论文部分内容阅读
这是一个关于一个小家庭、一座荒废的动物园和200只野生动物的故事；
这是一个家庭买了一座动物园的奇妙经历；
这是一个不同寻常的真实故事。
本杰明·梅（Benjamin Mee）一家省吃俭用凑钱购买了破败的英国达特穆尔动物园，一家人搬进了这座破旧的动物园，展开了一段全新的冒险旅程。梅梦想着能够翻新动物园，并将其办成家族企业。不顾朋友和同事们的嘲笑，本杰明和孩子们以及几个忠心耿耿的员工一直辛勤劳动，希望能让动物园早日重新开门迎客。然而，没有什么事能一蹴而就。作为动物园管理人员，这个家庭显然缺乏经验，而他们需要克服的困难也数不胜数……本杰明将如何实现自己的梦想，让动物园重新开张？一家人将如何克服面临的重重困难？作者本杰明将带你踏上一次奇妙的历险之旅，探索神秘的动物王国，领略这个让人惊奇不已的温情故事。
本杰明·梅曾是报纸专栏作家，因在英国《卫报》周末版撰写幽默专栏“DIY”而闻名遐迩。《我家买了座动物园》是本杰明就自己的亲身经历所撰写的回忆录，出版于2008年。根据这部回忆录改编而成的电影于2011年被搬上了大荧幕，由马特·达蒙与斯嘉丽·约翰逊主演。
Mum and I arrived as the new owners of Dartmoor Wildlife Park in 1)Devon for the first time at around six o’clock on the evening of the 20th of October 2006, and stepped out of the car to the sound of wolves howling in the misty darkness. My brother Duncan had turned on every light in the house to welcome us, and each window beamed the message into the fog as he emerged from the front door to give me a bone-crushing bear hug. He was more gentle with Mum. We had been delayed for an extra day in 2)Leicester with the lawyers, as some lastminute paperwork failed to arrive in time and had to be sent up the M1 on a motorbike. Duncan had 3)masterminded the movement of all Mum’s furniture from 4)Surrey in three vans, with eight men who had another job to go to the next day. The delay had meant a 5)fraught 6)standoff in the entryway to the park, with the previous owner’s lawyer eventually 7)conceding that Duncan could unload the vans, but only into two rooms (one of them the 8)fetid front kitchen) until the paperwork was completed.
So the three of us picked our way in wonderment between 9)teetering towers of boxes and into the 10)flagstoned kitchen, which was relatively 11)uncluttered and, we thought, could make a good center of operations. A huge old 12)trestle table I had been 13)hoarding in my parents’ garage for twenty years finally came into its own, and was 14)erected in a room suited to its size. It’s still there as our diningroom table, but on this first night its symbolic value was immense. Some boxes and carpets Duncan had managed to store in the back 15)pantry had just been flooded, so while he unblocked the drain outside I drove to a Chinese takeout I’d spotted on the way from Route A38, and we sat down to our first meal together in our new home. Our spirits were slightly shaky but 16)elated, and we laughed a lot in this cold, dark, chaotic house on that first night, and took 17)inordinate comfort from the fact that at least we lived near a good Chinese place.
That night, with Mum safely in bed, Duncan and I stepped out into the misty park to try to get a grip on what we’d done. Everywhere the flashlight shone, eyes of different sizes blinked back at us, and without a clear idea of the layout of the park at this stage, the mystery of exactly what animals lurked behind them added greatly to the atmosphere. We knew where the tigers were, however, and made our way over to one of the enclosures that had been 18)earmarked for replacement posts to get a close look at what sort of deterioration we were up against. With no tigers in sight, we climbed over the stand-off barrier and began 19)peering by flashlight at the base of the structural wooden posts holding up the chain-link fence. We squatted down and became engrossed, 20)prodding and scraping at the surface layers of rotted wood to find the harder core, in this instance reassuringly near the surface. We decided it wasn’t so bad, but as we stood up we were startled to see that all three tigers in the enclosure were now only a couple of feet away from where we were standing, ready to spring, staring intently at us. Like we were dinner.
It was fantastic. All three beasts—and they were such glorious beasts—had 21)maneuvered to within pawing distance of us without either of us noticing. Each animal was bigger than both of us put together, yet they’d moved silently. If this had been the jungle or, more accurately in this case, the Siberian 22)tundra, the first thing we’d have known about it would have been a large mouth around our necks. Tigers have special 23)sensors along the front of their two-inch 24)canines that can detect the pulse in your 25)aorta. The first bite is to grab, then they take your pulse with their teeth, reposition them, and sink them in.
As they held us in their icy glares, we were impressed. Eventually, one of these vast, muscular cats—acknowledging that due to circumstances beyond their control (i.e., the fence between us), this had been a mere dress rehearsal—26)yawned, flashed those curved dagger canines, and looked away. We remained impressed.
We started back toward the house. The wolves began their 27)eery night chorus, accompanied by the sounds of owls—there were about fifteen on site—the odd 28)screech of an eagle, and the nocturnal danger call of the 29)vervet monkeys as we walked past their cage. This was what it was all about, we felt. All we had to do now was work out what to do next.
2006年10月20日晚6点左右，妈妈和我第一次作为新主人来到德文郡的达特穆尔野生动物园。走出车门首先入耳的便是黑暗迷雾中的狼嚎。我的哥哥邓肯点亮了房子的每一盏灯来迎接我们的到来，每一扇窗都向迷雾中释放出明亮的光，接着他出现在了前门，给了我一个大大的熊抱，我的骨头都要被他挤碎了。他对母亲的动作却要温柔得多。我们在莱切斯特被律师多耽搁了一天，一些最后的文书没能及时送达，所以不得不用摩托车走M1高速公路。邓肯已经安排了三辆货车将母亲的所有家具从萨里郡运过来，还雇了八个人明天去完成另一项任务。这一延误导致动物园的车道上堆得满满的，通道都被阻塞了，不得已，动物园前主人的律师格外开恩，最终同意邓肯卸下货车上的东西，但在办理完文件前，我们只能将东西放进两个房间里（其中一间是散发着恶臭的前门厨房）。
于是我们一行三人在堆积如山的箱子中小心择路、蜿蜒而行，走进了石板铺就的厨房，厨房比较整齐，我们认为将它作为运作中心再好不过。我有一张巨大的旧搁板桌，放在父母车库里20年了，现在终于派上了用场，我们将它支在一个大小适宜的房间里。时至今日，它依然安放在那里，作为我们的餐桌，但在那第一天晚上，它的象征意义是无价的。后面的食品储藏室里一时间塞满了邓肯设法放进去的箱子和地毯。在他疏通外面的下水道的时候，我开车去了一家中餐外卖店买吃的，那是我在A38公路上发现的。我们在新家里坐了下来，一起吃了第一顿饭。在这第一晚，我们在这寒冷、黑暗、喧闹的房子里，精神虽有点动摇，但却兴高采烈，欢笑不断，一想到我们住的地方附近至少有一家不错的中国餐馆，便感到异常安慰。
那天晚上，在母亲安睡后，邓肯和我走出门，走进了雾气朦朦的动物园里，我们想去看看我们买下的究竟是怎样的一处地方。手电筒光所及之处，一双双大小各异的眼睛冲我们直眨，由于当时我们搞不清楚这一阶段动物园的布局，不知何种动物躲藏在围场背后，这种悬念极大地增添了此时的神秘气氛。然而我们知道老虎在哪里，于是我们朝一处围场走去，围场上刻了更换柱子的标记，我们想仔细看看我们将要面临什么程度的损耗磨损。没看到老虎，我们从栅栏上爬了过去，开始用电筒看木柱的建造基底，它支撑着铁链篱笆墙。我们蹲下，全神贯注地戳拔着一层层腐木，想要找到更坚硬的内核，幸好腐烂不深，内核就在表皮附近。我们觉得情况不太糟糕，但是当我们站起身来，才惊恐地发现围场里的全部三只老虎现在距离我们站着的地方不过几步之遥，正目不转睛地注视着我们，随时准备一跃而起。好像把我们当成了美味晚餐。
这太神奇了。这三只庞然大物居然能神不知鬼不觉地来到我们身边，仿佛它们只要把爪子伸过来就能逮住我们，我们却全然不觉。它们中的任何一只比我们俩加在一块儿还大，然而他们行动起来却能无声无息。如果这是在森林里，或更准确一点儿说，这是在西伯利亚苔原，我们还没有回过神来，一张大口早早就咬住我们的脖子了。老虎两英寸的犬齿前面有异常灵敏的探测器，它们能侦测到人类主动脉的脉搏。第一口是抓住你的脖子，然后它们就会用牙齿摸到你的脉搏，对准位置，咬进去。
当被它们那冰冷的目光锁定时，我们感到非常震撼。最终，这三个身形巨大、肌肉发达的“猫科动物”中的一只意识到情况超出了它们的控制范围（篱笆墙将我们隔开了），这不过是一场彩排而已，于是不由得打了个哈欠，亮了亮它那如匕首一般弯曲的利齿，把目光投向了他处。而我们依然惊魂未定。
最后，我们往房子走回去，此时，狼群开始了夜间大奏鸣，其中还混合着猫头鹰的伴奏——约有15头猫头鹰——一个老鹰发出怪异的尖叫声，当我们从长尾猴的笼子前经过时，它们发出了夜间的危险警报。我们感觉也就这些了。现在我们要做的便是想想接下来要做什么。
译文参考自现代出版社版本
李娟译
这是一个家庭买了一座动物园的奇妙经历；
这是一个不同寻常的真实故事。
本杰明·梅（Benjamin Mee）一家省吃俭用凑钱购买了破败的英国达特穆尔动物园，一家人搬进了这座破旧的动物园，展开了一段全新的冒险旅程。梅梦想着能够翻新动物园，并将其办成家族企业。不顾朋友和同事们的嘲笑，本杰明和孩子们以及几个忠心耿耿的员工一直辛勤劳动，希望能让动物园早日重新开门迎客。然而，没有什么事能一蹴而就。作为动物园管理人员，这个家庭显然缺乏经验，而他们需要克服的困难也数不胜数……本杰明将如何实现自己的梦想，让动物园重新开张？一家人将如何克服面临的重重困难？作者本杰明将带你踏上一次奇妙的历险之旅，探索神秘的动物王国，领略这个让人惊奇不已的温情故事。
本杰明·梅曾是报纸专栏作家，因在英国《卫报》周末版撰写幽默专栏“DIY”而闻名遐迩。《我家买了座动物园》是本杰明就自己的亲身经历所撰写的回忆录，出版于2008年。根据这部回忆录改编而成的电影于2011年被搬上了大荧幕，由马特·达蒙与斯嘉丽·约翰逊主演。
Mum and I arrived as the new owners of Dartmoor Wildlife Park in 1)Devon for the first time at around six o’clock on the evening of the 20th of October 2006, and stepped out of the car to the sound of wolves howling in the misty darkness. My brother Duncan had turned on every light in the house to welcome us, and each window beamed the message into the fog as he emerged from the front door to give me a bone-crushing bear hug. He was more gentle with Mum. We had been delayed for an extra day in 2)Leicester with the lawyers, as some lastminute paperwork failed to arrive in time and had to be sent up the M1 on a motorbike. Duncan had 3)masterminded the movement of all Mum’s furniture from 4)Surrey in three vans, with eight men who had another job to go to the next day. The delay had meant a 5)fraught 6)standoff in the entryway to the park, with the previous owner’s lawyer eventually 7)conceding that Duncan could unload the vans, but only into two rooms (one of them the 8)fetid front kitchen) until the paperwork was completed.
So the three of us picked our way in wonderment between 9)teetering towers of boxes and into the 10)flagstoned kitchen, which was relatively 11)uncluttered and, we thought, could make a good center of operations. A huge old 12)trestle table I had been 13)hoarding in my parents’ garage for twenty years finally came into its own, and was 14)erected in a room suited to its size. It’s still there as our diningroom table, but on this first night its symbolic value was immense. Some boxes and carpets Duncan had managed to store in the back 15)pantry had just been flooded, so while he unblocked the drain outside I drove to a Chinese takeout I’d spotted on the way from Route A38, and we sat down to our first meal together in our new home. Our spirits were slightly shaky but 16)elated, and we laughed a lot in this cold, dark, chaotic house on that first night, and took 17)inordinate comfort from the fact that at least we lived near a good Chinese place.
That night, with Mum safely in bed, Duncan and I stepped out into the misty park to try to get a grip on what we’d done. Everywhere the flashlight shone, eyes of different sizes blinked back at us, and without a clear idea of the layout of the park at this stage, the mystery of exactly what animals lurked behind them added greatly to the atmosphere. We knew where the tigers were, however, and made our way over to one of the enclosures that had been 18)earmarked for replacement posts to get a close look at what sort of deterioration we were up against. With no tigers in sight, we climbed over the stand-off barrier and began 19)peering by flashlight at the base of the structural wooden posts holding up the chain-link fence. We squatted down and became engrossed, 20)prodding and scraping at the surface layers of rotted wood to find the harder core, in this instance reassuringly near the surface. We decided it wasn’t so bad, but as we stood up we were startled to see that all three tigers in the enclosure were now only a couple of feet away from where we were standing, ready to spring, staring intently at us. Like we were dinner.
It was fantastic. All three beasts—and they were such glorious beasts—had 21)maneuvered to within pawing distance of us without either of us noticing. Each animal was bigger than both of us put together, yet they’d moved silently. If this had been the jungle or, more accurately in this case, the Siberian 22)tundra, the first thing we’d have known about it would have been a large mouth around our necks. Tigers have special 23)sensors along the front of their two-inch 24)canines that can detect the pulse in your 25)aorta. The first bite is to grab, then they take your pulse with their teeth, reposition them, and sink them in.
As they held us in their icy glares, we were impressed. Eventually, one of these vast, muscular cats—acknowledging that due to circumstances beyond their control (i.e., the fence between us), this had been a mere dress rehearsal—26)yawned, flashed those curved dagger canines, and looked away. We remained impressed.
We started back toward the house. The wolves began their 27)eery night chorus, accompanied by the sounds of owls—there were about fifteen on site—the odd 28)screech of an eagle, and the nocturnal danger call of the 29)vervet monkeys as we walked past their cage. This was what it was all about, we felt. All we had to do now was work out what to do next.
2006年10月20日晚6点左右，妈妈和我第一次作为新主人来到德文郡的达特穆尔野生动物园。走出车门首先入耳的便是黑暗迷雾中的狼嚎。我的哥哥邓肯点亮了房子的每一盏灯来迎接我们的到来，每一扇窗都向迷雾中释放出明亮的光，接着他出现在了前门，给了我一个大大的熊抱，我的骨头都要被他挤碎了。他对母亲的动作却要温柔得多。我们在莱切斯特被律师多耽搁了一天，一些最后的文书没能及时送达，所以不得不用摩托车走M1高速公路。邓肯已经安排了三辆货车将母亲的所有家具从萨里郡运过来，还雇了八个人明天去完成另一项任务。这一延误导致动物园的车道上堆得满满的，通道都被阻塞了，不得已，动物园前主人的律师格外开恩，最终同意邓肯卸下货车上的东西，但在办理完文件前，我们只能将东西放进两个房间里（其中一间是散发着恶臭的前门厨房）。
于是我们一行三人在堆积如山的箱子中小心择路、蜿蜒而行，走进了石板铺就的厨房，厨房比较整齐，我们认为将它作为运作中心再好不过。我有一张巨大的旧搁板桌，放在父母车库里20年了，现在终于派上了用场，我们将它支在一个大小适宜的房间里。时至今日，它依然安放在那里，作为我们的餐桌，但在那第一天晚上，它的象征意义是无价的。后面的食品储藏室里一时间塞满了邓肯设法放进去的箱子和地毯。在他疏通外面的下水道的时候，我开车去了一家中餐外卖店买吃的，那是我在A38公路上发现的。我们在新家里坐了下来，一起吃了第一顿饭。在这第一晚，我们在这寒冷、黑暗、喧闹的房子里，精神虽有点动摇，但却兴高采烈，欢笑不断，一想到我们住的地方附近至少有一家不错的中国餐馆，便感到异常安慰。
那天晚上，在母亲安睡后，邓肯和我走出门，走进了雾气朦朦的动物园里，我们想去看看我们买下的究竟是怎样的一处地方。手电筒光所及之处，一双双大小各异的眼睛冲我们直眨，由于当时我们搞不清楚这一阶段动物园的布局，不知何种动物躲藏在围场背后，这种悬念极大地增添了此时的神秘气氛。然而我们知道老虎在哪里，于是我们朝一处围场走去，围场上刻了更换柱子的标记，我们想仔细看看我们将要面临什么程度的损耗磨损。没看到老虎，我们从栅栏上爬了过去，开始用电筒看木柱的建造基底，它支撑着铁链篱笆墙。我们蹲下，全神贯注地戳拔着一层层腐木，想要找到更坚硬的内核，幸好腐烂不深，内核就在表皮附近。我们觉得情况不太糟糕，但是当我们站起身来，才惊恐地发现围场里的全部三只老虎现在距离我们站着的地方不过几步之遥，正目不转睛地注视着我们，随时准备一跃而起。好像把我们当成了美味晚餐。
这太神奇了。这三只庞然大物居然能神不知鬼不觉地来到我们身边，仿佛它们只要把爪子伸过来就能逮住我们，我们却全然不觉。它们中的任何一只比我们俩加在一块儿还大，然而他们行动起来却能无声无息。如果这是在森林里，或更准确一点儿说，这是在西伯利亚苔原，我们还没有回过神来，一张大口早早就咬住我们的脖子了。老虎两英寸的犬齿前面有异常灵敏的探测器，它们能侦测到人类主动脉的脉搏。第一口是抓住你的脖子，然后它们就会用牙齿摸到你的脉搏，对准位置，咬进去。
当被它们那冰冷的目光锁定时，我们感到非常震撼。最终，这三个身形巨大、肌肉发达的“猫科动物”中的一只意识到情况超出了它们的控制范围（篱笆墙将我们隔开了），这不过是一场彩排而已，于是不由得打了个哈欠，亮了亮它那如匕首一般弯曲的利齿，把目光投向了他处。而我们依然惊魂未定。
最后，我们往房子走回去，此时，狼群开始了夜间大奏鸣，其中还混合着猫头鹰的伴奏——约有15头猫头鹰——一个老鹰发出怪异的尖叫声，当我们从长尾猴的笼子前经过时，它们发出了夜间的危险警报。我们感觉也就这些了。现在我们要做的便是想想接下来要做什么。
译文参考自现代出版社版本
李娟译