Julie of the Wolves (Excerpt I)

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Miyax pushed back the hood of her sealskin parka and looked at the Arctic sun.It was a yellow disc in a lime-green sky, the colors of six o’clock in the evening and the time when the wolves awoke.Quietly she put down her cooking pot and crept to the top of a dome-shaped frost heave, one of the many earth buckles that rise and fall in the crackling cold of the Arctic winter.Lying on her stomach, she looked across a vast lawn of grass and moss and focused her attention on the wolves she had come upon two sleeps ago.They were wagging their tails as they awoke and saw each other.

米婭克斯把她海豹皮的愛(ài)斯基摩人大衣風(fēng)帽往后推了推，看著北極的太陽(yáng)。淡黃綠色天空里掛著一只黃色圓盤(pán)，這是傍晚六點(diǎn)鐘的顏色，也是狼群醒來(lái)的時(shí)候。她悄悄地放下蒸煮罐，爬到一個(gè)穹頂形狀的凍土堆的頂端。在北極的冬天，嚴(yán)寒地區(qū)有很多這樣隆起的土堆，起起伏伏。米婭克斯趴在地上，目光掠過(guò)一大片長(zhǎng)著野草和苔蘚的草地，注視著兩天之前她碰到的狼群。他們剛剛醒來(lái)，互相看看，搖著尾巴。

[2]Her hands trembled and her heartbeat quickened, for she was frightened,not so much of the wolves, who were shy and many harpoon-shots away, but because of her desperate predicament.Miyax was lost.She had been lost without food for many sleeps on the North Slope of Alaska.The barren slope stretches for two hundred miles from the Brooks Range to the Arctic Ocean,and for more than eight hundred miles from Canada to the Chukchi Sea.No roads cross it; ponds and lakes freckle its immensity.Winds scream across it,and the view in every direction is exactly the same.Somewhere in this cosmos was Miyax; and the very life in her body, its spark and warmth, depended upon these wolves for survival.And she was not so sure they would help.

[2]米婭克斯的手抖了起來(lái)，心跳也開(kāi)始加速，她害怕的不是狼群，狼群膽小，還在幾十米外；她害怕的是自己面臨的絕境。米婭克斯迷路了。在阿拉斯加的北坡地區(qū)，她已經(jīng)迷路好幾天，也沒(méi)有食物。這片荒蕪的坡地從布魯克斯嶺直到北冰洋綿延兩百英里，而從加拿大直到楚科奇海則綿延八百多英里。這里沒(méi)有道路穿過(guò)，無(wú)垠的荒野上散布著水塘和湖泊。大風(fēng)呼嘯而過(guò)，每個(gè)方向的景色都一模一樣。米婭克斯就待在這片荒野的某處；她軀體里的生命，生命的火花和溫暖，都要依賴(lài)這群野狼來(lái)延續(xù)下去。但米婭克斯不敢肯定狼群會(huì)幫忙。

[3]Miyax stared hard at the regal black wolf, hoping to catch his eye.She must somehow tell him that she was starving and ask him for food.This could be done she knew, for her father,an Eskimo hunter, had done so.One year he had camped near a wolf den while on a hunt.When a month had passed and her father had seen no game,he told the leader of the wolves that he was hungry and needed food.The next night the wolf called him from far away and her father went to him and found a freshly killed caribou.Unfortunately,Miyax’s father never explained to her how he had told the wolf of his needs.And not long afterward he paddled his kayak into the Bering Sea to hunt for seal, and he never returned.

[3]米婭克斯使勁兒盯著那頭氣度非凡的黑狼，希望能對(duì)上他的目光。她必須用某種方式告訴黑狼，她饑腸轆轆，想跟他要點(diǎn)食物。她知道這個(gè)可以做到，因?yàn)樗母赣H，一位愛(ài)斯基摩獵人，曾經(jīng)做到過(guò)。有一年，他狩獵時(shí)在一個(gè)狼窩附近露營(yíng)。一個(gè)月過(guò)去了，她父親也沒(méi)有碰見(jiàn)獵物，就告訴頭狼他很餓，需要食物。第二天夜里，頭狼在遠(yuǎn)處呼喚她父親，于是他就去找頭狼，發(fā)現(xiàn)了一只剛剛殺死的馴鹿。不幸的是，米婭克斯的父親從來(lái)沒(méi)有向她解釋他是如何告訴頭狼自己的需求的。此后不久，她父親就劃著愛(ài)斯基摩皮船去白令海獵捕海豹，從此一去不回。

[4]She had been watching the wolves for two days, trying to discern which of their sounds and movements expressed goodwill and friendship.Most animals had such signals.The little Arctic ground squirrels flicked their tails sideways to notify others of their kind that they were friendly.By imitating this signal with her forefinger, Miyax had lured many a squirrel to her hand.If she could discover such a gesture for the wolves she would be able to make friends with them and share their food,like a bird or a fox.

[4]兩天來(lái)米婭克斯一直在觀察狼群，盡力分辨哪些聲音和動(dòng)作表示善意和友好。大部分動(dòng)物都有這樣的信號(hào)。小小的北極地松鼠會(huì)側(cè)向甩動(dòng)尾巴，告訴同類(lèi)他們?cè)谑竞?。米婭克斯曾經(jīng)用食指模仿這個(gè)動(dòng)作，誘惑了好多松鼠到她手上來(lái)。如果她能發(fā)現(xiàn)狼群中類(lèi)似功用的姿勢(shì)，她就能跟狼群交上朋友，并分享他們的食物，就像小鳥(niǎo)或狐貍那樣。

[5]Propped on her elbows with her chin in her fists,she stared at the black wolf, trying to catch his eye.She had chosen him because he was much larger than the others, and because he walked like her father, Kapugen, with his head high and his chest out.The black wolf also possessed wisdom, she had observed.The pack looked to him when the wind carried strange scents or the birds cried nervously.If he was alarmed, they were alarmed.If he was calm, they were calm.

[5]米婭克斯趴在地上，兩肘撐地，雙手托著下巴，緊盯著黑狼，極力要跟他對(duì)上眼。米婭克斯選擇了黑狼，因?yàn)楹诶潜绕渌谴蟪龊枚?，還因?yàn)楹诶亲呗返淖藨B(tài)像自己的父親卡普根，總是昂首挺胸。通過(guò)她的觀察，她知道黑狼也很有智慧。每當(dāng)風(fēng)中刮來(lái)奇怪的氣味，或鳥(niǎo)兒緊張地鳴叫時(shí)，狼群就會(huì)望向黑狼。黑狼如果警覺(jué)，狼群就警覺(jué)。黑狼如果安靜，狼群就安靜。

【背景知識(shí)】米婭克斯是愛(ài)斯基摩小姑娘，英語(yǔ)名字是朱莉，只有14歲。父親出海狩獵，一去不返。她成了丹尼爾的童養(yǎng)媳。因?yàn)橛幸惶斓つ釥栐噲D欺辱她，米婭克斯只身出走，迷失在阿拉斯加北坡的荒原上，孤立無(wú)援，沒(méi)有食物，只有狼群在身邊。她如何憑借愛(ài)斯基摩人的智慧，借助狼群生存下去呢？

【第一段】parka是愛(ài)斯基摩人特有的皮衣，如果只翻譯成大衣不能傳達(dá)特有的文化信息，所以譯文添加了“愛(ài)斯基摩人”。而frost heave的詞典釋義為“冰凍隆脹”，即凍土堆。愛(ài)斯基摩人喜歡用sleeps（過(guò)幾夜）來(lái)表示時(shí)間或距離（比如，two sleeps away就是需要走上兩天的距離），但“兩夜之前”（two sleeps ago）在中文里較為費(fèi)解，譯文就轉(zhuǎn)譯為“兩天之前”。

【第二段】段中有一個(gè)句式she was frightened not so much of… but because of，中間還有一個(gè)插入的定語(yǔ)從句who were…，如果照搬原來(lái)句式，容易造成語(yǔ)義不暢。譯文中重復(fù)了“她害怕的”，這樣就使得上下文聯(lián)系起來(lái)。文中還有一個(gè)文化專(zhuān)有項(xiàng)harpoon-shots，即投擲魚(yú)叉的距離，如直譯，即為“相隔有好幾次投擲魚(yú)叉的距離”，如此雖能傳譯愛(ài)斯基摩文化特色，但譯文較為費(fèi)解。于是譯者將其簡(jiǎn)化為“幾十米外”，這算是翻譯中的損失。倒數(shù)第二句的譯文基本上是直譯，看似有點(diǎn)奇怪，但原文如此，文學(xué)性強(qiáng)，相信中文讀者也能接受。

【第三段】短語(yǔ)catch his eye文中出現(xiàn)了好幾次，不宜直譯，譯文選擇了“對(duì)上目光”和“對(duì)上眼”。愛(ài)斯基摩人文化專(zhuān)有詞語(yǔ)kayak（皮船）在譯文中得到了保留，而且添加了“愛(ài)斯基摩人”使其明晰化。

【第四段】短語(yǔ)others of their kind如直譯為“同類(lèi)中的其他人”較為啰唆，于是簡(jiǎn)化為“同類(lèi)”。而imitating this signal如直譯為“模仿這個(gè)信號(hào)”在中文里會(huì)顯得奇怪，于是改譯為“模仿這個(gè)動(dòng)作”。

【第五段】第二句有連續(xù)兩個(gè)原因狀語(yǔ)從句，譯文當(dāng)再現(xiàn)這個(gè)句式。段落最后的兩句話簡(jiǎn)短有力，譯文也要模仿。

【小結(jié)】本書(shū)是作者相對(duì)早期的作品（發(fā)表于1972年），語(yǔ)言風(fēng)格較為經(jīng)典，句式略微復(fù)雜，文學(xué)性強(qiáng)，這使得翻譯難度大大增加。翻譯過(guò)程中，譯者在注意句式模仿和調(diào)整的同時(shí)，還要思考文化專(zhuān)有項(xiàng)的傳譯：可以傳遞文化特色的時(shí)候盡量在譯文中保留愛(ài)斯基摩人文化詞語(yǔ)；如果實(shí)在不妥，則只能簡(jiǎn)化、弱化或替代一些文化專(zhuān)有項(xiàng)。