⊙ By James Herriot ⊙ 翻譯：種衍倫 ⊙ 校譯：思葦

如果你喜歡小動(dòng)物，熱愛(ài)大自然，不妨找點(diǎn)時(shí)間，靜下心來(lái)，讀一讀吉米·哈利（James Herriot，1916-1995）的“萬(wàn)物”系列：《萬(wàn)物既偉大又渺小》（All Creatures Great and Small）、《萬(wàn)物有靈且美》（All Things Bright and Beautiful）、《萬(wàn)物既聰慧又奇妙》（All Things Wise and Wonderful）、《萬(wàn)物剎那又永恒》（The Lord Made Them All），以及《萬(wàn)物生光輝》（Every Living Thing）。

英國(guó)人吉米·哈利是個(gè)半路出家的業(yè)余作家，他的本行竟然是獸醫(yī)！更妙的是，盡管文風(fēng)平實(shí)、語(yǔ)言幽默、寓意深刻的“萬(wàn)物”系列給哈利帶來(lái)了巨大的名和利，他并沒(méi)有就此“棄醫(yī)從文”，而是一直在各家農(nóng)場(chǎng)上看護(hù)著動(dòng)物的健康，不斷用源于生活的素材創(chuàng)作出高于生活的故事——不忘初心，方得始終，說(shuō)的大概就是他這種人呢。

本期選段出自《萬(wàn)物有靈且美》第三章。

詞匯指南針

這套叢書來(lái)源于作者從醫(yī)期間的親身經(jīng)歷，其語(yǔ)言難度主要體現(xiàn)在生詞方面——尤其是關(guān)于動(dòng)物、獸醫(yī)、畜牧方面的內(nèi)容特別多，比如本期選段中就有大量和羊有關(guān)的詞匯。同學(xué)們可以將這些詞整理在一起，有針對(duì)性地學(xué)習(xí)，更有利于加深記憶。

This was my third spring in the Dales but it was like the two before—and all the springs after.The kind of spring, that is, that a country vet knows; the din[喧鬧]of the lambing pens[產(chǎn)羔欄], the bass[低音的]rumble[咕咕聲]of the ewes[母羊]and the high, insistent[持續(xù)的]bawling[大叫]of the lambs.This, for me, has always heralded[宣布]the end of winter and the beginning of something new. This and the piercing Yorkshire wind and the hard, bright sunshine flooding the bare hillsides.

At the top of the grassy slope[斜坡]the pens, built of straw bales[捆], formed a long row of square cubicles[小間]each holding a ewe with her lambs, and I could see Rob Benson coming round the far end carrying two feeding buckets. Rob was hard at it; at this time of the year he didn’t go to bed for about six weeks; he would maybe take off his boots and doze[打盹]by the kitchen fire at night, but he was his own shepherd[牧羊人]and never very far from the scene of action.

“I’ve got a couple of cases for you today, Jim.” His face, cracked and purpled by the weather, broke into a grin[咧嘴笑].

For the next week I hardly seemed to have my coat on. The flood of sheep work was at its peak and I spent hours of every day with my arms in and out of buckets of hot water in all corners of the district—in the pens, in dark nooks[角落]in farm buildings or very often in the open fields, because the farmers of those days didn’t find anything disturbing in the sight of a vet kneeling[跪]in his shirt sleeves for an hour in the rain.

I had one more visit to Rob Benson’s place.

“Look!” Rob cried. “There’s that our ewe with Herbert.Over there on t’right—in the middle of that bunch.” Oh,they all looked the same to me but to Rob, like all shepherds,they were as different as people and he picked out those two effortlessly[毫不費(fèi)勁地].

I looked away, over the noisy pens, over the hundreds of sheep moving across the fields. I turned to the farmer. “I’m afraid you’ve seen a lot of me lately, Rob. I

hope this is the last visit.”

“Aye[是], well it could be.We’re getting well through now…but it’s a hell of a time, lambin’, isn’t it?”

“It is that. Well, I must be off—I’ll leave you to it.” I turned and made my way down the hillside, my arms raw[刺痛的]and chafing[擦痛的]in my sleeves, my cheeks whipped[抽打]by the eternal[不停的]wind gusting[勁吹]over the grass. At the gate I stopped and gazed[注視]back at the wide landscape, ribbed[織羅紋]and streaked[加條紋]by the last of the winter’s snow, and at the dark grey banks of cloud riding across on the wind followed by lakes of brightest blue; and in seconds the fields and walls and woods burst into vivid life and I had to close my eyes against the sun’s glare. As I stood there the distant uproar[喧囂]came faintly[模糊地]down to me, the tumultuous[吵鬧的]harmony[和聲]from deepest bass to highest treble[高音部];demanding, anxious, angry, loving.

The sound of the sheep, the sound of spring.

見(jiàn)招拆招

你不能說(shuō)吉米·哈利的作品特別有文學(xué)性和故事性，但是從他的文字中，我們不難看出哈利是個(gè)充滿正能量的人，對(duì)生活無(wú)比熱愛(ài)。他總是歌頌自然的恩賜，贊美生命的奇跡。盡管獸醫(yī)這份職業(yè)經(jīng)常伴隨著各種酸甜苦辣，他還是能從點(diǎn)滴小事中發(fā)掘到美好的瞬間，讓我們?cè)谶@個(gè)由人與動(dòng)物交織而成的鄉(xiāng)間生活中感受到歡樂(lè)、大愛(ài)、溫暖與強(qiáng)大的生命力。將本期選段多讀幾遍，你是否有所啟發(fā)？

參考譯文

這是我在德祿鎮(zhèn)的第三個(gè)春天，不過(guò)它和過(guò)去的兩個(gè)春天——以及未來(lái)的所有春天都沒(méi)什么兩樣。那是一個(gè)鄉(xiāng)下獸醫(yī)才會(huì)明白個(gè)中滋味的春天，羊羔欄嘈雜不堪，母羊發(fā)出低沉的咕噥，小羊則在高聲地咩咩直叫。這種喧鬧，還有約克郡那刺骨的春風(fēng)，以及灑滿光禿山腰的明媚陽(yáng)光，總能讓我知道嚴(yán)冬已經(jīng)步入尾聲，新的一切即將到來(lái)。

那些用干草塊圍成的方形羊欄都坐落于綠意盎然的斜坡上，農(nóng)戶們將每一只母羊和它的小羊圍成一家，然后家家相鄰地排成一列。我看到羅布·本森提著兩桶飼料，從羊欄那頭遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)走來(lái)。羅布是個(gè)肯苦干的人，每年的這個(gè)時(shí)候，他至少有六個(gè)禮拜沒(méi)上過(guò)床——他也許會(huì)脫下靴子，坐在廚房的爐火邊上打個(gè)盹，但他是個(gè)親力親為的牧羊人，從來(lái)不會(huì)遠(yuǎn)離現(xiàn)場(chǎng)。

“今天有幾只羊想請(qǐng)你瞧瞧，吉姆，”他笑著說(shuō)道，日曬雨淋在他黝黑的臉上刻下了深深的溝紋。

之后的一周里，我?guī)缀鯖](méi)什么機(jī)會(huì)穿外套。母羊產(chǎn)子的熱潮達(dá)到了最高峰，每天我都要在整個(gè)地區(qū)到處奔波，不斷地將手伸進(jìn)熱水桶里，忙上好幾個(gè)小時(shí)——有時(shí)是羊欄，有時(shí)是農(nóng)舍的陰暗角落，更多的時(shí)候還要露天作業(yè)，因?yàn)槟菚r(shí)候的農(nóng)戶假如看到一名獸醫(yī)冒著大雨，只穿著襯衣，跪在地上給母羊接生，心里可一點(diǎn)都不會(huì)覺(jué)得歉疚。

后來(lái)，我又去羅布·本森那兒跑了一趟。

“你瞧！”羅布叫道，“我們的母羊和哈伯在一起，就在那兒，右邊——就在羊群中間。”喔，這些羊在我看來(lái)全長(zhǎng)得一模一樣，但是羅布跟所有牧羊人一樣，羊群在他們眼中就像人類一樣千差萬(wàn)別，他毫不費(fèi)勁地就將那兩只羊分辨出來(lái)了。

我遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)眺望，越過(guò)吵鬧的羊欄，看著數(shù)百只羊在農(nóng)場(chǎng)上漫步，回過(guò)頭來(lái)對(duì)羅布說(shuō)：“最近你老是看到我，羅布，希望這是我最后一次來(lái)吧。”

“是啊，希望吧。我們現(xiàn)在總算緩過(guò)來(lái)了……給母羊接生可真夠嗆呢，對(duì)不對(duì)？”

“可不是。我該走了，剩下的就看你自己了?！蔽肄D(zhuǎn)身走下山坡，袖子摩擦著我的手臂，永不停歇的草原之風(fēng)拍打著我的臉頰。我站在大門口，向農(nóng)場(chǎng)里面眺望，嚴(yán)冬最后的白雪在廣闊的土地上留下了橫七豎八的花紋，大團(tuán)大團(tuán)的烏云隨風(fēng)掠過(guò)，后面的天空露出了最明亮的藍(lán)色；沒(méi)一會(huì)兒，田地、圍墻與樹林都煥發(fā)出蓬勃的生機(jī)，炫目的日光讓我不得不閉上眼睛。我站在門口，還能隱隱約約地聽到遠(yuǎn)處的騷動(dòng)和喧囂，那是一首從最低音到最高音一應(yīng)俱全的農(nóng)場(chǎng)大和聲，那里面充滿了迫切、焦慮、憤怒和慈愛(ài)之情。

那是羊群的聲音，也是春天的聲音。