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，待在树屋里，人们从旁边经过，也从不会知道我在这儿。我的房子就是一棵铁杉树，直径六英尺，肯定跟大山一样古老。去年夏天我碰巧发现了它，又挖洞又用火烧，直到做成了一个温暖舒适的树洞，我现在称它为家。

[2]“你一进门，右手是我的床，白蜡树木条做的，上面铺着鹿皮。左手是一个小壁炉，膝盖那么高，黏土和石头垒成。壁炉上有个烟囱，把烟通过一个树的节孔导出屋去。我还凿了另外三个节孔让新鲜空气进来。进来的空气冷得刺骨。外面肯定是零下，而我却可以坐在树屋里面，不戴手套写字。火苗也很小。不用很大的火就能让这个树屋暖和。

[3]“今天是十二月四日，我想。也许是五日。我不太肯定，因为我最近没有数刻在白杨树杆上的划痕，那是我的日历。我一直忙着收集坚果和浆果，忙着熏鹿肉、鱼肉和小猎物，没时间去记下准确的日子。

[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]“为我写字照亮的灯，是鹿油倒在龟壳里做成，灯芯是我城里带来的旧裤子撕的一根布条。

[5]“昨天和今天整天都在下雪。从暴风雪一开始我就没有外出，现在觉得无聊。自从八个月前我离家出走到这儿住，这是第一次觉得无聊。

[6]“我很好很健康。食物也很棒。有时候我喝龟汤，我还知道怎么做橡果饼。我的给养都在树屋的墙壁上我削的木盒里。

[7]“过去两天里，每次我看看那些木盒，都感觉自己就像松鼠。这提醒了我：暴风雪来临之前的一整天我都没有看到松鼠。我猜它们也躲在洞里正在吃储藏的坚果呢。

[8]“我在想，男爵也一定躲在窝里。男爵是一只野生黄鼠狼，住在我的大树北边一块大圆石后面。嗯，不管怎样，我想暴风雪正在消停，因为大树不再那么尖声呼啸了。大风猛刮的时候，整棵树从上到下都在呻吟，而我正在大树的底下。

[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门到阳光下。我在想是否应该挖雪。如果挖雪，就要把雪放到某个地方，而唯一放雪的地方就是我温暖舒适的美好树屋。也许我可以一边挖一边用手把雪压紧堆在旁边。我总是自上而下挖雪，从没有自下而上挖过。

[10]“男爵必须自下而上挖雪。我想知道，他会把挖的雪放到哪儿呢？好吧，我猜明早就会知道了。”

【背景知识】少年探险小说《我的山林》（My Side of the Mountain，有个译本题目为《山居岁月》，显得不太符合少年语气，过于老成持重了）描写十四五岁的少年山姆离家出走，离开11口人的纽约大家庭，独自一人来到曾祖父的山林居住。他随身携带一点点必需品，在深山老林开始了野居生活，自己狩猎，自己生火，自己剥兽皮做衣服，自己做树屋，还交了几个好朋友：黄鼠狼“男爵”、浣熊，以及猎鹰“惊悚”。他独居深山几年，把所见所闻写在桦树皮日记里，故事情节引人入胜，其勇气和智慧给人们带来启迪和思考。这部小说的作者是美国女作家琼·克雷格黑德·乔治。她热爱自然，善于描写以自然为主题的故事，深受儿童读者喜爱。她创作的小说《我的山林》以及《狼女茱莉》（Julie of the Wolves）分别获得1960年和1973年的纽伯瑞奖（The Newbery Honor）。

【第一段】这本书的语言风格简洁明了，简单易懂，却易懂难译。第一句话就颇费思量，句子不长，但逻辑复杂。译文采取了顺译原则，模仿少年语气，略带口语风格。该段最后一句颇似中文的流水句，译文仍然使用了顺译法。短语come upon被明晰化为“碰巧发现”。

【第二段】整段句子比较短，但连续性强，节奏轻快（让人联想到海明威的《老人与海》），仿佛作者在你面前侃侃而谈，一一介绍树屋的情形。形容词短语bare hands乍看上去不太明白，仔细一想，这是在说外面冷，而屋里暖和，不用戴手套也可以在桦树皮上写字，所以增译为“不戴手套写字”。英文里的tree house、tree home、tree room都对应中文的“树屋”，因为中文里不好找这么多对应的词语。

【第三段】依然是短小的流水句，反映山姆的意识流。最后一句的too ... to结构要在中文里体现出来，即“太忙，没时间……”。

【第四段】这一段就是一句话，语义密集，译文把“灯芯”提前当作主语，利于上下文的衔接。

【第五段】第二句较长，其中I am bored for the first time不太好处理。译文重复了“无聊”一词，这样前后两句会更加连贯。

【第六段】这里仍然是海明威风格，句子简短而有力，不太好翻译。Well译为“很好”，eat soup译为“喝龟汤”。Wooden pockets不太好理解，在网上搜索图片，就会找到木制的盒子，所以译为“木盒子”。

【第七段】这一段里的hole up以及下一段的den up意思相同，都是“躲藏、冬眠”的意思，很形象生动。

【第八段】第一句中的插入语介绍黄鼠狼“男爵”，句式需要适当处理。译文改为定语后置，补充说明。接下来形容暴风雪的三个隐喻性动词（短语）dying down、cry、moan也需用心处理。译文把cry增译为“尖声呼啸”，突出风声凄厉的严冬。而when the wind really blows也被明晰化为“大风猛刮的时候”。

【第九段】短语tunnel out into the sunlight很有趣，是调侃山姆和黄鼠狼一样都要打洞出门，因为大雪封门，无路可走。动词pack不好理解，查阅柯林斯网上词典，有一个释义为：“to form (snow, ice, etc) into a hard compact mass or (of snow, ice, etc) to become compacted.”即把冰雪等压缩成紧密的一团。这里的译文是“一边挖一边用手把雪压紧堆在旁边”，原文意思复杂，译文不得不多加解释。

【小结】该选段是小说开头的一段日记，描写冬日里山姆蜗居树洞躲避风雪的场景。画面栩栩如生，意趣盎然，能一下子抓住读者的注意力。小说语言虽然平实简练，理解难度不大，但翻译起来要考虑很多问题，比如流水句的处理、少年语气的模拟以及简洁风格的传译等等。 □

我的山林（节选一）

文/琼·克雷格黑德·乔治 译析/吴文安