瓊·克雷格黑德·喬治　吳文安

Kapu turned into the wind. The pack turned into the wind. Their ruffs and manes swept back. They squinted to protect their eyes until they could barely see where they were going. They did not need to see. They were on the snow-covered trail to their den. Their guides were the sounds of the stunted willows jangling to their right and the sigh of the reindeer moss beneath the wind-packed snow. And there was another guide： their innate sense of direction. They knew at all times exactly where they were.

A long-tailed jaeger flew over the wolves. The bird saw them running hard， which usually meant they were hunting. A wolf kill is a banquet for mammals and birds. The jaeger looked down on the ribbon of wolves and followed them. Then they took to the open tundra and traced graceful Ss， not the V-shaped formation of a pack about to make a kill. The bird turned away toward the frozen Arctic Ocean.

The Avalik Pack reached their nursery den on the riverbank. Kapu got down on his side and clawed through the snow to the den entrance. He raked out grass and wind-blown debris.

Silver sniffed the den. It smelled of Aaka and Sweet Fur Amy. She backed away. She was not pleased. She would seek the den where Kapu and Zing had been born.

Raw Bones felt her discontent. “Come with me，” he whimpered， and started off for his family den on the Colville River embankment. He loped into the ice mist and was gone. Silver did not follow him.

Kapu let him go.

Silver was not housecleaning but looking off to the north. Sweet Fur Amy sensed her grandmothers reluctance to den clean and scrambled through the entrance. She dug furiously， piling up icy stones. When she backed out， Zing went in. He kicked the stones and dirt out onto the playground as his contribution to the family.

It was the smell of the earth and the sight of everyone working that finally inspired Silver. She crawled into the tunnel and all the way back to the nursery. With her forepaws she dug the room wider， then scooped out a cozy bed for her pups and herself. She was content with the Avalik den.

Raw Bones returned as Silver came out of the den. The low rumbles of protest in his chest were audible as he entered the group， but he stopped complaining when he looked at Silver. Her face had softened. She wore the gentle look of an expectant wolf mother who had found a place for her pups. She glanced at him. His pups， her eyes said， would be born here. Her digging the nursery had worked the magic.

卡普轉(zhuǎn)身逆風(fēng)而行。狼群也轉(zhuǎn)身逆風(fēng)而行。他們的頸毛在風(fēng)中飄揚(yáng)。他們瞇著眼睛避開冷風(fēng)，幾乎看不清奔跑的方向。他們不需要看清方向。這大雪覆蓋的小徑就通向他們的巢穴。右邊矮柳叢刺耳的呼嘯以及雪層之下石蕊的吟唱都在指引著他們。此外，本能的方向感也指引著他們。無論何時(shí)，他們都知道自己在哪里。

一只長尾賊鷗在狼群上空飛過。賊鷗看到狼群在努力奔跑，這通常意味著狼群在狩獵。狼群殺死的獵物對(duì)哺乳動(dòng)物和鳥類而言都是盛宴。賊鷗俯視著地面上迤邐前行的一隊(duì)狼，緊緊跟隨。然后狼群來到開闊的凍原，擺出了優(yōu)雅的S隊(duì)形，而不是狼群獵殺時(shí)的V隊(duì)形。賊鷗于是調(diào)轉(zhuǎn)方向，飛往冰凍的北冰洋。

阿瓦里克河狼群來到了河邊的育兒巢。卡普側(cè)躺下來，用爪子刨雪，尋找巢穴的入口。他把雜草和大風(fēng)堆積的雜物扒了出來。

銀白嗅了嗅巢穴。里面有阿卡和香毛艾米的氣味。銀白倒退幾步。她并不高興。她想去找卡普和津出生的巢穴。

生骨能感覺到銀白不滿意?！案襾?。”生骨咕噥道，然后朝著科爾維爾河河堤上自己家的巢穴跑去。生骨慢悠悠地邁著大步跑進(jìn)了冰霧中，消失不見。銀白卻沒有跟他而去。

卡普由他而去。

銀白并沒有開始清掃巢穴，而是望向北方。香毛艾米覺察到奶奶不愿意清掃巢穴，就從入口爬了進(jìn)來。她拼命地往下挖，把冰冷的石塊堆起來。然后艾米退出去，津再進(jìn)來。津把石頭和泥土從洞里踢了出去，踢到外面的空地上，這是他為家人干的活兒。

銀白聞到了泥土的氣息，又看到大家都在忙碌，終于受到了鼓舞。銀白爬進(jìn)了地道，然后一直爬回育兒巢。銀白用前爪把房間挖得更大一點(diǎn)，然后又為狼崽兒和自己刨出了一個(gè)溫暖舒適的床鋪。她對(duì)阿瓦里克河的巢穴終于滿意了。

生骨回來的時(shí)候，銀白正好爬出了巢穴。生骨又回到狼群，但大家都聽得見他胸口發(fā)出了不滿的咕嚕聲。不過當(dāng)他看到銀白，就不再抱怨了。銀白的臉色非常柔和。那種溫柔的臉色表明一個(gè)待產(chǎn)的狼媽媽已經(jīng)為狼崽兒找到了小窩。銀白瞥了生骨一眼。銀白的眼睛在說，他的狼崽兒將要在這兒出生。經(jīng)過她魔法般的挖掘，育兒巢已經(jīng)無可挑剔。

【背景知識(shí)】經(jīng)歷了一段生活無憂的時(shí)期，狼群應(yīng)該享受成果了——產(chǎn)崽兒、育兒。他們?cè)陲L(fēng)中優(yōu)雅地奔跑，跑向自己的育兒巢穴。狼媽媽對(duì)育兒巢一向非常挑剔，但在大家的共同努力下，最后狼媽媽接受了阿瓦里克河傳統(tǒng)的育兒巢，準(zhǔn)備在此產(chǎn)崽兒。

【第一段】這一段是充滿感情和富有詩意的描寫。第四句中的squinted to protect their eyes（直譯：瞇縫眼睛來保護(hù)他們的眼睛），譯文把“保護(hù)”明晰化為“避開冷風(fēng)”。第六句的原文主語是They，譯文改為“小徑”，因?yàn)椤八麄兣茉诖笱└采w通往巢穴的小徑上”有翻譯腔。第七句和第八句中都出現(xiàn)了guide（向?qū)В?，是隱喻，照搬到譯文中會(huì)顯得有點(diǎn)怪，所以改為動(dòng)詞“指引著”。

【第二段】難點(diǎn)是隱喻ribbon（帶子），這里指狼群排成一列在苔原上奔跑的S隊(duì)形好像飄揚(yáng)的絲帶，很形象生動(dòng)。但中文里很難接受狼群跑起來像絲帶的比喻，所以譯文譯為“迤邐前行的一隊(duì)狼”。

【第三段】短語nursery den即狼群育崽兒的巢穴。而got down on his side意思不太清楚，譯者可以想象狼側(cè)躺在地上刨土的樣子。

【第四段】銀白是卡普的媽媽，她不愿意在兒媳婦產(chǎn)崽兒的地方生孩子，所以猶豫。

【第五段】生骨一直有異心，總是想趁機(jī)搞分裂，所以想抓住機(jī)會(huì)脫離狼群。他慢悠悠地跑，是想讓懷孕的銀白跟上來。單詞lope指慢悠悠地大步跑，譯文把這個(gè)詞的意思充分表達(dá)，使譯文清楚且意思全面。

【第六段】狼群里的其他狼覺察到銀白不愿意留下來，就趕緊做出行動(dòng)，留住銀白。playground（直譯：游樂場(chǎng)，操場(chǎng)）必須根據(jù)具體情況來翻譯。對(duì)狼群來說，這不過是一片可以玩耍的空地而已。而contribution如果翻譯為“貢獻(xiàn)”則過于正式，不太適合形容狼群。

【第七段】inspire（直譯：鼓舞;賦予靈感）在這里指銀白受到啟發(fā)和鼓舞，直譯即可。而cozy bed的譯文把cozy的兩個(gè)意思（comfortable and warm）全都翻譯出來，確保譯文達(dá)意。

【第八段】該段最難翻譯的詞語是magic。首先要判斷這一句的意義。根據(jù)上文，一開始銀白對(duì)這個(gè)巢穴并不滿意。而現(xiàn)在銀白告訴丈夫，她要在這里產(chǎn)崽兒。為什么？是銀白施加了魔法。經(jīng)過銀白的挖掘，令人不滿的地方如今沒有問題了。銀白的挖掘就像魔法一樣神奇有效。magic一詞在這里也是隱喻，不容易翻譯。如直譯為“她對(duì)育兒巢進(jìn)行的挖掘已經(jīng)施加了魔法”在中文里難以理解，所以譯文將“魔法”提前，后面添加了“已經(jīng)無可挑剔”，表明原來不好的育兒巢已經(jīng)沒有問題可以放心使用了。

【小結(jié)】這一選段里有精彩的描寫和精妙的用詞，而且使用了幾個(gè)隱喻，給翻譯造成困難。譯文要靈活機(jī)動(dòng)，根據(jù)中文的習(xí)慣適當(dāng)處理。原文的隱喻不一定要照搬過來，通過其他途徑傳遞原文的特點(diǎn)也基本可行。