双语 | 《我的阿勒泰》作者 李娟 作品《冬牧场》节选

教育   2024-12-28 21:25   浙江  

当被问及哈萨克作家叶尔克西对自己的影响时,李娟表明了自己文化身份的自觉:

她给我最大的启发是让我感觉到我是一个汉族人,我描写这种异域风光,无论你距离再近也是一种旁观,因为你不是一样的人,就像我很不喜欢我写的乡村舞会的那些文字,虽然当时我写的时候我是真的充满感情的,很认真的而且是毫不虚构地去写的,可是现在想想,那些东西不值得写出来。我作为一个汉族人,我写那样的事情,矫情,太矫情了。就是你明明和他们不一样,各方面,心态或者是你的生活方式、你的情感什么的,都不一样,可是你非要抹杀那种差异,是很勉强很吃力的一件事情。(李娟、欧宁,2012)

——选自 王岫庐《中国当代文学外国译者的认知实证研究》

以下三段选自作家李娟的《冬牧场》。

译者是沈如风(Jack Hargreaves)和严严(Yan Yan)。

Winter Pasture: One Woman's Journey with China's Kazakh Herders

by Li Juan

The Kazakhs were traditionally herders, and it’s no surprise that in the Altai Mountains—where China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia meet—they did not see any need to confine themselves to national boundaries. This book was only translated from Chinese last year, and follows Li Juan, who owns a convenience store with her mother in northwestern China, as she spends the winter with a family of Kazakh herders. It’s a really nice depiction of a lifestyle that mixes old traditions and coping mechanisms in icy temperatures with new gadgets.

第一段:
放牧也似乎是极简单的事,早上把大家赶出去,晚上再赶回来就可以了……若真这么想就傻了!世上哪有不带智慧和精细规则的生产方式呢?除非从小就生活在牧人的家庭,否则要掌握这门技术的话……就算大学开设了这样的专业,读上四年书也是没有用的,再往下读研读博,还是没有用。太难了……

Herding is easy: you take them out in the morning, bring them back in the evening. If that's what you think, then you're a fool! Is there a means of production in this world that doesn't require wisdom and attention to minute details? Unless you were born into a family of herders, mastering their techniques would require massive effort. Even if you could major in herding at college, reading books for four years would get you absolutely nowhere. And if you continued on to a postgraduate degree, it'd still be no use. It's simply too hard... ( Li2021:125)

第二段:
吃包子时,世上最好吃的东西是包子。吃抓肉时,世上最好吃的东西又变成了抓肉。这两种结论毫无冲突。想想包子馅吧:土豆粒、肉粒、油渣。再想一想:沙沙糯糯的土豆泥,汁水盈旺的肉粒,金黄的油渣……然后再想想抓肉,想想居麻飞快地做完巴塔(简单得几乎等于没做)后操起小刀就开始削肉,想想肉片下晶莹的面片饱饱地吸足了肉汤,暗自得意,欲和肉片一较高低……包子也罢,抓肉也罢,哪怕吃得撑到了嗓子眼,仍感觉还能继续吃。

When you eat baozi, baozis are the most delicious things in the world. When you eat mutton on the bone, the most delicious food in the world becomes mutton on the bone. There's not even the slightest contradiction between these two truths. Let us consider the baozi’s filling: diced potato, minced meat, pork rind. Now let us reconsider it: soft and flaky potato mash, a meatball bursting with juices, golden brown rind...Then let us consider mutton on the bone: think about how after Cuma quickly completes the bata ( so simple you might say he never even started it), he picks up the knife and starts shaving slices of meat; think of how bright and shiny the slice of bread becomes after it has fully soaked all the meat's juices, how pleased with itself the bread feels, being held in the same regard as the slice of meat. In the end, what the baozi and the hand-pulled meat have in common is that even when you are gorged up to your uvula, you feel like you still want to eat more.

第三段:
所谓“冬窝子”,不是指具体的某一个地方,而是游牧民族所有的冬季放牧区。从乌伦古河以南广阔的南戈壁,一直到天山北部的沙漠边缘,冬窝子无处不在。那些地方地势开阔,风大,较之北部地区气候相对暖和稳定,降雪量也小,羊群能够用蹄子扒开薄薄的积雪寻食下面的枯草,而适当的降雪量又不会影响牧民们的生活用水和牲畜的饮用水。

冬牧场远比夏牧场干涸、贫瘠,每家每户的牧地因此非常阔大,一家远离一家,交通甚为不便,甚至可算是“与世隔绝”。(李娟,2012)

The winter pasture isn't a particular place. It's the name of all the land used by the nomads during the winter, stretching south uninterrupted from the vast rocky desert south of the Ulungur River all the way to the northern desert boundary of the Heavenly Mountains( also known as Tianshan Mountains). It is a place of open terrain and strong winds. Compared to the region to its north, the climate is warmer and more constant. The snow mantle is light enough that the sheep can use their hooves to reach the withered grass beneath. At the same time, there is enough snowfall to provide the herders with all the water they and the livestock need to survive.

The winter pasture is considerably drier and less fertile than the lands the livestock graze in summer. Each family herd grazes an enormous area. The sheer distance this puts between the families means that contact with one another is a rare occurrence. You could almost call it “solitary confinement.” (Li2021:5)

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