My Side of the Mountain (Excerpt III)《我的山林》（节选三）

文/琼·克雷格黑德·乔治 译析/吴文安

By Jean Craighead George

My Side of the Mountain (Excerpt III)《我的山林》（节选三）

文/琼·克雷格黑德·乔治 译析/吴文安

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.

护林防火员在夜里寒冷的时候生了一会儿火。清晨，他躺在白色余烬旁边睡着了。我爬回峡谷，给“惊悚”喂了几口兔子肉。然后又溜回草地边缘，检查我前天设置的一个箱子陷阱。就是把小木棍绑在一起，像个圆木屋。这个陷阱比套索和重物陷阱好用。我用它抓了好多兔子、几个松鼠，还有一个土拨鼠。

[2]我一点点靠近，看到箱子陷阱门关上了。直到今天，看到陷阱门关上还让我很激动。食物竟然会放在如此可笑的地方，这一点动物们竟然搞不明白，简直难以置信。

[3]这天早上，我把小箱子拖到树林深处才打开。抓到的动物很轻。我猜不到是什么。它也非常活跃，不停地转动，从箱子一角冲到另一角。我往里瞅，想看它在哪儿，这样才能从后脖颈处快速抓住它不被咬。我并不是每次都能抓住，手臂上的伤疤就能证明。

[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]我把眼睛靠近缝隙。黑暗中传来一阵吵闹。两只明亮的眼睛闪了闪，从菜豆荚那么宽的缝隙里钻出了一个黄鼠狼。他径直朝我冲了过来，落到我的肩膀上，朝我尖叫一番，那叫声难听极了。然后他就消失在稀疏的延龄草和血根草叶下面。

[5]他从五英尺之外的地方钻了出来，后腿直立，又朝着我尖叫一番。我说“走开！”，他却冲到我的膝盖上，把毛茸茸的宽爪放在我裤子上，盯着我的脸看。黄鼠狼这么勇敢，让我又害怕又好奇，永远都忘不了。他原地不动，朝我尖叫。他的眼睛闪闪发光，嘴唇卷起来，看得出是因为我抓了他而怒不可遏。他不会讲话，但我知道他的意思。

[6]他完全不怕我，这让我充满疑惑。我认识不少动物，却没有一个其他动物在我面前这么勇敢。他尖叫着朝我跳了过来。我大吃一惊，吓了一跳。他从我的膝头跳到头上，咬了一大口我的头发，然后猛扯。我浑身都是鸡皮疙瘩。我吓坏了，动都不敢动。不动是对的。我猜他也明白我不会还手，于是愤怒的尖叫变成了平静的呼噜声。我仍然不能动。

[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]过了一会儿，他爬下来，像皇室贵族一般优雅地从容离开，头也不回。他一下子潜入草丛，正如鱼儿沉入水中。所经之处草秆纹丝不动。

[8]这就是我和“男爵”的第一次相遇。一段恼人而又奇幻的友情从此开始。

【背景知识】这一选段描述山姆和黄鼠狼“男爵”的第一次遭遇，情景生动有趣。文中涉及捕猎工具和捕猎方法，还刻意表现黄鼠狼的勇敢无畏。这也暗示，在大自然中，人类应该与其他动物平等相处，不宜以万物之灵自居。

【第一段】原文语义清楚明了，然而翻译过程颇费周折。短语some time强调护林员没有整夜生火，仅仅在最冷的时候取暖；而white smoldering ashes（直译为白色闷烧的灰烬）译为白色余烬是为了简洁。倒数第三句的主语为I（我制作的方法是通过把小木棍绑起来……）如果照翻过来较为啰嗦，所以中文句子省略了主语。最后一句译文添加“我用”，变换主语，使意思更连贯。

【第二段】该段中，原文三句话的语序都很难保持顺译，最后一句话的变量最多，可以有几种调整方法：译文完全颠倒了原文顺序，也没有保持原文主语I。

【第三段】第一个词well（起语气转折的作用）很难处理，这里选择不译。最后一句如果直译会是“我并不总是能成功做到”，有点翻译腔，于是具体化为“我并不是每次都能抓住”，还添加了定语“手臂上的”。

【第四段】第二句的译文颠倒了语序。而分句gave me a lecture that I shall never forget不宜直译（如果直译就是：给我上了一课，我永远不会忘记），否则很难理解。译文把lecture明晰化为“尖叫”，把I shall never forget转译为“那叫声难听极了”。

【第五段】这里出现了stand on his hind feet、lecture、berate等词语，不宜按照字面意思翻译。第三句译文也不得不颠倒语序，否则不符合中文习惯。

【第六段】整段原文有九句话，而译文中六句变换了主语，这说明原文很有特色，译文必须适当调整才能顺畅。

【第七段】这一小段的用词特别讲究，比如stately as royalty、march、sank、ripple等，意象鲜明，联想意义丰富，文学性十足。

【第八段】第二分句如直译则为“这是一段恼人且奇妙的友情的开始”，稍嫌啰嗦和翻译腔，所以译文调整为主谓短语，更简洁一些。

【小结】这一选段非常适合用作文学翻译练习，因为原文用词和句式极为地道，难以顺译，逼迫译者不断地调整译文语序和寻找贴切的中文词语。通过这一选段的翻译尝试，译者能体会到中英文之间措辞、句式、语法和文学描写视角的巨大差异。