The Call of the Wild《野性的呼喚》

田柳

Plot

Buck is a large dog who leads a comfortable life in a California pasture with his owner, a judge. One day he is stolen by the gardeners assistant and sold to pay off a gambling1 debt. Buck is taken to Alaska and sold to a pair of French Canadians who are satisfied with his physique2. They train him as a sled3 dog, and he quickly learns how to survive the cold winter under the law of jungle by observing his teammates. Buck is later sold again and passes hands several times, all the while improving his abilities as a pack leader among the sled dogs.

一只名叫巴克的大狗與主人在加利福尼亞州的一個牧場上過著安逸的生活，他的主人是一名法官。有一天他被園丁偷走并賣掉以償還賭債。巴克被帶到了阿拉斯加，輾轉賣給兩個法裔加拿大人，他們對巴克的外形感到很滿意，于是將他訓練成了一只雪橇犬。很快巴克通過觀察他的隊友們，學會了如何在這個寒冷的冬天以及這個弱肉強食的社會上生存下來。隨后巴克又被賣掉，并先后換過好幾個主人，這些經歷都使他不斷地提高自己的能力，成為了雪橇犬的頭領。

Eventually, Buck is sold to a man named Hal, who knows nothing about sledding nor surviving in the Alaskan wilderness, nor does his wife and her brother. They struggle to control the sled and ignore warnings not to travel during the spring melt. As they journey on, they run into Thornton, an experienced outdoors man, who notices that all of the sled dogs are in terrible shape from the ill treatment of their handlers4. Thornton warns them against crossing the river, but they refuse to listen and order Buck to mush5. Exhausted, starving, and sensing the danger ahead, Buck refuses. Recognizing him as a remarkable dog and disgusted6 by the drivers beating of the dog, Thornton cuts him free from his traces and tells the trio hes keeping him. After some argument, the trio leaves and tries to cross the river, but as Thornton warned, the ice gives way and they drown.

最后，巴克被賣給了一個叫哈爾的人，哈爾、哈爾的妻子和她哥哥對乘雪橇一點經驗都沒有，也對阿拉斯加的荒野生存一無所知。他們拼命地想要控制雪橇，而不理會他人的告誡——不能在春天化雪的時候出行。在前行的路上，他們偶遇了桑頓，一個有豐富戶外經驗的人。桑頓發現所有的雪橇犬都因為遭到主人的虐待而狀況極差，他告誡哈爾一行人不要過河，但是他們不聽，命令巴克前進。可是巴克已經筋疲力盡、饑寒交迫，并感受到了前方的危險，他毅然拒絕了主人的指令。桑頓意識到巴克是一條優秀的雪橇犬，唾棄這些人對待巴克的惡劣行徑，他砍斷了巴克的繩索，告訴這三個人巴克歸他了。一片爭執之后，這三人離開了，試著去穿過這條河，可是正如桑頓告誡他們的那樣，河上的冰塊崩塌，他們隨即被淹死了。

As Thornton nurses Buck back to health, Buck comes to love him and grows devoted to him. Thornton takes him on trips to pan for gold. During one such trip, a man makes a wager with Thornton. Buck wins the bet and gets a lot of money for Thornton by pulling a half-ton sled. Unfortunately, his beloved master is killed by some Native Americans during their trip to pan for gold. Buck angrily kills several Native Americans to avenge7 Thornton. Then he returns to the woods to become alpha wolf of the pack8. Each year he revisits the site where Thornton died, never completely forgetting the master he loved.

在桑頓的精心護理下巴克恢復得很快，巴克對桑頓產生了真摯的感情，并忠心于他。桑頓帶著巴克踏上淘金之路。在一次旅程中，一個人和桑頓打賭時，巴克拼命把一個有一千磅重的雪橇拉動了，為桑頓贏了一大筆錢。不幸的是，在淘金的過程中，他心愛的主人被印第安人殺死。狂怒之下，巴克咬死了幾個印第安人，為主人報了仇。隨后，巴克回到叢林之中，成為了群狼之首。但他不忘舊誼，仍然每年回到桑頓的葬身之處去憑吊。

Views

Through Bucks experiences living in the wild, Jack London wants to tell us that the world is dominated9 by those who are much stronger and more powerful than common people, and only the stronger ones could exist. This is the law of the jungle. Buck gradually realizes the law and begins to obey the law. The savage10 environment which is full of tricks, dangers and deaths turns him to be more powerful and cunning11. Finally, he becomes the leader of his team. Similar to the wild, our society becomes crueler and crueler. If you want to exist, to have a good life, you should be tough enough to stand the sufferings; you should keep alert, watch and learn; you should make yourself stronger than others. This is the law of living.

通過描述巴克在野外生活的經歷，杰克·倫敦想要告訴我們，世界是由那些比普通人要強大和有權勢的人所主宰的，而且只有更堅強的人才能生存下來。這就是弱肉強食的叢林法則。巴克逐漸意識到這一法則，并開始遵循它。惡劣的環境充滿了詭計、危險和死亡，這些都讓巴克更加強大、更加狡黠。最終他成為了隊伍的頭領。與荒野一樣，我們的社會也變得越來越殘酷。如果你想要生存，想要過上好日子，就必須有足夠堅韌的品質來忍受磨難；你應該始終保持警惕，不斷地觀察和學習；你需要比他人堅強。這就是生存之道。

As we know, Buck answers the call of and returns to the wild finally. Actually, the call is from the bottom of Bucks heart rather than from the wild though Buck often hears the howl of the wolves. The call is the will or the instinct12 which makes him want to be himself: A wolf. Every one of us has a call in our hearts. The call is our dream, goal or something we really want to do. However, under the pressure of the society, we often have to give up our dreams or goals, and do things we are unwilling to do. Maybe we should learn something from Buck: Just follow the call of your heart and be yourself!

正如我們所知，巴克最終響應了他心中的呼喚，回到了荒野。事實上，盡管巴克經常聽到狼群的嚎叫，但是這個呼喚是來自他的內心深處，而不是來自于荒野。這個呼喚是他的本能，讓他想要成為他自己：一匹狼。每個人心中都有一個呼喚，那就是我們的夢想、目標，或是我們真正想要做的某件事。然而在社會的重重壓力之下，我們常會放棄這些夢想和目標，做那些我們不愿做的事情。也許我們應該向巴克學習：傾聽心聲，做你自己！

[1] gamble vi. 賭博 [2] physique n. 體格，體型

[3] sled n. 雪橇vi. 乘雪橇；用雪橇運 [4] handler n. 管理者

[5] mush vi. 帶狗撬在雪上前進 [6] disgust vt. 使厭惡；使作嘔

[7] avenge vt. 替…報仇 [8] pack n. 包裝；一群

[9] dominate vt. 控制；支配 [10] savage adj. 野蠻的；殘酷的；荒涼的

[11] cunning adj. 狡猾的；巧妙的；可愛的 [12] instinct n. 本能，直覺；天性