English to Chinese: East of Eden (trial)
General field: Art/Literary | |
Source text - English
The Salinas Valley is in Northern California. It is a long narrow swale between two ranges of mountains, and the Salinas' River winds and twists up the centre until it falls at last- into Monterey Bay.
I remember my childhood names for grasses and secret flowers. I remember • where a toad may live and what time the birds awaken in the summer - and what trees and seasons smelled like - how people looked and walked and smelled even. The memory of odours is very rich.
I remember that the Gabilan Mountains to die east of the valley were light gay mountains full of sun and loveliness and a kind of invitation, so that you wanted to climb into their warm foothills almost as you want to climb into the lap of a beloved ' mother. They were beckoning mountains with a brown grass love. The Santa Lucias stood up against the sky to the west and kept the valley from the open sea, and they were dark and brooding - unfriendly and dangerous. I always found in myself a dread of west and a love of east. Where I ever got such an idea I cannot say, unless it could be that the morning came over the peaks of the Gabilans and the night drifted back from the ridges of the Santa Lucias. It may be that the birth and death of the day had some part in my feeling about the two ranges of mountains.
From both sides of the valley little streams slipped out of the hill canyons and fell into the bed of the Salinas River. In the, winter of wet years the streams ran full-freshet, and they swelled the river until sometimes it raged and boiled, bank-full, and then" it was a destroyer. The river tore the edges of the farm, lands and - washed
whole acres down; it toppled barns and houses into itself, to go floating and bobbing away. It trapped cows and pigs and sheep and drowned them in its muddy brown water and carried them to the sea. Then when the late spring came, the^ river drew in from its edges and the sandbanks appeared. And in the summer the river didn’t run at all above ground. Some pools would be left in the deep swirl places under a high bank. The tules and grasses grew back, and willows straightened up with the flood debris in their upper branches. The Salinas was only a part- time river. The summer sun drove it underground. It was not a fine river at all, but it was the only one we had and so we boasted about it—how dangerous it was in a wet winter and how dry it was in a dry summer. You can boast about anything if it’s all you have. Maybe the less you have, the more you are required to boast.
| Translation - Chinese
在北加利福尼亚，横亘着萨利纳斯峡谷。两座山脉之间，是一片狭长绵亘的沼泽地，其中心流经萨利纳斯河，河流蜿蜒曲折，最终汇入蒙特雷湾。
我依然记得小时候给小草，还有藏在里面的野花取的名字。我记得那时候蟾蜍常常出没的窝点，和夏日里鸟儿们鸣啼迎接新一天的时刻-我记得树的清香，记得每一个季节里，空气中飘散的不同气味-人们的形形色色奔走四处的样子，甚至他们的体味，这些我全都记得。这些气味在我的记忆里丰富而生动。
我记得，峡谷之东荒芜的加比兰群山，是个曾经布满阳光、空气中弥漫着活泼迷人的气息的地方，它仿佛在邀请你到它温暖的山麓间走一走，几乎就像你匍匐至亲爱的母亲面前，蜷缩在她膝头的渴望一样。它们张开怀抱，用那棕色的草地去包容、去爱，去迎接、拥抱这里的山群。在西边，圣路西亚斯山脉直指天空，巍峨高耸，隔绝了山谷与大海，显得黑暗又险恶-它们充满危机和敌意。面对它们，我总是发现自己对西边的圣路西亚斯山脉心里发怵，而对东边的加比兰山脉向往喜爱。究竟是何时察觉到这一点我说不出来，仔细想来，似乎只有那一天的跋涉，当时我于清晨翻越加比兰山脉，又在夜里像个无头苍蝇一般爬下圣路西亚斯的山峰。可能是一日之始与在黑夜里终结的自然规律，影响了我对这两座山脉的印象。
溪流从山谷的两侧钻出，融进萨利纳斯河的河床。在多雨的冬天，溪流清澈见底，它们不断汇入河流，直到涨满河水，有时河水奔腾着、怒吼着没过了河岸，然后它“简直是个灾难”。河水冲毁了整个农场和土地，冲走了蒸蒸一英亩的泥土; 谷仓和房子被冲得一片狼藉、零零碎碎，那些木板和稻草就浮在水面上起伏，顺着水波漂走。洪水会卷走牛、猪、羊，在混浊泥泞的褐色脏水里淹死这些牲畜，然后把尸体冲进大海。之后，当晚春来临时，河水渐渐地，从外到内流回河床，露出湿润的沙洲。夏天，河水完全退到地面以下，高堤下的深坑里就会蓄起一些水池。植物重新焕发出生机，在树上、泥土里，枝条和草芽生了出来，柳树也直起身子，枝条上高高挂起洪水褪去遗留下的一片片垃圾。萨利纳斯河只是季节性的。夏日干燥的阳光带走水分，使得河流隐没在泥土之下。这河根本就不怎么样，冬日里不温驯、夏日里又会干涸，但它却是我们唯一能依赖的那一个，所以我们大肆吹嘘ーー在潮湿的冬天它是多么危险，在燥热的夏天它又是多么干涸。只要一个东西是你仅有的了，那么你大可以吹嘘它。也许你拥有的事物越贫瘠，你就越需要吹它的牛。 |
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