瓊·克雷格黑德·喬治

Julie slowly adapted to her new life. She washed dishes and cooked fish and caribou meat for Ellen. She scraped skins and prepared them for the market， and she chopped ice in the river and put it in the container to melt.

She read Ellen’s books when Ellen was out. Her English schooling in Nunivak had been excellent. She read the books avidly， eager to learn about the outside world. From time to time when no one was around， she would walk along the river and listen for her wolves. Once she heard Kapu， and looking around to see if Kapugen was outside， she cupped her hands and howl-barked a warning. Kapu replied with silence. He had gotten the message.

One day while Julie was scraping a bearded-seal skin to make boots， a new voice came in over the CB.

“Good morning， Kapugen. Good morning.”

“Good morning， Peter Sugluk，” said Kapugen. “You are back， are you？”

“I am back， all right，” he said. “And I am picking up two qivit sweaters Marie asked me to bring to you.” Julie recalled Uma telling her that the women of Kangik knitted sweaters and scarves from the warm， featherweight underfur of the musk ox. Kapugen， she had said， sold these incredibly warm clothes to merchants in Anchorage and Fairbanks for enormous prices， many hundreds of dollars.

“Come on over，” said Kapugen， and turned to Julie. “Peter Sugluk is my business partner’s adopted son，” he said.

“He speaks with a strange accent，” said Julie.

“It should not be strange，” said Kapugen. “He speaks Yupik like we do， not I?upiat like the people of Barrow and Point Hope.”

The Eskimo language has two branches. Yuk， or Yupik， is spoken in southwestern Alaska and Siberia. Inuk， or I?upiat， is spoken across northern Alaska， Canada， and Greenland. Julie had learned Yupik in Nunivak and I?upiat in Barrow. Although she understood Peter， who spoke Yupik， she could not place his accent. She wondered where he came from.

Julie looked up at a bronze-faced young Eskimo. He was tall. His nose was straight， his cheekbones high， and his eyes were bright half-moons under dark brows. He wore a tunic of reindeer over close-fitting leather trousers. His maklaks were of polar bear， trimmed with sled dogs in black-and-white calfskin. Ermine tails with black tips danced along the trim of his sleeves and boots when he moved. He looked old to Julie， perhaps eighteen or nineteen as compared to her fourteen， going on fifteen， years. She looked down at her sealskin and went back to her scraping.

朱莉慢慢地適應(yīng)了新生活。她為艾倫洗碗、烹調(diào)魚和北美馴鹿肉。她刮擦獸皮好到市場上賣，她到河里去鏟冰，然后放到容器里融化。

艾倫不在的時候，她拿艾倫的書來讀。她原先在努尼瓦克島上英語學(xué)得很好。她如饑似渴地讀書，渴望了解外面的世界。偶爾周圍沒人的時候，她會沿著河邊走，傾聽有沒有她狼群的聲音。有一次，她聽到了卡普的叫聲，趕緊朝四周看看卡普根是不是在屋外，隨后雙手成喇叭狀放到嘴邊朝著卡普嚎叫，發(fā)出警告?？ㄆ沼贸聊卮鹚Ｋ牰诉@個消息。

有一天，朱莉正在刮擦一張用來做靴子的髭海豹皮，民用波段接收機里傳來一個陌生人的聲音。

“早上好，卡普根。早上好。”

“早上好，彼得·蘇格盧克?！笨ㄆ崭f，“你回來了，是嗎？”

“是，我回來了。”他說，“我拿來了兩件麝牛絨毛衣，是瑪麗讓我?guī)Ыo你的。”這讓朱莉想起來，尤瑪曾經(jīng)告訴她，康吉克鎮(zhèn)的婦女會用麝牛輕柔溫暖的下層絨毛編織成毛衣和圍巾。尤瑪還說，卡普根會把這些特別暖和的衣服拿到安克雷奇和費爾班克斯去，在商人那里賣出天價，數(shù)百美元一件。

“過來吧。”卡普根說，然后轉(zhuǎn)向朱莉?！氨说谩ぬK格盧克是我生意合伙人的養(yǎng)子?！彼f。

“他講話帶一種奇怪的口音。”朱莉說。

“不應(yīng)該奇怪啊，”卡普根說，“他跟我們一樣，講的是尤皮克語，不像巴羅鎮(zhèn)和霍普角那里的人講伊努皮亞特語?！?/p>

愛斯基摩語有兩個分支。阿拉斯加西南部和西伯利亞講尤克語（尤皮克語）。而從阿拉斯加北部到加拿大和格陵蘭島講伊努克語（伊努皮亞特語）。朱莉在努尼瓦克島學(xué)習(xí)了尤皮克語，又在巴羅鎮(zhèn)學(xué)了伊努皮亞特語。彼得講尤皮克語，朱莉聽得懂，但搞不準他的口音。所以朱莉想知道彼得到底是從哪兒來的。

朱莉抬起頭，看到一個古銅臉色的愛斯基摩小伙子。他高高的個頭，直挺的鼻梁，高高的顴骨，濃眉下是一雙明亮的半月形眼睛。他上身穿馴鹿皮的束腰外衣，下面配緊身皮褲。他的雪地靴是北極熊皮做的，帶著黑白花小牛皮的雪橇狗圖案花邊。他走動的時候，袖子和靴子邊上的黑尖白貂尾也隨著跳動。在朱莉看來，他年紀有些大，大概十八九歲，而朱莉才十四，快十五歲了。朱莉低下頭看著她的海豹皮，又繼續(xù)刮起來。

【背景知識】朱莉逃出荒原，重新跟父親和繼母一起生活，但她仍然惦記著她的狼群。不過生活在繼續(xù)，追求朱莉的小伙子也出現(xiàn)了。這一段描述了朱莉第一次見到彼得的場景，充滿了愛斯基摩人文化元素。

【第一段】第一句是主題句，后面用連續(xù)的相同句式描述朱莉的新生活，譯文保留了這些句式。艾倫是朱莉的繼母，一個白人，是當?shù)氐慕處煛?/p>

【第二段】朱莉小時候受過良好的教育，現(xiàn)在派上了用場。她自己就能夠廣泛閱讀英文書籍，這是艾倫想不到的。朱莉知道，為了保護麝牛，父親卡普根殺死了她的頭狼，所以她一直警告狼群不要滯留在附近，否則有生命危險?？ㄆ账坪醵昧怂木?。

【第三段】由遠而近，朱莉的男人走進了她的生活。朱莉?qū)λ恼J識是先從口音開始的。彼得來自西伯利亞，口音和阿拉斯加的當?shù)厝瞬煌?/p>

【第四段】第二句和第三句的句式都較為復(fù)雜，譯文按照常用的中文語序重新進行了組合。原文的最后一句也較長，譯文調(diào)整了地點狀語的位置，但保留了最后的補足語形式。這樣更像是口語的敘述。

【第五段】愛斯基摩人主要講兩種語言，卡普根對彼得的口音不太在乎。

【第六段】原文第二句和第三句都是被動語態(tài)，如果原封不動轉(zhuǎn)移到中文里會顯得很別扭，因此譯文調(diào)整為主動語態(tài)。朱莉搞不準彼得的口音，也很好奇他來自哪里。

【第七段】這一段是十分精彩的人物外貌描寫，反映出朱莉?qū)⒈说脧念^到腳看了個仔細。原文中有一些愛斯基摩語非常冷僻，詞典上找不到，需要譯者多利用網(wǎng)絡(luò)，反復(fù)深入搜索，才能得到相關(guān)信息，比如maklaks。搜索詞語的時候也要搜索圖片，這會有助于理解詞語的含義。原文第二句和第三句都用系動詞引導(dǎo)，但譯文使用了中文人物描寫的一般句式，直接用名詞短語組句。原文第六句描述的中心是白貂尾，譯文按照中文習(xí)慣調(diào)整了時間狀語的位置。

【小結(jié)】朱莉是十四五歲的少女，情竇初開，還有些靦腆。她雖然對彼得觀察細致，但仍葆有少女的矜持和嬌羞，于是假裝繼續(xù)刮海豹皮，不理睬彼得。其實她對比了兩人的年齡，心中已經(jīng)春心萌動。這一選段最大的翻譯難點是愛斯基摩人的文化術(shù)語，需要譯者耐心深入地查證之后才能翻譯。