Frightful’s Mountain (Excerpt VI)

文/瓊·克雷格黑德·喬治 譯析/吳文安

The sun was held back by rain clouds the morning Frightful saw Sam and Mole come home from their wanderings.Sam whistled hello, but she did not reply.She was cornered with Oksi. This day had dawned cold, Chup was out hunting,and she had to brood the eyas.

[2] Just as Sam and Mole went into the tree house, Chup came home to feed and brood Oksi, and Frightful took off. She sped with the air currents into a thermal that spiraled her high above Delhi. At the top of the warm air bubble, she peeled off and dove straight down. She landed on the cupola of the county courthouse.

[3] Frightful drew herself up tall.The courthouse pigeon flock was winging into sight. She knew each pigeon personally. She knew the healthy and quick on wing. She knew the dumb and the clumsy. And she knew those with the highly contagious pox virus. She selected one of these and struck. The virus died with the bird, and she carried it back to Oksi.

一天早上，積雨云遮擋了太陽，“驚悚”看到山姆和“鼴鼠”閑逛之后回家。山姆朝她吹了聲口哨打招呼，但她沒回答。她正跟奧克西在一起呢。今天清晨很冷，丘普外出打獵了，她必須庇護幼鳥。

[2]山姆和“鼴鼠”走進樹屋的時候，丘普回來了，他來喂奧克西并庇護她，“驚悚”就飛走了。她乘著氣流飛行，進入一股熱氣流，盤旋升到德里的高空。在熱氣泡的頂端，她轉變方向俯沖而下。她降落在縣法院大樓的圓屋頂上。

[3]“驚悚”又高高飛了起來。法院大樓的鴿群飛進視野。她能分清每一只鴿子。她知道哪些身體健康和飛得很快。她也知道哪些呆乎乎和笨手笨腳。她還知道有些鴿子感染了高度傳染性的痘病毒。她選中了其中一只并一擊而中。鴿子死掉，病毒也就隨之而亡，“驚悚”把它叼回家給奧克西。

[4] When Frightful returned with food that day, Chup was freed from his nest brooding. Oksi was old enough to be left alone while Frightful hunted. He flew from tall tree to the tallest, spread his wings, and soared far from Frightful’s Mountain. He had never been comfortable in the forest. He was a bird of the cliffs, open river valleys, and the bottoms of clouds. Spread-winged, he rode an air current to a cliff in Catskill Park, a three-minute falcon flight from Oksi. He was still concerned about her.

[5] While Sam and Mole were away,Oksi had changed. The tips of her flight feathers had grown in, and she could stand and walk. She jumped on leaves that blew into the box and watched every bird that flew past. But the greatest change of all was that she jabbed a foot at Frightful when she came into the box with food.

[6] Chup returned to the box one day to find no food at the aerie. He flew down to the river and brought back a duck. Alighting on the box, he was met by Oksi’s two yellow feet and black talons. He left the food and took off.

[7] As she grew and changed, the wooden box intrigued Oksi. It was far different from her first home. It did not look out on a vast landscape, but on a hemlock forest. From it she did not see ducks, but frogs and songbirds. The wind around her did not jet, but swirled and bumped. Instinctively she disliked it, but because her parents fed her here,she became accustomed to it.

[4]那天“驚悚”帶著食物回來后，丘普就不需要在窩里庇護幼鳥了。奧克西已長大，“驚悚”外出獵食時，奧克西可以單獨在家。丘普從大樹上直飛最高的樹端，展翅翱翔，遠離了“驚悚”的山林。在森林里生活，他一直不舒服。他是一只屬于懸崖、開闊河谷和云端的雄鷹。丘普展開雙翼，乘著一股氣流來到卡斯基爾公園的一個懸崖上。從這里飛回奧克西身邊對游隼而言只需三分鐘。丘普仍然惦記著奧克西。

[5]山姆和“鼴鼠”不在的時候，奧克西變化很大。她飛羽的尖端已經長出，她也能夠站立和行走。一些樹葉被風吹到木箱里，她在樹葉上蹦蹦跳跳。她注視著飛過的每一只鳥兒。但奧克西最大的變化是，當“驚悚”帶著食物飛回木箱時，她朝著“驚悚”戳了一腳。

[6]有一天，丘普回家看到鳥巢里沒有食物。他就飛到河邊抓了一只野鴨回來。丘普降落到木箱上，奧克西卻用兩只黃腳和黑色的利爪迎接他。丘普只好放下食物飛走。

[7]奧克西不停地長大和變化，也對木箱產生了興趣。木箱子跟她的第一個家大不一樣。木箱前面不是開闊的原野，而是一片鐵杉林。從木箱這里，她看到的不是野鴨子，而是青蛙和鳴禽。周圍的風不是呼嘯而過，而是盤旋游走和四處碰撞。她天生不喜歡這樣的景致，但父母是在這里養育她，她也習以為常了。

[8] Sam would sit at his table at mealtimes and watch Oksi. He knew the box in the forest was all wrong for a peregrine, and so he would wonder what would happen when it came time for her to pick her own nesting site. Would she choose a cliff, a bridge—or, he mused almost longingly, would she pick a beautiful hemlock forest like this? Was she imprinted on Frightful’s Mountain?

【背景知識】“驚悚”和配偶丘普一起養育子女，本來住在一座大橋上，但橋梁修繕，被山姆搬到鐵杉林里。奧克西是“驚悚”夫婦僅剩的雛鳥。在山姆和自己父母的照料下，奧克西健康成長，也習慣了森林里的生活。那么，游隼會因為生活環境的變化而改變自己的居住習性嗎？

【第一段】“鼴鼠”是一只流浪狗，曾是“驚悚”的朋友，后被山姆收養。剛出生的幼鳥羽毛不豐滿，不能保持體溫，所以需要父母的羽翼遮蔽才能存活。

【第二段】原文使用的動詞非常精確，比如speed、spiral、peel off、dove，需要斟酌選擇中文詞語來保證語言的形象生動。

【第三段】這一段的句子簡短有力，而且有排比句，譯文也要盡量再現原文的結構。最后一句如直譯會是“病毒也會隨著鴿子死掉”，但這樣會打斷語流，使得語義不連貫，因此譯文變換了敘事方式為“鴿子死掉，病毒也就隨之而亡”。

【第四段】句子“He flew from tall tree to the tallest.”直譯會是“他從高樹飛到最高的樹上。”，在中文里顯得別扭，所以譯文選擇了“大樹”。“A bird of…”意思是雄鷹屬于懸崖河谷，而不是森林。詞語bottoms of clouds直譯應該是“云彩底部”，這在中文里少見，所以譯為“云端”。

[8]吃飯時，山姆會坐在飯桌旁觀察奧克西。山姆知道森林中的木箱子對游隼而言格格不入，因此他在琢磨，等奧克西自己選窩的時候會怎么做。她會選擇一個懸崖、一座大橋——或者，他忍不住憧憬，她會不會選擇一片同樣漂亮的鐵杉林呢？奧克西喜歡上“驚悚”的山林了嗎？

【第五段】【第六段】奧克西脾氣乖戾，另外也已經長大，所以不愿意接近父母，即便是仍然需要喂食。

【第七段】倒數第二句描述風的差異，懸崖和大橋的風迅疾而猛烈，但森林里的風曲折盤旋、四處游走。動詞jet和bump都很費思量，需要仔細挑選對應的詞語。

【第八段】短語all wrong（大錯特錯）意為游隼本就不應該住在樹林里，而應該在懸崖峭壁上，這里譯文引申為“格格不入”。he mused almost longingly意蘊深刻，打動人心，因為山姆知道這一切都不應該，但仍然憧憬著游隼會因為這樣的經歷而改變習性，回到森林里陪伴他。后來奧克西果然回到森林中定居了，這也遂了山姆的心愿。

【小結】該選段在翻譯中有幾點需要注意。其一，應了解獵鷹育雛和居住環境的背景知識，不能望文生義；其二，要注意原文中的修辭形式，比如排比句，應盡力再現；其三，原文用詞精準生動，譯者應仔細斟酌，體會精微之后再恰當傳譯。 □