【荆棘鸟】第六章 17

晚上，他们在厨房里轮流高声朗读班卓·帕特森和C·J·丹尼斯的诗。节奏轻松自由的《从斯诺依河来的人》使他们激动颤栗；《多愁善感的家伙》使他们纵声大笑；约翰·奥哈拉的《欢笑的玛丽》使他们潸然泪下。

　　我给他写了一封信，

　　打探他的消息。

　　信儿寄到莱彻兰--几年前我认识他的地方；

　　认识他时；他在剪全毛；噢，信儿快快飞去！

　　地址试写上"奥沃弗罗·克兰西"

　　谁料竟打听到了他的消息，

　　（我想，回信定是指甲蘸着柏油写成）

　　写信的是他的患难兄弟。

　　我把它抄写下来，逐字爱句：

　　"克兰西到昆士兰赶牲口，

　　天知道他住在何地！"

　　在我飘忽的遐想中，克兰西悄悄向我走来。

　　他赶着牲口到了西行的必经之地：他到了库珀。

　　一队队牲口缓缓前行，

　　克兰西跟在后面。小曲儿唱了起来，

　　快活哟，赶牲口的生活。

　　城里人永远不会明白。

　　丛林是他的好朋友，

　　"沙沙"唱歌，迎接他的到来。

　　风儿飒飒吹，流水潺潺多欢快，

　　他眺望平川上的灿烂阳光，

　　夜晚，仰望一天星斗，闪烁着奇光异彩。

　　人们都喜欢这篇《住在奥沃弗罗的克兰西》；班卓是他们最喜欢的诗人。也许，这些诗不过是些蹩脚的打油诗，但这些诗本来就不是打算写给上等人看的；它们是为人民而写，属于人民。在那个时候，大多数澳大利亚人都能背诵这类诗歌。比起正规学堂里教授的丁尼生和华兹华斯的诗来，他们对这些诗要熟悉得多。这些诗之所以被戴上了打油诗的帽子，不过是因为它们把英国写成了一个远不可及的极乐世界罢了。丛生的水仙花和日光兰对克利里家人来说毫无意义，他们住的地方不长那些花。

　　

　　克利里一家人对澳大利亚丛林泽影的理解胜于一切，因为奥沃弗罗就是他们的后院，诗里写的是游牧路线上放羊的生活实际。在巴温河畔，有一条曲曲弯弯的正式游牧路线，这是为了从东半部大陆的一端将生活用品运送到另一端的自由往来的官家土地。旧时，那些牲口商和他们好成群结队的、饥饿的、糟蹋草地的牲口群是不受欢迎的。当那些20头到80头一群的庞大阉牛队伍从牧场主们最好的牧草中间缓缓通过的时候，真是招人憎恨。

 

In the kitchen at night they would take turns to read the poems of Banjo Paterson and C. J. Dennis out loud, thrilling to the ride of "The Man from Snowy River," or laughing with "The Sentimental¹ Bloke" and his Doreen, or wiping away surreptitious tears shed for John O'Hara's "Laughing Mary."

I had written him a letter which I had, for want of better Knowledge, sent to where I met him down the Lachlan years ago; He was shearing² when I knew him, so I sent the letter to him, Just on spec, addressed as follows, "Clancy, of the Overflow³."

And an answer came directed in a writing unexpected (and I think the same was written with a thumb-nail dipped in tar); 'It was his shearing mate who wrote it, and verbatim I will quote it: "Clancy's gone to Queensland droving, and we don't know where he are."

In my wild erratic⁴ fancy visions come to me of Clancy Gone a-droving "down the Cooper" where the Western drovers go; As the stock are slowly stringing Clancy rides behind them singing, For the drover's life has pleasures that the townsfolk never know. And the bush has friends to meet him, and their kindly⁵ voices greet him In the murmur⁶ of the breezes and the river on its bars, And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended, And at night the wondrous⁷ glory of the everlasting⁸ stars.

"Clancy of the Overflow" was everyone's favorite, "the Banjo" their favorite poet. Hoppity-go-kick doggerel⁹, perhaps, but the poems had never been intended for the eyes of sophisticated savants; they were for the people, of the people, and more Australians of that day could recite them off by heart than knew the standard schoolroom pieces by Tennyson and Wordsworth, for their brand of hoppity-go-kick doggerel was written with England as inspiration. Crowds of daffodils and fields of asphodel meant nothing to the Clearys, living in a climate where neither could exist. The Clearys understood the bush poets better than most, for the Overflow was their backyard, the traveling sheep a reality on the TSR'S. There was an official Traveling Stock Route or TSR winding¹⁰ its way near the Barwon River, free crown land for the transference of living merchandise from one end of the eastern half of the continent to the other. In the old days drovers and their hungry, grass-ruining mobs of stock had not been welcome, and the bullockies a hated breed as they inched their mammoth¹¹ teams of from twenty to eighty oxen through the middle of the squatters" best grazing. 

1 sentimental   

adj.多愁善感的，感伤的

参考例句：

• She's a sentimental woman who believes marriage comes by destiny.她是多愁善感的人，她相信姻缘命中注定。
• We were deeply touched by the sentimental movie.我们深深被那感伤的电影所感动。

2 shearing   

n.剪羊毛，剪取的羊毛v.剪羊毛( shear的现在分词 )；切断；剪切

参考例句：

• The farmer is shearing his sheep. 那农夫正在给他的羊剪毛。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The result of this shearing force is to push the endoplasm forward. 这种剪切力作用的结果是推动内质向前。 来自辞典例句

3 overflow   

v.(使)外溢，(使)溢出；溢出，流出，漫出

参考例句：

• The overflow from the bath ran on to the floor.浴缸里的水溢到了地板上。
• After a long period of rain,the river may overflow its banks.长时间的下雨天后，河水可能溢出岸来。

4 erratic   

adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的

参考例句：

• The old man had always been cranky and erratic.那老头儿性情古怪,反复无常。
• The erratic fluctuation of market prices is in consequence of unstable economy.经济波动致使市场物价忽起忽落。

5 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

6 murmur   

n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言

参考例句：

• They paid the extra taxes without a murmur.他们毫无怨言地交了附加税。
• There was a low murmur of conversation in the hall.大厅里有窃窃私语声。

7 wondrous   

adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地

参考例句：

• The internal structure of the Department is wondrous to behold.看一下国务院的内部结构是很有意思的。
• We were driven across this wondrous vast land of lakes and forests.我们乘车穿越这片有着湖泊及森林的广袤而神奇的土地。

8 everlasting   

adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的

参考例句：

• These tyres are advertised as being everlasting.广告上说轮胎持久耐用。
• He believes in everlasting life after death.他相信死后有不朽的生命。

9 doggerel   

n.拙劣的诗，打油诗

参考例句：

• The doggerel doesn't filiate itself.这首打油诗没有标明作者是谁。
• He styled his poem doggerel.他把他的这首诗歌叫做打油诗。

10 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

11 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。