CHAPTER V

The hunt became more and more profitable and enjoyable, as springanimated everything. In the morning at the break of day the forestwas full of voices, strange and undiscernible to the inhabitant ofthe town. There the heathcock clucked and sang his song of love,as he sat on the top branches of the cedar¹ and admired the grey henscratching in the fallen leaves below. It was very easy toapproach this full-feathered Caruso and with a shot to bring himdown from his more poetic² to his more utilitarian³ duties. Hisgoing out was an euthanasia, for he was in love and heard nothing.

Out in the clearing the blackcocks with their wide-spread spottedtails were fighting, while the hens strutting⁴ near, craning andchattering, probably some gossip about their fighting swains,watched and were delighted with them. From the distance flowed ina stern and deep roar, yet full of tenderness and love, the matingcall of the deer; while from the crags above came down the shortand broken voice of the mountain buck⁵. Among the bushes frolickedthe hares and often near them a red fox lay flattened⁶ to the groundwatching his chance. I never heard any wolves and they are usuallynot found in the Siberian regions covered with mountains andforest.

But there was another beast, who was my neighbor, and one of us had to goaway. One day, coming back from the hunt with a big heathcock, Isuddenly noticed among the trees a black, moving mass. I stoppedand, looking very attentively⁸, saw a bear, digging away at an ant-hill. Smelling me, he snorted violently, and very quickly shuffledaway, astonishing me with the speed of his clumsy gait. Thefollowing morning, while still lying under my overcoat, I wasattracted by a noise behind my den⁷. I peered out very carefullyand discovered the bear. He stood on his hind⁹ legs and was noisilysniffing, investigating the question as to what living creature hadadopted the custom of the bears of housing during the winter underthe trunks of fallen trees. I shouted and struck my kettle withthe ax. My early visitor made off with all his energy; but hisvisit did not please me. It was very early in the spring that thisoccurred and the bear should not yet have left his hibernatingplace. He was the so-called "ant-eater," an abnormal type of bearlacking in all the etiquette¹¹ of the first families of the bearclan.

I knew that the "ant-eaters" were very irritable¹² and audacious andquickly I prepared myself for both the defence and the charge. Mypreparations were short. I rubbed off the ends of five of mycartridges, thus making dum-dums out of them, a sufficientlyintelligible argument for so unwelcome a guest. Putting on my coatI went to the place where I had first met the bear and where therewere many ant-hills. I made a detour¹³ of the whole mountain, lookedin all the ravines but nowhere found my caller. Disappointed andtired, I was approaching my shelter quite off my guard when Isuddenly discovered the king of the forest himself just coming outof my lowly dwelling¹⁴ and sniffing¹⁰ all around the entrance to it. Ishot. The bullet pierced his side. He roared with pain and angerand stood up on his hind legs. As the second bullet broke one ofthese, he squatted¹⁵ down but immediately, dragging the leg andendeavoring to stand upright, moved to attack me. Only the thirdbullet in his breast stopped him. He weighed about two hundred totwo hundred fifty pounds, as near as I could guess, and was verytasty. He appeared at his best in cutlets but only a little lesswonderful in the Hamburg steaks which I rolled and roasted on hotstones, watching them swell¹⁶ out into great balls that were as lightas the finest souffle omelettes we used to have at the "Medved" inPetrograd. On this welcome addition to my larder¹⁷ I lived from thenuntil the ground dried out and the stream ran down enough so that Icould travel down along the river to the country whither Ivan haddirected me.

Ever traveling with the greatest precautions I made the journeydown along the river on foot, carrying from my winter quarters allmy household furniture and goods, wrapped up in the deerskin bagwhich I formed by tying the legs together in an awkward knot; andthus laden¹⁸ fording the small streams and wading¹⁹ through the swampsthat lay across my path. After fifty odd miles of this I came tothe country called Sifkova, where I found the cabin of a peasantnamed Tropoff, located closest to the forest that came to be mynatural environment. With him I lived for a time.

* * * * *Now in these unimaginable surroundings of safety and peace, summingup the total of my experience in the Siberian taiga, I make thefollowing deductions²⁰. In every healthy spiritual individual of ourtimes, occasions of necessity resurrect the traits of primitiveman, hunter and warrior²¹, and help him in the struggle with nature.

It is the prerogative²² of the man with the trained mind and spiritover the untrained, who does not possess sufficient science andwill power to carry him through. But the price that the culturedman must pay is that for him there exists nothing more awful thanabsolute solitude²³ and the knowledge of complete isolation²⁴ fromhuman society and the life of moral and aesthetic²⁵ culture. Onestep, one moment of weakness and dark madness will seize a man andcarry him to inevitable²⁶ destruction. I spent awful days ofstruggle with the cold and hunger but I passed more terrible daysin the struggle of the will to kill weakening destructive thoughts.

The memories of these days freeze my heart and mind and even now,as I revive them so clearly by writing of my experiences, theythrow me back into a state of fear and apprehension²⁷. Moreover, Iam compelled to observe that the people in highly civilized²⁸ statesgive too little regard to the training that is useful to man inprimitive conditions, in conditions incident to the struggleagainst nature for existence. It is the single normal way todevelop a new generation of strong, healthy, iron men, with at thesame time sensitive souls.

Nature destroys the weak but helps the strong, awakening²⁹ in thesoul emotions which remain dormant³⁰ under the urban conditions ofmodern life.

1 cedar   

n.雪松，香柏(木)

参考例句：

• The cedar was about five feet high and very shapely.那棵雪松约有五尺高,风姿优美。
• She struck the snow from the branches of an old cedar with gray lichen.她把长有灰色地衣的老雪松树枝上的雪打了下来。

2 poetic   

adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的

参考例句：

• His poetic idiom is stamped with expressions describing group feeling and thought.他的诗中的措辞往往带有描写群体感情和思想的印记。
• His poetic novels have gone through three different historical stages.他的诗情小说创作经历了三个不同的历史阶段。

3 utilitarian   

adj.实用的，功利的

参考例句：

• On the utilitarian side American education has outstridden the rest of the world.在实用方面美国教育已超越世界各国。
• A good cloth coat is more utilitarian than a fur one.一件优质的布外衣要比一件毛皮外衣更有用。

4 strutting   

加固，支撑物

参考例句：

• He, too, was exceedingly arrogant, strutting about the castle. 他也是非常自大，在城堡里大摇大摆地走。
• The pompous lecturer is strutting and forth across the stage. 这个演讲者在台上趾高气扬地来回走着。

5 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

6 flattened   

[医]（水）平扁的，弄平的

参考例句：

• She flattened her nose and lips against the window. 她把鼻子和嘴唇紧贴着窗户。
• I flattened myself against the wall to let them pass. 我身体紧靠着墙让他们通过。

7 den   

n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室

参考例句：

• There is a big fox den on the back hill.后山有一个很大的狐狸窝。
• The only way to catch tiger cubs is to go into tiger's den.不入虎穴焉得虎子。

8 attentively   

adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神

参考例句：

• She listened attentively while I poured out my problems. 我倾吐心中的烦恼时，她一直在注意听。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She listened attentively and set down every word he said. 她专心听着，把他说的话一字不漏地记下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 hind   

adj.后面的，后部的

参考例句：

• The animal is able to stand up on its hind limbs.这种动物能够用后肢站立。
• Don't hind her in her studies.不要在学业上扯她后腿。

10 sniffing   

n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• We all had colds and couldn't stop sniffing and sneezing. 我们都感冒了，一个劲地抽鼻子，打喷嚏。
• They all had colds and were sniffing and sneezing. 他们都伤风了，呼呼喘气而且打喷嚏。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

11 etiquette   

n.礼仪，礼节；规矩

参考例句：

• The rules of etiquette are not so strict nowadays.如今的礼仪规则已不那么严格了。
• According to etiquette,you should stand up to meet a guest.按照礼节你应该站起来接待客人。

12 irritable   

adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的

参考例句：

• He gets irritable when he's got toothache.他牙一疼就很容易发脾气。
• Our teacher is an irritable old lady.She gets angry easily.我们的老师是位脾气急躁的老太太。她很容易生气。

13 detour   

n.绕行的路，迂回路；v.迂回，绕道

参考例句：

• We made a detour to avoid the heavy traffic.我们绕道走，避开繁忙的交通。
• He did not take the direct route to his home,but made a detour around the outskirts of the city.他没有直接回家，而是绕到市郊兜了个圈子。

14 dwelling   

n.住宅，住所，寓所

参考例句：

• Those two men are dwelling with us.那两个人跟我们住在一起。
• He occupies a three-story dwelling place on the Park Street.他在派克街上有一幢3层楼的寓所。

15 squatted   

v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。

参考例句：

• He squatted down beside the footprints and examined them closely. 他蹲在脚印旁仔细地观察。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He squatted in the grass discussing with someone. 他蹲在草地上与一个人谈话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 swell   

vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强

参考例句：

• The waves had taken on a deep swell.海浪汹涌。
• His injured wrist began to swell.他那受伤的手腕开始肿了。

17 larder   

n.食物贮藏室，食品橱

参考例句：

• Please put the food into the larder.请将您地食物放进食物柜内。
• They promised never to raid the larder again.他们答应不再随便开食橱拿东西吃了。

18 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

19 wading   

（从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The man tucked up his trousers for wading. 那人卷起裤子，准备涉水。
• The children were wading in the sea. 孩子们在海水中走着。

20 deductions   

扣除( deduction的名词复数 )； 结论； 扣除的量； 推演

参考例句：

• Many of the older officers trusted agents sightings more than cryptanalysts'deductions. 许多年纪比较大的军官往往相信特务的发现，而不怎么相信密码分析员的推断。
• You know how you rush at things,jump to conclusions without proper deductions. 你知道你处理问题是多么仓促，毫无合适的演绎就仓促下结论。

21 warrior   

n.勇士，武士，斗士

参考例句：

• The young man is a bold warrior.这个年轻人是个很英勇的武士。
• A true warrior values glory and honor above life.一个真正的勇士珍视荣誉胜过生命。

22 prerogative   

n.特权

参考例句：

• It is within his prerogative to do so.他是有权这样做的。
• Making such decisions is not the sole prerogative of managers.作这类决定并不是管理者的专有特权。

23 solitude   

n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方

参考例句：

• People need a chance to reflect on spiritual matters in solitude. 人们需要独处的机会来反思精神上的事情。
• They searched for a place where they could live in solitude. 他们寻找一个可以过隐居生活的地方。

24 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

25 aesthetic   

adj.美学的，审美的，有美感

参考例句：

• My aesthetic standards are quite different from his.我的审美标准与他的大不相同。
• The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory.那位教授提出了新的美学理论。

26 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

27 apprehension   

n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑

参考例句：

• There were still areas of doubt and her apprehension grew.有些地方仍然存疑，于是她越来越担心。
• She is a girl of weak apprehension.她是一个理解力很差的女孩。

28 civilized   

a.有教养的，文雅的

参考例句：

• Racism is abhorrent to a civilized society. 文明社会憎恶种族主义。
• rising crime in our so-called civilized societies 在我们所谓文明社会中日益增多的犯罪行为

29 awakening   

n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的

参考例句：

• the awakening of interest in the environment 对环境产生的兴趣
• People are gradually awakening to their rights. 人们正逐渐意识到自己的权利。

30 dormant   

adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的

参考例句：

• Many animals are in a dormant state during winter.在冬天许多动物都处于睡眠状态。
• This dormant volcano suddenly fired up.这座休眠火山突然爆发了。