7 The White Seal白海豹-双语名著无障碍阅读丛书——《森林王子The Jungle Book》

The White Seal Oh!hush thee,my baby,the night is behind us, And black are the waters that sparkled so green. The moon,o'er the combers?,looks downward to find us At rest in the hollows that rustle between Where billow meets billow,then soft be thy pillow, Ah,weary wee flipperling,curl at thy ease! The storm shall not wake thee,nor shark overtake thee, Asleep in the arms of the slow-swinging seas! Seal Lullaby All these things happened several years ago at a place called Novastoshnah,or North East Point,on the Island of St.Paul,away and away in the Bering Sea.Limmershin,the Winter Wren,told me the tale when he was blown on to the rigging of a steamer going to Japan,and I took him down into my cabin and warmed and fed him for a couple of days till he was fit to fly back to St.Paul's again.Limmershin is a very quaint little bird,but he knows how to tell the truth. Nobody comes to Novastoshnah except on business,and the only people who have regular business there are the seals.They come in the summer months by ·144· 白海豹 哦，宝贝儿，别出声，夜晚就在我们身后， ①sparkle[spak闪耀 白天碧绿闪烁的海水现在一片漆黑。 ②comber[kaumo]i.[美 国英语]滚浪，碎浪，拍 在翻滚的波浪之上，月亮往下跳望， 岸浪 发现我们在沙沙作响的浪窝间安睡。 ③hollow ['holau]n.山谷， 巨浪一个连着一个，愿你的枕头软软和和。 溪谷 疲倦的小宝贝啊，舒舒服服地姚起来。 暴风雨吵不醒你，鲨鱼也赶不上你， 愿你就在大海慢慢摇晃的手臂间沉沉睡去。 —海豹的催眠曲 所有这一切都发生在几年前一个叫作诺瓦斯托西纳 的地方。那个地方也叫作东北角，就在圣保罗岛上，在 很远很远的白令海那儿。这个故事是一只叫利莫欣的冬 鹪鹅告诉我的，当时他被吹到了往日本开的一艘轮船的 帆索上。我把他救下来，带到我的舱房里，让他暖暖和 ④cabin[kabin]n.(轮船 和、吃饱喝足地待了好几天，直到他恢复健康能够飞回 上的)船舱 圣保罗岛去。利莫欣是一只非常奇怪的小鸟，但是他知 (⑤quaint [kweint)a.奇怪 的，特殊的，不一般的 道如何讲实话。 诺瓦斯托西纳没有游客，唯一常去的访客也就是海 豹。在夏季的那几个月里成千上万的海豹离开寒冷灰白 ·145· The White Seal hundreds and hundreds of thousands out of the cold gray sea.For Novastoshnah Beach has the finest accommodation for seals of any place in all the world. Sea Catch knew that,and every spring would swim from whatever place he happened to be in-would swim like a torpedo-boat straight for Novastoshnah and spend a month fighting with his companions for a good place on the rocks, as close to the sea as possible.Sea Catch was fifteen years old,a huge gray fur seal with almost a mane on his shoulders,and long,wicked dog teeth.When he heaved himself up on his front flippers he stood more than four feet clear of the ground,and his weight,if anyone had been bold enough to weigh him,was nearly seven hundred pounds.He was scarred all over with the marks of savage fights, but he was always ready for just one fight more.He would put his head on one side,as though he were afraid to look his enemy in the face;then he would shoot it out like lightning,and when the big teeth were firmly fixed on the other seal's neck,the other seal might get away if he could,but Sea Catch would not help him. Yet Sea Catch never chased a beaten seal,for that was against the Rules of the Beach.He only wanted room by the sea for his nursery.But as there were forty or fifty thousand other seals hunting for the same thing each spring,the whistling, bellowing,roaring,and blowing on the beach was something frightful From a little hill called Hutchinson's Hill,you could look over three and a half miles of ground covered with fighting seals;and the surf was dotted all over with the heads of seals hurrying to land and begin their share of the fighting.They fought in the breakers,they fought in the sand,and they fought on the smooth-worn basalt rocks of the nurseries,for they were just as stupid and unaccommodating as men.Their wives never came to the island until late in May or early in June,for they did not care to be torn to pieces;and the young two-,three-,and four-year-old seals who had not begun housekeeping went inland about half a mile through the ranks of the fighters and played about on the sand dunes in droves and legions,and rubbed off every single green thing that grew.They were called the holluschickie-the bachelors-and there were perhaps two or three hundred thousand of them at Novastoshnah alone. ·146· 白海豹 的海水来到这里，因为对于他们来说，诺瓦斯托西纳的 ①seal[siln.【动物】海 海滩是全世界最舒服的休憩场所。 豹 这一点海卡奇'很清楚，所以每年春天无论在哪儿， 他都会像一只鱼雷艇一样直奔诺瓦斯托西纳而来，在这 儿待上一个月，每天都跟同伴争抢岩石上的一个好位 置，越靠近大海越好。海卡奇是一头十五岁的灰毛海豹， 身材高大，肩上几乎像披了个毛领子，嘴里还有长长的、 ②mane[mein].(马、狮 看上去很凶狠的犬牙。当他用前肢把身子立起来时，离 的)鬃毛 地能有四英尺多高。他的体重一如果有人敢把他抱起 来—差不多有好几百磅。他全身上下都是一次次恶战 ③savage[saevid3】a.野蛮 留下的疤痕，但是他从不害怕再战一场。他会把头一偏， 的 好像不敢直视敌人，然后如同闪电一般直射出去，把他 的巨牙牢牢地钉在另一只海豹的颈上，这时对手也许能 想办法脱身，但是海卡奇可不会伸出援手。 不过，海卡奇从来不会去追赶被他打败的海豹，因 为那就违反了海滩法则。他只想在海边找块地方养孩子。 ④nursery['nasari].保有 可是这也是四五万只海豹每年春天都想干的事情，所以 室 可以想见海滩上此起彼伏的口哨、怒吼和呼啸声交织在 一起是多么可怕的场景。 站在哈软森山岗上往下俯瞰，可以看到绵延三英里 ⑤surf[sx门n.拍岸的大浪 半的地面上全是在争斗的海豹，海里也是密密麻麻的脑 袋，更多的海豹正随波而来，急于加入这场争斗。他们 有的在浪里搏斗，有的在沙滩上，还有的在已经被磨得 很光滑的玄武岩育儿床上，因为他们就跟男人一样愚蠢， ⑥basalt[basxlt间n.【地质 不肯妥协。他们的妻子要到五月底或者六月初才会来到 学】玄武岩 岛上，因为害怕被撕成碎片。那些两到四岁的年轻公海 豹因为还没到繁殖期，他们会穿过这一排排的斗士往半 英里外的内陆去。这些年轻公海豹成群结队地在沙丘上 ⑦dune[djrn]n.(在沙漠 嬉戏，把每一丁点绿色植物都给蹭掉。这些“单身汉” 近湖地区由风吹积形成 光是在诺瓦斯托西纳这个地方恐怕就有二三十万只左右。 的)沙丘 ⑧legion['li:dsan]n.大量 I原文是Sea Catch,据吉卜林说，Sea Catchee是俄语里对成年公海 豹的称呼。 ·147· The White Seal Sea Catch had just finished his forty-fifth fight one spring when Matkah,his soft,sleek,gentle-eyed wife,came up out of the sea,and he caught her by the scruff of the neck and dumped her down on his reservation,saying gruffly: “Late as usual.Where have you been?” It was not the fashion for Sea Catch to eat anything during the four months he stayed on the beaches,and so his temper was generally bad.Matkah knew better than to answer back.She looked round and cooed "How thoughtful of you.You've taken the old place again." "I should think I had,"said Sea Catch."Look at me!" He was scratched and bleeding in twenty places;one eye was almost out, and his sides were torn to ribbons. "Oh,you men,you men!"Matkah said,fanning herself with her hind flipper."Why can't you be sensible and settle your places quietly?You look as though you had been fighting with the Killer Whale." "I haven't been doing anything but fight since the middle of May.The beach is disgracefully crowded this season.I've met at least a hundred seals from Lukannon Beach,house hunting.Why can't people stay where they belong?" "I've often thought we should be much happier if we hauled out at Otter Island instead of this crowded place,"said Matkah. "Bah!Only the holluschickie go to Otter Island.If we went there they would say we were afraid.We must preserve appearances,my dear." Sea Catch sunk his head proudly between his fat shoulders and pretended to go to sleep for a few minutes,but all the time he was keeping a sharp lookout for a fight.Now that all the seals and their wives were on the land, you could hear their clamor miles out to sea above the loudest gales.At the lowest counting there were over a million seals on the beach-old seals,mother seals,tiny babies,and holluschickie,fighting,scuffling,bleating,crawling,and playing together-going down to the sea and coming up from it in gangs and regiments,lying over every foot of ground as far as the eye could reach,and ·148· 白海豹 有一年春天，海卡奇刚结束第四十五场战斗，这时 他那身体柔软、皮肤光滑、目光温柔的妻子玛特卡从海 ①scuf[skraf]n.颈背，后 里爬了出来。海卡奇咬住她的颈背，把她扔到自己占 脖子 好的地盘上，粗声粗气地说：“又迟到了，跟平时一样。 2 reservation [.reza'veifan] 你到底去哪儿了？” n.专用地 按照惯例，海卡奇停留在海滩上的这四个月里是不 吃任何东西的，所以他的脾气总是不太好。玛特卡知道 ③coo[ku]脉脉含情地 这种时候最好不要回嘴。她看看四周，温柔地嘟哝：“你 说话，温声细语 真是体贴，又抢到了咱们的老地方。” 海卡奇说：“没错。你看看我。” 他身上有二十来处抓伤，都淌着血，一只眼晴几乎 瞎了，两肋也被扯得稀烂。 “哦，你们男人，你们男人啊！”玛特卡一边说， 一边用后鳍肢给自己扇扇。她说：“你们难道就不能冷 静点儿，安安静静地分好地盘吗？你这副模样就像刚跟 杀人鲸打了一架似的。” “从五月中开始，我除了打架就没干过别的。这一 季的海滩挤得真是不像话。我都看见至少一百只鹿坎农 海滩那边过来的家伙了，他们也来找房子。大家怎么就 不能待在自己该待的地方呢？” 玛特卡说：“我倒是常常觉得咱们不如去奥特岛， 肯定要比待在这里挨挤快活多了呢。” “呸！只有单身汉才去奥特岛呢。要是我们去那儿， 他们肯定会说我们是胆小鬼。亲爱的，咱们可丢不起这 个脸。” 海卡奇骄傲地耸起肥厚的双肩，把头缩进去，假装 打了一会儿盹，其实他一直在小心提防可能的敌人。现 在所有的公海豹和他们的妻子都已经登陆了，他们的喧 闹声压过了最大的海风，连几英里外的海上都能听到。 哪怕从最保守的估计来看，海滩上也有超过一百万只海 豹，包括老海豹、母海豹、幼崽和年轻的公海豹，他们 1regiment ['redsimant]n. 大量，大批，大群 在一块争抢、扭打、叫唤、爬行和嬉闹，成群结队地从 ·149· The White Seal skirmishing about in brigades through the fog.It is nearly always foggy at Novastoshnah,except when the sun comes out and makes everything look all pearly and rainbow-colored for a little while. Kotick,Matkah's baby,was born in the middle of that confusion,and he was all head and shoulders,with pale,watery blue eyes,as tiny seals must be, but there was something about his coat that made his mother look at him very closely. “Sea Catch,”she said,at last,,“our baby's going to be white!"" "Empty clam-shells and dry seaweed!"snorted Sea Catch."There never has been such a thing in the world as a white seal." can't help that,,”said Matkah;“there's going to be now.”And she sang the low,crooning seal song that all the mother seals sing to their babies: You mustn't swim till you 're six weeks old. Or your head will be sunk by your heels; And summer gales and Killer Whales Are bad for baby seals. Are bad for baby seals,dear rat, As bad as bad can be; But splash and grow strong, And you can't be wrong. Child of the Open Sea! Of course the little fellow did not understand the words at first.He paddled and scrambled about by his mother's side,and learned to scuffle out of the way when his father was fighting with another seal,and the two rolled and roared up and down the slippery rocks.Matkah used to go to sea to get things to eat,and the baby was fed only once in two days,but then he ate all he could and throve upon it. ·150· 白海豹 ①brigade[bri'geid]n.队， 海里进进出出，遮住了肉眼可及的每英尺地面，一群一 队列 群海豹在大雾里打来打去。诺瓦斯托西纳总是雾气弥 漫，只有太阳出来那会儿，一切才看上去珠光闪烁，五 颜六色。 玛特卡的孩子，柯迪克，就在这一片混乱中降生了。 他小小的个子，只看得见头和肩膀，淡蓝色的眼睛总是 水汪汪的，但是他的毛皮似乎有点不对劲，他妈妈仔细 地看了又看。 ②snort[snax用鼻子哼 她说：“海卡奇，咱们的孩子会是白色的。” 着说（或表示） 海卡奇嗤笑了一声，说：“空贝壳和干海草！世界 上压根儿就没有什么白海豹。” 玛特卡说：“这我可管不了。今后就会有啦。”她开 始唱起所有母海豹都会唱给宝宝听的一首歌，歌声低 沉，充满了温情。 要到六周大你才能游泳啊， 不然你就会头重脚轻沉下去。 夏天的大风和杀人鲸 都是要害你的大坏蛋啊。 我亲爱的小耗子，他们都是大坏蛋， 坏到家的大坏蛋。 好好扑腾，长得壮壮的 你就不会有事， 你是大海的孩子哟！ 小宝贝一开始当然不明白这歌词是什么意思。他只 ③paddle[ped(像小 孩子)摇摇晃晃地走 是在妈妈身边拍水，爬来爬去，学会了一看见爸爸和别 ④scuffle['skAfl]v.拖着脚 人打架就连滚带爬地躲到一边儿去，看着那两只大海豹 走路 在滑溜溜的岩石上冲着对方怒吼，上下翻滚。玛特卡去 ⑤thrive[0raiv]g茁壮成 长 海里找吃的，刚开始两天才喂他一次，但是后来他食量 大增，发育得很快。 ·151· The White Seal The first thing he did was to crawl inland,and there he met tens of thousands of babies of his own age,and they played together like puppies,went to sleep on the clean sand,and played again.The old people in the nurseries took no notice of them,and the holluschickie kept to their own grounds,and the babies had a beautiful playtime. When Matkah came back from her deep-sea fishing she would go straight to their playground and call as a sheep calls for a lamb,and wait until she heard Kotick bleat.Then she would take the straightest of straight lines in his direction,striking out with her fore flippers and knocking the youngsters head over heels right and left.There were always a few hundred mothers hunting for their children through the playgrounds,and the babies were kept lively.But,as Matkah told Kotick,"So long as you don't lie in muddy water and get mange, or rub the hard sand into a cut or scratch,and so long as you never go swimming when there is a heavy sea,nothing will hurt you here." Little seals can no more swim than little children,but they are unhappy till they learn.The first time that Kotick went down to the sea a wave carried him out beyond his depth,and his big head sank and his little hind flippers flew up exactly as his mother had told him in the song,and if the next wave had not thrown him back again he would have drowned. After that,he learned to lie in a beach pool and let the wash of the waves just cover him and lift him up while he paddled,but he always kept his eye open for big waves that might hurt.He was two weeks learning to use his flippers; and all that while he floundered in and out of the water,and coughed and grunted and crawled up the beach and took catnaps on the sand,and went back again,until at last he found that he truly belonged to the water. Then you can imagine the times that he had with his companions,ducking under the rollers;or coming in on top of a comber and landing with a swash and a splutter as the big wave went whirling far up the beach;or standing up on his tail and scratching his head as the old people did;or playing"I'm the King of the Castle"on slippery,weedy rocks that just stuck out of the wash.Now and ·152· 白海豹 ①crawl[kra:l]v.爬行 他接下来干的第一件事就是往岛上离海更远的地 方爬，在那儿他遇见了成千上万只跟他同龄的幼崽。 他们就像小狗崽一样在一起玩耍，在干净的沙地上睡 觉，醒来又接着玩儿。育儿区的老家伙们并不关注他们， 单身汉也都待在自己的地盘上，所以这些幼崽玩得非 常开心。 玛特卡从深海捕鱼回来就径直跑到幼崽的游乐场 去，像母羊呼唤羊羔一样发出叫唤，等到听见柯迪克的 叫声，她就挑最近的路朝他直奔过去，两只前肢左右挥 舞，一路把别的小海豹撞得四脚朝天。同一时间总是有 好几百只母海豹在游乐场里来回搜寻自己的孩子，幼 崽们也就被弄得鸡飞狗跳。但是，正如玛特卡告诉柯迪 ②mange[meind]m.【兽 克的那样，“只要你不躺到泥水里害得自己长癣，或者 病理学】兽疥癣 把硬硬的沙子蹭到伤口里，只要你不在大海发怒时去游 泳，你在这儿就不会有事。” 海豹幼崽并不比人类的婴儿游得更好，但是他们不 学会游泳就不高兴。柯迪克第一次下海时，一个大浪把 他卷出去了，他那大大的脑袋沉下去，两只小小的后鳍 一下子甩过头顶，就跟妈妈在那首儿歌里唱的一模一 样。要不是后面一个大浪又把他给扔了回来，他一准儿 被淹死了。 从那以后，他学会了躺在沙滩的小浅坑里练习打 水，让潮水将将没过自己好浮起来，但他总是特别小心 ③lipper[ipm)n.(海豹、 注意躲过那些可能伤害他的大浪。他花了两周的时间学 鲸等的)鳍状肢，鳍足， 前肢 习使用自己的鳍肢，一直在水里扑腾来扑腾去，有时呛 ④flounder['flaunda]k(在 着水了抱怨两声，爬到沙滩上打个小盹儿，然后又爬回 水、泥泞或深雪中)挣 去，直到他终于学会了和水融为一体。 扎，肢体乱动 这之后你可以想象他和小伙伴们玩得有多么起劲， 他们有时躲在巨浪底下，有时骑上一个拍岸浪，然后趁 着巨浪呼啸着卷上海滩时，从浪尖上哗啦一声冲下来跳 上岸，或者模仿大人的样子用尾巴把身子撑起来，挠挠 脑袋，或是摆出一副“城堡之主”的架势站在满是海藻、 ·153·