冰与火之舞 jojo黄金之风（冰与火之歌双语阅读015）
冰与火之舞 jojo黄金之风（冰与火之歌双语阅读015）其实老同学的英语底子还是在的。他之所以能够很快地实现英语的阅读突破，一是因为他突破了为“学英语”而学英语的困境，开始使用英语读书了；另一个原因就是他在这种没有中文语境的文学阅读中，因为喜爱，所以能够坚持到摆脱中文/翻译的束缚。通常我们只有在读我们真正喜欢的英语书籍时，才会有毅力去克服对中文的依赖。后来，他也常常微信问我一些书中的内容，不过很快问题就越来越少了。直到这个周末，他发微信告诉我说，这本书他已经仔细读完了，他让我把这套书其他几部的电子版全部给他，说他已经对这套书上瘾了，现在连中午休息都继续看。他同时告诉我：“我感觉这本书把我的英语给救活了。为什么我在上大学的时候，没有人让我们读这样的书呢？现在回想大学的英语学习，真的是除了研究英语翻译和用英语说中文之外，什么也没有学到。看完这一套书以后，才感觉读到了真的英语。我现在已经发现了英语的第一个用处了，读这本书感觉比看美剧还过瘾。”半年前，
“这深深地刺伤了Catelyn。Ned根本不愿谈论Jon的母亲是谁，甚至连一个字也不说。但城堡里是没有秘密的，Catelyn从她的侍女那里听到了她们从她丈夫手下士兵那里听来的故事。他们会偷偷说起一个叫Arthur Dayne的爵士，他也被称之为“黎明之剑”。他是Aerys国王皇家禁卫队七名剑手中最厉害的一个。他们会说起年轻的Ned领主是如何在一次单人决斗中将他杀死的。他们又讲起Ned后来是如何将Arthur爵士的剑带回他美丽的妹妹身边，他的妹妹住在夏季海海边一座叫做“沉没之星”的城堡里等着他。Arthur 爵士的夫人Ashara Dayne是一名个子高挑，皮肤白皙的，有着一双令人难以忘怀的紫色眼睛的女人。”
“That cut deep. Ned would not speak of the mother not so much as a word but a castle has no secrets and Catelyn heard her maids repeating tales they heard from the lips of her husband’s soldiers. They whispered of Ser Arthur Dayne the Sword of the Morning deadliest of the seven knights of Aerys’s Kingsguard and of how their young lord had slain him in single combat. And they told how afterward Ned had carried Ser Arthur’s sword back to the beautiful young sister who awaited him in a castle called Starfall on the shores of the Summer Sea. The Lady Ashara Dayne tall and fair with haunting violet eyes. It had taken her a fortnight to marshal her courage but finally in bed one night Catelyn had asked her husband the truth of it asked him to his face. ”
【本节导读】
一个英语专业老同学的领悟
半年前，我与一位大学的老同学相聚。老同学也是英语系的，只是后来工作去了与英语很少沾边的国企工作。之后虽然他仍零零星星地坚持读英语书学英语，但是他的感觉是：“这么多年来，我感觉忘掉的英语比记住的英语还要多。再这么下去的话，我的大学四年真的白读了。我现在连给孩子补习英语都困难。给我一点建议吧，怎样能不把英语彻底丢了？”
老同学其实比我聪明得多，毕业后轻松考过了注册律师和注册会计证书，现在已是单位的一二把手，他唯一遗憾的是，毕竟自己上了四年的的外语院校的英语专业，如果最终英语全部忘记的话，他就相当于大学四年彻底白活了。因此，他每天晚上会用手机看一点英语新闻或是小故事，既温习英语，又让自己从白天繁忙的工作放松一下。不过按他的话说，看英语是催眠效果最好的。
我于是给他推荐了《冰与火之歌》这套英语书，并把第一部书籍的电子书籍给了他。在给他介绍了这本书的大致内容后，我对他说：“建议你每天晚上看上5-10页这本书的话，用一年的时间把它看完。等你慢慢能够不用翻译也可以直接读懂的时候，你也许就能发现英语的第一个用处了。”
后来，他也常常微信问我一些书中的内容，不过很快问题就越来越少了。直到这个周末，他发微信告诉我说，这本书他已经仔细读完了，他让我把这套书其他几部的电子版全部给他，说他已经对这套书上瘾了，现在连中午休息都继续看。他同时告诉我：“我感觉这本书把我的英语给救活了。为什么我在上大学的时候，没有人让我们读这样的书呢？现在回想大学的英语学习，真的是除了研究英语翻译和用英语说中文之外，什么也没有学到。看完这一套书以后，才感觉读到了真的英语。我现在已经发现了英语的第一个用处了，读这本书感觉比看美剧还过瘾。”
其实老同学的英语底子还是在的。他之所以能够很快地实现英语的阅读突破，一是因为他突破了为“学英语”而学英语的困境，开始使用英语读书了；另一个原因就是他在这种没有中文语境的文学阅读中，因为喜爱，所以能够坚持到摆脱中文/翻译的束缚。通常我们只有在读我们真正喜欢的英语书籍时，才会有毅力去克服对中文的依赖。
我突然想起，其实大学生涯也许是年轻人能够掌握英语的最好时机，因为他们有最完整的时间。希望那些大学生朋友们，能够在你们的大学生涯中，通过阅读你们喜爱的现代流行英语原著，实现英语阅读的突破。
【刘博士译文】
Luwin博士郑重地点了点头。屋里陷入一片沉默，直到Catelyn鼓起勇气，问出了那个她害怕听到答案的问题，“那其他孩子怎么办？”
Ned站在那里，他把Catelyn拥入怀中，让她的脸贴近自己的脸，“Rickon还太小，”他轻轻地说道，“他应该留下，与你和Robb呆在一块儿。其他的孩子会跟我一起去南方。”
“我真受不了这样，”Catelyn说着，她全身在发抖。
“你必须接受，”Ned说，“Sansa一定是要嫁给Joffrey的，这一点现在很清楚了，我们不能给他们留下任何怀疑我们不忠的理由。而且，Arya早就应该学习南方宫廷里的一些礼仪了。过不了几年，她也就到了出嫁的年龄了。”
Catelyn心里默默地想着，Sansa到了南方一定会崭露头角的，可是Arya，老天爷都知道，她在举止方面是需要好好打磨的。Catelyn极不情愿地在心中放手让她们两个离开。但是她不能放下Bran。绝对不能让Bran离开。“你说的对，”Catelyn说，“可是Ned，看在你爱我的份上，让Bran留在Winterfell这里吧，他才只有七岁呀。”
Ned说：“我父亲把我送到Eyrie城堡寄养的时候，我也只有八岁。Rodrik爵士给我说了，Robb和Joffrey王子之间的关系很糟糕。这不是一个好的苗头。Bran能够弥补这段关系。他是一个讨人喜欢的孩子，他爱笑，也容易喜欢上别人。让他和那些年纪轻轻的小王子在一起长大吧，让他成为那些王子们的朋友，就像我当年成为Robert的朋友一样。这样的话，我们的家族也会更安全得多。”
Ned是对的，Catelyn知道是这样。但这并没有让她心里的疼痛变得好受一些。这样的话，她就会和家里的四名亲人分离：Ned、两个女儿，还有她那讨人喜欢的，心爱的Bran。只有Robb和小宝宝Rickon会留下呆在她身边。她已经开始感到孤单起来。Winterfell城堡对于她来说是那样一个巨大的地方。“那就让他离城墙远远的，”Catelyn坚强地说，“你知道Bran是多么喜欢爬上爬下的。”
Ned亲吻着她的眼睛，把她那就要流出来的泪水全都吻去，“谢谢你，我的夫人，”他低声说。“我知道，这对你很不容易。”
“那Jon Snow怎么办，我的大人？”Luwin博士问。
听到这个名字Catelyn紧张起来。Ned感觉到了她心中的愤怒，他放开了Catelyn。
许多男人都有私生子。Catelyn从小就听人这么说。因此，在她结婚的第一年，当她得知Ned在征战期间，与一个偶然遇到的女人生了一个孩子的时候，她也并不感到奇怪。毕竟，Ned作为一个男人有他的需要，而在那一年他们他们一直都是分开的。Ned在南方打仗，而她则安安全全地呆在Riverrun她父亲的城堡里。她那时的心思更多的是在她那嗷嗷待哺的小婴儿Robb身上，她根本就顾不上那时她几乎还一无所知的丈夫。Ned要是在征战间歇中想去找乐子的话，就随他去吧。要是他这样有了孩子的话，那么负责供养孩子是Ned自己的事情。
可是Ned做得远不仅如此。Stark家的男人和其他的男人不一样。Ned不仅把他的私生子带回了家，并且还当着所有北方人的面称他为“儿子”。当战争终于结束，Catelyn骑马回到了Winterfell城堡时，Jon和他的奶妈已经搬进了城堡住了下来。
这深深地刺伤了Catelyn。Ned根本不愿谈论Jon的母亲是谁，甚至连一个字也不说。但城堡里是没有秘密的，Catelyn从她的侍女那里听到她们从她丈夫手下士兵那里听来的故事。他们会偷偷说起一个叫Arthur Dayne的爵士，他也被称之为“黎明之剑”。他是Aerys国王皇家禁卫队七名剑手中最厉害的一个。他们会说起年轻的Ned领主是如何在一次单人决斗中将他杀死的。他们又讲起Ned后来是如何将Arthur爵士的剑带回他美丽的妹妹身边，他的妹妹住在夏季海海边一座叫做“沉没之星”的城堡里等着他。Arthur 爵士的夫人Ashara Dayne是一名个子高挑，皮肤白皙的，有着一双令人难以忘怀的紫色眼睛的女人。Catelyn用了十多天的时间才鼓起勇气问他的丈夫。一天晚上，当他们在床上时，Catelyn当面问丈夫，她想知道事情的真相。
那天晚上是他们结婚这么多年来，Ned唯一一次让她感到害怕的时候。“再也不许问我Jon的事情，”他说话的时候面如冰霜，“他是我的血脉，你知道这一点就足够了。现在我想知道你是从哪儿听到这个名字的，夫人。”Catelyn向他发誓以后会服从她；她也告诉了Ned自己从哪里听到这个名字的；从那天以后，再也没人窃窃私语了，Ashara Dayne的名字再也没有在Winterfell城堡被提起过。
不管Jon的母亲是谁，Ned一定是非常的爱着她，因为无论Catelyn怎样劝说Ned，他都不愿意把孩子送走。这是唯一一件让Catelyn永远无法原谅Ned的事情。她最终学会了全心全意去爱她的丈夫，但她却从来无法学会爱Jon。因为她爱Ned，即便Ned有十几个私生子她都可以视而不见，只要她看不见那些私生子就好。可是她没有办法让Jon从她的视线里消失。随着Jon一点点长大，他似乎看起来比Catelyn所生的所有亲生儿子都更加像Ned。不知什么原因，这反而让事情更加糟糕。“Jon也必须要走，”Catelyn现在说道。
“他和Robb两人很亲的，”Ned说 “我原本希望……”
“他不能呆在这里，”Catelyn打断了他的话，“他是你的儿子，不是我的。我不会收留他的。”Catelyn知道，她的话听起来很冷酷，但事实就是如此。Ned如果把这个孩子留在Winter fell城堡的话，对那个孩子也是很残酷的。
Ned用近乎痛苦的眼神望着她，“你知道我没法带他去南方。宫廷中是没有他的位置的。如果一个孩子，名字一听就知道是私生子的话……你知道人们会怎么说他嘛。大家都会躲着他的。”
Catelyn铁定了心肠，她不想被她丈夫眼中那无声的哀求说动自己。“大家都说，你的朋友Robert自己就生了十几个私生子。”
“可是从来没有人在宫廷中见过他们呀！”Ned的火气上来了，“Lannister家的女人肯定不会让这种事情发生的。你怎么能这么残忍呢，Catelyn？他只是个孩子呀。他——”
他现在怒火中烧，他本来也许会说得更多，说更加难听的话，但Luwin博士插话进来。“现在还有另一个解决办法。”他说道，他的声音很平静，“你哥哥Benjen几天前曾找我谈过Jon的事情。看上去这个孩子对加入黑夜守护营很感兴趣。”
Ned的脸上一副震惊的表情，“他提出要加入黑夜守护营？”
Catelyn不说话了。让Ned自己把这件事情好好想清楚吧。现在她的话肯定是不受欢迎的。不过Catelyn此时高兴得真想吻一下博士。他的主意真是一个绝好的办法。Benjen Stark是黑夜守护营的结拜兄弟。对他来说Jon就像是他的亲儿子一般，因为他自己是永远不能有孩子的。而且，到时候这个孩子也会宣誓加入守护营的。那样的话，他就不会再有儿子，将来他也就不会有孩子与Catelyn的子孙们争夺Winterfell的继承权了。
Luwin博士说：“为长墙效劳也是一种莫大的荣誉，我的大人。”
“而且即便是一个私生子，他在黑夜守护营也有可能升到很高的位置，”Ned思忖着。不过，他的语音还是带着些不安，“Jon现在太小了。如果他是成人的话，他提这个要求，那是一回事，可是对于一个十四岁的孩子来说……”
“这的确是一个巨大的牺牲，”Luwin博士赞同道，“不过，现在是困难时期，大人。他的人生道路并不比你或是夫人的道路更加艰难。”
Catelyn想起了她必须放手的三个孩子。虽然她沉默不语，但是她的心里也并不好受。
Ned又转过身去凝视着窗外，他拉长着脸，默默的沉思了片刻。最后，他叹了口气，转过身来。“好吧，”他对Luwin博士说，“我想这也许是最好的办法了。我会去和Ben说这件事的。”
“那我们什么时候告诉Jon呢？”博士问。
“等我必须告诉他的时候。我们得开始做准备了。离我们出发还有两个星期的时间。我倒希望让Jon在最后这些天里玩个够。夏天很快就要过去了，他的童年也就要结束了。到时候，我会亲口告诉他的。”
【英语文本】
Maester Luwin nodded gravely. Then silence fell until Catelyn found her courage and asked the question whose answer she most dreaded. “What of the other children?”
Ned stood and took her in his arms and held her face close to his. “Rickon is very young ” he said gently. “He should stay here with you and Robb. The others I would take with me.”
“I could not bear it ” Catelyn said trembling.
“You must ” he said. “Sansa must wed Joffrey that is clear now we must give them no grounds to suspect our devotion. And it is past time that Arya learned the ways of a southron court. In a few years she will be of an age to marry too.”
Sansa would shine in the south Catelyn thought to herself and the gods knew that Arya needed refinement. Reluctantly she let go of them in her heart. But not Bran. Never Bran. “Yes ” she said “but please Ned for the love you bear me let Bran remain here at Winterfell. He is only seven.”
“I was eight when my father sent me to foster at the Eyrie ” Ned said. “Ser Rodrik tells me there is bad feeling between Robb and Prince Joffrey. That is not healthy. Bran can bridge that distance. He is a sweet boy quick to laugh easy to love. Let him grow up with the young princes let him become their friend as Robert became mine. Our House will be the safer for it.”
He was right; Catelyn knew it. It did not make the pain any easier to bear. She would lose all four of them then: Ned and both girls and her sweet loving Bran. Only Robb and little Rickon would be left to her. She felt lonely already. Winterfell was such a vast place. “Keep him off the walls then ” she said bravely. “You know how Bran loves to climb.”
Ned kissed the tears from her eyes before they could fall. “Thank you my lady ” he whispered. “This is hard I know.”
“What of Jon Snow my lord?” Maester Luwin asked.
Catelyn tensed at the mention of the name. Ned felt the anger in her and pulled away.
Many men fathered bastards. Catelyn had grown up with that knowledge. It came as no surprise to her in the first year of her marriage to learn that Ned had fathered a child on some girl chance met on campaign. He had a man’s needs after all and they had spent that year apart Ned off at war in the south while she remained safe in her father’s castle at Riverrun. Her thoughts were more of Robb the infant at her breast than of the husband she scarcely knew. He was welcome to whatever solace he might find between battles. And if his seed quickened she expected he would see to the child’s needs.
He did more than that. The Starks were not like other men. Ned brought his bastard home with him and called him “son” for all the north to see. When the wars were over at last and Catelyn rode to Winterfell Jon and his wet nurse had already taken up residence.
That cut deep. Ned would not speak of the mother not so much as a word but a castle has no secrets and Catelyn heard her maids repeating tales they heard from the lips of her husband’s soldiers. They whispered of Ser Arthur Dayne the Sword of the Morning deadliest of the seven knights of Aerys’s Kingsguard and of how their young lord had slain him in single combat. And they told how afterward Ned had carried Ser Arthur’s sword back to the beautiful young sister who awaited him in a castle called Starfall on the shores of the Summer Sea. The Lady Ashara Dayne tall and fair with haunting violet eyes. It had taken her a fortnight to marshal her courage but finally in bed one night Catelyn had asked her husband the truth of it asked him to his face.
That was the only time in all their years that Ned had ever frightened her. “Never ask me about Jon ” he said cold as ice. “He is my blood and that is all you need to know. And now I will learn where you heard that name my lady.” She had pledged to obey; she told him; and from that day on the whispering had stopped and Ashara Dayne’s name was never heard in Winterfell again.
Whoever Jon’s mother had been Ned must have loved her fiercely for nothing Catelyn said would persuade him to send the boy away. It was the one thing she could never forgive him. She had come to love her husband with all her heart but she had never found it in her to love Jon. She might have overlooked a dozen bastards for Ned’s sake so long as they were out of sight. Jon was never out of sight and as he grew he looked more like Ned than any of the trueborn sons she bore him. Somehow that made it worse. “Jon must go ” she said now.
“He and Robb are close ” Ned said. “I had hoped . . .”
“He cannot stay here ” Catelyn said cutting him off. “He is your son not mine. I will not have him.” It was hard she knew but no less the truth. Ned would do the boy no kindness by leaving him here at Winterfell.
The look Ned gave her was anguished. “You know I cannot take him south. There will be no place for him at court. A boy with a bastard’s name . . . you know what they will say of him. He will be shunned.”
Catelyn armored her heart against the mute appeal in her husband’s eyes. “They say your friend Robert has fathered a dozen bastards himself.”
“And none of them has ever been seen at court!” Ned blazed. “The Lannister woman has seen to that. How can you be so damnably cruel Catelyn? He is only a boy. He-“
His fury was on him. He might have said more and worse but Maester Luwin cut in. “Another solution presents itself ” he said his voice quiet. “Your brother Benjen came to me about Jon a few days ago. It seems the boy aspires to take the black.”
Ned looked shocked. “He asked to join the Night’s Watch?”
Catelyn said nothing. Let Ned work it out in his own mind; her voice would not be welcome now. Yet gladly would she have kissed the maester just then. His was the perfect solution. Benjen Stark was a Sworn Brother. Jon would be a son to him the child he would never have. And in time the boy would take the oath as well. He would father no sons who might someday contest with Catelyn’s own grandchildren for Winterfell.
Maester Luwin said “There is great honor in service on the Wall my lord.”
“And even a bastard may rise high in the Night’s Watch ” Ned reflected. Still his voice was troubled. “Jon is so young. If he asked this when he was a man grown that would be one thing but a boy of fourteen . . .”
“A hard sacrifice ” Maester Luwin agreed. “Yet these are hard times my lord. His road is no crueler than yours or your lady’s.”
Catelyn thought of the three children she must lose. It was not easy keeping silent then.
Ned turned away from them to gaze out the window his long face silent and thoughtful. Finally he sighed and turned back. “Very well ” he said to Maester Luwin. “I suppose it is for the best. I will speak to Ben.”
“When shall we tell Jon?” the maester asked.
“When I must. Preparations must be made. It will be a fortnight before we are ready to depart. I would sooner let Jon enjoy these last few days. Summer will end soon enough and childhood as well. When the time comes I will tell him myself.”
