《查理的渡鸦》（节选二）

文/琼·克雷格黑德·乔治 译析/吴文安

Charlie believed Singing Bird and her story.The Teton Sioux had lived on the prairie for a good ten thousand years and knew more about the animals and plants than all the field guide books in the library.If they said a raven could cure, then it could.Besides, there was something special about ravens, something intelligent and mysterious.He hugged the box close to his chest and jogged down the butte to Cache Creek,crossed it, and, looking back over his shoulder for the ravens, trotted to the country road.

2“Ravens are good,” he heard Singing Bird say.But he also remembered that Granddad’s new neighbor, Mr.Spinder, had the exact opposite opinion.He and his wife lived about a mile down the road from Granddad in the log house by Cache Creek.Only sagebrush and bison lay between the two homes in the valley walled by the granite mountains of the Tetons on the west and Shadow Mountain on the east.

3Mr.Spinder and his wife were a

查理相信歌唱鸟和她的故事。提顿苏人在大草原上生活了足足有一万年之久，他们所掌握的这里动植物的知识比图书馆里所有野外指南书籍还要多。如果他们说渡鸦有治病的能力，那就会有。另外，渡鸦本身也有点特殊，有点聪明和神秘。查理把鞋盒紧紧抱在胸口，缓步跑下孤丘，到达卡什溪，涉水过溪，回过头来看看别的渡鸦，然后跑到乡村小道上。

2“渡鸦很好。”他曾经听歌唱鸟说过。但他也记得，爷爷的新邻居斯宾得先生有恰好相反的看法。斯宾得先生和他的妻子就住在卡什溪旁边的原木房子里，沿着路离爷爷的家大约一英里远。两家在一条山谷里，之间只有山艾和野牛，山谷东西两边都是陡峭的花岗岩山脉，西边是提顿山，东边是影子山。new kind of resident on Sagebrush Flats.They never used first names,theirs or anyone else’s.They wore fancy chaps with fringed shirts and expensive Stetson hats when they rode their magnificent Appaloosa horses.They drove a big SUV.Their obvious wealth put a distance between them and the other residents and barred familiarity.

3斯宾得先生和他的妻子是山艾公寓的新型居民。他们从来不直呼其名，包括他们自己的名字或者任何别人的名字。他们骑着漂亮的阿巴鲁萨马出门时，都穿着时髦的皮绑腿、带流苏的衬衣和昂贵的斯特森阔边高顶毡帽。他们开一辆很大的运动型多功能车。他们家显而易见的财富使得他们和其他居民之间产生了距离，而且难以亲近。

4Charlie had learned a little bit about the couple when he met Mrs.Spinder in the post office.She told him she and her husband liked their new home in “this quiet valley” and that they were from a large city.Charlie understood why city dwellers might find Sagebrush Flats quiet, although he and his granddad found it excitingly noisy.Their glorious valley resounded with the caterwauls of mountain lions, the piercing cries of eagles, the bugling of elk, and the trilling songs of birds.

4在邮局里碰到斯宾得夫人之前，查理已经对这夫妇俩有所了解。斯宾得夫人告诉查理，她和她的丈夫喜欢“这座寂静山谷”里的新家，还有他们来自一个大城市。查理能够理解城里人为什么会发现山艾公寓很寂静，虽然他和爷爷觉得这里其实是令人激动的喧闹。他们富饶的山谷里，到处回响着美洲狮的此呼彼应、鹰隼尖厉的鸣啼声、麋鹿的长啸嘶鸣以及百鸟欢歌的啁啾声。

5见面以后，查理就没有再去想斯宾得一家人。直到有一天早上，查理发现斯宾得先生在灌溉渠大门那里等他。当地的土地所有者们几乎每天都会在那里见面，然后放水浇地。看到查理穿过灰绿色的山艾走过来，斯宾得先生就下了马。黄缘蛱蝶在查理身边轰然飞起。一只叉角羚在查理靠近时飞奔离开。因为雪线上升，叉角羚会跟随雪线从低地来到提顿山脉山脚下高处的山谷里觅食。

5After that he gave the Spinders little more thought until he found Mr.Spinder waiting for him one morning at the gates of the irrigation ditch where the local landowners met almost daily to release water to their land.Mr.Spinder got off his horse when he saw Charlie arriving through the green-gray sagebrush.Mourning cloak butterflies burst up around him.A pronghorn antelope that had followed the retreating snow up from the lowlands into the high valley at the foot of the Tetons skittered away as Charlie came near.

6“Hi,” Charlie said to Mr.Spinder.“I’m Charlie Carlisle.My granddad is your nearest neighbor.”

“Howdy,” said Mr.Spinder.

“We’re about a mile down the road from you.” Just then something strange happened.A raven circled overhead and dropped onto a dead limb of a nearby cottonwood tree.The man saw it and walked closer to Charlie.He was nervous, almost frightened.

6“嗨，”查理对斯宾得先生说，“我是查理·卡莱尔。我的爷爷是你最近的邻居。”

“你好。”斯宾得先生说。

“我们都住在路边，相隔大约一英里远。”就在这时，奇怪的事情发生了。有一只渡鸦在头顶盘旋，并摔落在了附近一棵棉白杨树的枯枝上。斯宾得看到了这一幕，就走近查理。斯宾得很紧张，几乎是害怕。

【背景知识】查理掏到了小渡鸦，满怀希望地回家。他希望小渡鸦能让爷爷的病好转。但是小说人物中总会有正反两派。斯宾得夫妇就是反对渡鸦、想除掉渡鸦的人。查理也开始和这一对刚刚搬来的夫妇交往，面对渡鸦采取了截然不同的态度。

【第一段】歌唱鸟是查理的朋友，印第安人。正是从她那里，查理知道了渡鸦有让病人好转的作用。因此查理决定养一只小渡鸦。第一段是查理的心理活动，介绍了他养小渡鸦的原因，还有对渡鸦的态度。第二句较长，good意义有点特殊，是“足足有”的意思。

【第二段】最后一句翻译起来有点棘手。译文保留了原文的基本语序。其中的分词walled不宜直译，意思是两侧的山脉陡峭，像高墙一样耸立着。译文只体现了陡峭的概念，没有出现“墙”的意象。

【第三段】这一段的翻译难度颇大。尤其是一些名词平时少见，必须深入查证才能理解正确。比如fancy chaps、Stetson hats，还有SUV的翻译方法。按理来说，中文里已经可以直说SUV，但考虑到中文的一致性，译文使用了“运动型多功能车”的译名。

【第四段】第四段也很有难度，主要体现在最后一句中。形容词glorious（辉煌的；光荣的）不宜按照平常的理解翻译，译文选取了“富饶的”，以对应后文各种动物的声音。原文里四类动物的声音颇有文学色彩，译文也相应使用了文学性的中文词汇。

【第五段】第一句比较长，译文把原文句子切分为三句。译文的第三句是原文的状语从句，在译文里独立成句。其中的landowners（地主）在译文里使用了相对中性的“土地所有者”，以避开贬义。最后一句原文的译文切分为两句，把原文里的定语从句翻译为独立的一句话，并且调整了语序。

【第六段】原文倒数第二句中的the man寓意丰富，有调侃斯宾得这个有钱成年人的意思。但中文里很难传译这种微妙的含义，仅仅替换为人名“斯宾得”。最后一句中的代词也明晰化为“斯宾得”，避免读者误认为是查理害怕了。

【小结】这一选段中有一组少见的名词短语，需要译者深入细致查证，才能保证理解准确。另外，作者在故事叙述中插入了文学性很强的句子，也需要译者做相应的处理，以保证译文也有类似的色彩和效果。 □

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