All Things Bright and Beautifull万物有灵且美

⊙ By James Herriot ⊙ 翻译：种衍伦 ⊙ 校译：思苇

如果你喜欢小动物，热爱大自然，不妨找点时间，静下心来，读一读吉米·哈利（James Herriot，1916-1995）的“万物”系列：《万物既伟大又渺小》（All Creatures Great and Small）、《万物有灵且美》（All Things Bright and Beautiful）、《万物既聪慧又奇妙》（All Things Wise and Wonderful）、《万物刹那又永恒》（The Lord Made Them All），以及《万物生光辉》（Every Living Thing）。

英国人吉米·哈利是个半路出家的业余作家，他的本行竟然是兽医！更妙的是，尽管文风平实、语言幽默、寓意深刻的“万物”系列给哈利带来了巨大的名和利，他并没有就此“弃医从文”，而是一直在各家农场上看护着动物的健康，不断用源于生活的素材创作出高于生活的故事——不忘初心，方得始终，说的大概就是他这种人呢。

本期选段出自《万物有灵且美》第三章。

词汇指南针

这套丛书来源于作者从医期间的亲身经历，其语言难度主要体现在生词方面——尤其是关于动物、兽医、畜牧方面的内容特别多，比如本期选段中就有大量和羊有关的词汇。同学们可以将这些词整理在一起，有针对性地学习，更有利于加深记忆。

This was my third spring in the Dales but it was like the two before—and all the springs after.The kind of spring, that is, that a country vet knows; the din[喧闹]of the lambing pens[产羔栏], the bass[低音的]rumble[咕咕声]of the ewes[母羊]and the high, insistent[持续的]bawling[大叫]of the lambs.This, for me, has always heralded[宣布]the end of winter and the beginning of something new. This and the piercing Yorkshire wind and the hard, bright sunshine flooding the bare hillsides.

At the top of the grassy slope[斜坡]the pens, built of straw bales[捆], formed a long row of square cubicles[小间]each holding a ewe with her lambs, and I could see Rob Benson coming round the far end carrying two feeding buckets. Rob was hard at it; at this time of the year he didn’t go to bed for about six weeks; he would maybe take off his boots and doze[打盹]by the kitchen fire at night, but he was his own shepherd[牧羊人]and never very far from the scene of action.

“I’ve got a couple of cases for you today, Jim.” His face, cracked and purpled by the weather, broke into a grin[咧嘴笑].

For the next week I hardly seemed to have my coat on. The flood of sheep work was at its peak and I spent hours of every day with my arms in and out of buckets of hot water in all corners of the district—in the pens, in dark nooks[角落]in farm buildings or very often in the open fields, because the farmers of those days didn’t find anything disturbing in the sight of a vet kneeling[跪]in his shirt sleeves for an hour in the rain.

I had one more visit to Rob Benson’s place.

“Look!” Rob cried. “There’s that our ewe with Herbert.Over there on t’right—in the middle of that bunch.” Oh,they all looked the same to me but to Rob, like all shepherds,they were as different as people and he picked out those two effortlessly[毫不费劲地].

I looked away, over the noisy pens, over the hundreds of sheep moving across the fields. I turned to the farmer. “I’m afraid you’ve seen a lot of me lately, Rob. I

hope this is the last visit.”

“Aye[是], well it could be.We’re getting well through now…but it’s a hell of a time, lambin’, isn’t it?”

“It is that. Well, I must be off—I’ll leave you to it.” I turned and made my way down the hillside, my arms raw[刺痛的]and chafing[擦痛的]in my sleeves, my cheeks whipped[抽打]by the eternal[不停的]wind gusting[劲吹]over the grass. At the gate I stopped and gazed[注视]back at the wide landscape, ribbed[织罗纹]and streaked[加条纹]by the last of the winter’s snow, and at the dark grey banks of cloud riding across on the wind followed by lakes of brightest blue; and in seconds the fields and walls and woods burst into vivid life and I had to close my eyes against the sun’s glare. As I stood there the distant uproar[喧嚣]came faintly[模糊地]down to me, the tumultuous[吵闹的]harmony[和声]from deepest bass to highest treble[高音部];demanding, anxious, angry, loving.

The sound of the sheep, the sound of spring.

见招拆招

你不能说吉米·哈利的作品特别有文学性和故事性，但是从他的文字中，我们不难看出哈利是个充满正能量的人，对生活无比热爱。他总是歌颂自然的恩赐，赞美生命的奇迹。尽管兽医这份职业经常伴随着各种酸甜苦辣，他还是能从点滴小事中发掘到美好的瞬间，让我们在这个由人与动物交织而成的乡间生活中感受到欢乐、大爱、温暖与强大的生命力。将本期选段多读几遍，你是否有所启发？

参考译文

这是我在德禄镇的第三个春天，不过它和过去的两个春天——以及未来的所有春天都没什么两样。那是一个乡下兽医才会明白个中滋味的春天，羊羔栏嘈杂不堪，母羊发出低沉的咕哝，小羊则在高声地咩咩直叫。这种喧闹，还有约克郡那刺骨的春风，以及洒满光秃山腰的明媚阳光，总能让我知道严冬已经步入尾声，新的一切即将到来。

那些用干草块围成的方形羊栏都坐落于绿意盎然的斜坡上，农户们将每一只母羊和它的小羊围成一家，然后家家相邻地排成一列。我看到罗布·本森提着两桶饲料，从羊栏那头远远走来。罗布是个肯苦干的人，每年的这个时候，他至少有六个礼拜没上过床——他也许会脱下靴子，坐在厨房的炉火边上打个盹，但他是个亲力亲为的牧羊人，从来不会远离现场。

“今天有几只羊想请你瞧瞧，吉姆，”他笑着说道，日晒雨淋在他黝黑的脸上刻下了深深的沟纹。

之后的一周里，我几乎没什么机会穿外套。母羊产子的热潮达到了最高峰，每天我都要在整个地区到处奔波，不断地将手伸进热水桶里，忙上好几个小时——有时是羊栏，有时是农舍的阴暗角落，更多的时候还要露天作业，因为那时候的农户假如看到一名兽医冒着大雨，只穿着衬衣，跪在地上给母羊接生，心里可一点都不会觉得歉疚。

后来，我又去罗布·本森那儿跑了一趟。

“你瞧！”罗布叫道，“我们的母羊和哈伯在一起，就在那儿，右边——就在羊群中间。”喔，这些羊在我看来全长得一模一样，但是罗布跟所有牧羊人一样，羊群在他们眼中就像人类一样千差万别，他毫不费劲地就将那两只羊分辨出来了。

我远远眺望，越过吵闹的羊栏，看着数百只羊在农场上漫步，回过头来对罗布说：“最近你老是看到我，罗布，希望这是我最后一次来吧。”

“是啊，希望吧。我们现在总算缓过来了……给母羊接生可真够呛呢，对不对？”

“可不是。我该走了，剩下的就看你自己了。”我转身走下山坡，袖子摩擦着我的手臂，永不停歇的草原之风拍打着我的脸颊。我站在大门口，向农场里面眺望，严冬最后的白雪在广阔的土地上留下了横七竖八的花纹，大团大团的乌云随风掠过，后面的天空露出了最明亮的蓝色；没一会儿，田地、围墙与树林都焕发出蓬勃的生机，炫目的日光让我不得不闭上眼睛。我站在门口，还能隐隐约约地听到远处的骚动和喧嚣，那是一首从最低音到最高音一应俱全的农场大和声，那里面充满了迫切、焦虑、愤怒和慈爱之情。

那是羊群的声音，也是春天的声音。