瓊·克雷格黑德·喬治

She knew what it was—she should not depend upon the wolves for survival. She must go on her own. Instantly she felt relieved， her legs moved， her hands stopped shaking， and she remembered that when Kapugen was a boy， he had told her， he made snares of rawhide and caught little birds.

“Buntings， beware！” she shouted and slid down to her camp. Stepping out of her pants， she slipped off her tights and cut a swath of cloth from the hip with her ulo. She tore the cloth into small strips， then ate some stew， and started off to hunt birds. Every so often she tied a bit of red cloth to a clump of grass or around a conspicuous stone. If she was going to hunt in this confusing land， she must leave a trail to lead her home. She could not smell her way back as the wolves did.

As she tied the first piece of cloth to a bent sedge， she looked down on a small pile of droppings. “Ee-lie，” she said. “A bird roost. Someone sleeps here every night.” Quickly she took the thongs from her boots， made a noose， and placed it under the sedge. Holding the pull-rope， she moved back as far as she could and lay down to await the return of the bird.

The sun slid slowly down the sky， hung still for a moment， then started up again. It was midnight. A flock of swift-flying Arctic terns darted overhead， and one by one dropped into the grasses. Ruddy turnstones called sleepily from their scattered roosts， and sandpipers whistled. The creatures of the tundra were going to sleep， as they did also at noon in the constant daylight. Each called from his roost—all but the little bird of the sedge. It had not come back.

A bird chirped three feet from her face， and Miyax rolled her eyes to the left. A bunting on a grass blade tucked its bill into the feathers on its back， fluffed， and went to sleep. Where， she asked， was the bird of the sedge？ Had it been killed by a fox or a weasel？

She was about to get to her feet and hunt elsewhere， but she remembered that Kapugen never gave up. Sometimes he would stand motionless for five hours at a seal breathing hole in the ice waiting for a seal to come up for a breath. She must wait， too.

The sun moved around the sky， and， when it was directly behind her， the sleeping bunting lifted its head and chirped. It hopped to a higher blade of grass， preened， and sang its morning song. The sleep was over. Her bird had not come back.

她知道做錯什么了——她不應(yīng)該依靠狼群活下去。她必須自我救贖。想通之后，她立刻感覺放松下來，腿能動了，雙手也不再顫抖。她這才想起來，父親卡普根曾告訴她，他小時候，曾用獸皮做的圈套捉到過小鳥。

“美洲雀兒們，你們要小心了！”她大喊一聲，下滑到自己的營地。她褪掉外褲，又脫下緊身褲，用自己的幽魯?shù)稄难澴油尾扛钕乱欢尾紬l。她把布條再撕成窄細的布綹兒，然后吃了一些燉肉，就出發(fā)去捕鳥。每走一段，她都會在草叢里或顯眼的石頭上拴一根紅布條兒。想在這樣讓人迷路的地方打獵，她必須留下記號以便循原路回家。狼群可以通過嗅覺找到原路，她不能。

她在一棵彎倒的莎草上綁了第一根布條兒，這時她俯身看到地上有一小堆兒糞便?！疤炷模彼f道，“這兒有一個鳥窩。有只鳥兒每天晚上都在這兒睡覺呢。”她快速從靴子上取下皮條，做了一個套索，放在莎草下面。她手拿拽繩，向后退到盡可能遠的地方，趴下來等候鳥兒回家。

太陽慢慢地在天邊滑下去，有一陣兒停止不動，然后再次爬升。已是午夜時分。有一群快速飛行的北極燕鷗從頭頂掠過，一只接一只落到草叢里。分散在各處窩里的紅色翻石鷸睡意朦朧地叫著，磯鷸吹起了口哨。凍原上的生靈們即將進入夢鄉(xiāng)，就像在極晝的正午一樣。每一只鳥兒都已回巢，并且發(fā)出叫聲——唯有那只在莎草旁筑巢的小鳥兒除外。它還沒有回家。

有只鳥兒啁啾了幾聲，離米婭克斯的臉大概有三英尺遠。米婭克斯的眼睛瞅向左邊。一只美洲雀落在草葉上，把喙插到后背的羽毛里，抖了抖羽毛，悄然入夢。米婭克斯心中問道，家在莎草旁的這只鳥兒去哪里了呢？難道是被狐貍或黃鼠狼殺死了嗎？

她剛要站起身來，到別處捕鳥，突然想起父親卡普根永不放棄的做法。有的時候，父親會在海豹的換氣孔旁邊一動不動站在冰上五個小時，只為等海豹出來換氣。她也必須等待。

太陽在天邊移動。等太陽正在她背后的時候，那只睡覺的美洲雀抬起頭，叫了幾聲。然后它跳到一個更高的草葉上，用嘴巴梳理羽毛，唱起了晨曲。它已走出夢鄉(xiāng)。但她的鳥兒仍然沒有回家。

【背景知識】察覺到狼群即將遷徙遠行，米婭克斯心中惶恐，因為她不可能再依賴狼群生存了。她必須自己設(shè)法活下去，于是想到了捕鳥。這一選段細致地描述了米婭克斯從準備工具到設(shè)立套索，以及耐心等待鳥兒歸巢的全程。

【第一段】第一句中的it指代做錯的事情。第二句意思很簡單，卻有不同的譯法，比如“自食其力、自力更生、依靠自己”等，充分展現(xiàn)出文學(xué)翻譯的彈性闡釋空間。譯文使用了“自我救贖”，突出顯示她必須靠自己挽救生命，走出荒原。第三句如果直譯，會顯得文氣中斷，不連貫，所以譯文補出了“想通之后”。譯文還添加了“這才”，使得句子邏輯更加明晰。

【第二段】開頭的句子是表現(xiàn)米婭克斯有了主意之后很興奮，大喊大叫，譯文也力求彰顯這種氛圍。幽魯?shù)叮╱lo）是愛斯基摩人經(jīng)常隨身攜帶的一種工具，刀為半圓形。最后兩句中，confusing land（直譯即“讓人迷惑的土地”）如直譯語義不清，所以明晰化為“讓人迷路的地方”。而最后一句譯文按照中文習(xí)慣反向譯出，不是人“通過嗅覺找到原路”，而是狼群。

【第三段】這里的someone在譯文中明晰化為“有只鳥兒”。最后一句的lay down不能翻譯為“躺下”，根據(jù)具體情景應(yīng)該是“趴下”。

【第四段】倒數(shù)第二句each called from his roost的譯文補足了邏輯關(guān)系：每一只鳥兒都在窩里叫，因為它們都已經(jīng)回家了。這一段原文中出現(xiàn)了多種鳥類，需要譯者仔細查證，確定鳥名。原文描寫細膩，詩意盎然，蘊含著作者的一片愛心，也需要譯者仔細體察。

【第五段】此處原文對鳥兒的舉動刻畫得細致入微，這來源于作者對鳥兒的精心觀察。譯者自當(dāng)需要多多查證，以便通過譯文準確地還原當(dāng)時情景。

【第六段】第一句如果譯為“想起父親卡普根永不放棄”，句子顯得不完整，所以添加了類別詞“的做法”。

【第七段】北極極晝的太陽是在天邊滑行，并不會升到正上方的高空。米婭克斯趴在地上等了好久。睡眠結(jié)束，美洲雀可愛的舉止躍然紙上。原文文字簡潔生動，譯文選擇的空間很大，比如The sleep was over可以譯為“睡眠時間結(jié)束、睡眠結(jié)束、美夢結(jié)束、該起床了”等。

【小結(jié)】如何抓捕獵物、設(shè)置什么陷阱、野生動植物的名稱、野生動植物的習(xí)性等都是生態(tài)文學(xué)常見的描寫對象。這些都充分展現(xiàn)在該選段當(dāng)中。文中涉及的愛斯基摩文化詞語也需要查證清楚才可翻譯。更重要的，這一選段通過簡潔的文字營造出一種詩意氛圍，給譯者帶來了巨大的闡釋空間和遣詞造句的多重選擇。譯者需要參照原文，從整體上把握譯文的風(fēng)格，盡量再現(xiàn)原作的意境和韻味。? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? □