Quick as a?squirrel, slippery as an?eel, lithe as a fox, with the eyes of a?raven?and the heart of a wolf, he crushes everything he comes upon. His bones?protrude?from his body, he’s strong and?wiry, and always hungry.?A mop of dirty blond hair?hangs over two green eyes. His face, with its?winsome, watchful?expression, is unsettled by these eyes that flit restlessly to and fro. But they can also take aim like arrows and penetrate whatever they see. Put to flight, in flight. Ready for battle.

敏捷如松鼠，滑溜若鰻魚，輕盈似狐貍，帶著烏鴉的眼，還有豺狼的心，他把遇到的一切東西都碾碎了。他的骨頭非常突出，強壯而結(jié)實，總是感到饑餓。一頭臟兮兮的金發(fā)垂在兩只綠色眼睛前面，他的臉上，掛著迷人而警惕的表情，被那雙來回轉(zhuǎn)動的眼睛弄的心神不寧。但他們也能像箭一樣瞄準，穿透任何他們看到的東西。擊潰敵軍，投入到下一場戰(zhàn)斗。

He knows how to kick well.? His best kick he does backwards: advancing as if to attack with his fists, he suddenly?spins round?and thrusts out a leg with a quick movement, striking high and hard with a flat foot.? He practises up in the apartment building, kicking and hitting an?imaginary enemy. In his belt he carries a knife, this and the bricks are Timur's weapons. ? His life is a battle with no rules.

他很會踢，他最擅長的是向后踢，向前走好像用拳頭攻擊，他突然轉(zhuǎn)過身來，快速地伸出一條腿。用平足高而有力地出擊。他在公寓大樓里練習(xí)踢打一個假想的敵人。他的腰帶上有一把刀，這把刀和磚頭都是Timur的武器。他的生活就是一場沒有規(guī)則的戰(zhàn)斗。

He is too much of?a coward?to be a?good pickpocket. There’s one thing in particular he’s afraid of-beating. So he steals only from those smaller than himself. When it starts to get dark he?waylays?the youngest children who beg at the?bazaar?or by the bridge across the Sunzha and intimidates them into handing over the coins they collected during the day. He beats up those who object or try to evade him, and he hits hards. The unfortunate victims are left in tears. The young predator slinks away.

他太膽小了，不能當個好扒手。有一樣?xùn)|西他特別害怕—被打。所以他只偷比他小的東西。天快黑的時候，他就會攔住在集市上或Sunzha大橋上乞討的最小的孩子，恐嚇他們交出白天收集的硬幣。他痛打那些反對或試圖逃避他的人，他痛下狠手。不幸的受害者留著眼淚離開，年輕的施暴者悄悄溜走了。

Summer is coming, and the little wolf will soon be twelve years old.

夏天到來了，這頭小狼很快就要12歲了。

When he was only a few months old, towards the end of 1994, he heard?the first bomb blasts.?That first winter of war he?lay wrapped in a blanket?on his mother’s lap in?a dark cellar?while the sounds assaulting his ears formed his first memories. Before he could walk he saw people stagger, fall and remain lying on the ground. His father joined the resistance and was killed in a rocket attack on Bamut in the foothills of the southwestern mountains when Timur was one year old. His widowed mother then carried the boy in?a shawl?to the home of her husband’s parents. A couple of years later, she, too, was, gone.

當他只有幾個月大的時候，正值1994年年底，他聽到了第一聲炸彈爆炸（譯者注：1994年12月11日，第一次車臣戰(zhàn)爭）。戰(zhàn)爭的第一個冬天，他裹著毯子躺在黑暗的地窖里他媽媽的腿上，耳畔炮聲隆隆的聲音形成了他最初的記憶。他還沒來得及學(xué)過走路時，就看到人們搖搖晃晃、然后跌倒、最后躺在地上一動不動 。當Timur一歲的時候，他的父親參加了反抗組織，然后在西南部山麓的巴姆特遭遇了火箭襲擊身亡。他寡婦母親用披肩把男孩送去了公婆家里，幾年以后，她也離開了人世。