Julie of the Wolves (Excerpt II)

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Amaroq was pacing restlessly along the crest of the frost heave as if something were about to happen.His eyes shot to Silver,then to the gray wolf Miyax had named Nails.These glances seemed to be summons,for Silver and Nails glided to him,spanked the ground with their forepaws,and bit him gently under the chin.He wagged his tail furiously and took Silver’s slender nose in his mouth.She crouched before him,licked his cheek,and lovingly bit his lower jaw.Amaroq’s tail flashed high as her mouthing charged him with vitality.He nosed her affectionately.Unlike the fox who met his mate only in the breeding season,Amaroq lived with his mate all year.

巨狼阿马罗克在冻土堆顶上不安地踱来踱去，好像有什么事情要发生。他的目光射向银白，然后又朝米娅克斯叫作指甲的灰狼扫过去。这些瞥视似乎就是召唤，银白和指甲溜了过来，用前爪拍打地面，然后又轻轻地在巨狼下巴处咬一下。巨狼暴怒地摇摇尾巴，一口咬住银白纤细的鼻子。银白在他面前趴下，舔舔他的脸颊，充满爱意地咬一下他的下巴。巨狼的尾巴高高翘起来，似乎银白的亲咬让他精神振奋。巨狼也充满爱意地用鼻子拱拱银白。狐狸只在交配季节跟配偶见面，巨狼却一整年都与配偶在一起。

[2]Next,Nails took Amaroq’s jaw in his mouth and the leader bit the top of his nose.A third adult,a small male,came slinking up.He got down on his belly before Amaroq,rolled trembling to his back,and wiggled.

[2]接下来，指甲也把巨狼的下巴含在嘴里，头狼咬了一下他的鼻尖。第三头成年狼，体型较小，是头公狼，溜了过来。他在巨狼跟前趴下，又颤抖着翻过身肚子朝上，扭动着身子。

[3]“Hello,Jello,” Miyax whispered,for he reminded her of the quivering gussak dessert her mother-in-law made.

[3]“你好，果冻。”米娅克斯小声说。因为这头狼让她想起了婆婆做的那种总是抖动的白人甜食。

[4]She had seen the wolves mouth Amaroq’s chin twice before and so she concluded that it was a ceremony,a sort of “Hail to the Chief.” He must indeed be their leader for he was clearly the wealthy wolf;that is,wealthy as she had known the meaning of the word on Nunivak Island.There the old Eskimo hunters she had known in her childhood thought the riches of life were intelligence,fearlessness,and love.A man with these gifts was rich and was a great spirit who was admired in the same way that the gussaks admired a man with money and goods.

[4]米娅克斯之前也两次看到过群狼咬一咬巨狼的下巴，因此她断定这是一种仪式，是“向头狼致敬”。巨狼肯定是他们的头领，因为显然他很富有；这里的富有指努尼瓦克岛上所理解的富有。在努尼瓦克岛上，她从小就认识的爱斯基摩老猎人们所理解的人生财富就是智慧、无畏和爱。拥有这些天赋的人被看作富有，是受人仰慕的精神领袖，就像钱物富足的白人被人羡慕一样。

[5]The three adults paid tribute to Amaroq until he was almost smothered with love;then he bayed a wild note that sounded like the wind on the frozen sea.With that the others sat around him,the puppies scattered between them.Jello hunched forward and Silver shot a fierce glance at him.Intimidated,Jello pulled his ears together and back.He drew himself down until he looked smaller than ever.

[5]三头成年狼轮番向巨狼献殷勤，直到他难以消受为止。然后他一声长啸，狂野无比，像是狂风掠过冰封的海面。其他的狼围拢着巨狼而坐，狼崽儿也夹杂其中。果冻弓着腰往前蹭，银白用凶狠的眼光扫了一眼。果冻知趣地耷拉着耳朵又退了回去。他俯下身子，看上去越发瘦小。

[6]Amaroq wailed again,stretching his neck until his head was high above the others.They gazed at him affectionately and it was plain to see that he was their great spirit,a royal leader who held his group together with love and wisdom.

[6]巨狼阿马罗克再次长啸，伸长脖子，头颈远远高出其他的狼。群狼充满爱意地盯着他看，很显然巨狼是他们的精神领袖，是伟大的王者，能够用爱和智慧把狼群团结在一起。

[7]Any fear Miyax had of the wolves was dispelled by their affection for each other.They were friendly animals and so devoted to Amaroq that she needed only to be accepted by him to be accepted by all.She even knew how to achieve this—bite him under the chin.But how was she going to do that?

[7]米娅克斯原来对狼群心怀惧怕，现在看到他们亲密无间的样子，一切恐惧都烟消云散。他们彼此友好，对头狼如此忠诚，因此米娅克斯只需被头狼接受，就能被狼群接受。米娅克斯甚至知道如何做到这一点——就是从下面咬一下头狼的下巴。但她该怎么去做呢？

【背景知识】米娅克斯密切观察狼群，发现了很多秘密：谁是头狼，他如何领导狼群，狼群又如何讨好头狼。巨狼阿马罗克备受爱戴，让群狼心服口服，是高高在上的统治者。由此米娅克斯断定，只要头狼接受她，整个狼群就会接受她。

【第一段】Amaroq或拼写为Amarok，是因纽特人神话中的巨狼，传说他会把夜晚独自狩猎的人吃掉。北极地区的其他民族也用这个词指代所有的狼。为了表意更清楚，此处既有音译阿马罗克，又添加了巨狼作为名称，这有利于下文的称呼。这里狼的名称如何翻译需要好好掂量，或者音译，或者意译。这些名字都是米娅克斯根据外形或性格起的名字，表意性强，所以译者选择了意译。第一段中，用作动词的名词，比如mouth、nose不好翻译，译者分别译为“亲咬”和“拱拱”。

【第二段】果冻是很有性格的一只狼，后面还有单独的故事，作者在此对他的出场做了详细描写。果冻胆小阴险，心怀鬼胎，这在slink、tremble等词语上有所反映。

【第三段】所谓gussak是爱斯基摩人对白人的称呼。该段也揭示出果冻命名的缘由。

【第四段】短语a great spirit很难翻译，直译会是“伟大的精神”，不容易理解。根据上下文，译者最后选择了“精神领袖”一词。最后一句中有两个admire，译者根据情况分别译为“仰慕”和“羡慕”。如果说白人仰慕钱物富足的人，会有少许夸张。

【第五段】smother本意是“窒息，忍住”等，在此很难翻译，译文转译为“难以消受”。原文接下来再次着力描写果冻的性格（投机、胆小、猥琐），为下文的故事做铺垫。

【第六段】短语great spirit和a royal leader仍然不好翻译。在此译者将两者合并处理，译为“精神领袖”“伟大的王者”。

【第七段】原文第一句句式简单，但译为中文却需要拆解重组。第二句为so… that…句式，译文使用“因此”来连接，避免了翻译腔“如此……以致”。

【小结】这一部分文学性强，有不少难点，比如名字的翻译、名词当作动词用、特殊词组、较长的句式等，都需要反复琢磨才能得到较好的译文。译者应该在把握全文的基础上，照顾全篇情节，反复推敲字词、调整句式，才能解决好各种难题。□