The Call of the Wild《野性的呼唤》

田柳

Plot

Buck is a large dog who leads a comfortable life in a California pasture with his owner, a judge. One day he is stolen by the gardeners assistant and sold to pay off a gambling1 debt. Buck is taken to Alaska and sold to a pair of French Canadians who are satisfied with his physique2. They train him as a sled3 dog, and he quickly learns how to survive the cold winter under the law of jungle by observing his teammates. Buck is later sold again and passes hands several times, all the while improving his abilities as a pack leader among the sled dogs.

一只名叫巴克的大狗与主人在加利福尼亚州的一个牧场上过着安逸的生活，他的主人是一名法官。有一天他被园丁偷走并卖掉以偿还赌债。巴克被带到了阿拉斯加，辗转卖给两个法裔加拿大人，他们对巴克的外形感到很满意，于是将他训练成了一只雪橇犬。很快巴克通过观察他的队友们，学会了如何在这个寒冷的冬天以及这个弱肉强食的社会上生存下来。随后巴克又被卖掉，并先后换过好几个主人，这些经历都使他不断地提高自己的能力，成为了雪橇犬的头领。

Eventually, Buck is sold to a man named Hal, who knows nothing about sledding nor surviving in the Alaskan wilderness, nor does his wife and her brother. They struggle to control the sled and ignore warnings not to travel during the spring melt. As they journey on, they run into Thornton, an experienced outdoors man, who notices that all of the sled dogs are in terrible shape from the ill treatment of their handlers4. Thornton warns them against crossing the river, but they refuse to listen and order Buck to mush5. Exhausted, starving, and sensing the danger ahead, Buck refuses. Recognizing him as a remarkable dog and disgusted6 by the drivers beating of the dog, Thornton cuts him free from his traces and tells the trio hes keeping him. After some argument, the trio leaves and tries to cross the river, but as Thornton warned, the ice gives way and they drown.

最后，巴克被卖给了一个叫哈尔的人，哈尔、哈尔的妻子和她哥哥对乘雪橇一点经验都没有，也对阿拉斯加的荒野生存一无所知。他们拼命地想要控制雪橇，而不理会他人的告诫——不能在春天化雪的时候出行。在前行的路上，他们偶遇了桑顿，一个有丰富户外经验的人。桑顿发现所有的雪橇犬都因为遭到主人的虐待而状况极差，他告诫哈尔一行人不要过河，但是他们不听，命令巴克前进。可是巴克已经筋疲力尽、饥寒交迫，并感受到了前方的危险，他毅然拒绝了主人的指令。桑顿意识到巴克是一条优秀的雪橇犬，唾弃这些人对待巴克的恶劣行径，他砍断了巴克的绳索，告诉这三个人巴克归他了。一片争执之后，这三人离开了，试着去穿过这条河，可是正如桑顿告诫他们的那样，河上的冰块崩塌，他们随即被淹死了。

As Thornton nurses Buck back to health, Buck comes to love him and grows devoted to him. Thornton takes him on trips to pan for gold. During one such trip, a man makes a wager with Thornton. Buck wins the bet and gets a lot of money for Thornton by pulling a half-ton sled. Unfortunately, his beloved master is killed by some Native Americans during their trip to pan for gold. Buck angrily kills several Native Americans to avenge7 Thornton. Then he returns to the woods to become alpha wolf of the pack8. Each year he revisits the site where Thornton died, never completely forgetting the master he loved.

在桑顿的精心护理下巴克恢复得很快，巴克对桑顿产生了真挚的感情，并忠心于他。桑顿带着巴克踏上淘金之路。在一次旅程中，一个人和桑顿打赌时，巴克拼命把一个有一千磅重的雪橇拉动了，为桑顿赢了一大笔钱。不幸的是，在淘金的过程中，他心爱的主人被印第安人杀死。狂怒之下，巴克咬死了几个印第安人，为主人报了仇。随后，巴克回到丛林之中，成为了群狼之首。但他不忘旧谊，仍然每年回到桑顿的葬身之处去凭吊。

Views

Through Bucks experiences living in the wild, Jack London wants to tell us that the world is dominated9 by those who are much stronger and more powerful than common people, and only the stronger ones could exist. This is the law of the jungle. Buck gradually realizes the law and begins to obey the law. The savage10 environment which is full of tricks, dangers and deaths turns him to be more powerful and cunning11. Finally, he becomes the leader of his team. Similar to the wild, our society becomes crueler and crueler. If you want to exist, to have a good life, you should be tough enough to stand the sufferings; you should keep alert, watch and learn; you should make yourself stronger than others. This is the law of living.

通过描述巴克在野外生活的经历，杰克·伦敦想要告诉我们，世界是由那些比普通人要强大和有权势的人所主宰的，而且只有更坚强的人才能生存下来。这就是弱肉强食的丛林法则。巴克逐渐意识到这一法则，并开始遵循它。恶劣的环境充满了诡计、危险和死亡，这些都让巴克更加强大、更加狡黠。最终他成为了队伍的头领。与荒野一样，我们的社会也变得越来越残酷。如果你想要生存，想要过上好日子，就必须有足够坚韧的品质来忍受磨难；你应该始终保持警惕，不断地观察和学习；你需要比他人坚强。这就是生存之道。

As we know, Buck answers the call of and returns to the wild finally. Actually, the call is from the bottom of Bucks heart rather than from the wild though Buck often hears the howl of the wolves. The call is the will or the instinct12 which makes him want to be himself: A wolf. Every one of us has a call in our hearts. The call is our dream, goal or something we really want to do. However, under the pressure of the society, we often have to give up our dreams or goals, and do things we are unwilling to do. Maybe we should learn something from Buck: Just follow the call of your heart and be yourself!

正如我们所知，巴克最终响应了他心中的呼唤，回到了荒野。事实上，尽管巴克经常听到狼群的嚎叫，但是这个呼唤是来自他的内心深处，而不是来自于荒野。这个呼唤是他的本能，让他想要成为他自己：一匹狼。每个人心中都有一个呼唤，那就是我们的梦想、目标，或是我们真正想要做的某件事。然而在社会的重重压力之下，我们常会放弃这些梦想和目标，做那些我们不愿做的事情。也许我们应该向巴克学习：倾听心声，做你自己！

[1] gamble vi. 赌博 [2] physique n. 体格，体型

[3] sled n. 雪橇vi. 乘雪橇；用雪橇运 [4] handler n. 管理者

[5] mush vi. 带狗撬在雪上前进 [6] disgust vt. 使厌恶；使作呕

[7] avenge vt. 替…报仇 [8] pack n. 包装；一群

[9] dominate vt. 控制；支配 [10] savage adj. 野蛮的；残酷的；荒凉的

[11] cunning adj. 狡猾的；巧妙的；可爱的 [12] instinct n. 本能，直觉；天性