冰与火之歌系列之《权力的游戏》第931期:第四十四章 琼恩(8)

 　　Spare me your but's, boy, Lord Mormont interrupted. “小子，少跟我‘可是’。”莫尔蒙司令打断他。

　　"I would not be sitting here were it not for you and that beast of yours. “若不是你和你那头狼，我现在就不会坐在这里了。

　　You fought bravely... and more to the point, you thought quickly. 你不仅勇敢……更重要的是，你的脑筋动得快。

　　Fire! Yes, damn it. 没错，天杀的，就是用火！

　　We ought to have known. We ought to have remembered. 我们早该知道，早该想起来。

　　The Long Night has come before. 古时也曾有过长夜之劫，

　　Oh, eight thousand years is a good while, to be sure... yet if the Night's Watch does not remember, who will?" 唉，八千年虽然久了点……可若是连守夜人都不记得，还有谁会记得呢？”

　　Who will, chimed the talkative raven¹. "Who will." “谁会！”聒噪的乌鸦跟着叫，“谁会！”

　　Truly, the gods had heard Jon's prayer that night; 那天晚上，诸神确是听见了琼恩的祈祷；

　　the fire had caught in the dead man's clothing and consumed him as if his flesh were candle wax and his bones old dry wood. 尸鬼的衣服一着火，瞬间便被烈焰吞噬，仿佛它的皮肤是蜡油，骨头是干柴。

　　Jon had only to close his eyes to see the thing staggering across the solar, crashing against the furniture and flailing² at the flames. 琼恩只需闭上眼睛，依然可以见到那具尸体踉跄着走过书房，四处碰撞家具，挥舞双臂拍打火焰的景象。

　　It was the face that haunted him most; 萦绕心头久久不去的是那张脸：

　　surrounded by a nimbus of fire, hair blazing like straw, the dead flesh melting away and sloughing³ off its skull⁴ to reveal the gleam of bone beneath. 四周为火围绕，头发燃如稻草，坏死的肌肉一块块熔解滑落，露出下面的颅骨。

　　Whatever demonic force moved Othor had been driven out by the flames; 不管驱使奥瑟的是何种恶魔力量，都已被烈火赶走；

　　the twisted thing they had found in the ashes had been no more than cooked meat and charred⁵ bone.  他们在余烬堆里找到的那团扭曲东西，只不过是烤熟的人肉和烧焦的骨头罢了。

1 raven   

n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的

参考例句：

• We know the raven will never leave the man's room.我们知道了乌鸦再也不会离开那个男人的房间。
• Her charming face was framed with raven hair.她迷人的脸上垂落着乌亮的黑发。

2 flailing   

v.鞭打( flail的现在分词 )；用连枷脱粒；（臂或腿）无法控制地乱动；扫雷坦克

参考例句：

• He became moody and unreasonable, flailing out at Katherine at the slightest excuse. 他变得喜怒无常、不可理喻，为点鸡毛蒜皮的小事就殴打凯瑟琳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His arms were flailing in all directions. 他的手臂胡乱挥舞着。 来自辞典例句

3 sloughing   

v.使蜕下或脱落( slough的现在分词 )；舍弃；除掉；摒弃

参考例句：

• a snake sloughing its skin 正在蜕皮的蛇
• Only minor sloughing occurred during the earthquake. 在地震时只有小的脱落现象。 来自辞典例句

4 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

5 charred   

v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦

参考例句：

• the charred remains of a burnt-out car 被烧焦的轿车残骸
• The intensity of the explosion is recorded on the charred tree trunks. 那些烧焦的树干表明爆炸的强烈。 来自《简明英汉词典》