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斯基摩人大衣風帽往后推了推，看著北極的太陽。淡黃綠色天空里掛著一只黃色圓盤，這是傍晚六點鐘的顏色，也是狼群醒來的時候。她悄悄地放下蒸煮罐，爬到一個穹頂形狀的凍土堆的頂端。在北極的冬天，嚴寒地區有很多這樣隆起的土堆，起起伏伏。米婭克斯趴在地上，目光掠過一大片長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，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，心跳也開始加速，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，她已經迷路好幾天，也沒有食物。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。這里沒有道路穿過，無垠的荒野上散布著水塘和湖泊。大風呼嘯而過，每個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，都要依賴這群野狼來延續下去。但米婭克斯不敢肯定狼群會幫忙。

[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，想跟他要點食物。她知道這個可以做到，因為她的父親，一位愛斯基摩獵人，曾經做到過。有一年，他狩獵時在一個狼窩附近露營。一個月過去了，她父親也沒有碰見獵物，就告訴頭狼他很餓，需要食物。第二天夜里，頭狼在遠處呼喚她父親，于是他就去找頭狼，發現了一只剛剛殺死的馴鹿。不幸的是，米婭克斯的父親從來沒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]兩天來米婭克斯一直在觀察狼群，盡力分辨哪些聲音和動作表示善意和友好。大部分動物都有這樣的信號。小小的北極地松鼠會側向甩動尾巴，告訴同類他們在示好。米婭克斯曾經用食指模仿這個動作，誘惑了好多松鼠到她手上來。如果她能發現狼群中類似功用的姿勢，她就能跟狼群交上朋友，并分享他們的食物，就像小鳥或狐貍那樣。

[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，極力要跟他對上眼。米婭克斯選擇了黑狼，因為黑狼比其他狼大出好多，還因為黑狼走路的姿態像自己的父親卡普根，總是昂首挺胸。通過她的觀察，她知道黑狼也很有智慧。每當風中刮來奇怪的氣味，或鳥兒緊張地鳴叫時，狼群就會望向黑狼。黑狼如果警覺，狼群就警覺。黑狼如果安靜，狼群就安靜。

【背景知識】米婭克斯是愛斯基摩小姑娘，英語名字是朱莉，只有14歲。父親出海狩獵，一去不返。她成了丹尼爾的童養媳。因為有一天丹尼爾試圖欺辱她，米婭克斯只身出走，迷失在阿拉斯加北坡的荒原上，孤立無援，沒有食物，只有狼群在身邊。她如何憑借愛斯基摩人的智慧，借助狼群生存下去呢？

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

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

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

【第四段】短語others of their kind如直譯為“同類中的其他人”較為啰唆，于是簡化為“同類”。而imitating this signal如直譯為“模仿這個信號”在中文里會顯得奇怪，于是改譯為“模仿這個動作”。

【第五段】第二句有連續兩個原因狀語從句，譯文當再現這個句式。段落最后的兩句話簡短有力，譯文也要模仿。

【小結】本書是作者相對早期的作品（發表于1972年），語言風格較為經典，句式略微復雜，文學性強，這使得翻譯難度大大增加。翻譯過程中，譯者在注意句式模仿和調整的同時，還要思考文化專有項的傳譯：可以傳遞文化特色的時候盡量在譯文中保留愛斯基摩人文化詞語；如果實在不妥，則只能簡化、弱化或替代一些文化專有項。