Country 鄉野

奧爾多·利奧波德 譯析/曹明倫

There is much confusion between land and country. Land is the place where corn， gullies， and mortgages grow. Country is the personality of land， the collective harmony of its soil， life and weather. Country knows no mortgages， no alphabetical agencies， no tobacco road; it is calmly aloof to these petty exigencies of its alleged owners. That the previous occupant of my farm was a bootlegger mattered not one whit to its grouse; they sailed as proudly over the thickets as if they were guests of a king.

Poor land may be rich country， and vice versa. Only economists mistake physical opulence for riches. Country may be rich despite a conspicuous poverty of physical endowment， and its quality may not be apparent at first glance， nor at all times.

I know， for example， a certain lakeshore， a cool austerity of pines and wave-washed sands. All day you see it only as something for the surf to pound， a dark ribbon that stretches farther than you can paddle， a monotony to mark the miles by. But toward sunset some vagrant breeze may waft a gull across a headland， behind which a sudden roistering of loons reveals the presence of a hidden bay. You are seized with an impulse to land， so set foot on bearberry carpets， to pluck a balsam bed， to pilfer beach plums of blueberries， or perhaps to poach a partridge from out those bosky quietudes that lie behind the dunes. A bay？ Why not also a trout stream？ Incisively the paddies clip little soughing swirls athwart the gunwale， the bow swings sharp shoreward and cleaves the greening depths for camp.

Later， a supper-smoke hangs lazily upon the bay; a fire flickers under drooping boughs. It is a lean poor land， but rich country.

Some woods， perennially lush， are notably lacking in charm. Tall clean-boled oaks and tulip poplars may be good to look at， from the road， but once inside one may find a coarseness of minor vegetation， a turbidity of waters， and a paucity of wildlife. I cannot explain why a red rivulet is not a brook. Neither can I， by logical deduction， prove that a thicket without the potential roar of a quail covey is only a thorny place. Yet every outdoorsman knows that this is true. That wildlife is merely something to shoot at or to look at is the grossest of fallacies. It often represents the difference between rich country and mere land.

There are woods that are plain to look at， but not to look into. Nothing is plainer than a cornbelt woodlot; yet， if it be August， a crushed pennyroyal， or an over-ripe mayapple， tells you here is a place. October sun on a hickory but a whole chain of further sequences： perhaps of oak coals in the dusk， a young squirrel browning， and a distant barred owl hilarious over his own joke.

The taste for country displays the same diversity in aesthetic competence among individuals as the taste for opera， or oils. There are those who are willing to be herded in droves through “scenic” places; who find mountains grand if they be proper mountains with waterfalls， cliffs， and lakes. To such the Kansas plains are tedious. They see the endless corn， but not the heave and the grunt of ox teams breaking the prairie. History， for them， grows on campuses. They look at the low horizon， but they cannot see it， as de Vaca did， under the bellies of the buffalo.

In country， as in people， a plain exterior often conceals hidden riches， to perceive which requires much living in and with. Nothing is more monotonous than the juniper foothills， until some veteran of a thousand summers， laden blue with berries， explodes in a blue burst of chattering jays. The drab sogginess of a March cornfield， saluted by one honker from the sky， is drab on more.

人們往往混淆土地和鄉野。土地是玉米生長的地方，溝壑出現的地方，也是抵押契據產生的地方。而鄉野是土地的個性特征，是土壤、生命和氣候的整體和諧。鄉野不知道何謂抵押，何謂貧困，也不知曉形形色色的各類管理機構，因為鄉野對自稱其主人者的那些微不足道的緊迫瑣事從來都超然物外。我那座農場的前主人是個釀私酒的家伙，可這與農場上的松雞沒絲毫關系，松雞照舊傲然從灌木叢上方飛過，仿佛它們是某位國王的嘉賓。

貧瘠的土地可能是富庶的鄉野，而富庶的鄉野也可能是貧瘠的土地。只有經濟學家才會誤將物質豐裕當作富庶。哪怕物質資源明顯匱乏，鄉野依然可以富庶，不過其富庶并非晃眼可見，也不是任何時候都向人展露。

比如我就知道一片湖岸地區，那里有普普通通的松林，有湖水沖刷過的沙地。一整天你看見的就只是個供浪花拍打的場所，一條伸延到你劃船范圍之外的黑色絲帶，一個只能靠數劃槳數來打發時間的無聊去處。然而，接近日落時分，一陣飄忽不定的微風會把一只江鷗送過遠處的岬角，隨之從岬角后面會突然響起一片喈喈啾啾的潛鳥鳴叫聲，告訴你那里藏著一個水灣。于是你會產生一種想棄船登岸的沖動，想雙腳踏上熊莓鋪成的紅紅地毯，想伸手從鳳仙花叢采下一朵小花，想偷偷攀摘一枝沙灘李漿果，或是去沙丘后面僻靜的叢林里偷獵一只山鶉。不是有水灣嗎？為什么不會有條魚翔淺底的小溪？于是船槳颯颯，漩渦卷動，船舷搖擺，船頭起伏著朝向宿營地，劈開一湖泱泱綠水。

稍晚，裊裊炊煙懶洋洋地在水灣上方飄浮，熊熊篝火亮閃閃地在樹枝下方搖曳。這是一方貧瘠的土地，但卻是一片富庶的鄉野。

有些樹林四季常綠，郁郁蔥蔥，卻明顯缺乏吸引人的魅力。從公路上望去，枝少節疏、高大挺拔的橡樹和鵝掌楸可能會賞心悅目，可一旦進入樹林，你也許會發現林間只有稀疏而粗糙的植被和渾濁的水流或水坑，而且幾乎看不見野生動物。我沒法解釋為何銹紅色的水流不是溪流，也沒法用邏輯推理證明不可能傳出鵪鶉唧唧聲的灌木叢只能算是荊叢，但常置身野外者都知道我所言不虛。因此，認為野生動物僅僅是獵物或觀賞物的看法是十足的謬誤。有無野生動物通常也是富庶鄉野和貧瘠土地的區別。

有些樹林從外面看去平淡無華，可林間卻是另一番光景。最平淡的樹林莫過于中西部玉米地帶的人工植林，可要是在八月，一株被折斷的薄荷或一簇熟透的鬼臼漿果就會告訴你這可真是個地方。掛在山核桃樹梢上的十月杲陽不過是整條風景鏈中的一環，接下來你也許會看到在晚霞中燃燒的橡樹、一只呈棕色的小松鼠，還有遠方一只正自娛自樂的橫斑林鸮。

體驗鄉野與欣賞歌劇和品鑒油畫一樣，可反映出每個人不同的審美能力。有些人喜歡被成群結隊地趕往“風景區”，因為他們認為，只要山里有瀑布、懸崖和湖泊，那山就稱得上雄偉壯麗。堪薩斯平原在這些人眼中肯定會單調乏味，因為他們只看得見無邊無際的玉米地，卻看不見喘著粗氣的耕牛和劃破大草原的犁鏵。對他們來說，歷史是在校園里形成的。他們也會眺望天邊的地平線，但卻不可能像德巴卡那樣躺在草地上從野牛肚子下面看天邊。

鄉野和人一樣，一幅平凡的外表也往往會隱藏豐富的內涵，而要知其內涵，就得如影隨形，與之相伴。最顯單調沉悶的是生長杜松的丘陵地帶，但當某株千年老樹掛滿藍色漿果，當滿樹漿果中倏然躥出一群藍羽松鴉，沉悶便會驟然消失;三月的玉米地可謂平淡乏味，可當玉米地上空傳來鴻雁噰鳴，平淡也就不再乏味。

【背景知識】此文選自美國生態作家利奧波德的自然隨筆《沙鄉年鑒》。利奧波德曾批評抱怨農耕生活單調的美國農場主，說他們只會靠土地生存，卻不會靠土地生活（live on the land， but not by the land）。這篇散文從欣賞自然鄉野的角度為作者的這種批評提供了生動形象的論據，表達了作者熱愛自然、天人合一的生態美學思想。

【第一段】英語注重形連，漢語講究意合，所以第二句中作謂語用的grow被分別譯成了“生長”“出現”和“產生”，從而分別與三個主語搭配。

【第二段】注意“富庶”“貧瘠”“豐裕”“匱乏”等詞的選用。譯者將原文“濃縮”的and vice versa和nor at all times“展開”，目的是為了譯文節奏和諧。

【第三段】英語中有一類定語從句既不起修飾限制作用，也沒有補充說明功能，而僅僅是為了讓句子緊湊而使用的一種語法手段。例如狄更斯的Oliver Twist（《霧都孤兒》）第28章中這個句子：At this point of narrative the cook turned pale， and asked the housemaid to shut the door， who asked Brittles， who asked the tinker， who pretended not to hear.（詳見商務印書館2013年版《英漢翻譯二十講》第247—248頁）。本段第三句中由behind which引導的定語從句就屬于這種情況。

【第四段】注意譯文對原文第一句對偶（抑或排比）手法的再現。

【第五段】不宜像有的譯者那樣把roar of a quail翻譯成“鵪鶉喧鬧”甚至“喧鬧鳴叫的鵪鶉”。建議上網看視頻親耳聽聽野生鵪鶉的叫聲，然后再選擇適當的擬聲詞。

【第六段】把cornbet翻譯成“中西部玉米地帶”可謂“隱性深度翻譯”，即在不變原意的前提下增加原文所無之詞語，從而完全傳達原文的意思，同時又不需要加注（詳見商務印書館2019年增訂版《英漢翻譯二十講》第240—244頁）。

【第七段】末句中提到的人物de Vaca須按西班牙語發音譯作“德巴卡”，并加注釋：德巴卡（Cabeza de Vaca，約1490—1560），西班牙探險家，曾率尋寶隊在美洲探險，先后從南美洲北上到過佛羅里達和得克薩斯沿海地區。

【第八段】第一句中由to perceive which引導的定語從句屬于第三段分析的那類。

【小結】以上點滴分析再次說明，要翻譯好一個語篇，譯者對原文的思想內容需透徹理解，對原文的氛圍情調需用心領會，譯文行文時不僅要斟詞酌句，還要注意節奏和諧，避免生硬牽強的中文。