作者：[美] 杰克·伦敦（Jack London）
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爱的力量(外研社双语读库)试读：
Grit of Women女人的刚毅A wolfish head, wistful-eyed and frost-rimed, thrust aside the tent-flaps.
一颗狼一样的脑袋把帐篷的门帘顶到了一边，脑袋上的毛都结了一层白霜，眼中带着渴求的目光。
"Hi! Chook! Siwash! Chook, you limb of Satan!" chorused the protesting inmates. Bettles rapped the dog sharply with a tin plate, and it withdrew hastily. Louis Savoy refastened the flaps, kicked a frying-pan over against the bottom, and warmed his hands. It was very cold without. Forty-eight hours gone, the spirit thermometer had burst at sixty-eight below, and since that time it had grown steadily and bitterly colder. There was no telling when the snap would end. And it is poor policy, unless the gods will it, to venture far from a stove at such times, or to increase the quantity of cold atmosphere one must breathe. Men sometimes do it, and sometimes they chill their lungs. This leads up to a dry, hacking cough, noticeably irritable when bacon is being fried. After that, somewhere along in the spring or summer, a hole is burned in the frozen muck. Into this a man's carcass is dumped, covered over with moss, and left with the assurance that it will rise on the crack of Doom, wholly and frigidly intact. For those of little faith, sceptical of material integration on that fateful day, no fitter country than the Klondike can be recommended to die in. But it is not to be inferred from this that it is a fit country for living purposes.“嗨！去！锡沃斯！去，你这坏家伙！”帐篷里的人齐声抗议道。贝特斯拿一块镀锡铁皮对着狗猛敲，狗急忙缩回了脑袋。路易斯·萨沃伊重新固定好帐篷门帘，又把一只煎锅踢翻，用它顶着门帘底部，之后暖了暖手。帐篷外面太冷了。两天两夜过去了，温度降到零下68度的时候，酒精温度计就爆裂了。自那之后，天气一天比一天寒冷刺骨。谁也不知道这段寒冷天气什么时候才会结束。在这样的时候，除非是迫不得已，否则没人愿意远离火炉，或去多呼吸一口不必要的冷空气。间或也有人会干这样的事，于是有时就会把自己的肺冻着了。结果便会导致断断续续的干咳，煎熏肉时发作得尤其厉害。那之后，在春日或夏日，在某个地方，有人就会在冻住的淤泥地上烧出一个洞。接着，这人把一具男人的尸体扔进洞里，在上面盖上苔藓后再离开，确信这样一来，冰凉的躯体就能保持完好，在末日审判到来时顺利复活。对于那些没有信仰、怀疑世界末日那天肉体没法复活的人，克朗代克真是再合适不过的长眠之地。不过，也不能就此推断这里是个适宜生存的地方。
It was very cold without, but it was not over-warm within. The only article which might be designated furniture was the stove, and for this the men were frank in displaying their preference. Upon half of the floor pine boughs had been cast; above this were spread the sleeping-furs, beneath lay the winter's snowfall. The remainder of the floor was moccasin-packed snow, littered with pots and pans and the general impedimenta of an Arctic camp. The stove was red and roaring hot, but only a bare three feet away lay a block of ice, as sharp-edged and dry as when first quarried from the creek bottom. The pressure of the outside cold forced the inner heat upward. Just above the stove, where the pipe penetrated the roof, was a tiny circle of dry canvas; next, with the pipe always as centre, a circle of steaming canvas; next a damp and moisture-exuding ring; and finally, the rest of the tent, sidewalls and top, coated with a half-inch of dry, white, crystal-encrusted frost.
外面很冷，帐篷里面也并不太暖和。唯一勉强称得上家具的东西就是那个火炉，而人们也毫不掩饰对它的偏爱。地上有一半地方都盖着大松枝；松枝上铺着用来睡觉的毛皮，下面则是冬天的积雪。剩下的地方全是塞在“莫卡辛”鞋里的雪，上面散放着坛坛罐罐，还有些北极帐篷里常见的杂七杂八的东西。尽管炉子烧得又红又烫，仅仅三英尺开外的地方却放着一块冰，棱角分明，干燥得就像刚从溪谷挖出来似的。外面的冷气压迫使帐篷里的热量向上流动。就在火炉正上方，也就是烟囱伸入帐顶的地方，是一小圈干燥的帆布；往下，通常以烟囱为中心，是一圈冒着热气的帆布；再往下是一个潮湿的、渗着水的圆圈。此外，帐篷剩下的部分，包括侧壁和顶棚，都罩着一层半寸厚的霜，又干又白，表面亮晶晶的。
"Oh! OH! OH! A young fellow, lying asleep in the furs, bearded and wan and weary, raised a moan of pain, and without waking increased the pitch and intensity of his anguish. His body half-lifted from the blankets, and quivered and shrank spasmodically, as though drawing away from a bed of nettles.“唉哟！唉哟！唉哟！一个年轻小伙子，留着胡子，苍白憔悴，正躺在毛皮上面睡觉，发出一阵阵痛苦的呻吟；人还没有醒，呻吟的声音却渐渐高起来，痛得也更厉害了。他的身子半离开毯子，痉挛般地颤抖、抽搐起来，仿佛试图从一床荨麻上坐起身来。
"Roll'm over!" ordered Bettles. "He's crampin'."“给他翻个身！”贝特斯吩咐道，“他在抽筋。”
And thereat, with pitiless good-will, he was pitched upon and rolled and thumped and pounded by half-a-dozen willing comrades.
就这样，出于好心，六个同伴毫不留情地迅速把他压回毯子，给他翻了个身，又重重锤了他一顿。
"Damn the trail," he muttered softly, as he threw off the robes and sat up. "I've run across country, played quarter three seasons hand-running, and hardened myself in all manner of ways; and then I pilgrim it into this God-forsaken land and find myself an effeminate Athenian without the simplest rudiments of manhood!”He hunched up to the fire and rolled a cigarette. "Oh, I'm not whining. I can take my medicine all right, all right; but I'm just decently ashamed of myself, that's all. Here I am, on top of a dirty thirty miles, as knocked up and stiff and sore as a pink-tea degenerate after a five-mile walk on a country turn-pike. Bah! It makes me sick! Got a match?”"Don't git the tantrums, youngster."Bettles passed over the required fire-stick and waxed patriarchal. "Ye've gotter 'low some for the breakin'-in. Sufferin' cracky! don't I recollect the first time I hit the trail! Stiff? I've seen the time it'd take me ten minutes to git my mouth from the waterhole an' come to my feet—every jint crackin' an' kickin' fit to kill. Cramp? In sech knots it'd take the camp half a day to untangle me. You're all right, for a cub, any ye've the true sperrit. Come this day year, you'll walk all us old bucks into the ground any time. An' best in your favor, you hain't got that streak of fat in your make-up which has sent many a husky man to the bosom of Abraham afore his right and proper time.”“这该死的路，”小伙子轻声嘟囔着，掀开盖毯坐起身来，“我跑遍了整个国家，大半年都没停歇，用各种方法把自己的身板练强了，然后辛辛苦苦跑到这个鬼地方来，发现自个儿娇气得像个雅典人，没有一点儿男人的样子！”他弯着身子靠近火，卷了一根烟。“唉，我可不是发牢骚。我活该遭罪，活该，就是觉得自个儿挺丢人的，没别的意思。我走了三十英里烂路，到了这儿，筋疲力尽，浑身又僵又酸，就像个在乡村公路上走了五英里的娇小姐一样瘫掉了。呸！简直恶心死我了！有火柴没？”“消消气，年轻人。”贝特斯把火柴递给他，用长辈的语气说道，“你得知道怎么适应新环境。这算什么遭罪！我难道不记得我第一次怎么走这条路的！全身僵硬？有一次我把嘴凑到冰窟窿喝水，起身就花了十分钟——每个关节都嘎吱作响，疼得要死。抽筋？遇上抽筋的问题，整个帐篷的伙计得花上半天捶我，我才会好。你这个年轻人，算不错了，精力好。每年这个时候都来一趟，你早晚都会超过我们这些老骨头的。你最大的优势就是身上没什么肥肉，很多大块头正是因为肥肉太多，早早地就去了天堂。
"Streak of fat?"“肥肉？”
"Yep. Comes along of bulk. 'T ain't the big men as is the best when it comes to the trail."“没错。就是说块头大。走这条路，可不是块头越大越好。”
"Never heard of it."“从来没听说过。”
"Never heered of it, eh? Well, it's a dead straight, open-an'-shut fact, an' no gittin' round. Bulk's all well enough for a mighty big effort, but 'thout stayin' powers it ain't worth a continental whoop; an' stayin' powers an' bulk ain't runnin' mates. Takes the small, wiry fellows when it comes to gittin' right down an' hangin' on like a lean-jowled dog to a bone. Why, hell's fire, the big men they ain't in it!"“没听说过，真的？得了，这可是绝对可靠又明显的事实，我可不是唬人。大块头使起劲来再厉害不过，不过要论耐力可就不怎么样了，大块头往往耐力很差。而那些小个儿、瘦长结实的家伙，他们认真干起来，就像瘦骨嶙峋的狗咬定一块骨头一样，丝毫不放松。唉，这些个煎熬，大个子可受不了！”
"By gar!" broke in Louis Savoy, "dat is no, vot you call, josh! I know one mans, so vaire beeg like ze buffalo. Wit him, on ze Sulphur Creek stampede, go one small mans, Lon McFane. You know dat Lon McFane, dat leetle Irisher wit ze red hair and ze grin. An' dey walk an' walk an' walk, all ze day long an' ze night long. And beeg mans, him become vaire tired, an' lay down mooch in ze snow. And leetle mans keek beeg mans, an' him cry like, vot you call—ah! vot you call ze kid. And leetle mans keek an' keek an' keek, an' bime by, long time, long way, keek beeg mans into my cabin. Tree days 'fore him crawl out my blankets. Nevaire I see beeg squaw like him. No nevaire. Him haf vot you call ze streak of fat. You bet."“老天爷作证！”路易斯·萨沃伊插话说，“那可不是——用你们的话说——那可不是开玩笑的！”我认识一个人，壮得像头水牛。大家一窝蜂似的去萨尔弗溪的时候，他和一个小个子朗·麦克范一道走。你们认识朗·麦克范吧，那个小个子爱尔兰人，头发红红的，总爱咧着嘴笑。他们走啊，走啊，走啊，走了整整一天一夜。大个子呢，累极了，就躺在雪地上了。小个子踢他，他就哭，哭得像什么来着——啊！像你们说的，活像个小娃娃似的。小个子踢啊，踢啊，踢啊，踢了好长一段时间，好长一段路，才慢慢把那个大个子踢到我的小屋里。三天过后，那大个子才从我家毯子上爬起来。我还没见过像他这么娘们儿气的大个子呢。从来没见过。他活脱脱就是一堆肥肉。没错。”
"But there was Axel Gunderson," Prince spoke up. The great Scandinavian, with the tragic events which shadowed his passing, had made a deep mark on the mining engineer. "He lies up there, somewhere."He swept his hand in the vague direction of the mysterious east.“不过，别忘了还有个阿克塞尔·冈德森。”普林斯开口道。那位伟大的斯堪的纳维亚人，以及那些影射他死亡的悲剧事件，曾给这位采矿工程师留下了很深的印象。“他就长眠在那儿，某个地方。”他手一挥，朝神秘的东方草草一指。
"Biggest man that ever turned his heels to Salt Water, or run a moose down with sheer grit," supplemented Bettles; "but he's the prove-the-rule exception. Look at his woman, Unga,—tip the scales at a hundred an' ten, clean meat an' nary ounce to spare. She'd bank grit 'gainst his for all there was in him, an' see him, an' go him better if it was possible. Nothing over the earth, or in it, or under it, she wouldn't 'a' done."“在那些到过海边的或者全凭毅力猎到过一只麋鹿的人当中，就数他个头最大。”贝特斯补充道，“不过他可是绝对的例外。你看看他的女人，恩卡——才一百一十磅，精瘦，一点儿赘肉也没有。她胆量过人，堪比他体内的全部勇气之和；她陪伴着他，想尽办法让他变得更加优秀。天上飞的、地上跑的、水里游的，没什么她搞不定的。”
"But she loved him," objected the engineer.“可她爱他。”工程师反驳道。
"'T ain't that. It—”“我不是说那个。我是说——”
"Look you, brothers," broke in Sitka Charley from his seat on the grub-box. "Ye have spoken of the streak of fat that runs in big men's muscles, of the grit of women and the love, and ye have spoken fair; but I have in mind things which happened when the land was young and the fires of men apart as the stars. It was then I had concern with a big man, and a streak of fat, and a woman. And the woman was small; but her heart was greater than the beef-heart of the man, and she had grit. And we traveled a weary trail, even to the Salt Water, and the cold was bitter, the snow deep, the hunger great. And the woman's love was a mighty love—no more can man say than this.”“瞧你们说的，兄弟们，”坐在粮柜子上的赛特卡·查利插嘴道，“你们刚刚提到大个子肌肉里藏着的肥肉，提到女人的毅力和爱，你们都说得没错。不过，我倒是想起了这块土地刚开荒那会儿，人烟还像星星一样稀少时发生的一些事情。也就是在那时，我跟一个大个子男人，就是一堆肥肉的那种，还有一个女人有了瓜葛。这个女人个子小小的，可她的心比男人牛一样的心脏还要强大，她真有毅力。我们一路劳累奔波，甚至走到了海边。天气寒冷刺骨，积雪又深，我们都饿得要命。这个女人的爱是伟大的——没有比这更好的说法了。”
He paused, and with the hatchet broke pieces of ice from the large chunk beside him. These he threw into the gold pan on the stove, where the drinking-water thawed. The men drew up closer, and he of the cramps sought greater comfort vainly for his stiffened body.
他停顿了一下，用一把短柄小斧子将冰一片片地从他身旁的大冰块上削下来。他把这些碎冰扔进火炉上的金黄色锅里，融化成饮用水。大伙儿靠得更近了些，那个刚才抽筋的人也想让僵硬的身体更舒服些，却没什么效果。
"Brothers, my blood is red with Siwash, but my heart is white. To the faults of my fathers I owe the one, to the virtues of my friends the other. A great truth came to me when I was yet a boy. I learned that to
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