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Baelor the Blessed tried to replace all the ravens with doves, did you know?" The maester turned his white eyes on Jon, smiling. "The Night's Watch prefers ravens."
你可知道，‘受神祝福的’贝勒曾试图用鸽子全面取代渡鸦？当然，他没有成功。”老师傅面露微笑，将那双白色盲眼转向琼恩。“只有守夜人比较喜欢渡鸦。”
Jon's fingers were in the bucket, blood up to the wrist. "Dywen says the wildlings call us crows," he said uncertainty.
琼恩的手指浸在桶子里，血淹及腕。“我听戴文说，野人也把我们叫做乌鸦。”
The crow is the raven's poor cousin. They are both beggars in black, hated and misunderstood.
“乌鸦是渡鸦的可怜远亲。它们是一身黑羽的乞食者，向来受到误解，遭人怨恨。”
Jon wished he understood what they were talking about, and why. What did he care about ravens and doves? If the old man had something to say to him, why couldn't he just say it?
琼恩真希望自己能清楚他到底在讲些什么，以及其中缘由。渡鸦和鸽子与他何干？如果老人家有话要说，为何不肯直截了当？
Jon, did you ever wonder why the men of the Night's Watch take no wives and father no children? Maester Aemon asked.
“琼恩，你可曾想过，为何守夜人不娶妻也不生子？”伊蒙学士问。
Jon shrugged. "No." He scattered more meat. The fingers of his left hand were slimy with blood, and his right throbbed from the weight of the bucket.
琼恩耸耸肩。“我没想过。”他又丢了些碎肉。此时他的左手已经沾满黏滑血渍，右手则因木桶的重量而隐隐作痛。
So they will not love, the old man answered, "for love is the bane of honor, the death of duty."
“只因如此一来，他们才不会为情爱所困扰，”老师傅自问自答，“情爱是荣誉的大敌，更是责任的大忌。”
That did not sound right to Jon, yet he said nothing. The maester was a hundred years old, and a high officer of the Night's Watch; it was not his place to contradict him.
琼恩觉得不太对劲，但他没说什么。老学士年逾百岁，在守夜人军团里德高望重，他没资格去反驳他。
