美文赏析 Love of Life 热爱生命

Without movement he lay on his back, and he could hear, slowly drawing near and nearer, the wheezing intake and output of the sick wolf’s breath. It drew closer, ever closer, through infinitude if time, and did not move. It was his ear. The harsh dry tongue grated like sandpaper against his cheek. His hands shot out －or at least he willed them to shoot out. The fingers were curved like talons, but they closed on empty air. Swiftness and certitude require strength, and the man had not this strength.

他一动不动的躺着，耳边传来病狼一呼一吸的喘气声，并且这声音正慢慢地向他逼近。狼愈走愈近，好像过了很久一样，但是他始终躺着没有动。这时狼已经到了他的耳边，那条粗糙的狼舌头就像砂纸一样蹭着他的两腮。他的双手一下子就抓了过去——或者说是他的意志力迫使他的双手抓过去。他的手指弯曲得就像鹰爪一样，可是他却抓了一个空，敏捷和准确是需要力气的，而他偏偏就没有力气。

The patience of the wolf was terrible. The man’s patience was no less terrible.

那头狼的耐心真是令人可怕，而他的耐心同样令人可怕。

For half a day he lay motionless, fighting off unconsciousness and waiting for the thing that was to feed upon him and upon which he wished to feed. Sometimes the languid sea rose over him and he dreamed longs dreams; but ever through it all, waking and dreaming, he waited for the wheezing breath and the harsh caress of the tongue.

这一天，有一大半的时间他就这样静静地躺着，努力不让自己昏迷过去，静静地等着那只想一口吃掉他，他也想一口一口吃掉的动物。有时候当疲倦袭来，他会昏昏沉沉地做起长长的梦。然而，不管他是醒着还是做着梦，他一直在等待着那阵喘息的声音，还有舔过来的粗糙舌头。

He did not hear the breath, and he slipped slowly from some dream to the feel of the tongue along his hand. He waited. The fangs pressed softly; the pressure increased; the wolf was exerting its last strength in an effort to sink teeth in the food for which it had waited so long. But the man had waited too long, and the lacerated hand closed on the jaw. Slowly, while the wolf struggled feebly and the hand clutched feebly, the other hand crept across to a grip. Five minutes later the whole weight of the man was on top of the wolf. The hands han not sufficient strength to choke the wolf, but the face of the man was pressed colse to the throat of the wolf and the mouth of the man was full of hair. At the end of half an hour the man was aware of a warm trickle in his throat. It was not pleasant. It was like molten lead being forced into his stomach, and it was forced by his will alone. Later the man rolled over on his back and slept.

他并没有听见那阵喘息声，当他从梦中慢慢苏醒过来的时候，他感觉那头狼正在舔着他的一只手。他依然静静地等着。狼牙已经轻轻地扣在他的手上，压力感渐渐加强，那头狼正在尽最后一点力量把牙齿咬进它等待很久的猎物上。可是他也同样等了很久，那只撕裂的手扳住了狼的下颚。就这样，狼在微弱地挣扎着，那只手也无力地扳着，慢慢地，另一只手也腾了过来掐了过去。在争斗了五分钟后，那人已经把狼死死地按在下面。他双手的力量不足以掐死那头狼，可是他的脸已经紧紧地贴在了狼的咽喉上，一堆狼毛也紧紧扎进了他的嘴里。半个小时后，他感到了一股暖和的液体某某某地流进了他的喉咙，那感觉可真难受，就好像铅液被灌进了他的胃里一样，完全是靠他的意志给硬灌下去的。后来，他翻了个身，仰面睡着了。

There were some members of a scientific expedition on the whale－ship Bedford. From the deck they remarked a strange object on the shore. It was moving down the beach toward the water. They were unable to classify it, and,being scientific men, they climbed into the whale－boat alongside and went ashore to see. And they saw some thing that was alive but which could hardlu be called a man. It was blind, unconscious. It squirmed along the ground like some monstrous worm. Most of its efforts were ineffectual, but it was persistent, and writhed and twisted and went ahead perhaps a score of feet an hour.

“贝德富号”捕鲸船有几个科学考察队的队员，他们从甲板上望见岸上有一个奇怪的物体。他正在沙滩朝着海面挪动。他们没有分清到底属于哪类动物，可是他们都是研究科学的人，因此就划了个捕鲸船到岸上察看。接着，他们就发现了一个活着的动物，可是很难把他称之为人。因为他已经瞎了，并且丧失了神智，可是就是这样，他就像一条大虫子一样在地上不断地蠕动。他用的力气大半都不起作用，但是他却始终没有放弃，只见他不停地扭动着身子，蜿蜒前行，或许一个小时下来，他就能爬个二十英尺的距离。

Three weeks afterward the man lay in bunk on the whale－ship beford, and with tears streaming down his wasted cheeks told who he was and what he had undergone. He also babbled incoherently of his mother, of sunny southen california, and a home among the orange groves and flowers.

三个星期后，这个人躺在“贝德福号”捕鲸船的一个铺位上，眼泪顺着消瘦的面颊淌了下来，他说起了他的身份，还有他经历过的一切。同时，他口齿不清地谈到了他的母亲，谈到了阳光灿烂的加利福尼亚，以及在橘树和花丛中的家园。