野性的呼唤

走进荒野

Into the Wild

巴克不看报纸，所以他不知道麻烦要来了。这麻烦是冲着他来的，也是冲着西海岸每一条又大又壮、长着暖和长毛的狗来的。

Buck did not read the newspapers. So he did not know about the trouble that was coming. It was coming for him, and for every big, strong dog with long, warm hair on the west coast.

在遥远的北方，人们发现了金子。克朗代克是加拿大远北地区的一片寒冷土地，金子就在那里。很快，成千上万的人向北进发，他们都需要狗。他们想要那种身体强壮、能干重活，而且毛发厚实能抵御严寒的大狗。

Far away in the North, men found gold. The Klondike was a cold land in the far north of Canada, and the gold was there. Soon thousands of men were travelling north, and they all wanted dogs. They wanted heavy dogs with strong bodies for hard work and thick hair against the cold.

巴克住在加利福尼亚州圣克拉拉谷的一座大房子里，人们管那里叫米勒法官的家。法官是在法庭上做决定的人。房子坐落在高大的树木中间，四面都有宽敞凉爽的走廊。房子后面有马厩、田地、果树和一个大水池。法官的儿子们在炎热的下午常去那里游泳。

Buck lived at a big house in the sunny Santa Clara Valley, in California. People called it Judge Miller’s place. A judge is the man who decides in a court of law. The house stood among tall trees, with a wide, cool veranda round all four sides. Behind it there were stables, fields, fruit trees and a big pool. The Judge’s sons swam there on hot afternoons.

巴克是这片土地的国王。他出生在这里，也在这里生活了四年。虽然还有别的狗，但它们都不算什么。托茨是一条日本小哈巴狗，伊莎贝尔是一条没有毛的墨西哥狗，它们几乎从不出屋。狐狸梗叫得很凶，但它们都住在狗窝里。

Buck was the king of all this land. He was born here, and he lived here for the four years of his life. There were other dogs, but they did not count. Toots, a little Japanese pug, and Ysabel, a Mexican dog with no hair, almost never left the house. The fox terriers barked a lot, but they lived in the kennels.

整个地方都是巴克的。他在水池里游泳，和法官的儿子们一起打猎。清晨或傍晚，他陪法官的女儿莫莉和爱丽丝散步。冬天的晚上，他躺在法官脚下的火炉前。他背着法官的小孙子们，让他们在草地上打滚。他是这里所有动物的国王，也是这里所有人的国王。

The whole place was Buck’s. He swam in the pool and went hunting with the Judge’s sons. He walked with Mollie and Alice, the Judge’s daughters, in the early morning or the evening. On winter nights he lay at the Judge’s feet in front of the fire. He carried the Judge’s little grandsons on his back and rolled them in the grass. He was king over every animal on the place, and over the people too.

他的父亲埃尔莫是一条巨大的圣伯纳犬，总是跟着法官到处走。巴克比埃尔莫稍微小一点，因为他的母亲谢普是一条苏格兰牧羊犬。但他重达一百四十磅。一磅大约是半公斤。巴克很骄傲，也许还有点自恋。但他从不懒惰，打猎和游泳让他的肌肉很结实。

His father, Elmo, was a huge St. Bernard, and he went everywhere with the Judge. Buck was a little smaller than Elmo, because his mother, Shep, was a Scotch shepherd dog. But he weighed one hundred and forty pounds. A pound is almost half a kilo. Buck was proud, and perhaps a little too pleased with himself. But he was never lazy, and hunting and swimming kept his muscles hard.

这就是1897年秋天的巴克，当时克朗代克的金子把世界各地的人都吸引到了冰冷的北方。但巴克不看报纸，也不知道曼努埃尔是个危险的朋友。

This was Buck in the autumn of 1897, when the gold of the Klondike pulled men from all over the world into the frozen North. But Buck did not read the newspapers. And he did not know that Manuel was a dangerous friend.

曼努埃尔是园丁的帮手之一，他喜欢赌钱。他总觉得能想出什么赢钱的妙计。但那样的计划需要很多钱，而园丁帮手的工资很少，曼努埃尔还有妻子和好几个孩子。

Manuel was one of the gardener’s helpers, and he loved to play games for money. He always believed in a clever plan to win. But a plan like that needed a lot of money. And a gardener’s helper earned very little, and Manuel had a wife and many children.

曼努埃尔犯罪的那晚到了。法官去参加果农会议了，他的儿子们正忙着新体育俱乐部的事。没人看见曼努埃尔和巴克穿过果树林离开。巴克以为只是去散步。

Then came the night of Manuel’s crime. The Judge was at a meeting of the fruit farmers, and his sons were busy with a new sports club. Nobody saw Manuel and Buck when they left through the fruit trees. Buck thought it was just a walk.

他们走到学院公园，那是一个很小的火车站。只有一个男人在那里等着。他和曼努埃尔说了话，巴克听到了他们之间硬币碰撞的声音。

They walked to College Park, a very small railway station. Only one man was waiting there. He talked with Manuel, and Buck heard the sound of coins between them.

“在他交给我之前，先把他绑起来。”那个陌生人粗鲁地说。

“Tie him up before you give him to me,” the stranger said roughly.

曼努埃尔把一根结实的绳子在巴克的项圈下绕了两圈。“用力拉，他就不能呼吸了。”曼努埃尔说。陌生人点了点头。

Manuel put a piece of strong rope twice round Buck’s neck, under his collar. “Pull it hard, and he can’t breathe,” Manuel said. The stranger nodded.

巴克让曼努埃尔把绳子套在自己身上。这很奇怪，但他信任自己认识的人。接着曼努埃尔把绳子的另一头给了陌生人，巴克发出了低吼。他只是想表示自己不喜欢这样。他很骄傲，对他来说，低吼就是一种命令。

Buck let Manuel put the rope on him. It was strange, but he trusted the men he knew. Then Manuel gave the ends of the rope to the stranger, and Buck growled. He only wanted to show that he did not like it. He was proud, and for him a growl was an order.