原版书丨《冰与火之歌》序言
写在前面
一个多月前，George同学找到我说，想跟我一起“搞事情”。我看了一段他的稿子，俩人一拍即合，行动起来。
Goerge并不是英语专业的同学，但他热爱英语，到了一种近似疯狂的地步——在疫情封城期间，他读了20多本英文原版书。
一个人只有困于外界的时候，才能内爆，比如爱因斯坦，比如司马迁。
人与人的区别，就在于对困境的反应。
我喜欢的正是他这一点，因为我坚信，不管是写文章还是做产品，弄出来的东西最终是一个人内心的真实反映。你的内心是什么样的，产品就是什么样的。要做好产品，先完善自己的内心。所以，我相信他能给大家带来一些不一样的体验。
我和他一起搞的第一件事情就是《冰与火之歌》，这是一部鸿篇巨制，做起来十分麻烦。他负责初稿，我负责修改和审核。因为是小说，考虑到情节的连贯性，我们没有对语言进行过多讲解，只是赏析一些精彩的地方。
我们9月末完成了“序言”，后面又继续推进了几章。今天先把“序言”放出来，和大家见个面。如果大家喜欢的话，后面会考虑以加餐的形式继续和大家分享。
书籍介绍
本作是美国作家乔治·R·R·马丁所著的严肃奇幻小说系列（注意，是严肃奇幻小说）。相比于哈利波特、波西杰克逊等青年小说的欢快，本作用词难度更高，小说基调偏沉重，人物角色更丰富，世界观更宏大，景物描写也更多。
《冰与火之歌》主要描述了在一片虚构的中世纪世界里所发生的一系列宫廷斗争、疆场厮杀、游历冒险和魔法抗衡的故事。写作手法上马丁运用了POV（Point-of-View，即“视点人物写作手法”），以轮流交换人物第三人称视点的叙事方式进行描写，从而推动故事的进展。我自己喜欢把本作称为一部架空的欧洲史，古罗马奴隶、古希腊自由城邦、游牧民族再到中世纪的王国都在书中有精彩的呈现。
Winter is coming ?
一开始镜头便出现在长城以外，三位游骑兵奉守夜人长官的命令追逐野人的踪迹，然而却出现了一些状况...
We should start back,” Gared urged as the woods began to grow dark around them. “The wildlings are dead.”
“Do the dead frighten you?” Ser Waymar Royce asked with just the hint of a smile.
Gared did not rise to the bait. He was an old man, past fifty, and he had seen the lordlings come and go. “Dead is dead,” he said. “We have no business with the dead.”
“Are they dead?” Royce asked softly. “What proof have we?”
“Will saw them,” Gared said. “If he says they are dead, that’s proof enough for me.”
“既然野人已经死了，”眼看周围的树林逐渐阴暗，盖瑞不禁催促道：“咱们回头吧。”
“死人吓著你了麽？”威玛·罗伊斯爵士带著轻浅的笑意问道。
盖瑞并未中激将之计，年过五十的他算得上是个老人，这辈子看过太多的贵族子弟来来去去。“死了就是死了，”他说：“咱们没必要和死人打交道。”
“你确定他们真的死了麽？”罗伊斯轻声问：“证据何在？”
“威尔看到了，”盖瑞说：“我相信他说的话。”
Will had known they would drag him into the quarrel sooner or later. He wished it had been later rather than sooner. “My mother told me that dead men sing no songs,” he put in.
“My wet nurse said the same thing, Will,” Royce replied. “Never believe anything you hear at a woman’s tit. There are things to be learned even from the dead.” His voice echoed, too loud in the twilit forest.
威尔早料到他们早晚会把自己卷入这场争执，只是没想到这麽快。“我妈说过，死人不会唱歌。”他插嘴。
“威尔，我奶妈也说过这话，”罗伊斯回答：“千万别相信你在女人怀里听到的话。人就算是死了，也能让我们学到很多东西。”他的馀音在暮色昏暝的森林里回荡，似乎大声了点。
这是本章开头，作者直接以三人对话带入主题。
1
第一句：We should start back,” Gared urged as the woods began to grow dark around them. “The wildlings are dead.”
“既然野人已经死了，”眼看周围的树林逐渐阴暗，盖瑞不禁催促道：“咱们回头吧。”
解读
这里有个很巧妙的用法：woods began to grow dark.
此处grow不是生长的意思，而是become变成...，grow dark就是周围的树林变得黯淡，引申出来就是森林渐深、黑黝黝的一片。
用grow 变成、变为的意思造个句：
As time went on, Sam grew more and more impatient.
随着时间的推移，山姆变得越来越不耐烦。
文中这句话通过环境描写，烘托出Gared内心的恐惧感。
最后一句“in the twilit forests”也呼应了这里的“woods began to grow dark”。
twilit是twilight（暮色）的形容词形式，指“暮色苍茫的”。
2
Gared did not rise to the bait. He was an old man, past fifty, and he had seen the lordlings come and go.
盖瑞并未中激将之计，年过五十的他算得上是个老人，这辈子看过太多的贵族子弟来来去去。
解读
bait指鱼饵，rise to the bait是一个很好的地道表达，英文解释为react to a provocation or temptation exactly as intended. 也就是“上钩，中圈套”的意思。
此处便表示为Gared没有中Royce爵士的激将之计，随后作者也通过人物描写，补充解释了Gared这个角色，凸显出他稳重的性格：an old man、past fifty 年过五十、had seen lordlings come and go 见惯了无数贵族子弟来来去去（见多识广、阅历丰富）。
Something was different tonight. There was an edge to this darkness that made his hackles rise. Nine days they had been riding, north and northwest and then north again, farther and farther from the Wall, hard on the track of a band of Wildling raiders. Each day had been worse than the day that had come before it. Today was the worst of all. A cold wind was blowing out of the north, and it made the trees rustle like living things. All day, Will had felt as though something were watching him, something cold and implacable that loved him not. Gared had felt it too. Will wanted nothing so much as to ride hellbent for the safety of the Wall, but that was not a feeling to share with your commander.
此夜迥异於往昔，四面环暗中有种莫可名状，让他汗毛竖立的惊悚。他们轻骑北出长城，九天来昼夜不断推进，紧咬野人土匪的足迹。情况日益恶化，而今天已然降到谷底。阴森北风吹得树影幢幢，宛如狰狞活物，威尔整天都觉得自己受到一种冰冷且对他毫无好感的不知名东西监视，盖瑞也感觉到了，此刻威尔心中只想掉转马头，没命似地逃回长城。但这却是万万不能在长官面前说起的念头。
此段主要在描写Will当时的内心反应，作者通过环境描写来侧面反映人物心理。
1
Something was different tonight. There was an edge to this darkness that made his hackles rise.
此夜迥异於往昔，四面环暗中有种莫可名状，让他汗毛竖立的惊悚。
解读
edge 是“刃”的意思，这里比喻某种强烈、锐利的特性或气氛，比如：
Trump’s remarks have a hard political edge to it.
特朗普的讲话有很强的政治性。
文中an edge to this darkness 黑暗中暗藏“利刃”，表现出暗夜可怕，危机四伏。
紧接着跟了个定语从句that made his hackles rise使“暗夜可怕”更加具体地体现出来。
hackles指脖子后面的毛，make hackles rise 自然可以得出就是“汗毛竖立、毛骨悚然”的意思。
2
Will wanted nothing so much as to ride hellbent for the safety of the Wall, but that was not a feeling to share with your commander.
此刻威尔心中只想掉转马头，没命似地逃回长城。
解读
hellbent adj. 拼命的、坚决的、不顾一切的，ride hellbent for the safety of the Wall就是指没命似的跑回长城的安全地带，一个hellbent就烘托出人物内心“不顾一切”的心理活动，让整个句子活了起来，仿佛身临其境。
注意，这里ride后面加的是形容词hellbent，我们一直有个误区，认为“动词后面只能加副词”，其实也可以加形容词的，这时形容词修饰的不是动词，而是前面的名词，表示他们的状态或结果，比如：
He married young.
他年纪轻轻就结婚了。
这里的young修饰的He，而不是married。
再如，2020年4月的《经济学人》中有篇文章讲到了欧洲人在疫情爆发前夕纷纷抢购生活用品，文中有这么一句话：
As customers strip shelves bare, most British supermarkets have implemented some form of rationing.
由于顾客们将货架上的商品一扫而空，大多数英国超市都实行了某种形式的配给制。
这里的bare体现的是shelves（货架）的状态，而不是strip。
所以，ride hellbent中的hellbent，修饰的不是ride，而是体现出Will的内心状态：极度恐惧、策马狂奔。
hellbent还有一些好的短语搭配 比如 be hellbent on... 就是指坚持某事而且态度特别强硬。欲望都市里就有这样一句话：
Carrie's hellbent on getting the four of us together Saturday night.
凯莉硬要我们四个在星期六聚会。
Will虽然内心怕的要死，想要逃跑。但接下来一句话将人物置于一个两难境地——But that was not a feeling to share with your commander.但这却是万万不能在长官面前说起的念头。
至于野人是怎么死的，三人起了分歧，盖瑞认为是寒冷冻死了野人，他们任务已经完成应该返回，而罗伊斯爵士认为再冷也不可能活活冻死八个成年人。最终他们决定去一探究竟：
For a moment he dared not breathe. Moonlight shone down on the clearing, the ashes of the firepit, the snow-covered lean-to and the great rock, the little half-frozen stream. Everything was just as it had been a few hours ago.
They were gone. All the bodies were gone.
他的心脏停止跳动，有好一阵子不敢呼吸。月光洒落在空地上，照出营火余烬，白雪覆盖的披屋与岩石，半结冰的小溪，全都和数小时前他所见的一模一样。
唯一的差别是，所有的人都不见了。
奇怪了，威尔口中死掉的野人人间蒸发了...
1
Moonlight shone down on the clearing, the ashes of the firepit, the snow-covered lean-to and the great rock, the little half-frozen stream.
月光洒落在空地上，照出营火余烬，白雪覆盖的披屋与岩石，半结冰的小溪。
解读
clearing n.指树林中的空地。
firepit指火坑，补充几个带fire前缀的跟火相关的单词：firecracker鞭炮；firefly 萤火虫；fireplace 壁炉；firewall 防火墙。
snow-covered是一个「名词+动词过去分词」结构的形容词构词法，意思是“白雪覆盖的”，类似的还有litter-strewn 垃圾满地的，car-clogged 汽车拥堵的。
lean-to是一个名词，指披棚、披屋，snow-covered lean-to 就等于 lean-to (that is) covered by snow（白雪覆盖的披屋）。
上面这些词了解即可。
Ser Waymar looked him over with open disapproval. “I am not going back to Castle Black a failure on my first ranging. We will find these men.” He glanced around. “Up the tree. Be quick about it. Look for a fire.”
威玛爵士很不满地上下打量他。"我可不想第一次出巡逻任务就锻羽而归。我们一定要找到这些人。"他环顾四周。"爬到树上去看，动作快点，注意附近有没有火光。
很明显，年轻的贵族爵士立功心切，并不心甘，而且他也不相信野人就这么凭空蒸发，便令威尔爬到树上打望。此后，威尔在树上目睹了接下来将要发生的可怕事情：
A shadow emerged from the dark of the wood. It stood in front of Royce. Tall, it was, and gaunt and hard as old bones, with flesh pale as milk. Its armor seemed to change color as it moved; here it was white as new-fallen snow, there black as shadow, everywhere dappled with the deep grey-green of the trees. The patterns ran like moonlight on water with every step it took.
一道阴影突然自树林暗处冒了出来，站在罗伊斯面前。它的体型十分高大，憔悴而坚毅像是老骨头，肤色苍白如乳汁。他的盔甲似乎也随着移动而改变颜色，一会儿白如新雪，一会儿黑如晴影，缀满深林中的灰绿色。它每走一步，图案便如同水面上的邻邻月光般不断改变。
1
It stood in front of Royce. Tall, it was, and gaunt and hard as old bones, with flesh pale as milk.
它的体型十分高大，憔悴而坚毅像是老骨头，肤色苍白如乳汁。
解读
it was在这里后置了，对tall 形成一种强调，常规写法是：It was tall and gaunt...
2
Its armor seemed to change color as it moved; here it was white as new-fallen snow, there black as shadow, everywhere dappled with the deep grey-green of the trees.
他的盔甲似乎也随着移动而改变颜色，一会儿白如新雪，一会儿黑如晴影，缀满深林中的灰绿色。
解读
here…, there…前置，强调了空间的转换，光影变幻，形成视觉上的强烈刺激。句子可以还原为It was white here, and it was black there，但缺少了空间转换的感觉。
be dappled with表示“有...斑点，被...点缀着” ，这里是指黑白身影不管走到哪都有灰绿色的斑驳树影点缀着。
3
The patterns ran like moonlight on water with every step it took.
它每走一步，图案便如同水面上的邻邻月光般不断改变。
解读
此句如果直译便是：图案像月光一样在水上跑。这样肯定不通顺。本处作者用了两个修辞手法拟人和明喻（后面会详细讲到）。
一是给patterns（也就是异鬼移动时黑白交织的图案）赋予人的动作run,接着说这图案犹如洒在水面上的月光，也是明暗交错like moonlight on water，一气呵成，瞬间是文章充满了画面感。（我习惯称这个为英文的立体化风格，后面也会单独讲解。）
这两段堪称本章高潮，异鬼现身，Winter is coming !!
The Other slid forward on silent feet. In its hand was a longsword like none that Will had ever seen. No human metal had gone into the forging of that blade. It was alive with moonlight, translucent,a shard of crystal so thin that it seemed almost to vanish when seen edge-on. There was a faint blue shimmer to the thing, a ghost-light that played around its edges, and somehow Will knew it was sharper than any razor.
异鬼安静地向前潜行，手中握著长剑，威尔从没见过类似的武器。那是把半透明的剑，材质完全不是人类所使用的金属，像是一片薄薄的水晶碎片，假如平放刃面看过去，几乎看不到。它与月光相互辉映，剑身周围有股诡异的蓝光。不知怎麽地，威尔明白这柄剑比任何剃刀都还要锋利。
此段着重描写异鬼的武器，进一步推向高潮。
1
The Other slid forward on silent feet.
异鬼安静地向前潜行。
解读
简单一小句就能体现英文的立体画面感。
作者用slid，凸显异鬼不是在走，而是像个鬼魂在无声的滑行。
on silent feet 更能凸显恐怖之感，就像这样：
如果原文翻译为“安静潜行”就无法完全表达出当时画面。
2
It was alive with moonlight, translucent,a shard of crystal so thin that it seemed almost to vanish when seen edge-on.
那是把半透明的剑，像是一片薄薄的水晶碎片，假如平放刃面看过去，几乎看不到。这把剑与月光相互辉映。
解读
a shard of crystal 水晶碎片 shard 指玻璃、金属等的碎片。
这句话描述了异鬼的武器，尤其alive，把整个句子激活。
3
There was a faint blue shimmer to the thing, a ghost-light that played around its edges, and somehow Will knew it was sharper than any razor.
剑身周围有股诡异的蓝光。不知怎麽地，威尔明白这柄剑比任何剃刀都还要锋利。
解读
faint blue， faint指微弱的不明显，模糊的，faint blue则指泛蓝色
以下边的蓝钻为例，分别为无色None, 泛蓝色faint, 淡蓝light, 和蓝色：
a ghost-light that played around its edges此处是一个同位语，补充 a faint blue shimmer。
play around 又是个人的动作，可以指玩弄、摆弄的意思。
a ghost-light that played around its edges 想象画面：剑缘附近包裹、覆盖着诡异的蓝光。
作者用了play around代替surround，让那诡异的蓝光也动了起来、活了起来，和前面的alive形成某种契合。
Ser Waymar Royce found his fury. “For Robert!” he shouted, and he came up snarling, lifting the frost-covered longsword with both hands and swinging it around in a flat sidearm slash with all his weight behind it. The Other’s parry was almost lazy.
When the blades touched, the steel shattered.
威玛·罗伊斯爵士找回了怒气。"劳勃国王万岁！"他高声怒吼，双手紧握他覆满白霜的长剑，使尽全身力气疯狂挥舞。异鬼简直懒得理他。
两剑相击，铜剑应声碎裂。
A scream echoed through the forest night, and the longsword shivered into a hundred brittle pieces, the shards scattering like a rain of needles. Royce went to his knees, shrieking, and covered his eyes. Blood welled between his fingers.
尖叫声回荡在深夜树林里，罗伊斯的长剑裂成几百片碎片，碎片如同一阵针雨四散甩落。罗伊斯惨叫著跪下，伸手捂住双眼，鲜血从他指缝间汨汨流下。
1
“For Robert!” he shouted, and he came up snarling, lifting the frost-covered longsword with both hands and swinging it around in a flat sidearm slash with all his weight behind it.
"劳勃国王万岁！"他高声怒吼，双手紧握他覆满白霜的长剑，使尽全身力气疯狂挥舞。
解读
snarl 咆哮、怒骂的意思，跟shout相比，snarl更多指动物的咆哮，可见看出此时的罗伊斯爵士情绪已经完全失控，在做最后的努力。
frost-covered 覆满冰爽的， 跟之前讲的snow-covered一个结构。
中世纪欧洲骑士、步兵一般使用长剑，重剑。中国古代剑相比之下更轻盈。
sidearm 原意指棒球中的侧投球姿势：
a flat sidearm slash 就是从腰间侧向劈砍的意思，可泛理解为“乱砍乱劈”。
2
The Other’s parry was almost lazy.
异鬼简直懒得理他。
解读
parry在这里是名词，指“抵挡”，这句话字面意思是：异鬼的抵挡都很懒，也就是说，异鬼连挡都懒得挡。
这句话以lazy修饰parry，可以说非常形象生动了。
同时，lazy 和前面 with all his weight behind it 形成鲜明对比，人类和异鬼力量差距之悬殊就体现出来了。
3
A scream echoed through the forest night, and the longsword shivered into a hundred brittle pieces, the shards scattering like a rain of needles.
尖叫声回荡在深夜树林里，罗伊斯的长剑裂成几百片碎片，碎片如同一阵针雨四散甩落。
解读
Shiver 有颤抖、哆嗦的意思，举个例子，老人与海中的一句话
He was shivering with the morning cold.
他被清晨的寒气弄得直打哆嗦。
the longsword shivered into a hundred brittle pieces可以想象长剑像炸裂一样瞬间崩坏，碎片散落一地，正如 the shards scattering like a rain of needles.
4
Blood welled between his fingers.
鲜血从他指缝间汨汨流下。
解读
well这里是熟词僻义，作名词指“水井”，这里做动词，表示像泉水一样“涌出”。
罗伊斯爵士英勇战死，威尔在树上目睹了这一切，但当他爬下树时，却发现...
Will rose. Ser Waymar Royce stood over him.
His fine clothes were a tatter, his face a ruin. A shard from his sword transfixed the blind white pupil of his left eye.
The right eye was open. The pupil burned blue. It saw.
威尔起身。威玛·罗伊斯爵士站在他面前。他的华裳尽碎，容貌全毁，断剑的一块裂片反映出左眼瞳孔的一片茫然。他的右眼却是张开的，眼瞳中蓝色的火焰紧紧盯着他。
序言就这么结束了，冰与火之歌的大幕也就此徐徐拉开...
如果大家喜欢的话，可以动手点个赞，我们后续会考虑以“加餐”的形式继续分享给大家~
感谢阅读！