On the Far Side of the Mountain (Excerpt III) 《远方山林》（节选三）

By Jean Craighead George 文/琼·克雷格黑德·乔治 译析/吴文安

On the Far Side of the Mountain (Excerpt III) 《远方山林》（节选三）

By Jean Craighead George 文/琼·克雷格黑德·乔治 译析/吴文安

“Alice, my sister who is two years younger than I am, is going to live on the mountain with me—for better or worse.

[2] “The way I look at it, she’s here by default. Mom; Dad; my four brothers,John, Jim, Hank, and Jake; and my four sisters, Alice, Mary, Joan, and Nina climbed up my mountain three weeks ago and announced they were here to stay. Dad was going to plow the abandoned fields, sow seeds, and reap the grain. The boys said they would help build the house from the planks and twoby-fours Dad had brought up here for that purpose. Mom and the girls were eager to grow a garden and keep a cow.

[3] “Well, the house never got built.Mrs. Fielder, whom I always call Mrs.Strawberry because she and I gathered wild strawberries the spring I arrived on the mountain, was kind to my family.She offered them rooms in her large old farmhouse until they got started. She’s alone and said they would be company for her.

“艾丽斯，是比我小两岁的妹妹，无论如何，将和我一起住在山上。

[2]“在我看来，她到这里是顺理成章的。妈妈，爸爸，我的四个弟弟：约翰、吉姆、汉克和杰克；还有我的四个妹妹：艾丽斯、玛丽、琼和妮娜——三周以前，他们一起爬上我的大山，宣布要待在这里。爸爸要耕种废弃的荒地，播种后再收获粮食。男孩们说，他们要帮忙用爸爸带来的宽四英寸厚二英寸的木材和其他木板来建造房屋。妈妈和妹妹们急于要开垦一个花园并养一头奶牛。

[3]“嗯，房子根本没有盖。菲尔德夫人对我们家太好了。我一直把她叫作草莓夫人，因为我刚来大山的那个春天她和我一起摘草莓来着。她让我的家人住在她大农场的房子里，直到工程动工才离开。她一个人住，说我的家人正好给她作伴。

[4] “Hardly had my father borrowed Mrs. Strawberry’s horse, Slats, and the plow, and taken them up one side of my meadow and down again, than he knew why his grandfather had abandoned this land. He was not plowing soil. He was plowing rocks. Mrs. Strawberry put it this way. “If you want to grow stones,Mr. Gribley, this is the place for you.Here in these mountains, stones are our best crop.’

[5] “Next Dad tried to put in a garden.After hours of digging to find soil in my meadow, he gave up. As a last resort he called in a soil conservation officer and conferred with him.

[6] “‘The land’s good for trees and wildlife,’ he told Dad, ‘and maybe a few wild plants that like poor soil—and that’s about all.’

[7] “June seventeenth he and Mother climbed the long, hard mountain trail to my home. One look at their faces told me then had not come for sumac tea.”

[8] I chuckle as I remember Dad asking me where Alice was—she spent most of her time up here with me—and I told him she was at the spring fiddling with a gadget she had been working on for days.

[4]“爸爸刚刚跟草莓夫人借了马儿‘施莱茨’和犁头，把它们弄到我草坪的一边，上下耕了一趟，就知道他的祖父为什么会放弃这片地了。他耕的不是土地。他耕的是石头。草莓夫人这样评论来着：‘格里布雷先生，如果您想种石头，这个地方正合适。在这片山里，石头是我们最好的收成。’

[5]“接下来爸爸想开垦一个花园。他花了好几个小时在我的草坪里挖呀挖，寻找土壤，最后放弃了。他的最后一招是叫来一位土壤保持专家，向人家咨询。

[6]“‘这片山地适合树木和野生动植物，’专家告诉爸爸，‘也许还适合一些喜欢贫瘠土壤的野生植物——就是这样。’

[7]“6月17日那天，爸爸和妈妈走过那条长长的崎岖山路来到我的住处。一看他们的表情我就知道他们不是来喝漆树茶的。”

[8]一想起爸爸问我艾丽斯在哪里我就偷笑——她大部分时间都在山上跟我在一起——我告诉爸爸，她正在泉水边鼓捣一个物件儿，她已经做了好几天了。

[9] “Children,” Dad said when Alice came down from the spring, “pack up your things. We’re going to leave. It’s impossible to farm this mountain. Men more skilled than I have tried and failed.If they couldn’t do it, it’s insane for me to think I can. I’m going back to what I am good at—working on the docks near the sea.”

[10] “Well, I’m not going,” Alice replied nicely but firmly.

The irises in Alice’s eyes look as if they are made of little pieces of blue and white crystal. When she’s excited,each piece sparkles. They flashed until I thought they would splinter and crack when she told Dad she wasn’t going back to the city.

“I love it here!” she said. “I’m going to stay.”

[9]“孩子们，”艾丽斯从泉水回来时爸爸说，“收拾你们的东西，我们要离开了。在这座山上开辟农场是不可能的。比我更有技术的人都尝试过，也失败了。如果他们做不到，而我认为我可以，那我就是疯了。我要回去做我擅长的事儿——到海边的码头上工作。”

[10]“好的，但我不走。”艾丽斯回答，声音很客气但很坚定。

艾丽斯眼睛里的虹膜很好看，仿佛是小块的蓝色和白色水晶所构成。她激动的时候，每一块水晶都闪闪发光。她跟爸爸说她不愿意回到城市的时候，那些水晶石一直在闪烁，我都以为它们会碎裂。

“我喜欢这里！”她说，“我要留下来。”

【背景知识】为了迁就山姆，也为了堵住批评者的口，山姆父母带着一家人来加入山姆的生活。不料大山很不友好，不能种地，不能开垦花园，无法养家糊口，山姆父母只好决定离开。但倔强的艾丽斯决定留下来，跟山姆一起享受山野生活。另一段故事就此展开。

【第一段】这里有一个定语从句，翻译时把定语调整到核心词之前比较符合中文习惯。

【第二段】第一句中的by default不宜译为“默认”。从上下文来看，因为艾丽斯喜欢山林生活，所以她留下来顺理成章。第二句很长，译文用破折号隔开两部分，这样更通顺一点。最后一句的grow a garden是移就修辞法，中文不好照搬为“种一个花园”，于是变通为“开垦一个花园”。

【第三段】第二句中的定语从句很长，译文只能调整顺序，把插入成分置后。最后两句看似简单，但也要小心处理，比如短语offered them rooms和she is alone，都不宜直译。

【第四段】以hardly开头的句式不太好处理，译文根据上下文意思，选取“刚刚……就……”句式。最后草莓夫人的话非常幽默，译文应该把这种风趣的文字体现出来。

【第五段】这里要注意叙述文字的语气，话语中透着幽默和调侃，反映山姆的思想活动，也反映作者的诙谐气质。

【第六段】该段有几个词语存在逻辑交叉，即trees和wildlife，而wildlife既包含动物也包含植物，因此译为“野生动植物”。

【第七段】第一句的climb不宜译为“爬过”，因为在中文里“爬过长长的路”有歧义。第二句中的主要结构one look told me（一眼就告诉我）要译为中文也需添加主语“我知道……”。

【第八段】最后一句中的fiddling with a gadget（其实是制作一个水车）用词巧妙，很幽默，所以译文用了“鼓捣一个物件儿”来再现这种效果。

【第九段】倒数第二句英文很紧凑，中文不好照搬，所以分开来译，同时调整了语序：如果他们做不到，而我认为我可以，那我就是疯了。

【第十段】这一部分原文很精致，很美。翻译时要注意使用优美的语言和简洁的句式。

【小结】总体上，这一选段的翻译难度不大，需要调整的大多是一些细节，比如定语从句、强调句式等。翻译中容易被忽视的可能是原文的语气，像幽默的用词和调侃的话语等，需要译者对原文详加鉴赏和分析后再斟酌落笔。

10 Fascinating Extinct Animals (X)

10. Bubal Hartebeest北非麋羚

The Bubal hartebeest, or Bubal antelope, was a subspecies of African antelope that lived in North Africa.

The animals were hunted to extinction and the last known Bubal hartebeest was killed in Algeria sometime between 1945 and 1954, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.