A Kestrel for a Knave (Excerpt)
男孩与鹰（节选）

（选自《英语世界》2012年第5期）

文/巴里·海因斯  导读、译注/仲文明1
By Barry Hines

【导读】说起英国作家巴里·海因斯，中国的读者或许会感到陌生，然而在英国，他却是一位家喻户晓的当代作家。巴里·海因斯1939年出生于英国北部矿区的一个小村子，中学毕业后曾在煤矿以学徒勘测员的身份工作了几年。后来，他在拉夫堡大学取得教师资格证，并成为一名体育教师。教学期间，他经常利用课余时间在学校图书馆从事创作，逐渐成为一名全职作家。由于自己年少时的矿工经历，巴里·海因斯以工人阶级为主要创作对象，描述他们“艰辛而充满危险”的生活。他曾说：“由于我本人的矿工背景，我深刻地感受到了社会不公，他们（工人阶级）艰辛而危险的生活让我明确了态度，并使我成为一名社会主义者。”

《男孩与鹰》是其代表作。小说描述了少年比利的一天，并以插叙和倒叙的手法介绍了比利的生活。比利是一个生活在英国北部矿区的穷孩子，在学校里经常被老师打骂，被同学嘲笑。他在家里也得不到温暖，野蛮的哥哥贾德欺负他，软弱的妈妈不管他，唯一疼爱他的爸爸也因为发现妻子与邻居米克大叔幽会而愤然出走了。他的人生好像没有任何希望，唯一的归宿就是到煤矿挖煤。凯丝这只鹰的出现给他的人生带来了最大的乐趣。他读写都不是太好，作文满是别字，文法也不通，但却为凯丝去偷了一本驯鹰的书，不厌其烦地阅读，认真按照书中的方法训练。在法新老师——唯一形象正面、对比利不错的老师——的课堂上讲述驯鹰的故事是他最神气的时候，与法新老师一起驯鹰是他最开心的时候。然而，由于比利将哥哥贾德给他赌马的钱买了零食，哥哥迁怒于凯丝，并杀了它。瘦小的比利与哥哥打了一架后，来到废弃的电影院，幻想着在父亲的怀抱里得到了呵护和温暖。

小说出版后，引起了巨大反响，成为风靡英伦的畅销小说，并进入写作、文学、教育学教材。1969年，作者将小说改编为电影剧本，影片名为Kes，由大师肯·洛奇（Ken Loach）执导，荣获捷克卡罗维发利国际电影节最高奖“水晶地球仪奖”和英国作家联合会“最佳剧本奖”，还在英国电影协会推荐的20世纪百部最佳影片中排名第七、14岁之前必看的50部佳片中位列第三。

The sun was up and the cloud band in the East had thinned to a line on the horizon, leaving the dome of the sky clear. The air was still and clean, and the trilling of larks carried far over the fields of hay, which stretched away on both sides of the path. Great rashes of buttercups spread across the fields, and amongst the mingling shades of yellow and green, dog daisies showed their white faces, contrasting with the rust of sorrel. All underscored by clovers, white and pink and purple, which came into their own on the path sides where the grass was shorter, along with daisies and the ubiquitous plantains.

太阳高高地挂在空忠，东方的云带在天际挤成细细的一条线，晴空万里。田野里没有一丝风，空气也十分清新。小径两侧的田地里堆满了干草，云雀鸣啭着从上面飞过。一望无尽的毛茛正在盛开，黄花与绿叶相映成趣，白色的雏菊与褐色的酸模花夹杂其中争芳夺艳；点睛之笔当然还属苜蓿花：白的、粉的、紫的, 一簇簇地从路边的浅草丛中抬起头来，与雏菊和随处可见的车前草一起，为这幅美丽的图画增添了不少的光彩。

[2] A cushion of mist lay over the fields. Dew drenched the grass, and the occasional sparkling of individual drops made Billy glance down as he passed. One tuft was a silver fire. He knelt down to trace the source of light. The drop had almost forced the blade of grass to the earth, and it lay in the curve of the blade like the tiny egg of a mythical bird. Billy moved his head from side to side to make it sparkle, and when it caught the sun it exploded, throwing out silver needles and crystal splinters. He lowered his head and slowly, very carefully, touched it with the tip of his tongue. The drop quivered like mercury, but held. He bent, and touched it again. It disintegrated and streamed down the channel of the blade to the earth. Slowly the blade began to straighten, climbing steadily like the finger of a clock2.

〔2〕田野上方笼罩着一层雾气。露水打湿了草丛，草叶上挂着的露珠闪烁着晶莹的光芒，比利一路走过也不由得多看了几眼。突然，一道银光闪过，好像跳跃的火焰。比利跪下身去，想找找这光是从哪儿来的。他瞧见一滴露珠端坐在叶面上，好像神秘的鸟儿下的袖珍鸟蛋，把叶子压得要垂到地面上。比利左右晃动着脑袋，要想再看看那束光芒。就在露珠迎着阳光的一刹那，它的光芒迸发了出来，好像无数的银针，又像破碎的水晶。比利低下头，小心翼翼地用舌尖碰了碰露珠。露珠像水银一样颤动着，然而并没有散开。比利俯身又碰了一下。这次露珠碎裂开来，顺着叶子滑向了地面。叶子缓缓直起身来，像指针一点一点地攀升着。

[3] Billy stood up and walked on. He climbed over a stile and followed the path through a herd of cows. The ones grazing lifted their heads slowly, chewing their cud. The ones lying in the grass remained motionless, as solid as toy cows set out on a toy farm. A covey of partridges got up under his feet, making him jump and cry out. They whirred away over the field, their blunt forms3 travelling as direct as a barrage of shells. Billy snatched a stone up and threw it after them, but they were already out of sight over the hedges4. The stone flushed a blackbird, and it chattered away along the hedge bottom, disappearing back into the foliage further along.

〔3〕比利站起身，继续往前走。他翻过一道栅栏，沿途看到了一群奶牛。低头吃草的牛缓缓地抬起头，还不停地反刍着；趴在草地上的牛则动也不动，像是摆放在模型农场里的玩具。一群鹧鸪突然从比利的脚下飞起，吓得他大叫一声，跳了起来。鹧鸪犹如密集离膛的炮弹，四散飞射。比利捡起一块石头，向它们扔去，不过它们早已飞过树篱，消失在了视线之外。石头倒是惊起了一只画眉鸟，它沿着树篱脚下呱呱地叫个不停，渐渐隐没在远处树叶的屏障里。

[4] He reached the stile which led into the woods, climbed on to it and looked back. Fields and fences and hedgerows. The sun was in the sky, and the only sound was the continuous relay of bird song.

〔4〕比利来到林子外面的栅栏那里，爬了上去，又回头看了看：田野，篱笆，灌木树篱。太阳高挂在空中，耳边只有鸟儿此起彼伏的吟唱。

[5] As soon as he entered the wood, Billy left the path and mounted a bank into the undergrowth. He pushed the branches back, away from his eyes, keeping hold until the last moment, then releasing them to thrash back into the foliage behind. He cut a branch off an elm sapling, trimmed it to walking stick length, then used it to fence his way through, slashing and fracturing any limbs in his path.

〔5〕比利一进入林子就离开小径，爬过护坡，走进了灌木丛。他拨开树枝，走过去再松手，任它们弹回去打在后面的枝叶上。他从一株小榆树上砍下一根树枝，修剪成手杖大小，当成开路利器，挥舞着把一切拦路的树枝打断。

[6] The undergrowth thinned out, giving way to grassy clearings between the trees. Overhead their branches webbed into a green canopy, and in places shafts of sunlight angled through, dappling the grey-green trunks, and bringing up the color of the grass and the foliage. Light and shade, a continuous play of light and shade with every rustle of the leaves. Here the bird songs were less frequent, yet more distinct. Hidden somewhere amongst the branches a chaffinch gave out its long undulating notes, concluding each sequence with a flourish. A wood pigeon managed a few series of throaty cooings, ending each series with an abrupt ‘cu’, as though its chest was too sore to carry on. The silence between these calls emphasized the noise of Billy’s progress, and birds retreated prematurely before the swishing and snapping: a robin, tic-tic-tic, a pair of wrens, their loud churrs out of all proportion to their mouse-like size, and a jay, its white rump flashing across the bars of the trees.

〔6〕树丛越来越稀疏，露出大片大片的草地。树枝在头上方交织成一顶绿色的蓬盖，阳光斜斜地从枝叶间的缝隙里投射下来，斑驳地照在灰绿色的树干上，青草和树叶也显得明媚起来，光和影随着树叶的每次颤动追逐嬉戏。这儿的鸟鸣没有那么频繁，不过却更加清晰。不知藏在哪丛枝桠中的一只苍头燕雀，抑扬顿挫地唱着悠长的曲调，每一段必以嘹亮的音符作结。一只斑鸠哑着嗓子，费劲地“咕咕”着，每一串的结尾都是一声短促的“咕”，好像顶不上去了似的。鸟鸣的间隙林子里一片静寂，比利行进的声音便显得愈发响亮。他把手杖挥得“嗖嗖”响，打在树枝上发出“啪啪”的声音，因而不等他到，鸟儿早已四下躲藏起来：一只知更鸟，嘀嘀嘀地叫着；一对鹪鹩，它们的大嗓门和老鼠般大小的身形简直不成比例；还有一只松鸡，拖着白色的尾巴在树梢上一闪而过。

（本文选自《男孩与鹰》，湖南文艺出版社出版，2011年1月）

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1.仲文明，山东济宁人，中南大学外国语学院MTI教育中心副主任。主要学术兴趣为文学翻译与典籍英译，主持省级科研项目一项，参与省部级科研项目三项。曾获第十七届“韩素音青年翻译奖”英译汉优秀奖，第二届全国“芙蓉杯青年翻译奖”英译汉一等奖。目前出版译著三部（含合译）。
2.钟表的指针。
3.原意指“（与流线型相对的）钝线型”，此处用来形容鹧鸪飞起时的样子。
4.树篱：在田地周围密集种植的一圈灌木，以作篱笆之用。

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