評(píng)論
打印
JON
瓊恩
Ghost was gone when the wildings led their horses from the cave.
野人們牽馬出洞時(shí)，白靈已經(jīng)不見。
Did he understand about Castle Black?
他找得到黑城堡嗎？
Jon took a breath of the crisp morning air and allowed himself to hope.
瓊恩吸吸晨間清爽的空氣，留給自己一線希望。
The eastern sky was pink near the horizon and pale grey higher up.
東方的天空，地平線處是粉紅，以上漸化為淺灰。
The Sword of the Morning still hung in the south, the bright white star in its hilt blazing like a diamond in the dawn,
拂曉神劍仍懸于南，劍柄那顆明亮的白星如黎明的鉆石一般閃耀，
but the blacks and greys of the darkling forest were turning once again to greens and golds, reds and russets.
下方陰暗的黑灰森林慢慢呈現(xiàn)出綠、金黃、紅、褐等各種色彩。
And above the soldier pines and oaks and ash and sentinels stood the Wall,
在士卒松、橡樹、岑樹、哨兵樹和魚梁木上方，矗立著絕境長城，
the ice pale and glimmering beneath the dust and dirt that pocked its surface.
班駁的塵土與污垢之下是閃光的白色冰墻。
The Magnar sent a dozen men riding west and a dozen more east,
馬格拿派十幾個(gè)人騎馬往東，十幾個(gè)人往西，
to climb the highest hills they could find and watch for any sign of rangers in the wood or riders on the high ice.
爬上能找到的最高點(diǎn)，以觀察樹林里和高墻上是否藏有游騎兵。
The Thenns carried bronze-banded warhorns to give warning should the Watch be sighted.
一旦發(fā)現(xiàn)守夜人出沒，瑟恩人就會(huì)吹響鑲青銅的戰(zhàn)號(hào)示警。
The other wildlings fell in behind Jarl, Jon and Ygritte with the rest.
其余野人隨賈爾行動(dòng)，瓊恩和耶哥蕊特也包括在內(nèi)。
This was to be the young raider’s hour of glory.
這將是年輕掠襲者的榮耀時(shí)刻。
The Wall was often said to stand seven hundred feet high, but Jarl had found a place where it was both higher and lower.
人們常說長城足有七百尺高，但賈爾選的地點(diǎn)可謂既高且低。
Before them, the ice rose sheer from out of the trees like some immense cliff,
在他們面前，冰墻自林間筆直升起，仿如無垠峭壁，
crowned by wind-carved battlements that loomed at least eight hundred feet high, perhaps nine hundred in spots.
頂上是風(fēng)蝕的城垛，粗看上去離頭頂?shù)糜邪税俪?，甚至九百尺?/p>
But that was deceptive, Jon realized as they drew closer.
隨著逐漸靠近，瓊恩意識(shí)到其中的欺騙性：
Brandon the Builder had laid his huge foundation blocks along the heights wherever feasible, and hereabouts the hills rose wild and rugged.
當(dāng)年筑城者布蘭登將巨大的基石依山設(shè)置，能放哪里就放哪里，而此處峰巒起伏，高度不一。
He had once heard his uncle Benjen say that the Wall was a sword east of Castle Black, but a snake to the west.
班揚(yáng)叔叔說，長城在黑城堡以東是一把劍，以西則是一條蛇。
It was true.
果真如此。
Sweeping in over one huge humped hill, the ice dipped down into a valley,
只見冰墻掠過一座巨山峰，接著沉入谷底，
climbed the knife edge of a long granite ridgeline for a league or more,
然后爬上一道匕首般鋒利、綿延一里格多的花崗巖懸崖，
ran along a jagged crest, dipped again into a valley deeper still,
沿參差不齊的山頂前進(jìn)，隨后又沉入更深的谷溝，
and then rose higher and higher, leaping from hill to hill as far as the eye could see, into the mountainous west.
接著再度爬升，目力所及，可見它從一山躍向另一山，深入西方腹地。
Jarl had chosen to assault the stretch of ice along the ridge.
賈爾企圖襲擊沿著山脊的一段冰墻。
Here, though the top of the Wall loomed eight hundred feet above the forest floor,
此處盡管墻頂高聳，離森林有八百尺，
a good third of that height was earth and stone rather than ice;
但其中三分之一強(qiáng)是泥土巖石而非冰雪，
the slope was too steep for their horses, almost as difficult a scramble as the Fist of the First Men,
坡度對(duì)馬匹來說太陡，比先民拳峰還難爬，
but still vastly easier to ascend than the sheer vertical face of the Wall itself.
但相對(duì)于完全垂直的墻面，人登上去還是相對(duì)容易的。
And the ridge was densely wooded as well, offering easy concealment.
況且山脊上布滿樹木，提供了很好的遮蔽。
Once brothers in black had gone out every day with axes to cut back the encroaching trees,
從前，黑衣兄弟們每天提斧出去砍伐越界的林木，決不讓森林延伸到長城以北半里之內(nèi)，
but those days were long past, and here the forest grew right up to the ice.
但如今人手匱乏，這兒的樹直長到冰墻底部。
The day promised to be damp and cold, and damper and colder by the Wall, beneath those tons of ice.
今天將是潮濕而寒冷的一天，而在長城成噸的堅(jiān)冰下則更加潮濕，更加寒冷。
The closer they got, the more the Thenns held back.
越是接近，隊(duì)伍中的瑟恩人越是躊躇。
They have never seen the Wall before, not even the Magnar, Jon realized.
他們從沒見過長城，連馬格拿都沒見過，瓊恩意識(shí)到，
It frightens them.
它的龐大令他們驚恐。
In the Seven Kingdoms it was said that the Wall marked the end of the world.
在七大王國，人們說長城是世界的盡頭。
That is true for them as well.
對(duì)他們而言又何嘗不是？
It was all in where you stood.
只不過說法取決于所處的位置罷了。
And where do I stand?
我呢？我究竟處在哪邊？
Jon did not know.
瓊恩不知道。
To stay with Ygritte, he would need to become a wildling heart and soul.
要跟耶哥蕊特廝守，就得全心全意當(dāng)野人；
If he abandoned her to return to his duty, the Magnar might cut her heart out.
如果丟下她不管，繼續(xù)履行職責(zé)，也許會(huì)連累對(duì)方被馬格拿掏心；
And if he took her with him … assuming she would go, which was far from certain …
而若把她帶走……假設(shè)她愿意走，這點(diǎn)尚遠(yuǎn)不能確定……
well, he could scarcely bring her back to Castle Black to live among the brothers.
也不可能帶回黑城堡，跟弟兄們一起生活。
A deserter and a wildling could expect no welcome anywhere in the Seven Kingdoms.
在七大王國，逃兵和野人走到哪里都不受歡迎。
We could go look for Gendel’s children, I suppose.
早知道我們當(dāng)初就去找詹德爾的子孫。
Though they’d be more like to eat us than to take us in.
但他們更可能吃了我們……
