文/琼·克雷格黑德·乔治译析/吴文安

《远方山林》（节选二）

文/琼·克雷格黑德·乔治译析/吴文安

手腕一翻，他把头罩套到“惊悚”头上，然后用牙和另一只空闲的手系紧了拉绳。我看得出来，他的确是一个驯鹰手，而且是好手。我的膝盖发软。

With a twist of his wrist he slips a hood over her head and tightens the drawstrings with his teeth and free hand. He is a falconer, I see, and a good one. My knees feel rubbery.

[2]“惊悚”安静地待着。她看不见，就不动，这就是为什么要给她戴头套。猎鹰戴了头套，就不会扇动翅膀乱动，也就是说它不会飞离你的拳头，头朝下挂在脚带上，扇动翅膀让自己受伤。

“你要拿她怎么办？”我问。

“你抓到她的时候她多大？”

“出生后大约10天。”

“既然这样我不能放她。你是她的第一印象。如果你从小养一只鸟，它会认为你是它的妈妈，它就像你。这样的鸟不会跟同类配对，因为它把人看作同类。如果放生，对于它们种群的延续没什么意义。而延续种群生存是保护濒危动物的首要目的——让它们繁殖并增加种群数量。”

[2] Frightful sits quietly. She cannot see, so she does not move, which is the reason for a hood. If a falcon is hooded she will not bate, that is, she won’t fl y off your fi st and hang head down by her jesses, beating her wings and hurting herself.

“What will you do with her?” I ask.

“How old was she when you got her?”

“About ten days.”

“Then I can’t let her go. She is imprinted on you. If you raise a bird from a chick, it thinks you’re its mother and that it looks like you. Such a bird won’t mate with its kind, because it sees people as its kind. Set free it is worthless as far as the perpetuation of the species is concerned. And perpetuation of the species is what protecting endangered animals is all about—to let them breed and increase their kind.”

[3]“没有饥饿纹，”他把手上的“惊悚”转过来，打量了一番，“我必须得说，作为一个孩子你把鸟儿照顾得很好。”鸟儿初长羽毛的时候，如果吃不上恰当的食物，尾巴和翅膀上就会有饥饿纹。

[3] “No hunger streaks,” he comments as he turns Frightful on his fi st and looks her over. “I must say, you take good care of your bird for a kid.” Hunger streaks appear in tail and wing feathers if a bird does not get the right food during the time the feathers are growing in.

[4]我在想该做什么。朗布里奇先生把脚带紧紧缠在手上，开始往前走。

我走在他旁边，拼命想着救“惊悚”的办法。

我先试试同情心。“先生，我太需要这只鸟了。我和她一起打猎。她给我的餐桌提供食物。”

“附近的德里有个超市。”他说，边说边加快了脚步。我也快步跟上。

我再试试礼貌的恳求。“求你了，先生，放了她吧。”

“刚才都跟你说清楚了。”

[4] I am thinking what to do. Mr. Longbridge has wrapped the leash tightly around his hand and now begins to move.

I walk beside him, desperately working out a plan to save her.

I try pity. “Sir, I need that bird badly. I hunt with her. She provides food for my table.”

“There’s a supermarket in Delhi,” he says, hurrying along. I hurry along too.

I try politeness. “Please, Sir, let her go.”

“You heard me.”

[5]这时天空的雾气消散，太阳出来，我可以更清楚地看到他的脸。……