On the ship， Buck and Curly joined two other dogs. One of them was a big， snow-white fellow from Spitzbergen who had been brought away by a sea-captain. He was called Spitz and was friendly， in an untrustworthy sort of way. He smiled into one's face while he was planning some dishonest trick - as when he stole from Buck's food at the first meal. Francois struck him before Buck could attack him; and the only thing Buck could do was to take back his bone. Buck decided that Francois had treated him fairly， and his opinion of him began to rise.The other dog， called Dave， made no advances， nor received any. Also， he did not attempt to steal from them. He was a dull， unfriendly fellow， and he showed Curlyplainly that all he desired was to be left alone. He showed him， too， 'that there would be trouble if he was not left alone. Dave ate and slept， and took interest in nothing， not ev.？n when the ship sailed through rough seas. When Buck and Curly grew excited， half wild with fear， he raised his head as though annoyed， looked at them， and went to sleep again.Day and night the ship sailed on. One day was very like another， but Buck noticed that the weather was growing colder. At last， one morning， the ship stopped， and every-one on board was excited. Buck felt excited， as did the other dogs， and he knew that a change was near. Fran-cois put a rope round them， and brought them off the ship. At the first step， Buck's feet went down in some-thing very like mud. It was white and soft. He sprang back with a quick growl. More of this white stuff was falling through the air. He shook himself， but more of it fell on him. He smelt it curiously， then tasted some of it on his tongue. It bit like fire， and the next moment was gone. This puzzled him. He tried it again， with the same result. Those who were watching laughed loudly. It was his first snow.在船上，巴克和科利與另外兩條狗放在一起。其中有一條狗個(gè)頭高大，毛色雪白，是一個(gè)船長從斯匹次卑爾根帶來的。他叫斯皮茨，很和善，但有些虛情假意。他明里對(duì)人笑，暗里卻打著鬼主意一比如吃第一頓飯的時(shí)候，他就從巴克的那份中偷了一些。巴克還沒來得及教訓(xùn)他，斯皮茨就光挨了弗朗索瓦的揍，巴克唯一可做的就是把骨頭叼回來。他斷定弗朗索瓦做事很公平，心里對(duì)他的評(píng)價(jià)漸漸高起來。另一條狗叫戴夫，他既不接近別的狗，也不讓別的狗接近他。而且，他從來不會(huì)企圖偷吃他們的東西。他郁郁寡歡，是個(gè)不友善的家伙，他向科利明確表示他所需要的就是獨(dú)自呆著。他還向科利表示，如果不讓他獨(dú)自呆著，那就會(huì)有麻煩了。戴夫吃了就睡，’對(duì)任何事情都不感興趣。即使當(dāng)船行駛在波濤洶涌的大海中時(shí)，他也無動(dòng)于衷。當(dāng)巴克和科利有些緊張，像是驚弓之鳥時(shí)，而他卻像是被惹火了似地抬頭看他們一眼，然后又接著睡他的覺去了。船日夜不停地航行著。一天又一天，沒有多大變化，但巴克注意到天氣越來越冷了。一天清晨，船終于到了岸。船上所有的狗都興奮不已。巴克像所有其他的狗一樣十分激動(dòng)，他知道不久就要有變化了。弗朗索瓦給他們套上繩子，把他們帶下了船。巴克邁出第一步的時(shí)候，他的腳陷進(jìn)了像泥一樣的東西里。這東西白白的，軟軟的。他隨即大叫一聲，跳了回去。這種白色的東西又有一些正從空中飄落下來。他抖抖身體，但又有一些落在身上。他好奇地嗅嗅，又用舌頭嘗了一點(diǎn)兒。這東西像火一樣扎嘴，但眨眼功夫就消失了。這讓他困惑不解，他又試了一次，結(jié)果還是一樣。那些旁觀的人全都哄堂大笑起來。這是巴克一生中第一次碰到雪。This first act of stealing showed that Buck was fit to take care of himself in this cruel and unfriendly country. It showed that he was able to change himself to fit into changing conditions. If he had been unable to do this， he would have quickly died. It showed that he was losing his respect for the feelings of others and for the things that belonged to them.Whoever kept this respect in the Northland was a fool and would fail in life.Buck did not reason this out. He was fit， and that was all. Without knowing it， he changed himself to the new way of life. During all his life he had never run from a fight. The man with the club had beaten into him the law of the wild. Before that happened， he Could have died in order to defend something that belonged to Judge Miller. Now he was able to forget all finer feelings and so savehimself. He did not steal for the joy of it， but because he was hungry. He did not steal openly， but secretly because he respected the law of the wild. The things he did were done because it was easier to do them than not to do them.His improvement was quick. His body became hard as iron and he did not care about pain. He could eat any-thing， no matter how bad it was. Once eaten， his stomach got everything from it; and his blood carried it to the farthest parts of his body. His sight and smell became sharp， while his hearing became so good that in his sleep he heard the faintest sound and knew whether it brought peace or danger. He learned to bite the ice with his teeth when it collected at the end of his feet. When he was thirsty and there was a thick covering of ice over the water hole， he broke it by jumping up and striking it with his front legs.The best thing he could do was to smell the wind and tell in what direction it would blow the following day. It did not matter how still the air was when he dug his nest by tree or bank， he was always safe and warm when the wind blew later.這頭一回的偷竊行為表明，巴克有能力在這塊冷酷無情的土地上照顧自己。這表明他能夠不斷地改變自己，來適應(yīng)多變的環(huán)境。如果他不能這樣做的話，他早就一命嗚呼了。這表明他已經(jīng)開始失去對(duì)別人情感與屬于他們的東西的尊重。在最北部地區(qū)這塊土地上，誰要是還保存著這種尊重，誰就是一個(gè)傻瓜，就會(huì)在生活中敗下去。巴克并不是推斷出這些道理來的，他適合這么做，這就行了。他不知不覺地改變自己，順應(yīng)了這種新的生活方式。在他的一生中他從來沒有臨陣脫逃過。那個(gè)拿大頭棒的人已經(jīng)將野性的法則牢牢地敲進(jìn)了他的腦袋。在那之前，他也許會(huì)為了維護(hù)米勒法官的某點(diǎn)利益而效命，而現(xiàn)在，他可以忘卻一切崇高的情感，來拯救自己。他偷東西不是為了作樂，只是因?yàn)樗I了。他并不明目張膽地偷，而是暗地里偷，因?yàn)樗鹬匾靶缘姆▌t。他做過的事情之所以做了，是因?yàn)樽霰炔蛔龈菀?。他進(jìn)步很快。他的身體變得如鋼鐵般堅(jiān)硬，他對(duì)痛苦毫不在意。他什么東西都能吃，不論食物有多差。一旦吃下去，他的腸胃都能將其中的一切全部吸收，而他的血液會(huì)將吸收的一切傳送到身體最邊緣的部位。他目光尖銳，嗅覺靈敏，而他的耳朵即使在睡夢中也聽得到最最輕微的聲響，并能判斷出這聲音傳來是安還是危。他學(xué)會(huì)用牙齒將自己結(jié)在腳趾上的冰棱咬碎。當(dāng)他感到口渴，而取水孔上蓋著厚冰時(shí)，他就跳起來，用前腿擊冰，將其搗破。他的絕招是只要聞一聞風(fēng)的氣息，他就能判斷出第二天的風(fēng)向。他在樹邊或是岸旁挖巢穴時(shí)，不論空氣多么紋絲不動(dòng)都沒有關(guān)系。在起風(fēng)時(shí)他總是安全又暖和。In the days that followed， Buck still continued to de-fend the other dogs against Spitz. But he did it in secret， when Francois was not there. The other dogs began to lose their respect for Spitz and even disobey him. Dave and Sol-leks remained faithful， but the rest of the team went from bad to worse. Things no longer went right. There was a lot of noisy quarrelling. Trouble was always present， and at the bottom of it was Buck.He kept Francois busy， for Francois now lived in fear of the life-and-death struggle between the two dogs; he knew this struggle must come sooner or later. On more than one night the sounds of quarrelling among the other dogs caused him to leave his bed， fearing that Buck and Spitz were fighting.But there was no suitable chance， and they reached Daw-son one cold afternoon with the fight still to come. There were many men and dogs in Dawson， and Buck found them all at work. It seemed the natural order of things that dogs should work. All day they swung up and down the main street in long teams. Their bells still sounded in the night as they went by. They pulled loads of wood， carried things up to the mines， and did all kinds of work that horses did in the Santa Clara Valley. Here and there Buck met Southland dogs， but most of the dogs were the wild wolf kind. Every night， regularly， at nine， at twelve， at three， they all howled. It was a strange song of the night， and it was Buck's delight to join in it. 在后來的日子里，巴克仍然繼續(xù)保護(hù)其他的狗，與斯皮茨對(duì)抗。不過他的行動(dòng)是暗做的，專挑弗朗索瓦不在的時(shí)候。其他的狗開始漸漸不把斯皮茨放在眼里，甚至公然違抗他。戴夫和索萊克斯依然很忠誠，但隊(duì)里其他狗的態(tài)度卻越來越壞。局面沒有再好轉(zhuǎn)。狗之間吵得很兇。一波未平，一波又起，而在暗地里興風(fēng)作浪的正是巴克。弗朗索瓦被他弄得招架不住，因?yàn)樗麜r(shí)時(shí)提心吊膽，怕這兩條狗之間的一場殊死搏斗。他知道這場搏斗遲早會(huì)發(fā)生。不止一個(gè)晚上，他被其他狗之間的吵鬧聲驚擾得下床去察看，擔(dān)心是巴克和斯皮茨在撕殺。但是一直沒有合適的機(jī)會(huì)，當(dāng)他們?cè)谝粋€(gè)寒冷的下午到達(dá)道森時(shí)，這場戰(zhàn)斗依然沒有發(fā)生。在道森有很多人和狗，巴克發(fā)現(xiàn)他們都在干活兒。狗干活仿佛是一件天經(jīng)地義的事。從早到晚他們都排著長隊(duì)在大街上來來回回轉(zhuǎn)著。夜里依然聽到他們經(jīng)過時(shí)發(fā)出的清脆的鈴聲。他們拉著一捆捆的木材，將東西運(yùn)到礦區(qū)，還干著在圣克拉拉山谷里只有馬才干的各種雜活。巴克在這兒到處都可遇到南方的狗，但是大多數(shù)的狗都是野狼一樣。通常在每天夜里的九點(diǎn)，十二點(diǎn)和凌晨三點(diǎn)，他們會(huì)一齊長嗥。這是一種奇特的黑夜之歌，而要加入進(jìn)去正是巴克的樂趣所在?！?/div>
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