★ 第2章 ★
Buck's first day at Dyea Beach was terrible.
巴克在戴依海岸的第一天糟透了。
Every hour there was some new, frightening surprise.
每时每刻都会有令他惊恐而又新奇的东西。
There was no peace, no rest only continual noise and movement.
这里没有静谧，也没有休憩——只有无休止的喧嚣和来来往往。
And every minute there was danger, because these dogs and men were not town dogs and men.
在这里每一分钟都会有危险，因为这些人和狗都不是来自城镇，
They knew only the law of club and tooth.
他们只承认大棒和牙齿。
Buck had never seen dogs fight like these dogs; they were like wolves.
巴克从未见过像这群狗一样争斗的狗，他们像狼一样凶狠。
In a few minutes, he learnt this from watching Curly.
不过几分钟，他便从科莉的遭遇中悟出了这个道理。
She tried to make friends with a dog, a big one, although not as big as she was.
她试图同一只狗做朋友，一只大狗，虽然他不及科莉块头大;
There was no warning.
但连警告都没有，
The dog jumped on Curly, his teeth closed together,
这狗猛地扑向科莉，犬牙交错。
then he jumped away, and Curly's face was torn open from eye to mouth.
然后他跳到一边，而科莉的脸从眼睛到嘴都被撕开了。
Wolves fight like this, biting and jumping away, but the fight did not finish then.
只有狼才这样攻击、撕咬和跳开，但是战斗并未结束。
Thirty or forty more dogs ran up and made a circle around the fight, watching silently.
三四十条狗跑过来，围着战场站成一圈，静静地观望着。
Curly tried to attack the dog who had bitten her;
科莉竭力想反击那条咬她的狗;
he bit her a second time and jumped away.
他又一次咬住了她，然后跳开。
When she attacked him again, he knocked her backwards, and she fell on the ground.
当她再度进攻时，他把她向后撞倒在地。
She never stood up again,
她再也没有站起来，
because this was what the other dogs were waiting for.
因为这正是其它的狗等待的。
They moved in, and in a moment she was under a crowd of dogs.
他们冲了进来，然后不消一会儿，她就葬身在数条狗的撕扯践踏之下了。
It was all very sudden.
这一切都发生得那么突然。
Buck saw Spitz run out from the crowd with his tongue out of his mouth, laughing.
巴克看见斯皮兹从狗群中跑出来，耷拉着舌头，脸上还挂着微笑。
Then he saw Francois with an axe， and two or three other men with clubs jump in among the dogs.
然后他看见弗朗索瓦斯手拿斧头和另外两三人拿着木棍跳进狗群。
Two minutes later the last of the dogs was chased away.
两分钟之后，最后一只狗也被赶开了。
But Curly lay dead in the snow, her body torn almost to pieces.
但是科莉已经倒死在雪地上，她几乎被撕成了碎片。
Curly's death often came back to Buck in his dreams.
科莉之死后来常常出现在巴克的梦中。
He understood that once a dog was down on the ground,
他明白一旦一条狗倒在地上，
he was dead He also remembered Spitz laughing,
就意味着死去。他还记得斯皮兹的笑容，
and from that moment he hated him.
从那时起，他对他生出一种仇恨来。
Then Buck had another surprise.
这之后，巴克又有了一个新的惊奇。
Francois put a harness on him.
弗朗索瓦斯把挽具套到他的身上。
Buck had seen harnesses on horses, and now he was made to work like a horse,
巴克以前只看见马被套上马具，而现在他不得不像马一样工作了，
pulling Francois on a sledge into the forest and returning with wood for the fire.
把弗朗索瓦斯用雪撬拉进森林然后再装满食物拉回来做饭吃。
Buck worked with Spitz and Dave.
巴克和斯皮兹还有戴夫一起工作。
The two other dogs had worked in a har-ness before, and Buck learnt by watching them.
这两条狗以前拉过雪撬，于是巴克就通过模仿他们来学习。
He also learnt to stop and turn when Francois shouted.
他还学会了听从弗朗索瓦斯的指示停步和转弯。
'Those three are very good dogs,' Francois told Perrault.
“这三条狗可真不赖,”弗朗索瓦斯告诉佩诺特,
'That Buck pulls very well, and he's learning quickly.'
“那个巴克拉得非常好,他一学就会。”
Perrault had important letters and official papers to take to Dawson City,
佩诺特要把一些重要的信件和官方文件带到道桑镇去,
so that afternoon he bought two more dogs, two brothers called Billee and Joe.
所以那天下午他又买了两只狗。这两个是同胞兄弟,
Billee was very friendly, but Joe was the opposite.
分别叫贝利和乔。贝利性情很随和,乔则正相反。
In the evening Perrault bought one more dog, an old dog with one eye.
一天晚上,佩诺特又买了一只独眼老狗,
His name was Sol-leks, which means The Angry One.
他叫索拉克斯,意思是“愤怒者”,
Like Dave, he made no friends; all he wanted was to be alone.
同戴夫一样,他喜欢独来独往,没有朋友。
That night Buck discovered another problem.
晚上巴克遇到另一个难题。
Where was he going to sleep?
他该去哪儿睡觉呢?
Francois and Perrault were in their tent,
弗朗索瓦斯和佩诺特睡在帐篷里,
but when he went in, they shouted angrily and threw things at him.
可是当他走进去时,他们生气地冲他叫嚷着,扔东西撵他。
Outside it was very cold and windy.
外面是酷冷和狂风的世界。
He lay down in the snow, but he was too cold to sleep.
他躺在雪地上,冻得睡不着。
He walked around the tents trying to find the other dogs.
他围着帐篷打转儿,想找到自己的同伴。
But, to his surprise, they had disappeared.
但是,让他吃惊的是,所有的狗都不见了踪影。
He walked around Perrault's tent, very, very cold, wondering what to do.
他围着佩诺特的帐篷走着,他是何等的寒冷啊,可是他却不知所措。
Suddenly, the snow under his feet fell in, and he felt something move.
突然,他脚下的雪地塌陷了下去,他踩在一个活物上。
He jumped back, waiting for the attack,
他跳回去,等着一场恶斗。
but heard only a friendly bark.
但是他却听见一声友好的低吠。
There, in a warm hole under the snow, was Billee.
原来是贝利躺在雪地下一个温暖的洞穴里。
So that was what you had to do.
这就是不得已而为之的事情。
Buck chose a place, dug himself a hole and in a minute he was warm and asleep.
巴克选了一个地方,挖了一个洞,不一会儿他就又暖和又瞌睡。
He slept well, although his dreams were bad.
他睡得很香,尽管做了很多恶梦。
When he woke up, at first he did not know where he was.
当他醒过来的时候,起初不知自己身在何处。
It had snowed in the night and the snow now lay thick and heavy above him.
雪下了一整夜,积雪又厚又重地压在身上。
Suddenly he was afraid the fear of a wild animal when it is caught and cannot escape.
蓦地,他感到了恐惧 一种野兽被抓住而无从脱身的恐惧。
Growling, he threw himself at the snow, and a moment later, he had jumped upwards into the daylight.
咆哮着,他用身体撞着积雪。一会儿,他就跳了上来,外面已经是白昼了。
He saw the tents and remembered everything,
他看见帐篷,记起了发生的每一件事,
from the time he had gone for a walk with Manuel to the moment, he had dug the hole the night before.
从他和曼纽埃勒散步的那一刻起直到前一夜他挖洞睡觉的时候。
'What did I say?' shouted Francois to Perrault,
“我说什么来着,”
when he saw Buck come up out of the snow. 'That Buck learns quickly.'
弗朗索瓦斯看见巴克从雪中跳出来时嚷道。“那个巴克一学就会!”
Perrault smiled slowly.
佩诺特慢慢地绽开了笑容。
He was carrying important papers, and he needed good dogs.
他随身带着重要的文件,他需要优秀的狗。
He was very pleased to have Buck.
有巴克在着实令他高兴。
They bought three more dogs that morning,
那个早晨,他们又买了3条狗。
and a quarter of an hour later all nine dogs were in harness and on their way up the DyeaCanyon.
一小时又一刻钟之后,9条狗都套上了挽具,直奔泰依峡谷而去。
Buck was not sorry to be moving, and although it was hard work, he almost enjoyed it.
巴克并不觉得奔跑是一件坏事情,虽然这活儿不轻,他却几乎着了迷。
He was also surprised to see that Dave and Sol-leks no longer looked bored and miserable.
让他更惊奇的是他看到戴夫和索拉克斯不再萎靡不振,无精打采。
Pulling in a harness was their job, and they were happy to do it.
套上挽具拉雪撬是他们的工作,他们是乐此不疲的。
Dave was sledge-dog, the dog nearest to the sledge.
戴夫最靠近雪撬,也就是所谓的雪撬狗。
In front of him was Buck, then came Sol-leks.
他前面是巴克,后面是索拉克斯。
In front of them were the six other dogs, with Spitz as leader at the front.
他们前面是另外6条狗,斯皮兹跑在最前头,他是领队。
Francois had put Buck between Dave and Sol-leks because they could teach him the work.
弗朗索瓦斯把巴克放到戴夫和索拉克斯之间,因为他们能教他如何工作。
Buck learnt well, and they were good teachers.
巴克学的很快,而他俩也是好老师。
When Buck pulled the wrong way, Dave always bit his leg, but only lightly.
当巴克拉错了的时候,戴夫就咬他的腿,但只是轻轻的。
Once, when they stopped, Buck got tied up in his harness,
有一次,当他们停下来时,巴克在挽具里扭了结,
and it took ten minutes to get started again.
他们花了10分钟才起程。
Both Dave and Sol-leks gave him a good beating for that mistake.
戴夫和索拉克斯为此狠狠揍了他一顿,
Buck understood and was more careful after that.
但巴克自知罪责难逃,从此加倍小心。
It was a hard day's journey, up the Dyea Canyon and into the mountains.
这一天旅途异常辛劳,翻过泰依峡谷进入山区。
They camped that night at Lake Bennett.
那晚他们在贝耐湖湖边宿营。
Here there were thousands of gold miners.
这儿有成千上万的淘金者。
They were building boats to sail up the lake when the ice melted in the spring.
他们正在制造小船准备着春天冰雪消融时过河。
Buck made his hole in the snow and slept well,
巴克挖了一个雪洞,美美地睡了一觉,
but was woken up very early and harnessed to the sledge.
但他很早就被叫起来套上挽具拉雪撬。
The first day they had travelled on snow that had been hardened by many sledges and they covered sixty kilometres.
第一天,他们在雪地里奔波,雪已经被数百个雪撬碾过,压得结结实实的,他们赶了60公里路。
But the next day, and for days afterwards, they were on new snow.
但是第二天和以后的日子里,他们在新雪上奔跑。
The work was harder and they went slowly.
这工作非常辛苦,他们进程缓慢。
Usually, Perrault went in front, on snowshoes, flattening the snow a little for the dogs.
通常是由佩诺特穿着雪地靴走在前面,为狗把雪地踏得平实一些。
Francois stayed by the sledge.
弗朗索瓦斯呆在雪撬上,
Sometimes the two men changed places, but there were many small lakes and rivers,
有时他们调换一下。但佩诺特对付冰比较在行,
and Perrault understood ice better.
而路上有许多小湖泊和河流。
He always knew when the ice across a river was very thin.
他总是知道什么时候河上的冰层最薄。
Day after day Buck pulled in his harness.
巴克日复一日地拉着雪撬。
They started in the morning before it was light,
他们天不亮就起程,
and they stopped in the evening after dark, ate a piece of fish,
直走到日落西山才停下来,吃一点鱼,
and went to sleep in their holes under the snow.
然后钻到雪洞里睡觉。
Buck was always hungry.
巴克总是吃不饱。
Francois gave him 750 grams of dried fish a day, and it was never enough.
弗朗索瓦斯一天喂给他750克干鱼,但他仍然不够吃。
The other dogs were given only 500 grams;
其余的狗每天只能得到500克鱼吃;
they were smaller and could stay dive on less food.
他们体型较小,进食少一些仍可以生存。
Buck learnt to eat quickly;
巴克学会了快速进食;
if he was too slow, the other dogs stole his food.
因为如果他吃的慢了,别的狗就会偷他的食物吃。
He saw Pike, one of the new dogs, steal some meat from the sledge when Perrault wasn't looking.
他见到新来的狗中一只叫派克的狗趁佩诺特没看见时从雪撬上偷肉吃。
The next day Buck stole some and got away unseen.
第二天巴克也偷了嘴,但没有被发觉。
Perrault was very angry, but he thought another dog, Dub,
佩诺特非常生气,但他还以为是另一条叫达布的狗干的,
had taken it and so punished him instead of Buck.
他教训了它一顿,而巴克得以幸免。
Buck was learning how to live in the north.
巴克适应了北方的生存方式。
In the south, he had never stolen, but there he had never been so hungry.
在南方他从未于过偷窃的行当,但在那儿他也从来不用饿肚子。
He stole cleverly and secretly, remembering the beatings from the man with the club.
他偷得巧妙又隐蔽,牢牢记着那个拿大棒的男人给他的痛打。
Buck was learning the law of club and tooth.
巴克正在学会如何对付大棒和牙齿。
He learnt to eat any food anything that he could get his teeth into.
他学会了吃各种食物吃只要他咬得动的任何一种东西。
He learnt to break the ice on water holes with his feet when he wanted to drink He was stronger, harder,
他学会了用脚破冰取水来解渴。他变得更加强壮、威猛,
and could see and smell better than ever before.
嗅觉和视觉也比以前更发达了。
In a way, he was remembering back to the days when wild dogs travelled in packs through the forest,
从某种意义上说,他逐渐地恢复野性,
killing for meat as they went.
像以前的野狗一样穿梭在丛林中捕食。
It was easy for him to learn to fight like a wolf because it was in his blood.
对他来说,学会像狼一样厮杀易如反掌,因为这是与他血脉相通的本性。
In the evenings, when he pointed his nose at the moon and howled long and loud,
晚上,当他仰首望月,凄厉地长嗥时,
he was remembering the dogs and wolves that had come before him.
他记起来他的祖先。
《野性的呼唤》，又名《荒野的呼唤》（The Call of the Wild），是美国作家杰克·伦敦创作的中篇小说。
作品讲述巴克原是米勒法官家的一只爱犬，经过了文明的教化，一直生活在美国南部加州一个温暖的山谷里。后被卖到美国北部寒冷偏远、盛产黄金的阿拉斯加，成了一只拉雪橇的狗。该作以一只狗的经历表现文明世界的狗在主人的逼迫下回到野蛮，写的是狗，也反映人的世界。
该作延续了杰克·伦敦小说的“生存”主题：生命总是在不断挣扎求存的过程中获得意义与力量。
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