不久前讀了由 Howard Goldblatt （葛浩文）譯的《狼圖騰》，覺得第五章不錯。現把前麵部分抄下，與原文一同比較，與各位品評。英文取自2008年版的Penguin Books 《Wolf Totem》。由於沒有在網上找到英文版，英文是用手敲進去的，所以如有拚寫，語法，標點錯誤的，肯定不是譯者的：）
狼圖騰 Chapter 5
厚厚的黑雲，衝出北部邊境的地平線，翻滾盤旋，直上藍天，像濃煙黑火般地凶猛。瞬間，雲層便吞沒了百裏山影，像巨大的黑掌向牧場頭頂壓來。西邊橙黃的落日還未被遮沒，裹挾著密密雪片的北風，頃刻就掃蕩了廣袤的額侖草原。橫飛的雪片，在斜射的陽光照耀下，猶如億萬饑蝗，扇著黃翅，爭先恐後地向肥美富庶的牧場撲來。
Dense dark clouds raced over from the northern horizon, tumbling and roiling their way through the blue sky, ferocious as dense smoke or a black fire. In a matter of seconds, clouds swallowed up many miles of mountain ranges, like a colossal black hand pressing down on the pastureland. Off to the west, the orange-colored sun was not yet consumed, as a northern wind carrying powdery snow swept quickly across the vast Olonbulag. Swirling flakes sparkled in the slanting rays of sunlight like hungry locusts.
蒙諺：狼隨風竄。幾十年來一直在國境內外運動遊擊的額侖草原狼群，隨著這場機會難得的倒春寒流，越過界樁，躍過防火道，衝過邊防巡邏公路，殺回額侖邊境草原。境外高寒低溫，草疏羊稀，山窮狼饑。這年境內狼群的雪下冬儲肉食被盜，境外春荒加劇，狼群又難以捕獲到雪淨蹄輕的黃羊。大批餓狼早已在邊境線完成集結。這一輪入境的狼群眼睛特別紅，胃口特別大，手段特別殘忍，行為特別不計後果。每頭狼幾乎都是懷著以命拚食的亡命報複勁頭衝過來的。然而額侖草原正忙於在境內掏挖狼窩，對外患卻疏於防範。
A Mongol proverb: Wolves follow the wind. For decades, the Olonbulag pack, which had fought guerrilla wars on both sides of the border, took advantage of the rare early spring to come south, leap across fire breaks, and force its way past guarded public roads to return to the grassland. The wolves had suffered the bitter cold and, since there was little grass, scant prey, which had left them desperately hungry. But the little cache of frozen gazelles in their home territory had been pillaged, while beyond their territory famine raged, making it impossible to catch the light-footed gazelles. Great numbers of starving wolves had formed a pack on the frontier, eyes burning red as they entered the territory; their appetites were gargantuan, their killing methods ruthless, their behavior unmindful of consequences. Alpha males, filled with murderous thoughts of revenge, and ready to die for food, led the pack ever nearer, at a time when the people were so caught up in raids on wolf dens that they were oblivious to the scourge bearing down on them.
60年代中後期，草原氣象預告的水準，報雨不見水，報晴不見日。烏力吉場長說，天氣預報，胡說八道。除了畢利格等幾位老人，對牧場領導班子抽調那麽多勞力去掏狼窩表示擔心，幾次勸阻外，其他人誰也沒有預先警報這次寒流和狼災。連一向關心牧民和牧業生產的邊防站官兵，也未能預料和及時提醒。而以往他們在邊防巡邏公路一旦發現大狼群足跡，就會立即通知場部和牧民的。額侖草原的邊境草場，山丘低矮，無遮無攔，寒流風暴白毛風往往疾如閃電，而極擅長氣象戰的草原狼也常常利用風暴，成功地組織起一次又一次的閃電戰。
During the latter half of the 1960s, if rain was predicted, a drought occurred; if a clear, bright day was on tap, the sun never made an appearance. “Those weather reports are a joke,” Director Uljii commented. Except for Bilgee and some of the other old-timers, who worried that the pasture leadership had taken too many people away from their jobs to raid wolf dens, no one had anticipated the early spring or the wolf scourge. The men at the frontier station, who had always shown concern for the herders and the liversotck production, failed to warn of what was on its way. In the past, when they discovered tracks of a wolf pack during their rounds, they notified headquarters and the herdsmen. Low hills occupied the frontier grazing land, offering neither cover nor barriers, and artic currents produced blizzards known locally as white-hair winds. Wolves, unmatched at climatological warfare, often launched lighting strikes during blizzard conditions.
在額侖西北部一片優良暖坡草場，這幾天剛剛集合起一個新馬群。這是內蒙古民兵騎兵某師某團在額侖草原十幾個馬群中，精選的上等馬，有七八十匹。這些天隻等體檢報告單了，隻要沒有馬鼻疽，就可立即上路。戰備緊張，看管軍馬責任重大。牧場軍代表和革委會專門挑選了四個責任心、警覺性、膽量和馬技俱佳的馬倌，讓他們分兩撥，二十四小時輪流值班，晝夜守護。二隊民兵連長巴圖任組長，為了防止軍馬戀家跑回原馬群，巴圖又讓所有馬群遠離此地幾十裏。前些日子一直風和日暖，水清草密，還有稀疏的第一茬春芽可啃。準軍馬樂不思蜀，從不散群。四個馬倌也盡心盡力，幾天過去，平安無事。
A new herd of horses had recently been guided to a patch of fine grazing land on the Olonbulag, seventy or eighty of the finest horses among the dozens of herds belonging to a certain regiment of the Mongolian mounted militia. They had been sent there to await the results of a medical examination. If none of the horses was found to be suffering from glanders, they could be on the road. Given the tensions of war preparedness, the herdsmen were saddled with great responsibility. The military representative and revolutionary committee had specially selected four dependable, vigilant, and courageous herdsmen, who were also excellent horsemen, divided them into two teams, and assigned them the task of watching over the horses twenty-four hours a day. The two teams were led by Batu, who was a company commander in the Second Militia Group. In order to keep the horses from running back to their own herds, he ordered all the other herds moved to a distance of several miles. The breezes were light, the spring air warm, the water clear, the grass lush; the year’s first buds had appeared, setting the scene for a contented herd of warhorses that happily stayed together. The four herdsmen took their task seriously, and all was well for several days.
先頭冷風稍停，風力達十級以上的草原白毛風就橫掃過來。湖水傾盆潑向草灘，畜群傾巢衝決畜欄。風口處的蒙古包，被刮翻成一個大碗，轉了幾圈便散了架。迎風行的氈棚車，被掀了頂，棚氈飛上了天。雪片密得人騎在馬上，不見馬首馬尾。雪粒像砂槍打出的砂粒，嗖嗖地高速飛行，拉出億萬根白色飛痕，仿佛漫天白毛飛舞。老人說，蒙古古代有一個薩滿法師曾說，白毛風，白毛風，那是披頭散發的白毛妖怪在發瘋。白毛風有此言而得大名。天地間，草原上，人畜無不聞白毛風而喪膽。人喊馬嘶狗吠羊叫，千聲萬聲，頃刻合成一個聲音：白毛巨怪的狂吼。
Suddenly the gentle breezes were replaced by sweeping gale-force winds. Lake water poured onto the grassland, and livestock began breaking out of their pens. Yurts set up along wind tunnels were blown upside down, turned into huge bowls that tumbled briefly before falling to pieces. Carts heading into the wind lost their felt canopies, which flew off into the sky. The blowing snow was so dense that anyone riding a horse could see neither the head nor the tail of his mount. The snow stung like buckshot, whistling through the air as it tore millions of white scars across the sky. Old Man Bilgee said that in ancient times there had been a shaman who exclaimed, “Blizzard, blizzard, the madness of a white goblin with unkempt hair!” The shaman’s words had survived into modern times. Everywhere between heaven and earth on the grassland, the mere mention of a blizzard struck fear into man and beast. People screamed, horse neighed, dogs barked, and sheep bleated – a cacophony that came together in a single sound: the crazed howls of the monstrous white-hair blizzard.
準備夜戰繼續開挖狼洞的人們，被困遠山，進退兩難。已經返程的獵手們，多半迷了路。留守畜群的勞力和老弱婦幼幾乎全部出動，拚死追趕和攔截畜群。在草原，能否保住自己多年的勞動積蓄，往往就在一天或一夜。
People preparing to continue their nightly foraging for wolf dens were stranded in the mountains, with no way in or out. Hunters heading home lost their way. Laborers, the old and the sick, women, and children who stayed behind to tend livestock were kept busy chasing down and penning up stray animals. On the grassland, the ability to hold on to savings accumulated over years of labor was often tested in the space of a single day and night.
越境的狼群，有組織攻擊的第一目標就是肥壯的軍馬群。那天，畢利格老人以為軍馬群已按規定時間送走，白毛風一起，他還暗自慶幸。後來才知馬群被體檢報告耽誤了一天。而接送報告的通訊員，那天跟著軍代表包順貴上山去掏狼崽了。這年春天被掏出狼崽格外多，不下十幾窩，一百多隻。喪崽哭嚎的母狼加入狼群，使這年的狼群格外瘋狂殘忍。
The primary target of an organized attack by the wolf pack that had crossed the border was the thriving heard of warhorses. Bilgee, who assumed that the horses had already been sent off as ordered, secretly rejoiced when the blizzard rose up. He later learned that the herd’s departure had been delayed by one day, pending the medical report, and that the person who was to deliver the report had chosen instead to follow the military representative up the mountain to look for wolf cubs. A larger number had been found that year than usual, more than a hundred from at least a dozen dens, and grieving mothers whose cubs had been taken joined the pack, turning it especially frenzied and cruel.
老人說，這個戰機是騰格裏賜給狼王的。這一定是那條熟悉額侖草原的白狼王，經過實地偵察以後才選中的報複目標。
Bilgee said, “Tengger has presented the wolf leader with this opportunity. There’s no doubt that the white wolf king, so familiar with the Olonbulag, has chosen this path to vengeance.”
風聲一起，巴圖立即躬身衝出馬倌遠牧的簡易小氈包。這個白天本來輪到他休班，巴圖已經連續值了幾個夜班，人困馬乏，但他還是睡不著，一整天沒合眼。在馬群中長大的巴圖，不知吃過多少次白毛風和狼群的大虧了。連續多日可疑的平安，已使他神經繃得緊如馬頭琴弦，稍有風吹草動，他的頭就嗡嗡響。大馬倌們都記得住血寫的草原箴言：在蒙古草原，平安後麵沒平安，危險後麵有危險。
At the first sound of wind, Batu had burst out of the small yurt for the temporary herders. After several night watches in a row, this was supposed to be his day of rest. He was exhausted, as was his horse, but he could not sleep and hadn’t closed his eyes all day. Having grown up around horses, he had suffered through many blizzards and had often been victimized by wolves. But now a number of uneventful days has put him on edge, and his nerves were as taut as the string of a Mongolian lute. The slightest breeze, the mere swaying of grass made his ears buzz. All the seasoned herders had committed to memory a grassland maxim, written in blood: On the Mongolian grassland, peace does not follow peace, but danger always follows danger.
巴圖一出包馬上就嗅出白毛風的氣味，再一看北方天空和風向，他紫紅色的寬臉頓時變成紫灰色，琥珀色的眼珠卻驚得發亮。他急忙反身鑽進包，一腳踹醒熟睡的同伴沙茨楞，然後急衝衝地拿手電、拉槍栓、壓子彈、拴馬棒、穿皮袍、滅爐火，還不忘給正在馬群值班的馬倌拿上兩件皮襖。兩人背起槍，挎上兩尺長的大電筒，撐杆上馬，向偏北麵的馬群方向奔去。
The moment he stepped out of the yurt, he could smell the coming blizzard, and when he saw the direction of the wind, his broad ruddy face turned a grayish purple and his amber eyes glowed with fear. He rushed back into the yurt and nudged his sleeping comrade, Laasurung. Then in rapid order, he picked up his flashlight, loaded his rifle, looped his herding club over his wrist, put on his fur deel, doused the fire in the stove, and picked up fur jackets for the two men watching the horses. He and his comrade, rifles slung over their backs and carrying long flashlights, mounted up and galloped north to where the heard was grazing.
西山頂邊，落日一沉，額侖草原便昏黑一片。兩匹馬剛衝下山坡，就跟海嘯雪崩似的白毛風迎頭相撞，人馬立即被吞沒。人被白毛風嗆得憋紫了臉，被雪沙打得睜不開眼，馬也被刮得一驚一乍。兩匹馬好像嗅到了什麽，腦袋亂晃，總想掉頭避風逃命。兩人近在咫尺，可是巴圖伸手不見五指，他急得大喊大叫，就是聽不到沙茨楞的回音。風雪咆哮，湮沒了一切。巴圖勒緊馬嚼子，擦了一把額頭上的汗霜，定了定心，然後將套馬杆倒了一下手，夾握住大電筒，打開開關。平時像小探照燈、能照亮百米開外馬匹的光柱，此刻的能見度最多不過十幾米。光柱裏全是茂密橫飛的白毛，不一會兒，一個雪人雪馬出現在光柱裏，也向巴圖照射過來一個慘白模糊的光柱。兩人用燈光畫了個圈，費力地控製著又驚又乍的馬，終於靠在了一起。
As soon as the sun set behind the mountains, the grassland was cloaked in darkness. The two riders had no sooner reached the bottom of a slope than they were met head-on by the blizzard, like a tidal wave or an avalanche. It swallowed them up. The men choked on the wind until their faces turned purple; the pounding snow pellets forced them to shut their eyes. The horses too succumbed to fear, throwing their heads up in a desperate attempt to turn and flee from the wind. The men had started out shoulder to shoulder, but Batu, who could not see his hand in front of his face, shouted frantically; there was no response from Laasurung. Wind and snow consumed everything in a raging howl. Batu reined in his horse, wiped the front from his forehead, and tried to calm himself. Then he tucked the flashlight under his arm and turned it on. Usually, it would light up the area like a searchlight, sending out a beam that could illuminate a horse at hundred yards or more. Now he could see no more than a few yards ahead; dense horizontal strands of white hair filled his sight. Suddenly, a snowman and snow-horse entered the beam and, at the same time, sent a weak light his way. The two men made circles in the air with their flashlights as they strained to control their panic-stricken mounts. Finally, they were side-by-side again.
巴圖拽住沙茨楞，撩開他的帽耳，對他大喊：站著別動，就在這兒截馬群。把馬群往東趕，一定要躲開架子山的大泡子。要不，就全毀了。
Batu grabbed Laassurung, raised one of his earflaps, and shouted into his ear. “Stay here, don’t move. This is where we need to stop the herd. Then we’ll drive it east. We have to avoid the small lake at Jiazi Mountain at all costs. All is lost if we don’t.
沙茨楞也對著巴圖的臉大喊：我馬驚了，像是有狼。就咱四個咋頂得住？
Laassurung shouted back, “My horse is spooked, the way it gets when there are wolves around. If there are, how will the four of us manage?”
巴圖大叫：豁出命也得頂……
“As if our lives depended on it,” Batu shouted.
說完，兩人高舉電筒，向北麵照去，並不斷搖晃光柱，向另兩個同伴和馬群發信號。
They aimed their flashlights to the north and waved them back and forth as a signal to their two comrades.
一匹灰鬃灰馬突地闖進兩束光柱裏，幾步減速，猛地急停在巴圖身邊，仿佛遇到了救星。大灰馬驚魂未定，大口喘著氣，脖子下有一咬傷，馬胸上流滿了血，傷口處冒著熱氣，在傷口下又滴成了一條一條的血冰。沙茨楞的坐騎一見到血，驚得猛地躥起，接著又一低頭，一梗脖子，不顧一切地順風狂奔。巴圖隻得急忙夾馬追趕。那匹大灰馬也頓時跑沒了影。
A gray horse appeared in the two beams of light; it slowed and stopped next to Batu, as if it had found its savior. The gray was snorting anxiously. It had been bitten below the neck, and blood leaking from the streaming wound formed lines of red ice. The sight of blood spooked Laasurung’s mount, who trampled the ground in a frenzy, then lowered its head, thrust out its neck, and single-mindedly galloped off with the wind. Batu spun around and raced after his comrade; the gray ran into the blinding snow.
