Frightful’s Mountain (Excerpt II)

The sharp-shinned hawk flew off his perch in terror. His bell tinkled. He was stopped by his leash, which was knotted to a steel ring at the base of his perch and to the jesses on his legs. He jumped forward, fell back, and beat the earth with his wings.

A killing snarl colored the air red.

[2] An eastern coyote had killed the sharp-shinned hawk. The killer, bird in her mouth, ran toward her pups in the woods. With a jerk, she, too, was stopped by the leash. She turned back and dug at the base of the perch until it toppled and fell. The next sound Frightful heard was the clink of the ring at the end of the leash bouncing over the ground. The sounds faded into the woods.

[3] A wind twisted Frightful’s silky pantaloons of pinstriped feathers, which hung down over her enamel-shiny legs.Her tail fl icked. She was nervous.

Human footsteps approached.

Their sound did not conjure up the image of the men she had been traveling with. Wary, she lifted her wings to fly.

斑胸鷹嚇得從棲木上飛起來。他腳上的鈴鐺叮鈴鈴響。但他被腳繩拽了回來。腳繩一頭綁在棲木底部的鋼環上，另一頭綁在他腿的腳帶上。他往前跳起來，又落下，在地上拍打著翅膀。

一陣屠殺的低吼之后，空氣中充滿了血腥的味道。

[2]一只東方郊狼殺死了斑胸鷹。郊狼嘴里叼著斑胸鷹，朝樹林里的狼崽兒們跑去。猛地一下，郊狼也被腳繩拽了回來。郊狼轉過身，在棲木下端刨土，直到棲木倒下。接下來，“驚悚”聽到腳繩被郊狼跑著拖過地面，腳繩頭上的鈴鐺蹦蹦跳跳響個不停，一直消失在樹林深處。

[3]一陣風吹過，掀起了“驚悚”腿上絲綢般光滑、有著細細條紋的羽毛，羽毛下是琺瑯般光滑的雙腿。她的尾巴抖動了一下。她很緊張。有腳步聲靠近。腳步聲不像是把她一路運到這里的那些人的。她警覺地抬起翅膀想要飛走。一只手觸碰到了她腿的前部，她踩了上去，就像山姆教她的那樣。

A hand touched the front of her legs,and she stepped up onto it as Sam had taught her to do.

[4] “Hello, Frightful.” Her name; but not Sam’s voice. The tone was soft, like the call of a mourning dove.

“What are you doing here?” the voice asked, and Frightful recognized Alice,Sam’s sister. In her mind’s eye, she saw a rosy face with sea-blue eyes and yellow hair. Frightful relaxed. Alice was family.

[5] She liked Alice, who ran and jumped. She also darted. Frightful liked movement. A spot in her eyes that connected to many nerves gave her an instant focus on movement. Running,leaping Alice was a member of Frightful’s home forest. Sam must not be far away. Frightful eased her grip on Alice’s bare hand. She lifted her talons.

[4]“你好，‘驚悚’。”這是在叫她的名字；但不是山姆的聲音。語調柔和，像是哀鳩的叫聲。

“你在這兒干嘛啊？”那個聲音問道，這時“驚悚”認出那是艾麗斯的聲音，是山姆的妹妹。“驚悚”腦海里浮現出一張紅潤的臉龐，大海一樣碧藍的眼睛，還有金黃的頭發。“驚悚”放松下來。艾麗斯是家人。

[5]“驚悚”喜歡艾麗斯，艾麗斯總是跑跑跳跳。艾麗斯還會飛奔。“驚悚”喜歡觀察動作。“驚悚”的眼睛里有一個部位連接著很多神經，能讓她瞬間聚焦運動的物體。跑跑跳跳的艾麗斯是“驚悚”森林故鄉的一個成員。山姆一定也在近處。“驚悚”的爪子放松了，因為艾麗斯沒有戴手套。“驚悚”抬起了她的利爪。

[6] “Frightful,” Alice said softly.“You’ve got to get out of here.” The young girl’s voice brought back images of the one mountain among thousands of mountains, the one hemlock tree among millions of trees—and Sam.

“I’m cutting your jesses,” she whispered. “You are surrounded by enemies!Fly, fl y far away.

“Fly away, Frightful! Sam is not allowed to have you. He has to have a falconer’s license, and he’s too young to get one. Fly, Frightful! Fly far!”

[7] A quick slash of a knife, and Frightful’s jesses and leash dropped away. The hood was fl ipped off.

And Frightful could see.

“Fly!” Alice urged.

Frightful saw the clearing before her and the leaves on the bushes, even the shiny needles at the tops of the pine trees. Her eyes were endowed with incredible vision.

[8] Alice tossed her into the air.

Pulling on her powerful wings,Frightful sped to the top of the tallest pine and alighted on a slender twig.Her large, black-brown eyes observed the forest, the cascading stream, a town tucked into a steep valley, and rolling mountains as far as she could see.

[9] She turned her head almost all the way around, but could not see or sense the one mountain among thousands of mountains, the one tree among millions of trees. She must get higher. She fl ew.Strong wing beats carried her into a thermal, a column of warm air that rises from the sun-heated ground in a spiraling bubble. She got aboard and circled upward a thousand feet.

[6]“‘驚悚’，”艾麗斯柔聲說，“你必須離開這兒。”小姑娘的聲音讓“驚悚”想起了群山中的那座山，想起了林海中的那棵鐵杉樹——還有山姆。

“我來切開你的腳帶。”艾麗斯低聲說，“你的周圍都是敵人！飛吧，飛得遠遠的。

“快飛，‘驚悚’！山姆沒有權利擁有你。他必須獲得獵鷹許可證才行，但他太小，還拿不到。飛吧，‘驚悚’！飛遠點兒！”

[7]刀子飛快地劃過，“驚悚”的腳帶和腳繩掉了下去。頭罩也被掀開。

“驚悚”可以看見了。

“飛吧！”艾麗斯催促道。

“驚悚”看到了眼前的空地、灌木上的樹葉，甚至松樹頂上亮閃閃的松針。視野之大令人難以置信。

[8]艾麗斯把她拋到了空中。

“驚悚”扇動強有力的翅膀，快速飛到最高的松樹梢，落在一根細枝上。她那雙棕黑色的大眼睛仔細觀察，看到了森林、湍流的小溪、嵌在深谷的小鎮，還有目之所及遠方連綿的群山。

[9]她的頭轉了一整圈，卻看不到也感覺不到群山中的那座山、林海中的那棵樹。她必須再高一點。她又飛起來。她使勁揮動翅膀，進入一股暖氣流。這股氣流是地面被加熱之后盤旋上升的氣泡。“驚悚”搭乘暖氣流，盤旋著上升了1000英尺。

【背景知識】獵鷹被假的環保官員帶走，準備出售賺大錢，一系列冒險從此開始。這一段里“驚悚”和其他猛禽一起被壞人藏匿在樹林中，有一只斑胸鷹被郊狼殺死，“驚悚”也面臨危險。正在此時，艾麗斯趕到。她釋放了“驚悚”，讓她逃生。但“驚悚”習慣了與山姆一起生活，孤獨無依而又找不到鷹群的她感到十分茫然。

【第一段】最后一句話文學性很強，如果直譯應該是“屠殺的低吼把空氣都染紅了”，這樣在中文里較為費解，于是略加明晰化為“空氣中充滿了血腥的味道”。

【第二段】最后一句話的譯文順序做了調整，是按照中文的邏輯順序進行了重組。

【第三段】倒數第三句中的conjure up the image of the men直譯會是“讓她想起那些人的畫面”，譯文轉為從側面描寫：這個腳步聲不像是把她一路運到這里的那些人的”。

【第四段】第一小段her name屬心理描寫，譯文適當添加文字為“這是在叫她的名字”，是獵鷹心中所想。最后兩小句很短，屬于有意的精簡修辭，仍然是心理描寫。

【第五段】整段都是“驚悚”的心理描寫，是作者在模仿獵鷹的語氣。她回憶起艾麗斯的動作習慣，想起了主人山姆，確定艾麗斯是家人，于是善意地抬起了利爪，怕傷著艾麗斯。

【第六段】小說的主題句“the one mountain among thousands of mountains,the one hemlock tree among millions of trees”在全書中一再出現，反復吟誦，貫穿全文，寓意人鷹情深，不離不棄，相依為命。如直譯為“千座山之中的那座山，百萬大樹之中的那棵樹”反而沒有了修辭效果，因此，譯文選擇了中文常用的“群山”和“林海”，力求再現原文的執著和詩意。句子“Sam is not allowed to have you.”如直譯為“山姆不被允許擁有你。”，意思反而不清楚，所以明晰化為“山姆沒有權利擁有你。”。

【第七段】一開始，文字還是模擬一只看不見的獵鷹僅憑聽覺來感知世界：刀子、腳帶、腳繩、頭罩。然后她總算可以看周圍的世界了，于是迫不及待地掃視周圍。

【第八段】該段文字仍然從獵鷹的視角敘述，她飛往高處，周遭的景物一覽無余。文字質樸而富有美感。

【第九段】小說的主題句再次出現，深度刻畫了獵鷹對山姆的依戀之情。這里獵鷹的視角和全知視角交織在一起，敘述充滿感情和力量，簡潔而生動。

【小結】這一選段充滿懸念，跌宕起伏。從眼睛被蒙住的獵鷹“驚悚”的感知出發，身邊的世界危機四伏；主人的妹妹出現，讓她感覺安全；但艾麗斯卻放生了她，她頓覺一片茫然，群山之中的那座山，林海之中的那棵樹，樹下的那個人在哪里呢？小說敘述視角獨特，充滿張力；文字簡約生動、感情飽滿、意蘊深厚，需要譯者仔細體會之后方可傳譯。 □