读你所爱,呵护你的心灵;掌握英语,打开你的第三只眼。
“总有一天我们会把一切都夺回来的,我的乖妹妹,”Viserys总是向Danny这样保证。有时候,当他说到这儿,他的手会不停地颤抖着。“珠宝和丝绸,龙石岛和王城,铁王座和七个王国,他们从我们手中抢走的一切,我们都会把它夺回来的。”Viserys是为了这一天而活着的。而Danny想要回来的只是那座有一扇大红门的房子,她窗外的柠檬树,还有她从未谋面的童年。
“We will have it all back someday, sweet sister,” he would promise her. Sometimes his hands shook when he talked about it. “The jewels and the silks, Dragonstone and King’s Landing, the Iron Throne and the Seven Kingdoms, all they have taken from us, we will have it back.” Viserys lived for that day. All that Daenerys wanted back was the big house with the red door, the lemon tree outside her window, the childhood she had never known.
【本节导读】
在无论是美剧《权力的游戏》还是原著《冰与火之歌》,我最喜欢的形象之一就是故事中那无所不能的三条龙了,尤其是他们长大以后。我也因此喜欢上了龙母Daenerys骑着巨龙的景象。我知道龙是不存在的,可是不知道为什么,这条龙似乎寄托着许多梦想一样的东西。而书中龙母的形象则远没有美剧中那样的魅力,或许是因为书中的龙母太真实,太让人感到疼痛,我反倒不敢去正视她了。不过,这不正是我们成人对这种“童话”般的魔幻故事、科幻故事着迷的原因吗?因为现实生活中有太多我们无法正视的现实,有太多我们只能在魔幻故事中才能实现的梦想。所以我们需要第三只眼睛。
如果说HBO拍出了一部伟大的《权力的游戏》魔幻大片的话,这本书的作者George R.R. Martin则写出了一部更伟大的文学经典。除去作品中的魔幻因素,作者对于用文字所勾勒、刻画和讲述的历史、信仰、和人物使得整个虚幻的中古世界成为现实世界。读者从本章讲述Daenerys Targaryen(龙母)的早期故事就能体会到经典的震撼力。
这里将龙母的家世背景略作介绍。在冰与火的故事中之中,我们只能从零散的文字中才能拼凑出Targaryen家族的完整历史。如果不了解,一些读者阅读起来会非常困难。
【温馨提示】为了符合我们的互联网讲文明讲礼貌的要求,我只能把这部经典中一些不文明不礼貌的原文翻译成文明礼貌用语(否则会被毙掉的,更不要说展现了)。有些地方实在做不到,我会注明(如:此处省略xx字)字样。请读者谅解,并自己阅读原文。这也算是一个我们需要掌握英语的理由吧。我们需要打开英语这第三只眼睛。
House Targaryen: Targaryen 家族
Targaryen家族来自Dragonstone(龙石岛),它的祖先可以追溯到已经毁灭的Valyria,是仅存的龙族(Dragon lords)后代。在Robert Baratheon 推翻Targaryen王朝以前,他们是统治Westeros大陆七个王国(Seven Kingdoms)的统治者。其家族的徽章是黑色背景上一条三头红龙喷火的图案。其家族的语录是:火与血 (Fire and Blood)。
Daenerys Targaryen (昵称为Danny,冰与火后期她还被称之为Daenerys Stormborn, 暴风之子),是疯子国王Aerys II Targaryen 最小的孩子。当Robert 的军队攻入王城(King’s Landing)时,她的母亲刚刚怀上她。母亲和年轻的王子Viserys被送往了她们的老家Dragonstone。九个月以后,Daenerys 出生了。她出生的那天晚上,一场暴风雨席卷Dragonstone,并将Targaryen王朝剩余的海上舰队全部摧毁。因为这个原因,后来Daenerys也被称之为Stormborn 风暴之子。她的母亲在她出生以后,给她起了名字就去世了。当疯子国王被Jaime Lannister 所杀,当大王子Rhaegar 在三江河(Trident)被Robert 杀死,同时Rhaegar的孩子也被杀死以后,Viserys 和Danny 成为Targaryen家族唯一的后代。
随后没有多久,Robert 国王的兄弟Stannis 开始率领舰队向Dragonstone这最后一块尚未攻克的岛屿进发。Viserys 王子和Danny 在Williem Darry 爵士的保护下逃离的Dragonstone,并开始了他们漫长的逃亡之旅。他们穿过狭长海,来到了自由城Braavos,又在随后的十多年里几乎漂泊走遍了所有的自由城帮“Myr, Tyrosh, Qohor, Volantis 和Lys。最后,他们来到了自由城Pentos,并被当地富绅Illyrio 收留。
Viserys一直梦想在这里找到援军,有朝一日打回Westeros 去, 他和他的父亲疯子国王一样也有些疯狂。在富绅Illyrio的撮合下,他计划把自己的妹妹嫁给(卖给)草原游牧民族Dothraki族的族长Khal Drogo,以换取族长承诺给他军队打回王城。这一年,Danny 才十三岁,这十多年来,他们一直在异乡漂泊流浪,Viserys 王子现在被街头巷尾的人称之为“乞丐国王”。
如果你只是对中文阅读感兴趣,阅读中文也一定会有所收获的。请直接跳过【刘博士英语突破学习法】内容。
【刘博士#英语#突破学习法】:阅读——跟读——听读。
1) 如果你的英语学习重点是阅读突破,那么在理解中文译文内容后,请转向英语文本的阅读,你会发现英语没有想象的那么难。请在合适的时候转向直接阅读英语原文。英语阅读突破是一个自然的过程。当你习惯了无需中文辅助的英语阅读时,你就会自己知道你是否取得了阅读的突破。
2) 如果你的英语突破重点还包括口语和听力。请在熟读英语原文以后,开始跟着音频跟读和听读,直到可以完整的跟读和听读理解为止。
3) 以口语为突破的学习者,请跟读音频练习,直到你无需文本资料也可以自然流利跟读为止。
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【刘博士中文译文】
Daenerys
Daenerys 的哥哥用手举着礼服让她仔细打量着:“这绝对是最漂亮的了。你摸摸看,快呀,你感觉一下它的料子。”
Daenerys用手摸着它。布料非常的光滑,抓在手里会像水一样从她的指间里滑落。她不记得曾经穿过这么柔软的衣服。这衣服让她害怕。她把手缩了回来。“这真的是给我的吗?”
Viserys笑着说:“这是Illyrio绅士送给你的礼物。”她哥哥今晚情绪高涨。“这衣服的颜色会衬托出你眼睛的紫罗兰色。你还会有各种黄金珠宝首饰,Illyrio答应过的。今儿晚上你必须要看起来像一个公主才行。”
公主?Danny想, 她已经忘了做公主是什么感觉了。也许她从来就不曾真正地知道过。“他为什么给我们这么多礼物?”她问。“他想从我们这里捞到什么好处呢?”他们住在这位绅士的家里快半年了,吃着他家里的东西,享受着他家里的仆人伺候。Danny十三岁了,她知道,在像Pentos这样的自由城里,有人送这样贵重的礼物绝对不会是没有代价的。
“Illyrio又不是傻瓜,”Viserys说。他是一个身材瘦削的年轻人,他的手总是一紧张就会动个不停,他那淡紫丁香色的眼睛里闪烁着一种狂热。“绅士当然知道啦,等我登上王位时,我是不会忘了我的朋友的。”
丹妮什么也没说。Illyrio是个商人,他经营的有香料、宝石、龙骨还有其他一些不那么体面的东西。据说,他的朋友遍布所有九个自由城,甚至在更远的地方,如Vaes Dothrak和和翡翠海附近的传说中的地方也有他的朋友。还有人说,只要价钱合适,他会高高兴兴地把他所有的朋友都出卖掉。Danny听着街头巷尾的那些谈话,她也听说了这些事情,但她知道,当他的哥哥在编织美梦的时候,最好不要问他这些事情。要是Viserys被惹恼的话,他生气起来会很可怕的。用Viserys的话来说,那是“把龙给吵醒了”。
她哥哥把她的礼服挂在门边。“Illyrio会派奴隶来给你洗个澡。你要好好地把身上那股马厩的臭味给洗掉。Khal Drogo可汗已经有一千匹马了,今晚他想找的可是一匹不一样的坐骑。”Viserys挑剔地打量着她。“你还是勾肩驼背的。站直了。”他用双手把她的肩膀往后推。“你现在得让他们看到你的女人样。”他的手指轻轻地拂过她的胸膛,然后使劲掐着她。“今天晚上你不许让我失望。要不然的话,你会有苦头吃的。你可不想把龙给吵醒,是吧?”他的手指使劲拧着她,Danny即使有粗布衣服隔着也依旧感到钻心的疼痛。“是不是?”Viserys重复着他的问题。
“是,”Danny顺从地回答道。
她的哥哥笑了。“这就对了。”他抚摸着Danny的头发,甚至看上去有一点温柔了。“我的乖妹妹,当后人书写我的统治历史时,他们会说,这个历史是从今天晚上开始的。”
Viserys离开以后,Danny走到窗前,憧憬地看着海湾的海水。Pentos城的四方形砖塔在夕阳的照耀下只剩下黑黑的轮廓。Danny可以听到红衣牧师在点燃篝火时的唱歌声,还有穿着破烂衣服的小孩子在房子围墙的外面玩耍时的喊叫声。有那么一刻,她真希望自己也能到外边和他们在一起玩耍,光着脚丫,穿着破破烂烂的衣服,大呼小叫,不去想过去,也不去想未来,也不用害怕去Khal Drogo(Khal大约是可汗,族长的意思)的大宅子参加晚宴。
在落日后面的某个地方,穿过狭长海,是一片有着绿色山峦和开满鲜花的平原大陆。在那里,大河奔流,用黑色岩石筑成的高塔耸立在雄伟的灰蓝色山脉之中,身着盔甲的骑士跟随着他们领主的战旗奔向战场。Dothrak人称那片土地为安达尔人(Andals)的土地。在自由城里,人们则在谈论中称那片土地为Westeros和日落王国。她的哥哥则用了一个更简单的名字。他把那里叫做“我们的土地”。这句话对他来说就像一句祈祷词一般。如果他说得次数足够多的话,众神是一定会听到的。“我们才是这片土地的合法继承人,即使它被那些背信弃义的人从我们的手中夺走,它仍旧是我们的土地,永远是我们的土地。你可别想偷走属于龙的东西,哦,想都别想。龙会记得你的。”
也许龙确实会记得,可是Danny记不得了。她从来没有见过这片据她哥哥说是属于他们的土地,这片在狭长海对岸的土地。Viserys说起的那些地方,比如Casterly Rock城堡和Eyrie城堡,Highgarden城堡,还有Arryn 山谷,Dorn王国以及脸岛(Isle of Faces),这些对Danny来说都只是毫无意义的名字而已。当他们逃离王城(King’s Landing),躲避篡位者军队进攻的时候,Viserys还只是一个八岁的孩子,而这时候,Daenerys还只是母亲身体里的另一颗心跳而已。
不过,有的时候,Danny还是会想象一下过去会是怎样。她的哥哥给她讲了太多遍过去的故事。比如,他们是如何在漆黑的午夜里逃往龙石岛(Dragonstone),只有月光微微地闪烁在大船的黑帆上。还有,她的哥哥Rhaegar王子如何在三江河(Trident)与篡位者浴血奋战,最后为他心爱的女人而死。还有被Viserys称之为篡位者走狗的Lannister家族和Stark家族是如何洗劫王城(King’s Landing)的。还有Rhaegar王子的妻子,来自Dorn王国的Elia公主是如何苦苦请求叛军放过他们的孩子,可是作为Rhaegar继承人的这个孩子还是被从她抱着的怀中给夺走,并当着她的面被残忍地杀死。当弑君者(King slayer,即Jaime Lannister)用他的黄金宝剑割开父王的喉咙时, 那些装饰在王宫墙上的最后几条龙的头骨虽然什么也看不见,却目睹了这一切。
在逃离王城九个月以后,Danny出生在了龙石岛上(Dragon Stone)。在她出生的那一天,一场夏日暴风雨猛烈得似乎要将岛上的堡垒都撕成碎片。据说那是一场非常可怕的暴风雨。Targaryen王朝停靠在港口的整个舰队都被风暴给摧毁了,风暴还把巨大的岩石从城墙护墙上撕扯下来,并将它们狠狠地投入狭长那狂野的海浪中。她的母亲就是在生她的时候死去的,因为这个原因她的哥哥Viserys永远不能原谅她。
Danny也已经不记得龙石岛(Dragonstone)了。当他们听说篡位者的兄弟带着他新建造的舰队即将启航追捕他们的时候,他们又逃走了。那个时候,原本属于Targaryen王朝的七个王国中,只剩下了龙石岛,这也是Targaryen家族祖先的发源地。可是这一状况也没有持续太久。军营里的人本来准备把他们兄妹俩出卖给篡位者,但是一天晚上,Willem Darry爵士和另外四个忠于皇室的人闯进了婴儿房,把他们两人连同Danny的奶妈一同劫了出来,并在夜幕的掩护下乘船启航穿越狭长海,来到了Braavos海岸的安全地带。
Danny隐约还记得Willem爵士,他是一个瞎了一只眼睛的像是大灰熊一样的人,总是在病床上吼叫着咆哮着发号施令。仆人们都生活在对他的恐惧之中,但是他对Danny却一直很好。他叫她“小公主”,有时还叫她“夫人大人”,他的手柔软得像是旧皮革一般。他从未离开过他的床,疾病的气味整日整夜地缠绕着他,那是一种闷热的、潮湿的、让人恶心的味道。那个时候,他们住在Braavos的一幢有一扇大红门的房子里。Danny在那里有自己的房间,房间的窗外是一棵柠檬树。当Willem爵士死了以后,仆人们把他们剩下的最后一点钱也偷走了。没多久他们就被赶出了大房子。当那座房子的大红门在他们身后永远地关闭时,Danny大哭了一场。
从那以后,他们开始四处游荡,从Braavos去到了Myr,又从Myr去到了Tyrosh,然后又去了Qohor,Volantis和Lys,他们从未在任何一个地方久留。她哥哥不允许这么做。他坚持说,篡位者雇来的杀手一直在紧跟着他们,不过Danny一个杀手也没有见过。
最开始的时候,那些绅士们、官员们还有商贾王子们都非常乐意请Targaryen王朝的末代王子去他们家做客,然而,随着一年一年的过去,而篡位者依旧坐在铁王座上时,那些人家向他们关上了大门,他们的生活变得愈发拮据。几年以后,他们不得不卖掉他们最后的几件宝贝,现在就连母亲王冠上镶嵌的硬币都已不见了踪影。在Pentos的街头和酒馆里,人们称她的哥哥为“乞丐国王”。Danny根本不想知道他们会怎么称呼自己。
“总有一天我们会把一切都夺回来的,我的乖妹妹,”Viserys总是向Danny这样保证。有时候,当他说到这儿,他的手会不停地颤抖着。“珠宝和丝绸,龙石岛和王城,铁王座和七个王国,他们从我们手中抢走的一切,我们都会把它夺回来的。”Viserys是为了这一天而活着的。而Danny想要回来的只是那座有一扇大红门的房子,她窗外的柠檬树,还有她从未谋面的童年。
【刘博士英语音频】
刘博士英语音频 A Song of Ice and Fire 008 Daenerys 1.mp318:05
【英语学习文本】
A Song of Ice and Fire
Daenerys
Her brother held the gown up for her inspection. “This is beauty. Touch it. Go on. Caress the fabric.”
Dany touched it. The cloth was so smooth that it seemed to run through her fingers like water. She could not remember ever wearing anything so soft. It frightened her. She pulled her hand away. “Is it really mine?”
“A gift from the Magister Illyrio,” Viserys said, smiling. Her brother was in a high mood tonight. “The color will bring out the violet in your eyes. And you shall have gold as well, and jewels of all sorts. Illyrio has promised. Tonight you must look like a princess.”
A princess, Dany thought. She had forgotten what that was like. Perhaps she had never really known. “Why does he give us so much?” she asked. “What does he want from us?” For nigh on half a year, they had lived in the magister’s house, eating his food, pampered by his servants. Dany was thirteen, old enough to know that such gifts seldom come without their price, here in the free city of Pentos.
“Illyrio is no fool,” Viserys said. He was a gaunt young man with nervous hands and a feverish look in his pale lilac eyes. “The magister knows that I will not forget my friends when I come into my throne.”
Dany said nothing. Magister Illyrio was a dealer in spices, gemstones, dragonbone, and other, less savory things. He had friends in all of the Nine Free Cities, it was said, and even beyond, in Vaes Dothrak and the fabled lands beside the Jade Sea. It was also said that he’d never had a friend he wouldn’t cheerfully sell for the right price. Dany listened to the talk in the streets, and she heard these things, but she knew better than to question her brother when he wove his webs of dream. His anger was a terrible thing when roused. Viserys called it “waking the dragon.”
Her brother hung the gown beside the door. “Illyrio will send the slaves to bathe you. Be sure you wash off the stink of the stables. Khal Drogo has a thousand horses, tonight he looks for a different sort of mount.” He studied her critically. “You still slouch. Straighten yourself” He pushed back her shoulders with his hands. “Let them see that you have a woman’s shape now.” His fingers brushed lightly over her budding breasts and tightened on a nipple. “You will not fail me tonight. If you do, it will go hard for you. You don’t want to wake the dragon, do you?” His fingers twisted her, the pinch cruelly hard through the rough fabric of her tunic. “Do you?” he repeated.
“No,” Dany said meekly.
Her brother smiled. “Good.” He touched her hair, almost with affection. “When they write the history of my reign, sweet sister, they will say that it began tonight.”
When he was gone, Dany went to her window and looked out wistfully on the waters of the bay. The square brick towers of Pentos were black silhouettes outlined against the setting sun. Dany could hear the singing of the red priests as they lit their night fires and the shouts of ragged children playing games beyond the walls of the estate. For a moment she wished she could be out there with them, barefoot and breathless and dressed in tatters, with no past and no future and no feast to attend at Khal Drogo’s manse.
Somewhere beyond the sunset, across the narrow sea, lay a land of green hills and flowered plains and great rushing rivers, where towers of dark stone rose amidst magnificent blue-grey mountains, and armored knights rode to battle beneath the banners of their lords. The Dothraki called that land Rhaesh Andahli, the land of the Andals. In the Free Cities, they talked of Westeros and the Sunset Kingdoms. Her brother had a simpler name. “Our land,” he called it. The words were like a prayer with him. If he said them enough, the gods were sure to hear. “Ours by blood right, taken from us by treachery, but ours still, ours forever. You do not steal from the dragon, oh, no. The dragon remembers.”
And perhaps the dragon did remember, but Dany could not. She had never seen this land her brother said was theirs, this realm beyond the narrow sea. These places he talked of, Casterly Rock and the Eyrie, Highgarden and the Vale of Arryn, Dorne and the Isle of Faces, they were just words to her. Viserys had been a boy of eight when they fled King’s Landing to escape the advancing armies of the Usurper, but Daenerys had been only a quickening in their mother’s womb.
Yet sometimes Dany would picture the way it had been, so often had her brother told her the stories. The midnight flight to Dragonstone, moonlight shimmering on the ship’s black sails. Her brother Rhaegar battling the Usurper in the bloody waters of the Trident and dying for the woman he loved. The sack of King’s Landing by the ones Viserys called the Usurper’s dogs, the lords Lannister and Stark. Princess Elia of Dorne pleading for mercy as Rhaegar’s heir was ripped from her breast and murdered before her eyes. The polished skulls of the last dragons staring down sightlessly from the walls of the throne room while the Kingslayer opened Father’s throat with a golden sword.
She had been born on Dragonstone nine moons after their flight, while a raging summer storm threatened to rip the island fastness apart. They said that storm was terrible. The Targaryen fleet was smashed while it lay at anchor, and huge stone blocks were ripped from the parapets and sent hurtling into the wild waters of the narrow sea. Her mother had died birthing her, and for that her brother Viserys had never forgiven her.
She did not remember Dragonstone either. They had run again, just before the Usurper’s brother set sail with his new-built fleet. By then only Dragonstone itself, the ancient seat of their House, had remained of the Seven Kingdoms that had once been theirs. It would not remain for long. The garrison had been prepared to sell them to the Usurper, but one night Ser Willem Darry and four loyal men had broken into the nursery and stolen them both, along with her wet nurse, and set sail under cover of darkness for the safety of the Braavosian coast.
She remembered Ser Willem dimly, a great grey bear of a man, halfblind, roaring and bellowing orders from his sickbed. The servants had lived in terror of him, but he had always been kind to Dany. He called her “Little Princess” and sometimes “My Lady,” and his hands were soft as old leather. He never left his bed, though, and the smell of sickness clung to him day and night, a hot, moist, sickly sweet odor. That was when they lived in Braavos, in the big house with the red door. Dany had her own room there, with a lemon tree outside her window. After Ser Willem had died, the servants had stolen what little money they had left, and soon after they had been put out of the big house. Dany had cried when the red door closed behind them forever.
They had wandered since then, from Braavos to Myr, from Myr to Tyrosh, and on to Qohor and Volantis and Lys, never staying long in any one place. Her brother would not allow it. The Usurper’s hired knives were close behind them, he insisted, though Dany had never seen one.
At first the magisters and archons and merchant princes were pleased to welcome the last Targaryens to their homes and tables, but as the years passed and the Usurper continued to sit upon the Iron Throne, doors closed and their lives grew meaner. Years past they had been forced to sell their last few treasures, and now even the coin they had gotten from Mother’s crown had gone. In the alleys and wine sinks of Pentos, they called her brother “the beggar king.” Dany did not want to know what they called her.
“We will have it all back someday, sweet sister,” he would promise her. Sometimes his hands shook when he talked about it. “The jewels and the silks, Dragonstone and King’s Landing, the Iron Throne and the Seven Kingdoms, all they have taken from us, we will have it back.” Viserys lived for that day. All that Daenerys wanted back was the big house with the red door, the lemon tree outside her window, the childhood she had never known.