中英文本

Life at Castle Black followed certain patterns; the mornings were for swordplay, the afternoons for work. The black brothers set new recruits to many different tasks, to learn where their skills lay. Jon cherished the rare afternoons when he was sent out with Ghost ranging at his side to bring back game for the Lord Commander's table, but for every day spent hunting, he gave a dozen to Donal Noye in the armory, spinning the whetstone while the one-armed smith sharpened axes grown dull from use, or pumping the bellows as Noye hammered out a new sword. Other times he ran messages, stood at guard, mucked out stables, fletched arrows, assisted Maester Aemon with his birds or Bowen Marsh with his counts and inventories.
黑城堡的生活有种固定的规律：早上练剑，下午干活。黑衫弟兄交给新兵们各种不同的差事，以判断他们适合的职业。偶尔琼恩会奉命带着白灵出外打猎，为总司令的晚餐加菜，他非常珍惜这种机会。只可惜这种机会实在少之又少，他得用十几倍的时间待在唐纳·诺伊的武器库里，转磨刀石，帮这位独臂铁匠把钝斧磨利；或是在诺伊敲打铸剑时，在旁鼓动风炉。其他时候他还会传达口信，站岗放哨，刷洗马厩，制造弓箭，照料伊蒙师傅的鸟儿或协助波文·马尔锡清点账目。
That afternoon, the watch commander sent him to the winch cage with four barrels of fresh-crushed stone, to scatter gravel over the icy footpaths atop the Wall. It was lonely and boring work, even with Ghost along for company, but Jon found he did not mind. On a clear day you could see half the world from the top of the Wall, and the air was always cold and bracing. He could think here, and he found himself thinking of Samwell Tarly...and, oddly, of Tyrion Lannister. He wondered what Tyrion would have made of the fat boy. Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it, the dwarf had told him, grinning. The world was full of cravens who pretended to be heroes; it took a queer sort of courage to admit to cowardice as Samwell Tarly had.
当天下午，他奉守卫长之命，带着四桶刚压碎的小石子，前往升降铁笼，负责把碎石铺在长城结冰的走道上。即使有白灵相伴，这依旧是件既孤单又无趣的差事，但琼恩不以为忤。倘若天气清朗，站在长城之上，半个世界尽收眼底，何况这里的空气向来清新冷冽。他可以在这里静静思考，而他发觉自己想起了山姆威尔·塔利…奇怪的是，还有提利昂·兰尼斯特。他不禁好奇提利昂会怎么对待这胖小子。侏儒曾嘻嘻笑着对他说：大部分的人宁可否认事实，也不愿面对真相。这个世界有太多逞英雄的胆小鬼，能像山姆威尔·塔利这样自承怯懦还真需要点古怪的勇气。

背景介绍:

《权力的游戏》是一部中世纪史诗奇幻题材的电视连续剧。该剧以美国作家乔治·R·R·马丁的奇幻巨作《冰与火之歌》七部曲为基础改编创作，由大卫·贝尼奥夫和丹尼尔·威斯编剧、HBO电视网推出。乔治·雷蒙德·理查德·马丁是欧美奇幻小说大师。马丁的作品主要以人物为关注点，描写细腻丰富，突破了幻想文学界固有的创作模式，多次引领阅读潮流。由于马丁的辉煌成就，他被誉为美国的托尔金和新世纪的海明威。从1989年开始，马丁淡出文学界，转而投身演艺界发展，1996年他才重返文坛而开始奇幻文学的创作，处女作便是《权力的游戏》，即为《冰与火之歌》的首部曲。《权力的游戏》甫出便拿下了British Fantasy Society、 世界奇幻奖和星云奖年度最佳幻想作品提名，在非官方的不记名奇幻作品投票中，《冰与火之歌》俨然已经可以和《魔戒》平起平坐，作者网站的访问量也是和斯蒂芬·金、J.K.罗琳等不相上下，其受欢迎的程度可见一斑。乔治马丁被时代杂志评选为2011年影响世界的一百人之一。

妙语连珠

1.stand at 犹豫不决，踌躇

Any child caught misbehaving was made to stand at the front of the class.
调皮捣蛋的孩子被当场抓住，都要在课堂前面罚站。

There was a hamburger stand at the entrance to the station.
车站入口处有一个卖汉堡的小摊。

2.think of 想起；想到

We have the interest of 500,000 customers to think of.
我们得为50万名顾客的利益着想。

Ah yes, but think of all the family life they're missing.
是这样，不过别忘了他们错过了多少天伦之乐。