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The teams were spaced a good twenty yards apart.
各組間相隔二十碼。
Jarl’s four were in the center.
賈爾的四個(gè)人居中，
To the right of them was a team headed up by Grigg the Goat, whose long blond braid made him easy to spot from below.
右邊那組由山羊格里格帶領(lǐng)，他長長的金發(fā)辮極易辨認(rèn)，
To the left a very thin man named Errok led the climbers.
左邊那組的領(lǐng)頭人非常瘦，名叫埃洛克。
“So slow,”
“太慢了，”
the Magnar complained loudly, as he watched them edge their way upward.
馬格拿一邊看他們緩緩?fù)吓?，一邊大聲抱怨?/p>
“Has he forgotten the crows?
“他忘記那些烏鴉了嗎？
He should climb faster, afore we are discovered.”
爬快點(diǎn)，否則我們會被發(fā)現(xiàn)的?！?/p>
Jon had to hold his tongue.
瓊恩強(qiáng)迫自己保持沉默。
He remembered the Skirling Pass all too well, and the moonlight climb he’d made with Stonesnake.
他對風(fēng)聲峽仍記憶憂新，月光下跟石蛇一起攀爬的經(jīng)歷讓他至今心有余悸。
He had swallowed his heart a half-dozen times that night,
那天晚上，他的心好幾次提到了嗓子眼，
and by the end his arms and legs had been aching and his fingers were half frozen.
到最后，手腿齊疼，指頭幾乎凍僵了。
And that was stone, not ice. Stone was solid.
那還是石頭，不是冰。
Ice was treacherous stuff at the best of times, and on a day like this,
石頭是固體，而冰再怎么也不可信賴。
when the Wall was weeping, the warmth of a climber’s hand might be enough to melt it.
今天的長城在“哭泣”，也許攀登者手上的熱量就足以融化冰墻。
The huge blocks could be frozen rock-hard inside,
巨大冰塊內(nèi)部也許凍得跟石頭無異，
but their outer surface would be slick, with runnels of water trickling down, and patches of rotten ice where the air had gotten in.
但表面滑溜，絲絲絹流滴淌而下，寒風(fēng)更吹出無數(shù)小孔。
Whatever else the wildlings are, they’re brave.
不管野人們其他方面如何，他們的確勇敢。
All the same, Jon found himself hoping that Styr’s fears proved well founded.
但他心中仍暗暗希望斯迪的擔(dān)憂是正確的。
If the gods are good, a patrol will chance by and put an end to this.
若諸神慈悲，一支正好經(jīng)過的巡邏隊(duì)就能制止這一切。
“No wall can keep you safe,”
“再堅(jiān)固的墻也不能保證高枕無憂，”
his father had told him once, as they walked the walls of Winterfall.
從前在臨冬城上散步時(shí)，父親曾教誨他，
“A wall is only as strong as the men who defend it.”
“關(guān)鍵取決于人?！?/p>
The wildlings might have a hundred and twenty men,
野人也許有一百二十個(gè)，
but four defenders would be enough to see them off, with a few well-placed arrows and perhaps a pail of stones.
但四個(gè)衛(wèi)兵就足以打發(fā)他們，若干箭失，一桶石頭，這次襲擊就得劃上句號。
No defenders appeared, however; not four, not even one.
但衛(wèi)兵沒有出現(xiàn)，別說四人，連一個(gè)都沒有。
The sun climbed the sky and the wildlings climbed the Wall.
太陽向天空爬，野人們往墻上登。
Jarl’s four remained well ahead till noon, when they hit a pitch of bad ice.
到得中午，賈爾那組仍遙遙領(lǐng)先，但他們碰上一片很糟糕的冰。
Jarl had looped his rope around a wind-carved pinnace and was using it to support his weight when the whole jagged thing suddenly crumbled and came crashing down,
賈爾將繩子繞在風(fēng)蝕而成的突起上，利用它來支撐重量，不料整個(gè)突出部分卻突然崩潰，
and him with it.
帶他一起墜落。
Chunks of ice as big as a man’s head bombarded the three below,
人頭大的冰塊向下面三個(gè)人砸來，
but they clung to the handholds and the stakes held, and Jarl jerked to a sudden halt at the end of the rope.
他們死命抓牢，而那些釘子也撐住了。賈爾在半空中停頓，懸于繩子盡頭。
By the time his team had recovered from that mischance, Grigg the Goat had almost drawn even with them.
等他們從這次災(zāi)難中恢復(fù)，山羊格里格已幾乎趕上。
Errok’s four remained well behind.
埃洛克的四個(gè)人仍遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)落在后面。
The face where they were climbing looked smooth and unpitted,
他們攀爬的那部分，表面看上去平整光滑，
covered with a sheet of icemelt that glistened wetly where the sun brushed it.
毫無雜質(zhì)，覆著一層融化的冰，陽光到處濕乎乎的閃耀光芒。
Grigg’s section was darker to the eye, with more obvious features;
格里格的那部分看起來顏色更深，有較多明顯的紋理；
long horizontal ledges where a block had been imperfectly positioned atop the block below,
冰與冰互相重疊時(shí)，若接合不完美，就會產(chǎn)生長而狹窄的平臺，
cracks and crevices, even chimneys along the vertical joins,
及各種裂紋瑕隙，甚至還有豎直的管道，
where wind and water had eaten holes large enough for a man to hide in.
經(jīng)由風(fēng)水侵蝕，里面的空間大得足以躲進(jìn)一個(gè)人。
Jarl soon had his men edging upward again.
賈爾很快讓他的人繼續(xù)前進(jìn)，
His four and Grigg’s moved almost side by side, with Errok’s fifty feet below.
他和格里格的組幾乎并肩而行，埃洛克那組則落后五十尺。
Deerhorn axes chopped and hacked, sending showers of glittery shards cascading down onto the trees.
在鹿角斧的劈砍之下，陣陣閃爍的冰晶瀑布傾瀉到下面樹林里。
Stone hammers pounded stakes deep into the ice to serve as anchors for the ropes;
石錘將鐵釘深敲入冰里，作為繩子的支撐點(diǎn)，
the iron stakes ran out before they were halfway up, and after that the climbers used horn and sharpened bone.
但爬了一半不到，鐵釘就用完了，之后改用角釘和磨尖的骨頭。
And the men kicked, driving the spikes on their boots against the hard unyielding ice again and again and again and again to make one foothold.
人們一次一次又一次用尖刺靴去踢堅(jiān)硬牢固的冰，以鑿出落腳點(diǎn)來。
Their legs must be numb, Jon thought by the fourth hour.
到第四個(gè)鐘頭，瓊恩估計(jì)他們的腿已經(jīng)麻痹了。
How long can they keep on with that?
還能支持多久呢？
He watched as restless as the Magnar, listening for the distant moan of a Thenn warhorn.
他跟馬格拿一樣，一邊不安地注視，一邊焦急地聆聽遠(yuǎn)處是否有瑟恩人的號角吹響。
But the horns stayed silent, and there was no sign of the Night’s Watch.
號角一直沉默，沒有守夜人的蹤影。
By the sixth hour, Jarl had moved ahead of Grigg the Goat again, and his men were widening the gap.
爬到第六個(gè)鐘頭，賈爾又超到山羊格里格前面，他的人正將差距拉開。
“The Mance’s pet must want a sword,”
“曼斯的寵物迫不及待想要?jiǎng)?，?/p>
the Magnar said, shading his eyes.
馬格拿遮著眼睛說。
The sun was high in the sky, and the upper third of the Wall was a crystalline blue from below,
太陽高懸在空中，從下往上觀之，冰墻上部三分之一是水晶般的藍(lán)，
reflecting so brilliantly that it hurt the eyes to look on it.
反光如此絢爛，刺得眼睛發(fā)疼。
Jarl’s four and Grigg’s were all but lost in the glare, though Errok’s team was still in shadow.
賈爾和格里格手下的八人都位于耀眼的光芒中，看不真切，只有埃洛克的那組仍在陰影下。
Instead of moving upward they were edging their way sideways at about five hundred feet, making for a chimney.
他們在五百尺的高度不再往上爬，而是一點(diǎn)一點(diǎn)橫移，向一根豎直管道前進(jìn)。
