刘老师英语故事书（刘博士英语原著阅读陪伴冰与火之歌005天）

刘老师英语故事书（刘博士英语原著阅读陪伴冰与火之歌005天）【本节导读】…and justice will fall to you. When that day comes you must take no pleasure in the task but neither must you look away. A ruler who hides behind paid executioners soon forgets what death is.”…我们有这样一种信仰，那就是，宣判死刑的人也应该是挥刀行刑的人。如果你要夺去一个人的生命的话，那么你就有义务看着那个人的眼睛，听他说完最后的话。如果你做不到这一点的话，那么也许这个人是罪不该死的。…and we hold to the belief that the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would t

布兰想了一下：“如果一个人害怕了，他还能勇敢吗？”

“人只有在这种时候才会勇敢起来，”他的父亲告诉他。

Bran thought about it. “Can a man still be brave if he’s afraid?”

“That is the only time a man can be brave ” his father told him.

…我们有这样一种信仰，那就是，宣判死刑的人也应该是挥刀行刑的人。如果你要夺去一个人的生命的话，那么你就有义务看着那个人的眼睛，听他说完最后的话。如果你做不到这一点的话，那么也许这个人是罪不该死的。

…and we hold to the belief that the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man’s life you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.

…那时候执行死刑的责任会落在你的身上。当那一天到来时，你不许以做这种事情为乐，但你也不可以把你的目光从死刑犯的脸上移开。如果一个统治者总是躲在背后，靠他雇佣的行刑手来做这件事的话，他很快就会忘记死亡是什么滋味的。”

…and justice will fall to you. When that day comes you must take no pleasure in the task but neither must you look away. A ruler who hides behind paid executioners soon forgets what death is.”

【本节导读】

这里简单介绍一下Stark家族和这一章的主人公Bran。看过《权力游戏的人》都知道Bran最终的命运。许多人也不认可这种故事的结局。那是因为在美剧中，观众们喜欢看的是最辉煌的一刻，而辉煌背后的平凡和苦难则是观众们不屑或是美剧会删掉的情节。在《冰与火之歌》书里，我们也许能在Bran的身上找到一点和我们一样的平凡和不幸（也许更加不幸），对他有更多的认识。

House Stark of Winterfell （权游粉丝必看。一般读者可以忽略，或将其视作故事背景介绍）

House Stark 是Westeros 这片岛国大陆的北方贵族家族和北方的守护王。他们的家族徽章是一条巨狼（Direwolf）驰骋在一片白色的雪野上。他们家族的座右铭是“Winter is Coming”，这句座右铭代表着居安思危，永远不忘记危险会随时出现。

据传，House Stark 是第一代人类（the First Men）的后代。家族的的创立者是Brandon the Builder。他是北方长墙（the long wall）的始建者，是黑夜守护营（the Black Watch）兄弟会的创始人和Winterfell 的建造者。 （冰与火之歌中， Eddard Stark 的哥哥也叫Brandon，请勿搞混）。

在冰与火之歌故事发生之前，Eddard Stark 的父亲 Rickard Stark 将长子Brandon 与 Tully 家族的Catelyn Tully 订婚，将自己的二儿子Eddard Stark 送到了Jon Arryn 领主的Eyrie 城堡寄养，并将自己的小女儿Lyanna ，许配给了Storm’s End 领主 Robert Baratheon。

然而，在一场武术大会上（Tourney） Targaryen 王室的Rhaegar 王子见到Lyanna并对她一见倾心，封她为爱与美丽之女王，并将象征的玫瑰花环戴在了她的头上。后来，Brandon去到Riverrun 与未婚妻Catelyn Tully 订婚。在返回途中，他听说Rhaegar 王子绑架了Lyanna，哥哥Brandon得此消息一路追赶到了王城King’s Landing。国王Aerys II世抓住了Brandon 同时下令Brandon的父亲Rickard去King’s Landing为Brandon’s 所犯罪行负责。Aerys II处死了Rickard 和Brandon父子倆，同时向Eyrie城堡的领主Jon Arryn索要Eddard Stark 和Robert Baratheon的人头。领主拒绝了。内战开始了。

Robert Baratheon Jon Arryn 和Stark三大家族联手，同时Eddard 代替哥哥迎娶了Catelyn。 在Trident 河一战最终击败了Rhaegar的主力部队。当Eddard Stark 率军攻到King’s Landing 却发现另一家族Lanister 家族的Tywin领主已经占领了王城，他的儿子原国王禁卫军的成员Jaime Lanister 已经杀掉了Aerys II并正坐在铁王座上。

Eddard 与Robert发生了争执，于是离开王城去拯救在Storm’s Ends城堡的妹妹Lyanna。当最终攻克城堡，进入妹妹所在的Tower of Joy(这座塔是Rhaegar王子为Lyanna 修建并命名的)，却发现妹妹满身是血地躺在床上，手中还紧握着玫瑰花瓣。Lyanna 临死前让Eddard发了一个誓，誓言内容无人知道。Lyanna 死后Eddard 和Robert 最终达成了和解。

Eddard 带着私生子Jon Snow 回到了家，这个私生子据说是Eddard的，但是Eddard 一生从未向任何人（包括他的妻子Catelyn）说起Jon 的身世。除了Jon以外，他和Catelyn 生下了5个孩子：大儿子Robb，二女儿Sansa 三女儿Arya 老四Bran 小儿子Rickon。

冰与火之歌第一本书《the Game of Thrones》开始的时候，Bran 已经7岁了。

【刘博士译文】

Bran

天已破晓，晴朗而又寒冷，一丝凛冽的味道预示着夏天即将过去。天一亮他们就启程了，一行共有20个人，他们是去看有人被斩首的。Bran骑着马走在他们中间，又兴奋又紧张。这是第一次他被视作了大人，可以和他的父亲大人和兄弟们一起去见识国王的法律（死刑）是如何执行的了。这是那个夏天的第九年，这一年Bran七岁。

那个死刑犯是从山里的一个简易棚屋里抓住的。Robb认为他是一个野人族的人，他的剑是效忠于墙外之王Mance Rayder的。Bran一想到这些就不觉起了鸡皮疙瘩。他想起了老奶妈在火炉边给他们讲的那些故事。老奶妈说，野人族是可残忍的人啦，他们是奴隶贩子、杀人犯还有小偷。他们还与巨人族和僵尸族勾结，在半夜三更的时候把别人家的女孩子偷走，还用牛角做成的杯子喝人血。她们的女人呀，还和长夜之地的异人族生下可怕的半人不人的孩子。

但是，当他们看见了这个手脚被绑在简易棚屋的墙上等候执行国王的死刑判决的人时，却发现他老又瘦，个头并不比Robb高多少。他的两只耳朵和一只手指都被霜冻给冻掉了，他一身黑衣打扮，就像是一个黑夜守护营的兄弟一样，只不过他的毛披风破破烂烂的，脏兮兮的。

父亲大人让手下把墙上的绳子砍断，把那个人拖到他们的面前来。早晨寒冷的空气让那人的呼吸和马的气息所冒出的白汽都混合在了一块。Robb和Jon坐在高高的马背上不动声色，Bran夹在他们的中间，骑在自己的小马驹上，他努力使自己看起来比他7岁的年龄更大一些，努力地假装着他是见过这种场面的。一阵微风吹从简易屋穿门而过。在他们的头顶上Winterfell城堡Starks家族的旗帜飘扬着：旗帜上是一只灰色的巨狼（Direwolf）驰骋在雪白的原野上。

Bran的父亲庄严地坐在马上，他那棕色的长发在风中飘动。他修剪得很整齐的胡须上点缀着白色，这使他看起来远不止三十五岁。今天，他那灰色的眼睛透露着一丝严峻，他看上去完全不象是那个晚上坐在火炉前，低声讲述着英雄世纪和森林之子传说的人。Bran觉得，他现在已经取下了父亲的那张面具，戴上了Winterfell城堡Stark 领主的那张面具。

就在清晨的寒冷中，大家不断问着犯人问题，犯人也回答着这些问题，只是后来Bran根本记不起都说了些什么。最后，他的父亲大人发出了命令，两名守卫将这个衣衫褴褛的人拖到空地中间的一个铁木树桩上。他们把犯人的头紧摁在那坚硬的黑木头上。Eddard Stark领主下了马，他的被监护人Theon Greyjoy拿来了剑。这把剑的名字叫“寒冰Ice”。它的剑身宽度有一个人的手掌那么宽，长度甚至比Robb还要高。这把剑用的是Valyrian的精钢，锻造时还使用了上古的魔法，它的颜色乌黑如烟一般。没有其他的剑能有像Valyrian 钢那样锋利而坚硬的刀刃。

他的父亲脱去手套，把手套交给他的家族守卫队队长Jory Cassel。他用双手抓住寒冰剑，然后说道：“我以Baratheon家族Robert的名义，他是这个家族的第一人，是Andal人和Rhoynar 人也是the First Men的国王，是七国之主和帝国保护者。我，Eddard，是Stark家族之首，是Winterfell的领主和北方的护王，我现在宣判你死刑。”他把那把巨剑高高地举过头顶。

Bran的私生哥哥Jon Snow靠近了他。“抓紧你的小马驹缰绳，”他低声说。“不要把眼睛躲开。如果你躲开的话，父亲肯定会知道的。”

Bran把小马驹的缰绳牢牢握在手里，他没有把目光移开。

他的父亲只一刀就把那人的头给砍掉了。鲜血喷射出来，洒在四周的雪地上，红得就像夏日红酒一般。有一匹马用后腿站了起来，其他人不得不将其牢牢控制住，它才没有脱缰逃走。Bran的眼睛像是被地上的血给吸引住一般无法挪开。他眼看着树桩周围的白雪把死人的血很快就吸了进去，然后白雪越来越红。

那颗人头撞在了一根粗大的树根上又弹了起来，然后在地上滚着。它滚到了Grejoy的脚边。Theon Greyjoy是一个身材瘦削、皮肤黝黑的年轻人。他只有19岁，觉得世上一切都很可笑。他哈哈笑着，将他穿着靴子的脚踩在那颗人头上，然后一脚把它踢开。

“畜牲，”Jon嘟囔着说，他的声音很低，Greyjoy没有听见。Jon把手搭在Bran的肩膀上，Bran头看着他的私生哥哥。“你表现得非常好，”John很庄重的告诉他。Jon十四岁了，他参加死刑行刑已经是个老手了。

在骑马返回Winterfell的漫长路上，尽管此时风已经停了，太阳也高高地挂在空中，天气却似乎更似乎更加寒冷。Bran和他的兄弟们骑着马，跑在了大队人马的前面，他的小马驹使劲地想跟上哥哥们的大马。

“这个逃兵死得还是挺勇敢的，”Rob说。他长得高大而健壮，而且似乎每长一天，都越来越像他的母亲。他有母亲的气色，白皙的皮肤，红棕色的头发，还有Riverrun的Tully家族的蓝眼睛。“至少，他有勇气的。”

“不，”Jon Snow平静地说道。“他这不是勇气。这家伙是被恐惧给吓死的。你从他的眼睛里就能看得出来，Stark 。”Jon的眼睛是灰色的，颜色深得几乎黑色，但几乎没有什么能逃过他的眼睛。他和Robb同龄，不过他们俩长得完全不同。Robb长得强壮，而Jon身体削瘦；Robb的肤色是浅色的，而Jon的肤色是黝黑的；私生哥哥Robb 强壮而动作迅速，而私生弟弟Jon 则姿态优雅而敏捷。

Robb并不觉得这话有道理。“让他的眼睛见异族（见鬼）去吧，”他诅咒道。“总之，他死得很勇敢。咱们比试一下，看谁先跑到桥边？”

“比就比，”Jon一边说着，一边驱马向前。Robb骂了一句也跟了上去。他们沿着小路疾驰而去，Robb一路大笑着大叫着，而Jon则是一言不发，专心致志。他们马儿的马蹄在身后踢起了一阵阵的雪花儿来。

Bran并没有想跟上去。他的小马驹是根本追不上的。他也看到了那个衣衫褴褛的死刑犯的眼睛，现在他也开始想这事了。没过多久，Robb的大笑声渐渐远去，树林里又重归宁静。

Bran聚精会神地想着，他根本没有听到其他一行人追赶上来的声音，直到他的父亲骑着马和他并排走在一起，他才发现。“你还好吧，Bran？”父亲问道，他的语调开始有了些爱意。

“是的，爸爸，”Bran回答道。他抬起头。他的父亲身上裹着毛皮外套，骑在他那巨大的战马上，像巨人一般耸立在他身边。“Robb说，那个人死得很勇敢，可是Jon却说他很害怕。”

“你怎么样的？”他的父亲问道。

布兰想了一下：“如果一个人害怕了，他还能勇敢吗？”

“人只有在这种时候才会勇敢起来，”他的父亲告诉他。“你明白我为什么要这么做吗？”

“他是野蛮族的人，”Bran说。“他们抢走妇女，还把她们卖给异族。”

他的父亲大人笑了。“奶妈给你讲的故事还真不少啊。实际上呀，这个人是一个背信弃义者，一个黑夜守护营的逃兵。没有人比这样的人更危险了。这个逃兵知道如果他被抓住的话，他就死定了，所以他什么坏事都干得出来，不管事情有多么邪恶。不过你误解我了。我的问题并不是这个人为什么一定要死，而是我为什么必须亲自执行死刑。”

Bran不知道答案。“罗伯特国王要有一个行刑手，”他不大肯定地说。

“是的，”他的父亲承认道。“就像在他之前的Targaryen王朝的国王们一样。不过我们的行刑方式是我们更古老的传统。第一代人类（the First Men）的血液仍旧流淌在Stark家族的血脉中。我们有这样一种信仰，那就是宣判死刑的人也应该是挥刀行刑的人。如果你要夺去一个人的生命的话，那么你就有义务看着那个人的眼睛，听他说完最后的话。如果你做不到这一点的话，那么也许这个人是罪不该死的。

“会有一天，Bran，你会成为Robb的旗手，并为你的哥哥和你的国王守卫一个你自己的城池，那时候执行死刑的责任会落在你的身上。当那一天到来时，你不许以做这种事情为乐，但你也不能把你的目光从死刑犯的脸上移开。如果一个统治者总是躲在背后，靠他雇佣的行刑手来做这件事的话，他很快就会忘记死亡是什么滋味的。”

【英语文本】

Bran

The morning had dawned clear and cold with a crispness that hinted at the end of summer. They set forth at daybreak to see a man beheaded twenty in all and Bran rode among them nervous with excitement. This was the first time he had been deemed old enough to go with his lord father and his brothers to see the king’s justice done. It was the ninth year of summer and the seventh of Bran’s life.

The man had been taken outside a small holdfast in the hills. Robb thought he was a wildling his sword sworn to Mance Rayder the King-beyond-the-Wall. It made Bran’s skin prickle to think of it. He remembered the hearth tales Old Nan told them. The wildlings were cruel men she said slavers and slayers and thieves. They consorted with giants and ghouls stole girl children in the dead of night and drank blood from polished horns. And their women lay with the Others in the Long Night to sire terrible half-human children.

But the man they found bound hand and foot to the holdfast wall awaiting the king’s justice was old and scrawny not much taller than Robb. He had lost both ears and a finger to frostbite and he dressed all in black the same as a brother of the Night’s Watch except that his furs were ragged and greasy.

The breath of man and horse mingled steaming in the cold morning air as his lord father had the man cut down from the wall and dragged before them. Robb and Jon sat tall and still on their horses with Bran between them on his pony trying to seem older than seven trying to pretend that he’d seen all this before. A faint wind blew through the holdfast gate. Over their heads flapped the banner of the Starks of Winterfell: a grey direwolf racing across an ice-white field.

Bran’s father sat solemnly on his horse long brown hair stirring in the wind. His closely trimmed beard was shot with white making him look older than his thirty-five years. He had a grim cast to his grey eyes this day and he seemed not at all the man who would sit before the fire in the evening and talk softly of the age of heroes and the children of the forest. He had taken off Father’s face Bran thought and donned the face of Lord Stark of Winterfell.

There were questions asked and answers given there in the chill of morning but afterward Bran could not recall much of what had been said. Finally his lord father gave a command and two of his guardsmen dragged the ragged man to the ironwood stump in the center of the square. They forced his head down onto the hard black wood. Lord Eddard Stark dismounted and his ward Theon Greyjoy brought forth the sword. “Ice ” that sword was called. It was as wide across as a man’s hand and taller even than Robb. The blade was Valyrian steel spell-forged and dark as smoke. Nothing held an edge like Valyrian steel.

His father peeled off his gloves and handed them to Jory Cassel the captain of his household guard. He took hold of Ice with both hands and said “In the name of Robert of the House Baratheon the First of his Name King of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm by the word of Eddard of the House Stark Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North I do sentence you to die.” He lifted the greatsword high above his head.

Bran’s bastard brother Jon Snow moved closer. “Keep the pony well in hand ” he whispered. “And don’t look away. Father will know if you do.”

Bran kept his pony well in hand and did not look away.

His father took off the man’s head with a single sure stroke. Blood sprayed out across the snow as red as surnmerwine. One of the horses reared and had to be restrained to keep from bolting. Bran could not take his eyes off the blood. The snows around the stump drank it eagerly reddening as he watched.

The head bounced off a thick root and rolled. It came up near Greyjoy’s feet. Theon was a lean dark youth of nineteen who found everything amusing. He laughed put his boot on the head and kicked it away.

“Ass ” Jon muttered low enough so Greyjoy did not hear. He put a hand on Bran’s shoulder and Bran looked over at his bastard brother. “You did well ” Jon told him solemnly. Jon was fourteen an old hand at justice.

It seemed colder on the long ride back to Winterfell though the wind had died by then and the sun was higher in the sky. Bran rode with his brothers well ahead of the main party his pony struggling hard to keep up with their horses.

“The deserter died bravely ” Robb said. He was big and broad and growing every day with his mother’s coloring the fair skin red-brown hair and blue eyes of the Tullys of Riverrun. “He had courage at the least.”

“No ” Jon Snow said quietly. “It was not courage. This one was dead of fear. You could see it in his eyes Stark.” Jon’s eyes were a grey so dark they seemed almost black but there was little they did not see. He was of an age with Robb but they did not look alike. Jon was slender where Robb was muscular dark where Robb was fair graceful and quick where his half brother was strong and fast.

Robb was not impressed. “The Others take his eyes ” he swore. “He died well. Race you to the bridge?”

“Done ” Jon said kicking his horse forward. Robb cursed and followed and they galloped off down the trail Robb laughing and hooting Jon silent and intent. The hooves of their horses kicked up showers of snow as they went.

Bran did not try to follow. His pony could not keep up. He had seen the ragged man’s eyes and he was thinking of them now. After a while the sound of Robb’s laughter receded and the woods grew silent again.

So deep in thought was he that he never heard the rest of the party until his father moved up to ride beside him. “Are you well Bran?” he asked not unkindly.

“Yes Father ” Bran told him. He looked up. Wrapped in his furs and leathers mounted on his great warhorse his lord father loomed over him like a giant. “Robb says the man died bravely but Jon says he was afraid.”

“What do you think?” his father asked.

Bran thought about it. “Can a man still be brave if he’s afraid?”

“That is the only time a man can be brave ” his father told him. “Do you understand why I did it?”

“He was a wildling ” Bran said. “They carry off women and sell them to the Others.”

His lord father smiled. “Old Nan has been telling you stories again. In truth the man was an oathbreaker a deserter from the Night’s Watch. No man is more dangerous. The deserter knows his life is forfeit if he is taken so he will not flinch from any crime no matter how vile. But you mistake me. The question was not why the man had to die but why I must do it.”

Bran had no answer for that. “King Robert has a headsman ” he said uncertainly.

“He does ” his father admitted. “As did the Targaryen kings before him. Yet our way is the older way. The blood of the First Men still flows in the veins of the Starks and we hold to the belief that the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man’s life you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.

“One day Bran you will be Robb’s bannerman holding a keep of your own for your brother and your king and justice will fall to you. When that day comes you must take no pleasure in the task but neither must you look away. A ruler who hides behind paid executioners soon forgets what death is.”