1 I Hole Up in a Snowstorm

My Side of the Mountain JEAN GEORGE

《山居岁月》 珍·乔治

In Which I Hole Up in a Snowstorm "I am on my mountain in a tree home that people have passed without ever knowing that I am here. The house is a hemlock tree six feet in diameter, and must he as old as the mountain itself. I came upon it last summer and dug and burned it out until I made a snug cave in the tree that I now call home. "My bed is on the right as you enter, and is made of ash slats and covered with deerskin. On the left is a small fireplace about knee high. It is of clay and stones. It has a chimney that leads the smoke out through a knothole. I chipped out three other knotholes to let fresh air in. The air coming in is bitter cold. It must be below zero outside, and yet I

我躲进树洞避暴风雪 「我在我的山上，住在一棵大树的树屋里，路过的人从来都不知道我在这里。 我的家是一棵直径六英尺的铁杉，树龄大概和这座山一样古老。 我去年夏天发现了它，挖啊烧啊把树干掏空，做成了舒服的树洞，现在这里就是我的家。 「进门右手边就是我的床，用白蜡木条搭成，铺着鹿皮。 左手边有一个小小的壁炉，大概到膝盖那么高。 它是用黏土和石头垒成的。 烟顺着烟囱通过一个树节孔排出去。 我另外凿了三个树节孔，好让新鲜空气进来。 进来的风冷得刺骨。 外面肯定已经零下了，可我

can sit here inside my tree and write with bare hands. The fire is small, too. It doesn't take much fire to warm this tree room. "It is the fourth of December, I think. It may be the fifth. I am not sure because I have not recently counted the notches in the aspen pole that is my calendar. I have been just too busy gathering nuts and berries, smoking venison, fish and small game to keep up with the exact date. "The lamp I am writing by is deer fat poured into a turtle-shell with a strip of my old city trousers for a wick. "It snowed all day yesterday and today. I have not been outside since the storm began, and I am bored for the first time since I ran away from home eight months ago to live on the land. "I am well and healthy. The food is good. Sometimes I eat turtle soup, and I know how

却能光着双手坐在树屋里写字。 炉火也烧得很小。 要暖透这个树屋，根本不需要多大的火。 「我想今天应该是十二月四号。 也可能是五号。 我不确定，因为我好久没数我做日历用的白杨杆上的刻痕了。 我一直忙着采集坚果和浆果，熏制鹿肉、鱼和小猎物，根本记不清准确日子了。 「我写字用的灯，是把鹿油倒进龟壳，剪了我过去在城里穿的旧裤子的布条做灯芯。 「从昨天到今天，雪一直下了一整天。 暴风雪开始后我就没出过门，这是我八个月前离家来山里生活，第一次觉得无聊。 「我身体很好，很健康。 食物也都很棒。 有时候我会喝海龟汤，我还会

to make acorn pancakes. I keep my supplies in the wall of the tree in wooden pockets that I chopped myself. "Every time I have looked at those pockets during the last two days, I have felt just like a squirrel, which reminds me: I didn't see a squirrel one whole day before that storm began. I guess they are holed up and eating their stored nuts, too. "I wonder if The Baron, that's the wild weasel who lives behind the big boulder to the north of my tree, is also denned up. Well, anyway, I think the storm is dying down because the tree is not crying so much. When the wind really blows, the whole tree moans right down to the roots, which is where I am. "Tomorrow I hope The Baron and I can tunnel out into the sunlight. I wonder if I should dig the snow. But that would mean I would have to put it somewhere, and the only place to put it is in my nice snug tree. Maybe

做橡子煎饼。 我把物资存放在树干内壁我亲手凿出来的木槽里。 「这两天我每次看着这些木槽，都觉得自己像只松鼠，这也让我想起：暴风雪来的前一天，我一只松鼠都没见到。 我猜它们也都躲起来，吃自己存好的坚果了。 「不知道男爵——就是住在我树屋北边大石头后面的野黄鼠狼——是不是也躲起来了。 不过不管怎么说，我觉得风暴快停了，因为树都没怎么呜呜叫了。 风大的时候，整棵树从梢到根都在呻吟，而我就住在树根这里。 「我希望明天我和男爵能挖条雪道出去晒太阳。 我在想我该不该先挖雪。 可挖出来的雪总得找地方放啊，唯一能放的地方就是我舒服的小树屋。 或许

I Can pack it with my hands as I go. I've always dug into the snow from the top, never up from under. "The Baron must dig up from under the snow. I wonder where he puts what he digs? Well, I guess I'll know in the morning." When I wrote that last winter, I was scared and thought maybe I'd never get out of my tree. I had been scared for two days– ever since the first blizzard hit the Catskill Mountains. When I came up to the sunlight, which I did by simply poking my head into the soft snow and standing up, I laughed at my dark fears. Everything was white, clean, shining, and beautiful. The sky was blue, blue, blue. The hemlock grove was laced with snow, the meadow was

我可以一边挖一边用手把雪搬出去。 我之前都是从雪面往下挖，从来没从下往上挖过。 「男爵肯定是从雪底下往上挖的。 我好奇他挖出来的雪都放哪儿了呢？ 好吧，我猜明天早上就能知道了。」 去年冬天写下这些的时候，我特别害怕，还以为我永远都走不出这棵树了。 从第一场暴风雪袭击卡茨基尔山开始，我已经怕了两天了。 后来我把头探进松软的雪里，站起身就走到了阳光下，我都笑自己之前瞎担心了。 万物都洁白干净，闪着光，美极了。 天空蓝得那么透亮，那么纯净。 铁杉林缀着白雪，草地

smooth and white, and the gorge was sparkling with ice. It was so beautiful and peaceful that I laughed out loud. I guess I laughed because my first snowstorm was over and it had not been so terrible after all. Then I shouted, "I did it!" My voice never got very far. It was hushed by the tons of snow. I looked for signs of The Baron Weasel. His footsteps were all over the boulder, also slides where he had played. He must have been up for hours, enjoying the new snow. Inspired by his fun, I poked my head into my tree and whistled. Frightful, my trained falcon, flew to my fist, and we jumped and slid down the mountain, making big holes and trenches as we went. It was good to be whistling and carefree again, because I was sure scared by the coming of that storm. I had been working since May, learning how to make a fire with flint and steel, finding

一片平滑洁白，峡谷的冰面闪着亮晶晶的光。 一切都那么美丽安宁，我忍不住笑出了声。 我想我笑，是因为我的第一场暴风雪过去了，它其实根本没有那么可怕。 然后我大喊：「我做到了！」 我的声音没传出去多远。 厚厚的积雪把声音都吸走了。 我开始找黄鼠狼男爵的踪迹。 大石头上到处都是他的脚印，还有他玩耍打滑留下的痕迹。 他肯定已经出来好几个小时，玩新雪玩得开心呢。 看着他玩得那么高兴，我也来了兴致，我探出头对着树屋吹了声口哨。 我的猎鹰「可怕」立刻飞到我的拳头上，我们一起蹦跳着滑下山，一路上留下了好多大坑和沟痕。 能重新吹着口哨无忧无虑真好，暴风雪来的时候我可真是吓坏了。 从五月开始我就一直在忙活：学怎么用燧石和铁器生火，辨认