上，咬了一大口我的頭發(fā)，然后猛扯。我渾身都是雞皮疙瘩。我嚇壞了，動都不敢動。不動是對的。我猜他也明白我不會還手，于是憤怒的尖叫變成了平靜的呼嚕聲。我仍然不能動。

[7] Presently, down he climbed, as stately as royalty, and off he marched,never looking back. He sank beneath the leaves like a fish beneath the water.Not a stem rippled to mark his way.

[8] And so The Baron and I met for the first time, and it was the beginning of a harassing but wonderful friendship.

[7]過了一會兒，他爬下來，像皇室貴族一般優(yōu)雅地從容離開，頭也不回。他一下子潛入草叢，正如魚兒沉入水中。所經(jīng)之處草稈紋絲不動。

[8]這就是我和“男爵”的第一次相遇。一段惱人而又奇幻的友情從此開始。

【背景知識】這一選段描述山姆和黃鼠狼“男爵”的第一次遭遇，情景生動有趣。文中涉及捕獵工具和捕獵方法，還刻意表現(xiàn)黃鼠狼的勇敢無畏。這也暗示，在大自然中，人類應該與其他動物平等相處，不宜以萬物之靈自居。

【第一段】原文語義清楚明了，然而翻譯過程頗費周折。短語some time強調(diào)護林員沒有整夜生火，僅僅在最冷的時候取暖；而white smoldering ashes（直譯為白色悶燒的灰燼）譯為白色余燼是為了簡潔。倒數(shù)第三句的主語為I（我制作的方法是通過把小木棍綁起來……）如果照翻過來較為啰嗦，所以中文句子省略了主語。最后一句譯文添加“我用”，變換主語，使意思更連貫。

【第二段】該段中，原文三句話的語序都很難保持順譯，最后一句話的變量最多，可以有幾種調(diào)整方法：譯文完全顛倒了原文順序，也沒有保持原文主語I。

【第三段】第一個詞well（起語氣轉(zhuǎn)折的作用）很難處理，這里選擇不譯。最后一句如果直譯會是“我并不總是能成功做到”，有點翻譯腔，于是具體化為“我并不是每次都能抓住”，還添加了定語“手臂上的”。

【第四段】第二句的譯文顛倒了語序。而分句gave me a lecture that I shall never forget不宜直譯（如果直譯就是：給我上了一課，我永遠不會忘記），否則很難理解。譯文把lecture明晰化為“尖叫”，把I shall never forget轉(zhuǎn)譯為“那叫聲難聽極了”。

【第五段】這里出現(xiàn)了stand on his hind feet、lecture、berate等詞語，不宜按照字面意思翻譯。第三句譯文也不得不顛倒語序，否則不符合中文習慣。

【第六段】整段原文有九句話，而譯文中六句變換了主語，這說明原文很有特色，譯文必須適當調(diào)整才能順暢。

【第七段】這一小段的用詞特別講究，比如stately as royalty、march、sank、ripple等，意象鮮明，聯(lián)想意義豐富，文學性十足。

【第八段】第二分句如直譯則為“這是一段惱人且奇妙的友情的開始”，稍嫌啰嗦和翻譯腔，所以譯文調(diào)整為主謂短語，更簡潔一些。

【小結】這一選段非常適合用作文學翻譯練習，因為原文用詞和句式極為地道，難以順譯，逼迫譯者不斷地調(diào)整譯文語序和尋找貼切的中文詞語。通過這一選段的翻譯嘗試，譯者能體會到中英文之間措辭、句式、語法和文學描寫視角的巨大差異。