My Side of the Mountain (Excerpt V)

文/琼·克雷格黑德·乔治 译析/吴文安

My Side of the Mountain (Excerpt V)

文/琼·克雷格黑德·乔治 译析/吴文安

One week the weather gave a little to the sun, and snow melted and limbs dumped their loads and popped up into the air. I thought I’d try to make an igloo. I was cutting big blocks of snow and putting them in a circle.Frightful was dozing with her face in the sun, and the tree sparrows were raiding the hemlock cones. I worked and hummed, and did not notice the grey sheet of cloud that was sneaking up the mountain from the northwest. It covered the sun suddenly. I realized the air was damp enough to wring. I could stay as warm as a bug if I didn’t get wet, so I looked at the drab mess in the sky, whistled for Frightful, and started back to the tree. We holed up just as Barometer was yanking his way home,and it was none too soon. It drizzled, it misted, it sprinkled, and fi nally it froze.The deer-hide door grew stiff with ice as darkness came, and it rattled like a piece of tin when the wind hit it.

[2]I made a fire, the tree room warmed, and I puttered around with a concoction I call possum sop. A meal of frozen possum stewed with lichens,snakeweed, and lousewort. It is a different sort of dish. Of course what I really like about it are the names of all the plants with the name possum. I fooled for an hour or so brewing this dish, adding this and that, when I heard the mouse in his tunnel. I realized he was making an awful fuss, and decided it was because he was trying to gnaw through ice to get in. I decided to help him. Frightful was on her post, and I wanted to see the mouse’s face when he found he was in a den with a falcon.I pushed the deerskin door. It wouldn’t budge. I kicked it. It gave a little,cracking like china, and I realized that I was going to be iced in if I didn’t keep that door open.

[3]I finally got it open. There must have been an inch and a half of ice on it. The mouse, needless to say, was gone. I ate my supper and reminded myself to awaken and open the door off and on during the night. I put more wood on the fi re, as it was damp in spite of the flames, and went to bed in my underwear and suit.

[4]I awoke twice and kicked open the door. Then I fell into a sound sleep that lasted hours beyond my usual rising time. I overslept, I discovered, because I was in a block of ice, and none of the morning sounds of the forest penetrated my glass house to awaken me. The fi rst thing I did was try to open the door; I chipped and kicked and managed to get my head out to see what had happened.I was sealed in. Now, I have seen ice storms, and I know they can be shiny and glassy and treacherous, but this was something else. There were sheets of ice binding the aspens to earth and cementing the tops of the hemlocks in arches. It was inches thick! Frightful winged out of the door and flew to a limb, where she tried to perch. She slipped, dropped to the ground, and skidded on her wings and undercoverts to a low spot where she fi nally stopped,lost her balance, and spread her wings.She finally flapped into the air and hovered there until she could locate a decent perch. She found one close against the bole of the hemlock. It was ice free.

有一周时间，阳光多一些，雪化了，树枝卸下了重负，向空中伸展。我想可以尝试做个雪屋。我切割出大雪块，然后把它们围成一圈。“惊悚”在阳光下打着瞌睡，树麻雀都在啄食铁杉树的果实。我一边干活儿一边哼着小曲，没有注意到大片乌云正悄悄地翻越西北方的大山直扑过来。突然之间，乌云就遮盖了太阳。我也意识到空气潮湿得能拧出水来。只要不淋湿，我就可以像小虫子一样暖暖和和的。我看了看空中密布的彤云，打了个口哨招呼“惊悚”，然后回树屋去。我们刚刚窝起来，就看到“温度计”五十雀飞掠回家，时间赶得正巧。先是小雨，然后大雾弥漫，接下来是雪霰，最后大地一片冰封。天黑的时候，鹿皮门因为结冰而变得僵硬，大风刮过，鹿皮门就像铁皮一样叮当作响。

[2]我生起火，树屋里暖和了，我忙忙叨叨想做一顿负鼠羹。这是我起的名字，就是冰冻的负鼠肉，加上地衣、蛇草和马先蒿炖制而成。这是与众不同的美食。当然了，我真正喜欢的是这些植物和负鼠的名字放在一起。我胡乱捣鼓了一个小时炖汤，加点儿这，加点儿那，这时突然听到了地道中有老鼠。我意识到他在拼命地挖洞，因为想咬穿冰块进屋来。我决定帮帮他。“惊悚”就待在她的架子上，我很想看看当老鼠发现来到一个有猎鹰的巢穴会是什么表情。我推了推鹿皮门。门一动不动。我用脚踢。门晃了晃，像瓷器一般发出噼噼啪啪的响声，我才知道如果我不让门开着的话，很可能会被封冻在树屋里。

[3]我终于打开了门。门上的冰一定有一英寸半厚。而那只老鼠，正如所料，已经消失不见。我吃了晚饭，提醒自己夜里一定要起身把门开关几次。我往火炉上又放了些木柴，不过火炉也驱散不了屋里的潮气。我于是穿着内衣和外套上床睡觉了。

[4]夜里我醒了两次把门踢开。然后呼呼大睡几个小时，到了平时该起床的时候也没醒。我睡过头了，后来发现这是因为我睡在一个大冰块里，森林里清晨的各种声音都不能穿透冰层将我吵醒。起来的第一件事是试着开门；我铲冰、踢门，努力把头伸出去看看外面什么样。我被冰雪密封起来了。那时为止，我已经见过冻雨，知道冻雨光闪闪亮晶晶的，凶险无比，但这次有所不同。巨大的冰块把大齿杨压弯到地上，把铁杉的树梢冻结到一块儿垂下来。冰块有几英寸厚！“惊悚”扇动翅膀飞出门，飞到一个树枝上，想站在上面。树枝太滑，“惊悚”掉到地上，拍打着翅膀滑行，直到一个低洼的地方才停下，但“惊悚”已经失去平衡，翅膀展开趴在地上。她好不容易才拍打翅膀飞到空中，盘旋了半天，终于找到一个合适的落脚点。落脚点是紧挨铁杉树干的一个地方。那里没有冰。

【背景知识】北美山区的冬天十分寒冷，小山姆终于体验到了冻雨的残酷。这一段文字娓娓道来，将大雪封山冰天雪地的场景一一刻画眼前。虽然是虚构作品，但作者敏于观察，精于描写，让读者身临其境。

【第一段】这里有很多文字不宜直译，比如gave a little to the sun（向太阳让步）、limbs（大树枝，有比喻意义）、with her face in the sun（脸晒着太阳）、raiding（攻击）、damp enough to wring（湿得拧出水）、drab mess（黑暗的一团）等，译文都做了相应的变通处理。句子as Barometer was yanking his way home需要上下文知识才能懂。前文提到有一只五十雀住在附近的树上，对天气十分敏感，山姆观察其行为就可以判断天气的好坏。此处五十雀飞回家中也说明天气要变差。倒数第二句是一个排比句：It drizzled, it misted, it sprinkled, and fi nally it froze. 译文也力求再现原文句式。

【第二段】说实话，这里的语言虽然还在模仿少年口气，其实是作者现身亲自操刀了，所以文字口语化强，幽默风趣，比如putter around、concoction、fool for an hour等。译文也尽量口语化，传达幽默的风格。原文的crack（爆裂声）很形象，因此译文添加了象声词“噼噼啪啪”。

【第三段】短语needless to say（无须言说）改译为“正如所料”，变换了陈述角度。最后一句的译文中用“不过”“于是”衔接上下文，添加“驱散不了”，使得逻辑关系明晰化。

【第四段】文中的glass house强调晶莹剔透的冰屋，实为隐喻，但不宜直译为“玻璃房”，在中文里这样会显得突兀，不容易理解。译文使用“冰层”使得理解更顺畅。词语ice storm在陆谷孙《英汉大词典》的释义为“冰暴”，并不准确，查阅韦氏英文词典，找到其释义为“a storm in which falling rain freezes on contact”，即“冻雨”的意思。接下来对猎鹰“惊悚”的动作描写很精细，词语翻译比较有难度。

【小结】这几段选文文学性很强，需要译者首先辨别原文的文学特色，然后再用中文复现原文的语言特点和描写效果。这里原文的口语化、简练、生动、地道、形象、比喻等特色需要译者好好琢磨才能获得较为理想的译文。 □

《我的山林》（节选五）

ByJean Craighead George