Charlie’s Raven (Excerpt I)查理的渡鴉（節選一）

文/瓊·克雷格黑德·喬治 譯析/吳文安

By Jean Craighead George

Gee, maybe the people who think ravens are supernatural are right,he mused. Yellow fog and a rogue wind while I’m robbing a raven nest. The strange wind gusted again and the tree bent low. As Charlie rode back with it he gasped. On a limb above the nest sat the parent ravens. He had not seen or heard them return. But there they were—seemingly metamorphosed from the pine needles. They held their heads high like royalty. Their black eyes looked right at him. He shivered.

哎呀，也許那些認為渡鴉有超自然能力的人是對的，查理沉思道。我正在掏渡鴉窩的時候，竟然起了一陣黃霧和一股邪風。那股怪風再次刮起來，大樹都被吹彎。查理騎在樹干上蕩回來的時候倒吸一口涼氣。鳥巢上方的一根樹枝上就坐著渡鴉夫婦。此前他沒有聽到他們回來。但是他們就在那里，仿佛是松針變形而來。他們的頭高高揚起，頗有帝王氣概。他們的黑眼睛直勾勾看著他。查理渾身一抖。

2 查理撿起了一只小渡鴉。大渡鴉父母把他們頭上的長長羽毛立起來，好像魔鬼的兩只角。他們喉嚨處的羽毛也撐起來，就像獅子的鬃毛。他們大大的喙也略微張開。查理可以看到他們嘴巴的里面。是黑的。查理從來沒有看到過一只鳥的嘴巴里面是黑的。大部分都是粉紅色或紅色。查理的脊背上一陣涼意。還有其他古怪的事情。渡鴉夫婦沒有尖叫，也沒有朝他俯沖下來。小鳥的父母很少讓敵人靠得這么近而不爭斗。即便是爺爺院子里那些弱小的蜂鳥也會朝他俯沖攻擊，他還只是走近他們的巢穴而已。他僅僅坐在紅尾鵟筑巢的大樹附近的巖石上，紅尾鵟雌鳥就會俯沖攻擊他。實際上，查理今天穿了冬天的風雪衣，就是因為預料到兇猛的渡鴉肯定會攻擊他。現在，似乎并不需要這件衣服。

2 Charlie picked up a nestling. The parents lifted the long feathers on the top of their heads until they looked like devil horns. Their throat feathers puffed out like lion manes, and their large beaks were slightly open. Charlie could see the insides of their mouths.They were black. He had never seen black inside a bird’s mouth. Most were pink or red. A chill ran down his spine.And something else was eerie. The parents did not scream and dive at him.Bird parents never let an enemy come so near their nest without putting up a fight. Even the tiny hummingbirds in Granddad’s yard dive-bombed him when he walked near their nest, and the mother red-tailed hawk had strafed him just for sitting on a rock near her nest tree. In fact, he had worn his winter parka today because he expected an attack from the powerful ravens. Now, it seemed he didn’t need it.

3 一個松果打在查理頭上。又一個扎在他的臉上。第三個打在耳朵上。查理抬頭看。風停了。不是風吹下來的松果，也不是紅松鼠扔的。查理瞥了一眼渡鴉。他們靜靜地坐著。然后那只雌鳥，頭比另一只放得低，用喙撕下一個松果，頭向后轉，脖子一甩，把松果朝查理扔過來。松果打在查理前額上。

3 A pinecone hit Charlie on the head.Another stung his face. A third got him in the ear. He looked up. The wind had stopped. It was not knocking off the cones, and the red squirrels were not dropping them. He glanced at the ravens. They were sitting quietly. Then the female, the one who held her head lower than the other, snapped off a cone with her beak, reared her head back,and with a flick of her neck hurled it at Charlie. It struck him on the forehead.

4 “哇，”查理大聲喊。“你們這些家伙會使用武器！不公平！”他把風雪衣的帽子拽到頭上，然后拿起一只小渡鴉。這是一個可愛的小家伙，眼睛大大的，剛剛生長羽毛的頭上還有一些白色絨毛。小鳥在查理的手上顯得心滿意足。另一個松果擊中查理。然后一切突變。渡鴉夫婦高聲驚叫 ——“嘎、嘎、嘎、嘎、嘎、嘎。”

4 “Wow,” he said aloud. “You guys use weapons! No fair!” He pulled the parka hood over his head and picked up a baby raven. It was a funny little thing with big eyes and bits of white down sticking out of its newly feathered head.The little bird seemed perfectly content in Charlie’s hand. Another pinecone hit Charlie. Then everything changed. The parents screamed the raven alarm cry—“KEK, KEK, KEK, KEK, KEK, KEK.”

5 The baby raven croaked and flapped his stubby wings. Charlie hurriedly tucked him inside his parka so he couldn’t see. Like all daytime birds in the dark,he would sit still and be quiet. As Charlie backed down the tree, pinecones pelted him and raven alarms rang out.

6 When he was halfway to the ground, the parents stopped the pinecone war. Their alarms ceased. What did that mean? Charlie asked himself.Were they going to dive-bomb him now? He pulled his parka hood over his head, then backed on down the tree and dropped to the forest floor.

7 Charlie scanned the butte. No ravens were to be seen or heard. He carefully removed the youngster from his parka and placed him in the boot box lined with an old towel. He closed the lid.Not a sound came from the little bird.Not a sound came from his parents.

5 小渡鴉也叫起來，同時扇動他粗短的翅膀。查理趕緊把小渡鴉塞到自己的風雪衣里面，讓他什么都看不見。跟所有白天行動的鳥兒一樣，在暗處他就會待著一動不動一聲不吭。查理慢慢爬下樹，松果不斷打在他的身上，渡鴉的叫聲響徹樹林。

6 查理往下爬，大概一半高度的時候，渡鴉夫婦不再用松果打他。他們的叫聲停下來。這是什么意思？查理問自己。他們要俯沖攻擊他嗎？查理再次把風雪衣帽子拽到頭上，然后爬下樹，跳到森林地面上。

7 查理掃了一眼小山。看不到也聽不到渡鴉了。查理小心翼翼地把小渡鴉從風雪衣里面取出來，放到鋪了一條舊毛巾的靴子盒里。把盒子蓋上。小鳥一點聲音也沒有。渡鴉父母再也沒有聲音。

這部小說圍繞著北美渡鴉展開。故事主人公查理為了給爺爺治病，抓來了一只渡鴉幼鳥養著（烏鴉有很多種，raven體型比較大，一般稱為大烏鴉或者渡鴉）。家人、同學、朋友之間因此發生了有關渡鴉的各種故事、討論、爭斗，還涉及與渡鴉相關的生態知識。小說揭露了很多渡鴉不為人知的秘密，帶領讀者走入渡鴉的世界。

第二句原文為省略句，直接以兩個名詞短語開頭，省略成分可以是“there emerged / there were”。譯文顛倒了語序，補上了動詞“起了”。第三句中的bent low意思是“吹彎了吹低了”，譯文簡化為“吹彎”。倒數第二句中的like royalty（就像皇家）不宜直譯，譯文引申為“頗有帝王氣概”。最后一句的譯文中添加了“渾身”，更符合中文習慣。

前幾句描寫渡鴉的威嚇手段：撐起毛發，張開嘴巴。這些手段不同于其他鳥類一般的俯沖攻擊，讓查理一時困惑。作者在此補充了其他鳥類的攻擊手段，同時展開對比，凸顯渡鴉非同尋常的智慧。倒數第三句原文很長，其譯文需要適當調整語序才行。

渡鴉的攻擊方式出現了：使用松果作為武器。渡鴉很聰明，可以利用身邊的工具作為武器。渡鴉扔松果出乎查理意料。譯文要注意傳譯原文的連續動作。

在查理抓起小渡鴉之前，渡鴉夫婦僅僅是威嚇而已。見到查理動手侵犯自己的幼鳥，他們終于發威，一邊扔松果，一邊高叫著發出警告，同時也提醒幼鳥防范敵人。段末的象聲詞不容易處理，因為中英文之間的象聲詞差別很大。Kek如果直接音譯應該是“凱克”，這在中文里無法接受。譯文處理為中文里常見的烏鴉叫聲“嘎嘎”。

鳥兒分為夜行和日行種類。夜行鳥兒能夠夜視，不怕黑暗。而日行鳥兒怕黑，只要放在黑暗的地方就會一聲不吭。查理知道這一點，把小渡鴉放到懷里，小渡鴉就安靜下來。第三句sit still and be quiet的譯文使用了中文成語“一動不動一聲不吭”，讓句子通順。

這一選段中原文使用了兩次（還有第二段）dive-bomb（俯沖轟炸），借助軍事術語提高語言的形象性。其實鳥兒會俯沖，卻不能轟炸。他們俯沖下來只是要撲抓和啄食敵人。大渡鴉的攻擊方式讓查理不解。

查理把小鳥放進準備好的鞋盒，小鳥不再發出聲音。渡鴉夫婦也沒有聲音。查理不知道，渡鴉夫婦會跟蹤他到家里，并且持續騷擾報復。渡鴉的智慧程度很高。

這一選段里，原文有一些生動形象的詞語在翻譯時需要小心處理。還有英文象聲詞，不能簡單地選擇音譯，需要考慮中文的習慣表達方式。原文句式較長的情況下，譯文要適當切分和調整語序。 □