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，待在樹屋里，人們從旁邊經過，也從不會知道我在這兒。我的房子就是一棵鐵杉樹，直徑六英尺，肯定跟大山一樣古老。去年夏天我碰巧發現了它，又挖洞又用火燒，直到做成了一個溫暖舒適的樹洞，我現在稱它為家。

[2]“你一進門，右手是我的床，白蠟樹木條做的，上面鋪著鹿皮。左手是一個小壁爐，膝蓋那么高，黏土和石頭壘成。壁爐上有個煙囪，把煙通過一個樹的節孔導出屋去。我還鑿了另外三個節孔讓新鮮空氣進來。進來的空氣冷得刺骨。外面肯定是零下，而我卻可以坐在樹屋里面，不戴手套寫字。火苗也很小。不用很大的火就能讓這個樹屋暖和。

[3]“今天是十二月四日，我想。也許是五日。我不太肯定，因為我最近沒有數刻在白楊樹桿上的劃痕，那是我的日歷。我一直忙著收集堅果和漿果，忙著熏鹿肉、魚肉和小獵物，沒時間去記下準確的日子。

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

[5]“昨天和今天整天都在下雪。從暴風雪一開始我就沒有外出，現在覺得無聊。自從八個月前我離家出走到這兒住，這是第一次覺得無聊。

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

[7]“過去兩天里，每次我看看那些木盒，都感覺自己就像松鼠。這提醒了我：暴風雪來臨之前的一整天我都沒有看到松鼠。我猜它們也躲在洞里正在吃儲藏的堅果呢。

[8]“我在想，男爵也一定躲在窩里。男爵是一只野生黃鼠狼，住在我的大樹北邊一塊大圓石后面。嗯，不管怎樣，我想暴風雪正在消停，因為大樹不再那么尖聲呼嘯了。大風猛刮的時候，整棵樹從上到下都在呻吟，而我正在大樹的底下。

[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到陽光下。我在想是否應該挖雪。如果挖雪，就要把雪放到某個地方，而唯一放雪的地方就是我溫暖舒適的美好樹屋。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，從沒有自下而上挖過。

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

【背景知識】少年探險小說《我的山林》（My Side of the Mountain，有個譯本題目為《山居歲月》，顯得不太符合少年語氣，過于老成持重了）描寫十四五歲的少年山姆離家出走，離開11口人的紐約大家庭，獨自一人來到曾祖父的山林居住。他隨身攜帶一點點必需品，在深山老林開始了野居生活，自己狩獵，自己生火，自己剝獸皮做衣服，自己做樹屋，還交了幾個好朋友：黃鼠狼“男爵”、浣熊，以及獵鷹“驚悚”。他獨居深山幾年，把所見所聞寫在樺樹皮日記里，故事情節引人入勝，其勇氣和智慧給人們帶來啟迪和思考。這部小說的作者是美國女作家瓊·克雷格黑德·喬治。她熱愛自然，善于描寫以自然為主題的故事，深受兒童讀者喜愛。她創作的小說《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（The Newbery Honor）。

【第一段】這本書的語言風格簡潔明了，簡單易懂，卻易懂難譯。第一句話就頗費思量，句子不長，但邏輯復雜。譯文采取了順譯原則，模仿少年語氣，略帶口語風格。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come upon被明晰化為“碰巧發現”。

【第二段】整段句子比較短，但連續性強，節奏輕快（讓人聯想到海明威的《老人與海》），仿佛作者在你面前侃侃而談，一一介紹樹屋的情形。形容詞短語bare hands乍看上去不太明白，仔細一想，這是在說外面冷，而屋里暖和，不用戴手套也可以在樺樹皮上寫字，所以增譯為“不戴手套寫字”。英文里的tree house、tree home、tree room都對應中文的“樹屋”，因為中文里不好找這么多對應的詞語。

【第三段】依然是短小的流水句，反映山姆的意識流。最后一句的too ... to結構要在中文里體現出來，即“太忙，沒時間……”。

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

【第五段】第二句較長，其中I am bored for the first time不太好處理。譯文重復了“無聊”一詞，這樣前后兩句會更加連貫。

【第六段】這里仍然是海明威風格，句子簡短而有力，不太好翻譯。Well譯為“很好”，eat soup譯為“喝龜湯”。Wooden pockets不太好理解，在網上搜索圖片，就會找到木制的盒子，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。

【第八段】第一句中的插入語介紹黃鼠狼“男爵”，句式需要適當處理。譯文改為定語后置，補充說明。接下來形容暴風雪的三個隱喻性動詞（短語）dying down、cry、moan也需用心處理。譯文把cry增譯為“尖聲呼嘯”，突出風聲凄厲的嚴冬。而when the wind really blows也被明晰化為“大風猛刮的時候”。

【第九段】短語tunnel out into the sunlight很有趣，是調侃山姆和黃鼠狼一樣都要打洞出門，因為大雪封門，無路可走。動詞pack不好理解，查閱柯林斯網上詞典，有一個釋義為：“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。這里的譯文是“一邊挖一邊用手把雪壓緊堆在旁邊”，原文意思復雜，譯文不得不多加解釋。

【小結】該選段是小說開頭的一段日記，描寫冬日里山姆蝸居樹洞躲避風雪的場景。畫面栩栩如生，意趣盎然，能一下子抓住讀者的注意力。小說語言雖然平實簡練，理解難度不大，但翻譯起來要考慮很多問題，比如流水句的處理、少年語氣的模擬以及簡潔風格的傳譯等等。 □

我的山林（節選一）

文/瓊·克雷格黑德·喬治 譯析/吳文安