11 Too mai of the Elephants象群的图迈-双语名著无障碍阅读丛书——《森林王子The Jungle Book》

Toomai of the Elephants I will remember what I was,I am sick of rope and chain I will remember my old strength and all my forest affairs. I will not sell my back to man for a bundle of sugar-cane: I will go out to my own kind,and the wood-folk in their lairs. I will go out until the day,until the morning break- Out to the wind's untainted kiss,the water's clean caress: I will forget my ankle-ring and snap my picket stake. I will revisit my lost loves,and playmates masterless! Kala Nag,which means Black Snake,had served the Indian Government in every way that an elephant could serve it for forty-seven years,and as he was fully twenty years old when he was caught,that makes him nearly seventy-a ripe age for an elephant.He remembered pushing,with a big leather pad on his ·222· 象群的图迈 ①rope[oup]n.绳，索 我会牢记我以前的身份，我已经受够了绳索和 ②chain[tfein]n.链，链条 铁链 我会牢记我过去的力量和丛林的生活。 ③lair [lea]n.巢穴，窝 我不会为了一捆甘蔗让人类骑在我的脊梁上： 我要出去寻找我的同胞，还有所有安于巢穴的 森林民众。 untainted [An'teintid]a. 无污点的 我要出去，一直走到拂晓，直到天亮一 ⑤caress[kres】m.爱抚 去感受清风纯净的亲吻和流水干净的抚摸。 我会忘记我的脚镣，挣断我的木桩。 我要回去寻找我失去的爱人和自由自在的玩伴！ 卡拉·纳格（这个名字是黑蛇的意思）已经为印度 政府工作了四十七年，凡是大象能干的活儿他都干过。 因为他刚被抓住时已经满二十岁，所以现在差不多得有 七十岁了，这对大象来说正是壮年'。他还记得当年自己 额头上顶着块儿大大的皮垫子，使劲儿去推深陷在泥里 1根据本书作者的父亲约翰·洛克伍德·吉卜林(John Lockwood Kipling)在《印度的动物与人》(Beast and Man in/ndia1891)一书中 的记载，“大象在35岁时力气和精力达到项峰，并且可以活到120岁。” 现在的常识是印度象一般寿命约60至80岁，有些可以达到百岁以上。 ·223· Toomai of the Elephants forehead,at a gun stuck in deep mud,and that was before the Afghan War of 1842,and he had not then come to his full strength. His mother Radha Pyari,-Radha the darling,-who had been caught in the same drive with Kala Nag,told him,before his little milk tusks had dropped out,that elephants who were afraid always got hurt.Kala Nag knew thatthat advice was good,for the first time that he saw a shell burst he backed, screaming,into a stand of piled rifles,and the bayonets pricked him in all his softest places.So,before he was twenty-five,he gave up being afraid,and so he was the best-loved and the best-looked-after elephant in the service of the Government of India.He had carried tents2,twelve hundred pounds'weight of tents,on the march in Upper India.He had been hoisted into a ship at the end of a steam crane and taken for days across the water,and made to carry a mortar on his back in a strange and rocky country very far from India,and had seen the Emperor Theodore lying dead in Magdala,and had come back again in the steamer entitled,so the soldiers said,to the Abyssinian War medal. He had seen his fellow elephants die of cold and epilepsy and starvation and sunstroke up at a place called Ali Musjid,ten years later;and afterward he had been sent down thousands of miles south to haul and pile big balks of teak in the timberyards at Moulmein.There he had half killed an insubordinate young elephant who was shirking his fair share of work. After that he was taken off timber-hauling,and employed,with a few score other elephants who were trained to the business,in helping to catch wild elephants among the Garo hills.Elephants are very strictly preserved by the Indian Government.There is one whole department which does nothing else but hunt them,and catch them,and break them in,and send them up and down the country as they are needed for work. ·224· 家群的图迈【 的一门大炮，那还是在1842年的阿富汗战争之前，那 时他的力气还没有达到巅峰呢。 他的母亲拉达·皮亚丽一亲爱的拉达一是和 卡拉·纳格一起被捕捉的。在卡拉·纳格的小乳牙1脱 落之前，母亲曾告诉他害怕的大象总会受伤。卡拉· 纳格知道她说的是对的，因为他第一次看见炸弹爆炸 时，吓得尖叫着后退，跌进一排步枪里，结果身上最 ①rine[raif1].步枪 娇嫩的地方都被刺刀扎了个遍。所以他还不到二十五 岁时，就已经不再害怕了，他也因此成为所有为印度 政府服役的大象中最受喜爱、最受呵护的一头大象。 ②tent[tent]n.帐篷，帐棚 他曾经在北印度的行军中搬运过重达一千二百磅的帐 ③hois[hist]￥（尤指用 机械装置等）吊起 篷。他也曾被一架蒸汽吊车送到轮船上，在水上航行 了好多天，又在那片远离印度的多岩的陌生国度2运送 ④mortar[mx:to]m.砂浆， 一门迫击炮，然后亲眼看到西奥多皇帝3死在马格达拉 灰浆 的战场上，最后又坐着蒸汽轮船回到印度。据士兵们说， 他坐的那艘船还被授予了阿比西尼亚战争勋章。那之 ⑤epilepsy[epilepsi]n.【病 后过了十年，在一个叫作阿里·马斯基德‘的地方他又 理学】癫痫，羊痫风 6 sunstroke ['sAnstrauk]n. 见过其他的大象因为寒冷、癫痫、饥饿和中暑而死去， 中暑 后来他被送到几千英里以南的马尔梅因°，在一个又一个 的木材场里搬运、堆放大根的柚木。在那里他差点儿 杀死了一头不听话的年轻大象，因为那个懒蛋不肯好 好干自己该干的活儿。 再后来，人们不让他运木头了，又派他和其他几 十头受过训练的大象一起去伽罗山帮忙捕捉野生大象。 印度政府对大象的管制非常严格，有整整一个部门别的 什么也不干，专门负责捕捉、驯化大象，然后按照需求 把大象送往全国各地去完成各种各样的工作。 1这个说法明显是错误的，因为大象和人不一样，没有所谓的乳牙。 2这里指的就是后文的阿比西利亚（今埃塞俄比亚）。 3阿比西利亚的君主，在被英国军队打败以后自杀身亡 4阿富汗的一个小镇。 5缅甸的一个港口，从那里输出抽木林的大量木材 6位于印度东北部的山林 ·225· Toomai of the Elephants Kala Nag stood ten fair feet at the shoulders,and his tusks had been cut off short at five feet,and bound round the ends,to prevent them splitting,with bands of copper;but he could do more with those stumps than any untrained elephant could do with the real sharpened ones.When,after weeks and weeks of cautious driving of scattered elephants across the hills,the forty or fifty wild monsters were driven into the last stockade,and the big drop gate,made of tree trunks lashed together,jarred down behind them,Kala Nag,at the word of command,would go into that flaring,trumpeting pandemonium2(generally at night,when the flicker of the torches made it difficult to judge distances),and, picking out the biggest and wildest tusker of the mob,would hammer him and hustle him into quiet while the men on the backs of the other elephants roped and tied the smaller ones. There was nothing in the way of fighting that Kala Nag,the old wise Black Snake,did not know,for he had stood up more than once in his time to the charge of the wounded tiger,and,curling up his soft trunk to be out of harm's way,had knocked the springing brute sideways in mid-air with a quick sickle cut of his head,that he had invented all by himself;had knocked him over,and kneeled upon him with his huge knees till the life went out with a gasp and a howl and there was only a fluffy striped thing on the ground for Kala Nag to pull by the tail. "Yes,"said Big Toomai,his driver,the son of Black Toomai who had taken him to Abyssinia,and grandson of Toomai of the Elephants who had seen him caught,"there is nothing that the Black Snake fears except me.He has seen three generations of us feed him and groom him,and he will live to see four." "He is afraid of me also,"said Little Toomai,standing up to his full height of four feet,with only one rag upon him.He was ten years old,the eldest son of Big Toomai,and,according to custom,he would take his father's place on Kala Nag's neck when he grew up,and would handle the heavy iron ankus,the elephant goad,that had been worn smooth by his father,and his grandfather, ·226· 家群的图迈 卡拉·纳格直立时两肩离地面足足有十英尺高'，他 的象牙被截短了，只剩五英尺长，顶端被铜带裹起来以 免开裂，但是就凭这两截残牙他能干的事情也比任何真 正拥有尖牙的大象要多得多，因为那些大象没有受过训 练。经过长达数周小心的驱赶，从各处被赶来的四五十 ①stockade[sto'keid]n.(防 头野象翻过群山，被赶进最后一个围栏，然后用树干捆 御用的】栅栏，围桩 在一起做成的巨大吊闸会在这些野蛮的猛兽背后落下。 这时卡拉·纳格就会服从命令，走进乱吼乱叫的象群 ②pandemonium [paendo'maunism]n.喧 (通常都是晚上，因为在火把跳跃的光下很难判断清楚 器：嘈杂 距离)，然后挑出其中个头最大、最野的大象，把他一 通暴打，逼他安静下来。与此同时，骑着大象进来的人 们会把剩下的个子小点儿的大象一一绑缚起来。 说到打架，没有什么事情是卡拉·纳格这头聪明的 老“黑蛇”所不知道的。他曾经不止一次面对过受伤的 老虎的进攻。他把柔软的象鼻卷起来以免碰伤，然后在 老虎跃至半空时，脑袋迅速一摆，用一记巧妙的镰刀切， ③brute[brut]n.兽，野兽 就把老虎撞飞了一这个招式还是他自己发明的呢 把老虎撞翻以后，他就用硕大的膝盖跪在老虎身上，直 到对方咽最后一口气、哀嚎一声死去，地上就只剩下一 摊带条纹的毛茸茸的东西，卡拉·纳格只需卷着他的尾 ④howl[haul]n.(狼等的) 巴把他拖走就行了。 嗥叫，凄厉的长嚎 他的象夫大图迈说：“是的，‘黑蛇'什么都不怕，除 了我以外。我们一家己经有三代人喂养、照顾过他了，等 我儿子长大成人时，他肯定还活着。”大图迈的爸爸是黑 图迈，卡拉·纳格就是跟着他去的阿比西尼亚，爷爷是“象 ⑤groom[grum]v.梳刷 群的图迈”，大图迈的爷爷亲眼看见卡拉·纳格被捕捉。 (马、狗等) “他还怕我呢。”小图迈说，尽管他站起来只有四 英尺高，身上只裹着条破布。他是大图迈的大儿子，今 ⑥ankus[enkas]n.(尤指 年十岁了。根据惯例，长大以后他会取代父亲坐在卡 有尖钉和钩的印度的） 驯象（用）刺棒 拉·纳格的脖子上，还将接管沉重的象棒，那是一根铁 ⑦goad[goud]m.(赶牛用 做的刺棍，这根刺棍已经被他的父亲、祖父和曾祖父用 的)刺棒 1成年印度公象的身高很少超过十一英尺，也就是大约3.5米。 ·227· Toomai of the Elephants and his great-grandfather. He knew what he was talking of;for he had been born under Kala Nag's shadow,had played with the end of his trunk before he could walk,had taken him down to water as soon as he could walk,and Kala Nag would no more have dreamed of disobeying his shrill little orders than he would have dreamed of killing him on that day when Big Toomai carried the little brown baby under Kala Nag's tusks,and told him to salute his master that was to be. "Yes,"said Little Toomai,"he is afraid of me,"and he took long strides up to Kala Nag,called him a fat old pig,and made him lift up his feet one after the other. “Wah!'said Little Toomai,,“thou art a big elephant,,”and he wagged②his fluffy head,quoting his father."The Government may pay for elephants,but they belong to us mahouts3.When thou art old,Kala Nag,there will come some rich rajah,and he will buy thee from the Government,on account of thy size and thy manners,and then thou wilt have nothing to do but to carry gold earrings in thy ears,and a gold howdah on thy back,and a red cloth covered with gold on thy sides,and walk at the head of the processions of the King. Then I shall sit on thy neck,O Kala Nag,with a silver ankus,and men will run before us with golden sticks,crying,Room for the King's elephant!'That will be good,Kala Nag,but not so good as this hunting in the jungles." “Umph!”said Big Toomai..“Thou art a boy,.and as wild as a buffalo-calf This running up and down among the hills is not the best Government service. I am getting old,and I do not love wild elephants.Give me brick elephant lines,one stall to each elephant,and big stumps to tie them to safely,and flat, broad roads to exercise upon,instead of this come-and-go camping.Aha,the Cawnpore barracks were good.There was a bazaar close by,and only three hours'work a day.” Little Toomai remembered the Cawnpore elephant-lines and said nothing. He very much preferred the camp life,and hated those broad,flat roads,with the daily grubbing for grass in the forage reserve,and the long hours when there ·228· 家群的图迈 得非常光滑了。 他知道自己在说什么，因为他就出生在卡拉·纳格 的影子里，还不会走路的时候就跟卡拉·纳格的鼻子一 起玩耍，刚会走路就带卡拉·纳格去水边，所以卡拉· 纳格做梦也不会违背他那尖尖的小嗓子发出的命令，就 像当年大图迈把还是棕色小婴儿的小图迈放到他的象牙 底下，让他对未来的主人敬礼时，卡拉·纳格也压根没 ①salute[sa'lju:t]向 致意 有动过想把这个小孩杀死的念头。 小图迈说：“是的，他怕我。”他大步走到卡拉·纳 格跟前，管他叫老肥猪，还命令他把腿一条一条地抬 起来。 ②wag[wg摇摆，摇动 小图迈说：“哇！你可真是头大一象啊。”他摇晃 着毛乎乎的脑袋，背诵父亲说过的话：“大象也许是政 ③mahout[mo'haut]n.(印 府花钱养的，但是他们却归我们象夫所有。卡拉·纳 度及东印度群岛的)管 格，等你老了，就会有个有钱的王公来把你从政府手里 象人 买走，因为你又大又懂礼貌，然后你就可以啥事也不用 ④rajah[rudg)n.(印度 的）王公 做，只需要在耳朵上戴着金耳环，背上驮个金轿子，身 上披着绣满金线的红布，走在国王仪仗队伍的最前面。 5 procession [pra'sefan]n. 行列，游行 哦，卡拉·纳格，那时我会拿着银象棒骑在你的脖子上， 咱们前面跑着些拿金棍子的男人们，他们边跑边喊：‘给 国王的大象让道啊！’卡拉·纳格，那样可真不错，不过， 还是没有现在在丛林里打猎好。” 大图迈说：“哼！你就是个孩子，还跟小牛犊一样 野。像这样在山里面跑来跑去可不是什么美差。我上了 年纪了，也不喜欢什么野象。让我住砖砌的象栏，每头 大象一个隔间，配着大树桩好把他们拴得牢牢的，还有 平坦、宽阔的马路可供他们训练。我才不要现在这种来 ⑥bazaar[ba'zan.(东方 国家的）市场，集市 了又走的露营呢。啊哈，像考恩坡军营就很不错嘛，那 儿附近有个集市，而且每天只需要干三个小时。” 小图迈当然记得考恩坡的象营，但是他什么也没说。 他更喜欢露营的生活，他讨厌那些宽阔、平坦的大马路， 每天都要在草料堆里翻掘干草，剩下的漫长时间里除了 ·229· Toomai of the Elephants was nothing to do except to watch Kala Nag fidgeting in his pickets. What Little Toomai liked was to scramble up bridle paths that only an elephant could take;the dip into the valley below;the glimpses of the wild elephants browsing miles away;the rush of the frightened pig and peacock under Kala Nag's feet;the blinding warm rains,when all the hills and valleys smoked;the beautiful misty mornings when nobody knew where they would camp that night;the steady,cautious drive of the wild elephants,and the mad rush and blaze and hullabaloo of the last night's drive,when the elephants poured into the stockade like boulders in a landslide,found that they could not get out,and flung themselves at the heavy posts only to be driven back by yells and flaring torches and volleys of blank cartridge. Even a little boy could be of use there,and Toomai was as useful as three boys.He would get his torch and wave it,and yell with the best.But the really good time came when the driving out began,and the Keddah-that is,the stockade-looked like a picture of the end of the world,and men had to make signs to one another,because they could not hear themselves speak.Then Little Toomai would climb up to the top of one of the quivering stockade posts,his sun-bleached brown hair flying loose all over his shoulders,and he looking like a goblin in the torch-light.And as soon as there was a lull you could hear his high-pitched yells of encouragement to Kala Nag,above the trumpeting and crashing,and snapping of ropes,and groans of the tethered elephants."Mael, mael,Kala Nag!(Go on,go on,Black Snake!)Dant do!(Give him the tusk!) Somalo!Somalo!(Careful,careful!)Maro!Mar!(Hit him,hit him!)Mind the post!Arre!Arre!Hai!Yai!Kya-a-ah!"he would shout,and the big fight between Kala Nag and the wild elephant would sway to and fro across the Keddah,and the old elephant catchers would wipe the sweat out of their eyes,and find time to nod to Little Toomai wriggling with joy on the top of the posts. He did more than wriggle.One night he slid down from the post and slipped in between the elephants and threw up the loose end of a rope,which had dropped,to a driver who was trying to get a purchase on the leg of a kicking ·230· 家群的图迈 看着卡拉·纳格在象栏里走来走去以外无所事事。 小图迈喜欢的是爬上只有大象可以走的象道，或 是跳进下面的山谷，或是眺望几英里外觅食的野象群， ①browse[brauz]v.吃草 或是在卡拉·纳格脚下受惊乱跑的猪和孔雀，或是温 暖的大雨倾盆而下时轻烟弥漫的群山和山谷，或是薄 雾笼罩的美丽的清晨，尽管谁也不知道晚上将在哪里 扎营，再或是经过一夜的狂奔乱冲、火光喧天和闹闹 嚷嚷之后，终于能够平稳小心地驱赶野象，头天夜里 大象们如同泥石流里的巨石一般冲进围栏时，发现自 己无路可走因此拼命地用身子去撞击沉重的围栏，但 ②yell[jeln.叫喊 是最终还是被人们用呐喊、火把和连续发射的空弹给 ③volley[voli]n.齐射出 的子弹（或炮弹、箭等） 驱赶回去。 ④cartridge[ka:trid3]n.子 在那样的场合，即使是一个小孩也能派上用场，而 弹 图迈一个能顶三个男孩使。他会举着火把挥舞，尽力大 声地呼喊。但是对他来说，最精彩的时刻还是在把野象 赶出围栏时。那时，象栏周围的一切看上去就像一幅世 界末日的图景，男人们互相打着手势，因为实在太吵了， 他们连自己说话都听不见。小图迈会爬上一根不断颤动 的柱子，坐在顶上，他那一头被阳光晒成了棕色的头发 胡乱地披散在肩头，火光下他整个人看上去就跟个地精 ⑤lull [IAl].(风、雨等的】 暂时平息，暂时平静 一样。只要稍微安静下来，你就会听到小图迈尖尖的叫 声，它远远高出周围的吼叫和撞击声、绳子的抽打声， ⑥tether[teoa]v.(用绳、 还有被拴住的大象的呻吟声。那是他在给卡拉·纳格打 链等)拴 气：“加油，加油，黑蛇！用牙顶他！小心！小心！打他， 打他！小心柱子！啊照！啊嘿！哈咦！呀！驾一！” 在他的叫喊声中，卡拉·纳格和野象之间的大战就从象 栏的这头打到那头，那些老的捕象人会擦掉眼睛周围的 汗水，一边抽空朝着小图迈赞许地点点头，而小图迈呢， 则在柱子的顶端高兴地扭来扭去。 ⑦wriggle['rigl].蠕动 小图迈当然不是只会扭来扭去。有天晚上，他还从 柱子上滑下来，溜进大象中间，捡起绳子松开的一头， 递给一个象夫，当时那个象夫本想要抓住一头胡乱踢腾 ·231·