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人与自然(杰克·伦敦短篇小说集15)(外研社双语读库)
杰克·伦敦 |
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本书由外研社授权掌阅科技电子版制作与发行
版权所有 · 侵权必究 |
When Clay Dilham left the tent to get a sled—load of fire—wood, he expected to be back in half an hour. So he told Swanson, who was cooking the dinner. Swanson and he belonged to different outfits, located about twenty miles apart on the Stuart River; but they had become traveling partners on a trip down the Yukon to Dawson to get the mail.
克莱·迪尔汉姆出了帐篷打算去弄一雪橇柴火，他预计半小时内就能回来。他也是这么跟斯旺森说的，当时斯旺森正在做晚饭。斯旺森和他分属于不同的小组，两个小组都位于斯图尔特河边上，彼此相隔二十英里远；但由于要沿着育空河向下去道森取邮件，两人在旅途中结成了旅伴。
Swanson had laughed when Clay said he would be back in half an hour. It stood to reason, Swanson said, that good, dry fire—wood could not be found so close to Dawson; that whatever fire—wood there was originally had long since been gathered in; that fire—wood would not be selling at forty dollars a cord if any man could go out and get a sled—load and be back in the time Clay expected to make it.
当克莱说自己半小时内就能回来时，斯旺森笑了。斯旺森说的话合情合理：离道森这么近的地方可找不着好的干柴火；就算那里原来有什么柴火，也早就被收集起来了；而且如果谁能出去捡到一雪橇的柴火并在克莱预计的时间内返回，柴火就不会卖四十美元一捆了。
Then it was Clay's turn to laugh as he sprang on the sled and mushed the dogs onto the river—trail. For, coming up from the Siwash village the previous day, he had noticed a small dead pine in an out—of—the—way place which had defied discovery by eyes less sharp than his. And his eyes were both young and sharp, for his seventeenth birthday was just cleared.
克莱跳上雪橇，赶着狗队驶上了河面上的雪道，这回该轮到他笑了。因为，就在前一天从锡沃斯村落回来的路上，他注意到了一棵枯死的小松树，松树长在很偏僻的地方，那些没他眼尖的人都没能发现。他的眼睛既有年轻人的活力又很敏锐，因为他十七岁生日才刚刚过去。
A swift ten minutes over the ice brought him to the place, and figuring ten minutes to get the tree and ten minutes to return made him certain that Swanson's dinner would not wait.
雪橇在冰上跑得快，十分钟就能将他带到那个地方，估摸着爬到松树那儿得要十分钟，返回用十分钟，这让他确信斯旺森不用等着他吃饭。
Just below Dawson, and rising out of the Yukon itself, towered the great Moosehide Mountain, so named by Lieutenant Schwatka long ere the Klondike became famous. On the river side the mountain was scarred and gullied and gored; and it was up one of these gores or gullies that Clay had seen the tree.
就在道森的南面，耸立着从育空地区拔地而起的巍峨的鹿皮山，早在克朗代克出名之前，施沃特卡中尉起就这么叫它了。这座山沿河的一侧被水冲刷得山石陡峭，并形成了溪谷和狭长的三角地带；克莱就是在其中的一个溪谷或是三角洲上看见了那棵树。
Halting his dogs beneath, on the river ice, he looked up, and after some searching rediscovered it. Being dead, its weather—beaten gray so blended with the gray of rock that a thousand men could pass by and never notice it. Taking root in a cranny, it had grown up, exhausted its bit of soil, and perished. Beneath it the wall fell sheer away for a hundred feet to the river. All one had to do was to sink an ax into the dry trunk a dozen times and it would fall to the ice, and most probably smash conveniently to pieces. This Clay had figured on when confidently limiting the trip to half an hour.
他勒住身下的狗队，停在了河流的冰面上；他朝上看了看，找了一会儿后就再次发现了那棵树。松树已经枯死，它那经受风雨侵蚀所形成的灰色同岩石的灰色混杂在一起，以至于上千个人路过这里都没能够注意到它。扎根于岩缝之中，这棵树渐渐长大，然后吸尽了土壤的那点儿养分，最后死掉了。树下就是陡坡峭壁，有一百英尺高，下面就是河。要做的就是抡起斧子往干枯的树干上砍上十几下，树就会摔到冰面上，很有可能还会碎成几段，这倒是省了事。克莱信心十足地把路程限定为半小时，其实他早就盘算好了这一点。
He studied the cliff thoroughly before attempting it. So far as he was concerned, the longest way round was the shortest way to the tree. Twenty feet of nearly perpendicular climbing would bring him to where a slide sloped more gently in. By making a long zigzag across the face of this slide and back again, he would arrive at the pine.
在尝试攀爬之前，他彻底地研究了一下这个悬崖。在他看来，绕着山往上爬虽然路途最远，却也是抵达松树所在地的最快方法。沿着几乎垂直的陡坡爬上二十英尺，他就能到达坡面倾斜更为缓和的地方。在这个坡面上沿之字形路线爬上长长一段，然后再往回爬，他就能到达松树那儿了。
Fastening his ax across his shoulders so that it would not interfere with his movements, he clawed up the broken rock, hand and foot, like a cat, till the twenty feet were cleared, and he could draw breath on the edge of the slide.
他把斧子系在肩上，这样就不会妨碍到他的行动；他抓着碎岩石往上爬，手脚并用像只猫似的，直到爬完了二十英尺，他才能在坡沿上歇口气。
The slide was steep and its snow—covered surface slippery. Further, the heel—less, walrus—hide soles of his muclucs were polished by much ice travel, and by his second step he realized how little he could depend upon them for clinging purposes. A slip at that point meant a plunge over the edge and a twenty—foot fall to the ice. A hundred feet farther along, and a slip would mean a fifty—foot fall.
坡很陡，积雪覆盖的坡面还很滑。而且，他那海象皮鞋底的平跟软靴因在雪地里走得太多，已被磨得很光滑了；刚迈出第二步，他就意识到自己要靠它们来攀紧坡面几乎是不可能的。在那个地方只要一打滑，他就会从二十英尺高的坡沿上冲下来，跌落到冰面上。再走一百英尺，脚一滑就意味着从五十英尺高的地方摔下去。
He thrust his mittened hand through the snow to the earth to steady himself, and went on. But he was forced to exercise such care that the first zigzag consumed five minutes. Then, returning across the face of the slide toward the pine, he met with a new difficulty. The slope steepened considerably, so that little snow collected, while bent flat beneath this thin covering were long, dry last—year's grasses.
他将戴着连指手套的手插进雪里，抓住地面让自己稳固些，接着又继续往上爬。但他不得不爬得十分小心，所以爬完第一段之字形路就花掉了他五分钟。然后，当他横穿坡面转而向松树那边爬回时，他又遇到了新的麻烦。斜坡陡了许多，所以没什么积雪，而那层薄薄的雪下盖着的是去年的枯草，又长又干枯，平贴着地面。
The surface they presented was glassy as that of his muclucs, and when both surfaces came together his feet shot out and he fell on his face, sliding downward, and convulsively clutching for something to stay himself.
这样形成的坡面和他的海豹靴一样滑，两者的表面挨上的时候，他的脚踩飞了，脸朝下摔了下去。他一路往下滑，疯狂地想要抓着些什么让自己停下来。
This he succeeded in doing, though he lay quiet for a couple of minutes to get back his nerve. He would have taken off his muclucs and gone at it in his socks, only the cold was thirty below zero, and at such temperature his feet would quickly freeze. So he went on, and after ten minutes of risky work made the safe and solid rock where stood the pine.
最终他成功地停了下来，尽管他静静地躺了好几分钟后才回过神来。要不是天气已经冷到了零下三十度，他早就已经把海豹靴脱掉直接踩着袜子朝松树扑过去了；只是在这样的温度下，脚很快就会冻僵的。于是他接着爬，在历经了十分钟铤而走险的攀爬之后，他成功来到了一块安全又牢固的岩石上，松树就长在那里。
A few strokes of the ax felled it into the chasm, and peeping over the edge, he indulged in a laugh at the startled dogs. They were on the verge of bolting when he called aloud to them, soothingly, and they were reassured.
他才挥了几斧头，松树就被砍倒了，掉进了峡谷。他在坡沿上瞥见受惊的狗群，纵情大笑起来。那些狗正要逃跑时，他冲着它们高喊了一声，以示抚慰，于是狗又安心了。
Then he turned about for the back trip. Going down, he knew, was even more dangerous than coming up, but how dangerous he did not realize till he had slipped half a dozen times, and each time saved himself by what appeared to him a miracle. Time and again he ventured upon the slide, and time and again he was balked when he came to the grasses.
接着他转过身往回走。他知道下去比上来更危险，不过直到他打滑了六七次，回回又奇迹般地把自己救了回来，他才意识到这究竟有多危险。他一次次地冒险在斜坡上移动，又一次次地碰到草地阻滞不前。
He sat down and looked at the treacherous snow—covered slope. It was manifestly impossible for him to make it with a whole body, and he did not wish to arrive at the bottom shattered like the pine—tree.
他坐了下来，看着这个被冰雪覆盖的危险斜坡。显然，他要毫发无伤地下去简直不可能；可是他也不愿到了下面时和松树一样摔得粉碎。
But while he sat inactive the frost was stealing in on him, and the quick chilling of his body warned him that he could not delay. He must be doing something to keep his blood circulating. If he could not get down by going down, there only remained to him to get down by going up. It was a Herculean task, but it was the only way out of the predicament.
然而，就在他这样一动不动地坐着的时候，严寒偷偷向他袭来；身体骤然打了个寒战，提醒他不能再拖延了。他必须做点什么以保持血液的循环。要是不能直接往下到达底部，他就只好先往上爬再下去了。这是一个非常艰巨的任务，可这也是摆脱困境的唯一办法。
From where he was he could not see the top of the cliff, but he reasoned that the gully in which lay the slide must give inward more and more as it approached the top. From what little he could see, the gully displayed this tendency; and he noticed, also, that the slide extended for many hundreds of feet upward, and that where it ended the rock was well broken up and favorable for climbing. Here and there, at several wide intervals, small masses of rock projected through the snow of the slide itself, giving sufficient stability to the enterprise to encourage him.
从他所处的地方看去，他无法看到悬崖的顶部，但他推断斜坡所处的溪谷应该越靠近顶部越向内。从他能观察到的那一点点来看，溪谷呈现出这样一种趋势；他还注意到，斜坡往上延伸了有好几百英尺长，顶端的岩石碎得很厉害，更有利于攀爬。坡面上到处都是从雪里凸出来的一块块小碎石，相互间隔得距离较宽，这能给他的攀爬带来足够的稳定性，令他很受鼓舞。
So, instead of taking the zigzag which led downward, he made a new one leading upward and crossing the slide at an angle of thirty degrees. The grasses gave him much trouble, and made him long for soft—tanned moosehide moccasins which could make his feet cling like a second pair of hands.
所以，他没有沿着之字向下走，而是另辟蹊径，沿着三十度的坡面曲折地往上爬。草地给他带来了不少麻烦，让他不禁渴望一双鹿皮鞣制的软帮鞋；穿上那个，他的脚就能像第二双手一样抓紧坡面了。
He soon found that thrusting his mittened hands through the snow and clutching the grass—roots was uncertain and unsafe. His mittens were too thick for him to be sure of his grip, so he took them off. But this brought with it new trouble. When he held on to a bunch of roots the snow, coming in contact with his bare warm hand, was melted, so that his hands and the wristbands of his woolen shirt were dripping with water. This the frost was quick to attack, and his fingers were numbed and made worthless.
可不久他就发现，戴着连指手套将手插进雪里去抓草根，不太可靠，也不安全。手套太厚了，他怕抓不牢，所以就把它们脱掉了。可这又给他带来了新的麻烦。当他抓住一把草根时，雪一挨上他温暖赤裸的手就融化了，所以他的双手和羊毛衫袖口都开始滴水。这让严寒迅速地侵袭过来，他的手指冻麻了，使不上一点劲。
Then he was forced to seek good footing where he could stand erect unsupported, to put on his mittens, and to thrash his hands against his sides until the heat came back into them.
于是，他不得不寻找一个好的落脚地，能让他在没有支撑的情况下站直了，这样他就可以戴上手套，并不断拍打身体两侧直到暖和起来。
This constant numbing of his fingers made his progress very slow; but the zigzag came to an end, finally, where the side of the slide was buttressed by perpendicular rock, and he turned back and upward again. As he climbed higher and higher, he found that the slide was wedge—shaped, its rocky buttresses pinching it away as it neared its upper end. Each step increased the depth which seemed to yawn for him.
手指头越来越麻木，他的前进也因此慢了下来；但这段之字形的路终于到了尽头，斜坡的侧面是陡峭的岩石石壁，于是他掉转头再一次往上爬。随着他越爬越高，他发现这是个楔形坡，凸出来的岩壁越靠近坡顶就捏缩得越紧。每往上一步，溪谷的深度就有所增加，仿佛张着大口正等着他。
While beating his hands against his sides he turned and looked down the long slippery slope, and figured, in case he slipped, that he would be flying with the speed of an express—train ere he took the final plunge into the icy bed of the Yukon.
一边用手拍打着身体两侧，他一边转过身，向下看了一眼那又长又滑的山坡，心里盘算着要是脚下一滑，他就会以高速列车的速度飞起来，直到最后一头栽进育空河的冰床里。
He passed the first outcropping rock, and the second, and at the end of an hour found himself above the third and fully five hundred feet above the river. And here, with the end nearly two hundred feet above him, the pitch of the slide was increasing.
他爬过了第一块露出地表的岩石，然后是第二块，一个小时过后他发现自己站在了第三块岩石上，比河面高出了足足五百英尺。而这里距离山顶还有近两百英尺，可是坡的斜度还在逐渐增加。
Each step became more difficult and perilous, and he was faint from exertion and from lack of Swanson's dinner. Three or four times he slipped slightly and recovered himself; but, growing careless from exhaustion and the long tension on his nerves, he tried to continue with too great haste, and was rewarded by a double slip of each foot, which tore loose and started him down the slope.
每一步都变得更加困难艰险，因为之前的卖力，加之还没吃斯旺森做的饭，他感到有些眩晕。他打了三四次趔趄，然后又稳住了；但由于已经累得筋疲力尽，再加上长时间的紧张，他越来越粗心大意。他想要继续爬快些，但赶得太急结果两脚都打滑了，脚下一松，他从坡上跌了下去。
On account of the steepness there was little snow; but what little there was, was displaced by his body, so that he became the nucleus of a young avalanche. He clawed desperately with his hands, but there was little to cling to, and he sped downward faster and faster.
由于坡太陡，上面几乎没有什么积雪；但就是这点儿雪也都被他的身子卷了起来，于是他变成了一场小型雪崩的核心。他用双手拼了命地去抓，可是没什么能抓住的东西，于是他继续往下滑，越滑越快。
The first and second outcroppings were below him, but he knew that the first was almost out of line, and pinned his hope on the second. Yet the first was just enough in line to catch one of his feet and to whirl him over and head downward on his back.
第一块和第二块露出地面的岩石就在他的下面，可他知道第一块岩石和他不在一条直线上，于是他把希望压在了第二块上面。然而，第一块岩石刚好就在路上绊到了他的一只脚，让他转了几个圈，接着背着地、头朝下地往下滑。
The shock of this was severe in itself, and the fine snow enveloped him in a blinding, maddening cloud; but he was thinking quickly and clearly of what would happen if he brought up head first against the second outcropping. He twisted himself over on his stomach, thrust both hands out to one side, and pressed them heavily against the flying surface.
这一下本身就摔得很重，细细的雪在他身上裹成了一团云雾，令他辨不清方向，很是恼火；可他当时思维敏捷清晰，他知道要是脑袋撞到第二块露出地面的岩石后果会是怎样。他让自己翻过来用肚子着地，将双手猛地伸向一侧，狠狠地压在飞速滑过的坡面上。
This had the effect of a brake, drawing his head and shoulders to the side. In this position he rolled over and over a couple of times, and then, with a quick jerk at the right moment, he got his body the rest of the way round.
这个动作起到了制动的作用，同时将他的头和肩膀拉向了一边。他保持着这个姿势反复翻滚了几次，然后，他找准时机猛地一拉身子，使得身体在接下来滑落的过程中成为一个圆形。
And none too soon, for the next moment his feet drove into the outcropping, his legs doubled up, and the wind was driven from his stomach with the abruptness of the stop.
然后，就在他的脚刚撞上那露出的岩石的下一刻，他的双腿弯曲了起来，时间刚刚好。因为停得突然，肚子里都挤出了一股风来。
There was much snow down his neck and up his sleeves. At once and with unconcern he shook this out, only to discover, when he looked up to where he must climb again, that he had lost his nerve. He was shaking as if with a palsy, and sick and faint from a frightful nausea.
他脖子里和袖筒里有大量的雪。他丝毫没有在意，立马把雪抖了出来；当他抬头去看自己还得再爬一回的地方时，结果却发现自己已经没了勇气。他像中风了一般浑身颤抖，一阵令人难受的恶心袭来，他开始感到想要呕吐，且虚弱无力。
Fully ten minutes passed by ere he could master these sensations and summon sufficient strength for the weary climb. His legs hurt him and he was limping, and he was conscious of a sore place in his back, where he had fallen on the ax.
足足过了十分钟，他才控制住了这些感觉，并积聚起了足够的力量来爬这累人的斜坡。双腿的疼痛折磨着他，他开始一瘸一拐地往前爬；此外，他还感觉到背上有一处疼痛，那个部位刚刚摔到了斧头上。
In an hour he had regained the point of his tumble, and was contemplating the slide, which so suddenly steepened. It was plain to him that he could not go up with hands and feet alone, and he was beginning to lose his nerve again when he remembered the ax.
一个钟头后，他又回到了摔倒的地点，凝视着突然变得陡峭起来的斜坡。很明显，他不可能单凭手脚就能爬上去；正当他要再次失去勇气时，他想到了那把斧子。
Reaching upward the distance of a step, he brushed away the snow, and in the frozen gravel and crumbled rock of the slide chopped a shallow resting—place for his foot. Then he came up a step, reached forward, and repeated the manoeuver, And so, step by step, foot—hole by foot—hole, a tiny speck of toiling life poised like a fly on the mighty face of Moosehide Mountain, he fought his upward way.
他每往上爬一步的距离就会拂去那里的积雪，并在斜坡冰冻的砾石和碎岩上砍出一个浅浅的可以落脚的地方。接着他又往上迈出一步，走向前，并重复了那个动作。就这样，他一步挨一步地砍出了一个又一个的落脚洞。这个艰难行进的生命微小得就如一只落在鹿皮山巍峨的崖壁上的苍蝇一般，他一路奋力往上爬行。
Twilight was beginning to fall when he gained the head of the slide and drew himself into the rocky bottom of the gully. At this point the shoulder of the mountain began to bend back toward the crest, and in addition to its being less steep, the rocks afforded better hand—hold and foot—hold. The worst was over, and the best yet to come!
当他到达坡顶，动身往溪谷布满岩石的底部走去时，夜幕已经开始降临。在这里，山腰开始向山顶弯折回去；除了坡面不再那么陡峭，大量的岩石也给了手脚更好的依附。最糟糕的已经结束，最好的即将到来!
The gully opened out into a miniature basin, in which a floor of soil had been deposited, out of which, in turn, a tiny grove of pines had sprung. The trees were all dead, dry and seasoned, having long since exhausted the thin skin of earth.
溪谷展开形成了一个小型盆地，一层土壤在盆底沉积下来，结果一小丛松树从那儿长了出来。这些树很久以前就已经耗尽了那层薄薄地皮的养分，全都枯死了，也都风干了。
Clay ran his experienced eye over the timber, and estimated that it would chop up into fifty cords at least. Beyond, the gully closed in and became barren rock again. On every hand was barren rock, so the wonder was small that the trees had escaped the eyes of men. They were only to be discovered as he had discovered them—by climbimg after them.
克莱用他经验老道的双眼地扫了一眼这木材，估计至少能砍出五十捆柴来。远处，溪谷又渐渐合拢，再一次变成了一片光秃秃的石头地。四周都是光秃秃的岩石，所以这里的树木逃过了人们的眼睛，倒也不怎么奇怪。要想发现它们只能像他一样——爬到它们后面去。
He continued the ascent, and the white moon greeted him when he came out upon the crest of Moosehide Mountain. At his feet, a thousand feet below, sparkled the lights of Dawson.
他继续往上爬，当他到达鹿皮山的山顶时，皎洁的月光已经出来迎接他了。在他脚下一千英尺的地方，道森的灯光闪耀着。
But the descent on that side was precipitate and dangerous in the uncertain moonshine, and he elected to go down the mountain by its gentler northern flank. In a couple of hours he reached the Yukon at the Siwash village, and took the river—trail back to where he had left the dogs. There he found Swanson, with a fire going, waiting for him to come down.
但那一侧下坡的路太过陡峭，在朦胧的月光下走起来也危险，所以他选择了稍缓的北侧下山。几个小时后他到达了锡沃斯村落的育空河，又沿着河上的雪道回到了他将狗留下的地方。在那儿他看见了斯旺森，他正心急如焚地等着他下来呢。
And though Swanson had a hearty laugh at his expense, nevertheless, a week or so later, in Dawson, there were fifty cords of wood sold at forty dollars a cord, and it was he and Swanson who sold them.
尽管斯旺森尽情地笑话了他一通，不过，大约一周之后，道森就有五十捆柴以每捆四十美元的价格卖了出去，那可都是他和斯旺森卖出去的。