My Side of the Mountain (Excerpt I)

By Jean Craighead George

My Side of the Mountain (Excerpt I)

By Jean Craighead George

I am on my mountain in a tree home that people have passed without ever knowing that I am here. The house is a hemlock tree six in diameter, and must be as old as the mountain itself. I came upon it last summer and dug and burned it out until I made a snug cave in the tree that I now call home.

[2] “My bed is on the right as you enter, and is made of ash slats and covered with deerskin. On the left is a small fireplace about knee high. It is of clay and stones. It has a chimney that leads the smoke out through a knothole. I chipped out three other knotholes to let fresh air in. The air coming in is bitter cold. It must be below zero outside, and yet I can sit here inside my tree and write with bare hands. The fire is small, too. It doesn’t take much fire to warm this tree room.

[3] “It is the Fourth of December, I think. It may be the fifth. I am not sure because I have not recently counted the notches in the aspen pole that is my calendar. I have been just too busy gathering nuts and berries, smoking venison, fish, and small game to keep up with the exact date.

我在我的山上，待在樹(shù)屋里，人們從旁邊經(jīng)過(guò)，也從不會(huì)知道我在這兒。我的房子就是一棵鐵杉樹(shù)，直徑六英尺，肯定跟大山一樣古老。去年夏天我碰巧發(fā)現(xiàn)了它，又挖洞又用火燒，直到做成了一個(gè)溫暖舒適的樹(shù)洞，我現(xiàn)在稱它為家。

[2]“你一進(jìn)門(mén)，右手是我的床，白蠟樹(shù)木條做的，上面鋪著鹿皮。左手是一個(gè)小壁爐，膝蓋那么高，黏土和石頭壘成。壁爐上有個(gè)煙囪，把煙通過(guò)一個(gè)樹(shù)的節(jié)孔導(dǎo)出屋去。我還鑿了另外三個(gè)節(jié)孔讓新鮮空氣進(jìn)來(lái)。進(jìn)來(lái)的空氣冷得刺骨。外面肯定是零下，而我卻可以坐在樹(shù)屋里面，不戴手套寫(xiě)字。火苗也很小。不用很大的火就能讓這個(gè)樹(shù)屋暖和。

[3]“今天是十二月四日，我想。也許是五日。我不太肯定，因?yàn)槲易罱鼪](méi)有數(shù)刻在白楊樹(shù)桿上的劃痕，那是我的日歷。我一直忙著收集堅(jiān)果和漿果，忙著熏鹿肉、魚(yú)肉和小獵物，沒(méi)時(shí)間去記下準(zhǔn)確的日子。

[4] “The lamp I am writing by is deer fat poured into a turtle shell with a strip of my old city trousers for a wick.

[5] “It snowed all day yesterday and today. I have not been outside since the storm began, and I am bored for the first time since I ran away from home eight months ago to live on the land.

[6] “I am well and healthy. The food is good. Sometimes I eat turtle soup, and I know how to make acorn pancakes. I keep my supplies in the wall of the tree in wooden pockets that I chopped myself.

[7] “Every time I have looked at those pockets during the last two days, I have felt just like a squirrel, which reminds me: I didn’t see a squirrel one whole day before that storm began. I guess they are holed up and eating their stored nuts, too.

[8] “I wonder if The Baron, that’s the wild weasel who lives behind the big boulder to the north of my tree, is also denned up. Well, anyway, I think the storm is dying down because the tree is not crying so much. When the wind really blows, the whole tree moans right down to the roots, which is where I am.

[4]“為我寫(xiě)字照亮的燈，是鹿油倒在龜殼里做成，燈芯是我城里帶來(lái)的舊褲子撕的一根布條。

[5]“昨天和今天整天都在下雪。從暴風(fēng)雪一開(kāi)始我就沒(méi)有外出，現(xiàn)在覺(jué)得無(wú)聊。自從八個(gè)月前我離家出走到這兒住，這是第一次覺(jué)得無(wú)聊。

[6]“我很好很健康。食物也很棒。有時(shí)候我喝龜湯，我還知道怎么做橡果餅。我的給養(yǎng)都在樹(shù)屋的墻壁上我削的木盒里。

[7]“過(guò)去兩天里，每次我看看那些木盒，都感覺(jué)自己就像松鼠。這提醒了我：暴風(fēng)雪來(lái)臨之前的一整天我都沒(méi)有看到松鼠。我猜它們也躲在洞里正在吃儲(chǔ)藏的堅(jiān)果呢。

[8]“我在想，男爵也一定躲在窩里。男爵是一只野生黃鼠狼，住在我的大樹(shù)北邊一塊大圓石后面。嗯，不管怎樣，我想暴風(fēng)雪正在消停，因?yàn)榇髽?shù)不再那么尖聲呼嘯了。大風(fēng)猛刮的時(shí)候，整棵樹(shù)從上到下都在呻吟，而我正在大樹(shù)的底下。

[9] “Tomorrow I hope The Baron and I can tunnel out into the sunlight. I wonder if I should dig the snow. But that would mean I would have to put it somewhere, and the only place to put it is in my nice snug tree. Maybe I can pack it with my hands as I go. I’ve always dug into the snow from the top, never up from under.

[10] “The Baron must dig up from under the snow. I wonder where he puts what he digs? Well, I guess I’ll know in the morning.”

[9]“明天我希望男爵和我都能打洞出門(mén)到陽(yáng)光下。我在想是否應(yīng)該挖雪。如果挖雪，就要把雪放到某個(gè)地方，而唯一放雪的地方就是我溫暖舒適的美好樹(shù)屋。也許我可以一邊挖一邊用手把雪壓緊堆在旁邊。我總是自上而下挖雪，從沒(méi)有自下而上挖過(guò)。

[10]“男爵必須自下而上挖雪。我想知道，他會(huì)把挖的雪放到哪兒呢？好吧，我猜明早就會(huì)知道了。”

【背景知識(shí)】少年探險(xiǎn)小說(shuō)《我的山林》（My Side of the Mountain，有個(gè)譯本題目為《山居歲月》，顯得不太符合少年語(yǔ)氣，過(guò)于老成持重了）描寫(xiě)十四五歲的少年山姆離家出走，離開(kāi)11口人的紐約大家庭，獨(dú)自一人來(lái)到曾祖父的山林居住。他隨身攜帶一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)必需品，在深山老林開(kāi)始了野居生活，自己狩獵，自己生火，自己剝獸皮做衣服，自己做樹(shù)屋，還交了幾個(gè)好朋友：黃鼠狼“男爵”、浣熊，以及獵鷹“驚悚”。他獨(dú)居深山幾年，把所見(jiàn)所聞寫(xiě)在樺樹(shù)皮日記里，故事情節(jié)引人入勝，其勇氣和智慧給人們帶來(lái)啟迪和思考。這部小說(shuō)的作者是美國(guó)女作家瓊·克雷格黑德·喬治。她熱愛(ài)自然，善于描寫(xiě)以自然為主題的故事，深受兒童讀者喜愛(ài)。她創(chuàng)作的小說(shuō)《我的山林》以及《狼女茱莉》（Julie of the Wolves）分別獲得1960年和1973年的紐伯瑞獎(jiǎng)（The Newbery Honor）。

【第一段】這本書(shū)的語(yǔ)言風(fēng)格簡(jiǎn)潔明了，簡(jiǎn)單易懂，卻易懂難譯。第一句話就頗費(fèi)思量，句子不長(zhǎng)，但邏輯復(fù)雜。譯文采取了順譯原則，模仿少年語(yǔ)氣，略帶口語(yǔ)風(fēng)格。該段最后一句頗似中文的流水句，譯文仍然使用了順譯法。短語(yǔ)come upon被明晰化為“碰巧發(fā)現(xiàn)”。

【第二段】整段句子比較短，但連續(xù)性強(qiáng)，節(jié)奏輕快（讓人聯(lián)想到海明威的《老人與海》），仿佛作者在你面前侃侃而談，一一介紹樹(shù)屋的情形。形容詞短語(yǔ)bare hands乍看上去不太明白，仔細(xì)一想，這是在說(shuō)外面冷，而屋里暖和，不用戴手套也可以在樺樹(shù)皮上寫(xiě)字，所以增譯為“不戴手套寫(xiě)字”。英文里的tree house、tree home、tree room都對(duì)應(yīng)中文的“樹(shù)屋”，因?yàn)橹形睦锊缓谜疫@么多對(duì)應(yīng)的詞語(yǔ)。

【第三段】依然是短小的流水句，反映山姆的意識(shí)流。最后一句的too ... to結(jié)構(gòu)要在中文里體現(xiàn)出來(lái)，即“太忙，沒(méi)時(shí)間……”。

【第四段】這一段就是一句話，語(yǔ)義密集，譯文把“燈芯”提前當(dāng)作主語(yǔ)，利于上下文的銜接。

【第五段】第二句較長(zhǎng)，其中I am bored for the first time不太好處理。譯文重復(fù)了“無(wú)聊”一詞，這樣前后兩句會(huì)更加連貫。

【第六段】這里仍然是海明威風(fēng)格，句子簡(jiǎn)短而有力，不太好翻譯。Well譯為“很好”，eat soup譯為“喝龜湯”。Wooden pockets不太好理解，在網(wǎng)上搜索圖片，就會(huì)找到木制的盒子，所以譯為“木盒子”。

【第七段】這一段里的hole up以及下一段的den up意思相同，都是“躲藏、冬眠”的意思，很形象生動(dòng)。

【第八段】第一句中的插入語(yǔ)介紹黃鼠狼“男爵”，句式需要適當(dāng)處理。譯文改為定語(yǔ)后置，補(bǔ)充說(shuō)明。接下來(lái)形容暴風(fēng)雪的三個(gè)隱喻性動(dòng)詞（短語(yǔ)）dying down、cry、moan也需用心處理。譯文把cry增譯為“尖聲呼嘯”，突出風(fēng)聲凄厲的嚴(yán)冬。而when the wind really blows也被明晰化為“大風(fēng)猛刮的時(shí)候”。

【第九段】短語(yǔ)tunnel out into the sunlight很有趣，是調(diào)侃山姆和黃鼠狼一樣都要打洞出門(mén)，因?yàn)榇笱┓忾T(mén)，無(wú)路可走。動(dòng)詞pack不好理解，查閱柯林斯網(wǎng)上詞典，有一個(gè)釋義為：“to form (snow, ice, etc) into a hard compact mass or (of snow, ice, etc) to become compacted.”即把冰雪等壓縮成緊密的一團(tuán)。這里的譯文是“一邊挖一邊用手把雪壓緊堆在旁邊”，原文意思復(fù)雜，譯文不得不多加解釋。

【小結(jié)】該選段是小說(shuō)開(kāi)頭的一段日記，描寫(xiě)冬日里山姆蝸居樹(shù)洞躲避風(fēng)雪的場(chǎng)景。畫(huà)面栩栩如生，意趣盎然，能一下子抓住讀者的注意力。小說(shuō)語(yǔ)言雖然平實(shí)簡(jiǎn)練，理解難度不大，但翻譯起來(lái)要考慮很多問(wèn)題，比如流水句的處理、少年語(yǔ)氣的模擬以及簡(jiǎn)潔風(fēng)格的傳譯等等。 □

我的山林（節(jié)選一）

文/瓊·克雷格黑德·喬治 譯析/吳文安