冰与火之歌系列之《权力的游戏》第325期:第二十一章 布兰(2)

 　　The old woman smiled at him toothlessly. My stories? No, my little lord, not mine.  老妇人张开无牙的嘴对他微笑，我的故事？不对，我的小少爷，不是我的。

　　The stories are, before me and after me, before you too. 这些故事早在你我出生之前就已经存在了。

　　She was a very ugly old woman, Bran thought spitefully; shrunken and wrinkled¹, almost blind, too weak to climb stairs,  她真是个丑老太婆，布兰恶毒地想：佝偻着缩成一团，满脸皱纹，眼睛差不多瞎掉，连爬楼梯的力气都没有，

　　with only a few wisps of white hair left to cover a mottled pink scalp.  满是斑点的粉红头皮上只剩几小撮白发。

　　No one really knew how old she was, but his father said she'd been called Old Nan even when he was a boy.  没人知道她究竟有多老，父亲说他小时候大家就已经叫她老奶妈了。

　　She was the oldest person in Winterfell for certain, maybe the oldest person in the Seven Kingdoms.  她无疑是临冬城里最老的人，说不定是七国里最老的寿星。

　　Nan had come to the castle as a wet nurse for a Brandon Stark² whose mother had died birthing him.  她初来城堡，是为当布兰登·史塔克奶妈，因为他的母亲在生他的时候难产而死。

　　He had been an older brother of Lord Rickard, Bran's grandfather, or perhaps a younger brother, or a brother to Lord Rickard's father.  此人是布兰的祖父瑞卡德公爵的哥哥，或许是弟弟，或是瑞卡德公爵父亲的兄弟。

　　Sometimes Old Nan told it one way and sometimes another.  老奶妈每次说的都不一样。

　　In all the stories the little boy died at three of a summer chill³, but Old Nan stayed on at Winterfell with her own children.  但不管哪个版本，故事里那小男孩总死于三岁时夏天的一场风寒，老奶妈和她的孩子们却在临冬城长住下来。

　　She had lost both her sons to the war when King Robert won the throne, and her grandson was killed on the walls of Pyke during Balon Greyjoy's rebellion⁴.  她的两个儿子都死于劳勃国王夺取王位的那场战争，她的孙子则在平定巴隆葛雷乔伊叛变时于派克的城墙上殉难。

　　Her daughters had long ago married and moved away and died.  她的女儿们早已陆续远嫁他乡，现在也都不在人世。

　　All that was left of her own blood was Hodor, the simpleminded giant who worked in the stables, but Old Nan just lived on and on, doing her needlework and telling her stories. 如今她的血脉只剩下阿多，就是那个头脑简单，在马房里工作的巨人。只有老奶妈依旧好端端地活着，继续做她的针线，说她的故事。

1 wrinkled   

adj.有皱纹的v.使起皱纹( wrinkle的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指皮肤）起皱纹

参考例句：

• She smoothed down a wrinkled tablecloth. 她把起皱的桌布熨平了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A wrinkled purse,a wrinkled face. 手中无钱，愁容满面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

3 chill   

vt.使变冷，使冷却，使沮丧；n.寒冷，风寒

参考例句：

• With the chill factor,it's nearly minus forty here.加上风寒指数，气温接近零下40度。
• The bad news cast a chill over the whole family.这坏消息使全家人感到沮丧。

4 rebellion   

n.造反，叛乱，反抗

参考例句：

• The next year they rose up in rebellion.第二年他们就揭竿起义了。
• The new government quickly suppressed the rebellion.新政府迅速把叛乱镇压下去。