第一章 薩姆
He knew perfectly well he would be going back to the pond where the swans were.
他心里很清楚,自己還會再去天鵝們所在的那個池塘的。
And he had no intention of getting lost in the woods.
但他并不打算在森林里迷路。
He felt relieved that he had not told his father about seeing the swans, but he felt queer about it, too.
他到底沒把看到天鵝的事告訴父親,這既讓他寬慰又讓他有種不舒服的感覺。
Sam was not a sly boy, but he was odd in one respect: he liked to keep things to himself.
薩姆不是一個淘氣的孩子,但他有一個奇怪的習慣:他喜歡把秘密只留給自己。
And he liked being alone, particularly when he was in the woods.
他還喜歡一個人呆著,特別當他到了森林里的時候。
He enjoyed the life on his father's cattle ranch in the Sweet Grass country in Montana.
他喜愛蒙大拿香草鄉(xiāng)爸爸的畜牧場里的生活。
He loved his mother. He loved Duke, his cow pony. He loved riding the range.
他愛媽媽。他愛公爵,他的牧牛馬。他喜歡騎著馬漫步。
He loved watching guests who came to board at the Beavers' ranch every summer.
他喜歡觀察那些每年夏天到比弗的大農(nóng)場里食宿的客人們。
But the thing he enjoyed most in life was these camping trips in Canada with his father.
不過,在生活中他最喜歡的莫過于和父親一起去加拿大野營。
Mrs.Beaver didn't care for the woods, so she seldom went along--it was usually just Sam and Mr. Beaver.
比弗太太對森林并不在乎,因此她很少一起來——通常只有薩姆和比弗先生來這里。
They would motor to the border and cross into Canada.
他們會開車越過邊境來到加拿大。
There Mr. Beaver would hire a bush pilot to fly them to the lake where his camp was, for a few days of fishing and loafing and exploring.
到了那里后,比弗先生會雇傭一位無人區(qū)飛行員駕機把他們送到營地所在的湖邊,然后他們便在那里釣魚、閑逛、探險,玩上幾天。
Mr. Beaver did most of the fishing and loafing. Sam did the exploring.
比弗先生多數(shù)時候都在釣魚或閑逛。薩姆則只顧著探險。
And then the pilot would return to take them out. His name was Shorty.
最后,飛行員會來把他們接走。他的外號叫矬子。
They would hear the sound of his motor and run out and wave and watch him glide down onto the lake and taxi his plane in to the dock.
他們聽到他的飛機聲后便會跑出來對飛機揮手,看著它在湖上降落并向碼頭滑翔。
These were the pleasantest days of Sam's life, these days in the woods, far, far from everywhere
在森林里的那些日子,是薩姆生命中最快樂的日子,因為那時別的一切都遠得不能再遠了
no automobiles, no roads, no people, no noise, no school, no homework, no problems, except the problem of getting lost.
這兒沒有汽車,沒有馬路,沒有人群,沒有噪音,沒有學校,沒有作業(yè),沒有問題,只除了那個不要迷路的問題。
And, of course, the problem of what to be when he grew up. Every boy has that problem.
當然啦,還有那個長大以后要干什么的問題。每個男孩子都有這個問題。