The Cats of Roxville Station (Excerpt XII)《罗克斯维尔火车站的猫》（节选十二）

琼·克雷格黑德·乔治 吴文安

June filled the field and air with young mice， rats， birds， and voles. The cats of Roxville Station lived well. Elizabeth， however， was not a good hunter. She was teaching her three kittens to depend upon the kindness of the Bent Lady for food. Mike was learning that cats are individuals—some good hunters， some poor， and others， like Rachet， are bold.

One morning when Mike was waiting at the station for Rachet， he saw Ice Bucket fighting for a higher rank. The dirty white cat was old enough to test her rank. She walked up to and hissed at Flea Market， the third-ranking cat. Ice Bucket raised her fur to make herself look bigger than she was. Flea Market hissed and tilted her head. Ice Bucket arched her back and spit. They batted paws， claws unsheathed. Flea Market ran under the station platform. With those innocent-looking gestures， Ice Bucket was now third-ranking cat and said so by holding her tail almost as high as Queenella’s. Rachet， who was second-ranking cat， saw Ice Bucket’s new rank by the height of her tail. Ranks were changing， as they do among house cats and people.

By the time school was almost out， Rachet had dared to come within two feet of Mike before she ran. Then one sunny morning she almost touched him， her ears and tail up to say she felt comfortable in his presence.

“Meow，” she suddenly said.

It was the “Meow” cats give only to humans. Surprised at herself， she arched her back and sped off. But Mike had heard friendliness in her “Meow” and smiled.

“I am her person，” he said.

Rachet ran all the way back to her briar bush and was settling down， with mixed feelings about Mike， when the ground moved beneath her. She lifted her paw as all around her large insects dug out of the soil. She sniffed them. Big-eyed but blind， they climbed up a stem of the briar bush and stopped. Slowly they split their nymphal coats. When they stepped out of these shells， they were not drab nymphs anymore but colorful adult cicadas.

They had been in the ground for seventeen years eating roots – seventeen years！ Rachet was not interested in eating them， but Lysol， the striped skunk， was. She gobbled as many as she could and carried others back to her young， who were denned in the old groundhog burrow. She would begin their hunting lessons with cicadas.

For weeks hundred of thousands of cicadas emerged. Rachet stepped around them， batted them， and played with them; Lysol ate furiously. Lysol’s youngsters learned that the red-eyed insects， with their translucent wings and lazy flight， were delicious and easy to catch， but this was hardly a lesson they would benefit from. No wild skunk lived for seventeen years.

The cicadas would sing， mate， and lay eggs. The adults would then die， but their eggs would hatch and live underground for seventeen more years.

六月到来，田野里到处都是出生不久的小家鼠、大家鼠、田鼠，空中满是鸟儿。罗克斯维尔火车站的猫咪们生活很滋润。但是伊丽莎白不擅长捕猎。她在教自己的三个小猫依赖驼背夫人的善心来获取食物。迈克了解到猫咪们各不相同——有些善于捕猎，有些不擅长捕猎，而其他的猫咪，像拉齐特，则勇敢无畏。

一天上午，迈克在车站等拉齐特，这时看到了冰桶为提高排名而战的一幕。这只脏兮兮的白猫已经长大，可以为自己的排名一搏。她走上前去，朝着跳蚤市场嘶嘶叫。跳蚤市场在猫群里排在第三位。冰桶炸开毛，让自己看上去比原来大很多。跳蚤市场嘶嘶叫着，歪了歪脑袋。冰桶弓起背呜呜地低叫。她们露出爪尖对打起来。跳蚤市场跑到了火车站站台底下。看似不痛不痒地过了这几招后，冰桶现在是排名第三的猫咪了，宣示的方式就是把尾巴高举，跟女王艾拉的一样高。拉齐特排名第二，看到冰桶高举的尾巴，知道了她的新排名。排名总是在变动，就像家猫之间和人之间一样。

临近期末的时候，拉齐特已经敢接近迈克到离他两英尺的地方才跑开。一天早上阳光灿烂，拉齐特几乎触碰到迈克，她的耳朵和尾巴都竖了起来，似乎是说，在迈克面前她觉得自在。

“喵。”拉齐特突然叫出声来。

这种“喵”叫，是猫咪只对人类发出的声音。这叫声让拉齐特自己都吃了一惊，她弓起背，逃走了。不过迈克从这一声“喵”叫中听到了友善，于是笑了。

“我是她的人类朋友了。”迈克说。

拉齐特一路跑回自己的荆棘丛，平静下来，心里对迈克的感觉很复杂。突然，脚下的土地动了起来。她抬起爪子，这时周围有很多大昆虫从土里钻了出来。她闻了闻这些虫子。虫子眼睛很大却看不见，爬上一根荆棘便停了下來。他们开始慢慢挣脱蛹壳。一旦他们从这些壳里爬出来，就不再是土褐色的幼虫，而是色彩艳丽的知了成虫。

他们已经在地下待了十七年，靠吸食植物根茎的汁液生长——十七年啊！拉齐特没有兴趣吃他们，但是莱索，那个满身条纹的臭鼬喜欢吃。莱索狼吞虎咽地大吃特吃，还带回去给小臭鼬吃。小臭鼬都待在原来土拨鼠挖的洞里呢。莱索教授孩子的捕猎课就从吃知了开始。

几个星期里，数十万只知了冒了出来。拉齐特绕着他们走，拍打他们，跟他们玩耍;莱索则大快朵颐。莱索的幼崽们了解到，这些眼睛红红、翅膀半透明、飞起来懒懒的昆虫美味可口，而且很容易抓到——但是这一课对他们没多大用处。因为，没有一只野生臭鼬能活十七年。

从地下出来的知了唱歌、交配、产卵。成年知了然后会死掉，不过他们的卵会孵化，再次在地下生活十七年。

【背景知识】这一选段以讲述生态知识为主。迈克跟拉齐特的关系有所进展，越来越亲密和互相信任。文中还插入了猫群为地位争斗的场面、有关北美周期蝉17年蝉的描述，以及臭鼬吃蝉的习性，趣味横生。

【第一段】第一句是常见的翻译陷阱之一。按照字面直译，译文会是“六月的田野和空中充满了小家鼠、大家鼠、鸟儿和田鼠”，这样在中文里显得逻辑混乱，不符合一般的行文方式。因此译文实施拆分，把前面的“空中”提出，移到后面，分为两句，“空中满是鸟儿”单独成为一个分句。该句中的名词mice、rats、voles在英汉词典中的释义极为相似，这里必须加以区分才行。

【第二段】第一句译文添加了概括词“一幕”，否则中文句子显得不完整。第二句原文中的test（检验;检测）并没有直译（直译显得过于科学化），而是转译为“一搏”。原文倒数第三句中的said so不宜直译，译文转化为“宣示的方式”。最后一句译文里添加了“地位”，否则中文句子语义显得模糊。

【第三段】第一句原文有点儿费解，隐含的信息是迈克经常来看望拉齐特，慢慢地熟悉和靠近，经过一个学期的时间，拉齐特逐渐放松了戒心，开始接受迈克。最后一句中的comfortable字面义是“舒服、舒适”，译文转译为“自在”。

【第四段】人们对家养猫咪的“喵”声习以为常，其实野生猫咪并没有这样的叫声，这种叫声专为人类朋友而发。最后一句不容易翻译，如果直译会是“我是她的人了”，颇为费解，译文明晰化为“我是她的人类朋友了”。

【第五段】原文第一句中的mixed feelings一般对应中文里的“百感交集、感慨万千”等，在此并不适用，译文简化为“对迈克的感觉很复杂”。后文中的cicada学名为“蝉”，这个单音词放在句子里稍嫌别扭，译文选择了“知了”这个双声词。

【第六段】第一句的译文中添加了“生长”，最后一句中添加了“教授孩子的”作为定语，都是为了中文句子完整清楚。

【第七段】短句Lysol ate furiously中的furiously有点夸张，如直译会是“吃得快速而迅猛”，译文使用了中文成语“大快朵颐”，意思很接近原文。第三句原文中的修饰语较为复杂，不宜照搬原文顺序，译文稍作调整，让中文句子更顺畅。原文的最后一句指明其实臭鼬妈妈教会了幼崽吃知了也没有用，因为幼崽们等不到下一次十七年蝉大规模出没了。

【第八段】第一句的译文如果直接用“知了会……”显得较为突兀，所以译文添加了定语“从地下出来的”。

【小结】这一选段中有一个常见翻译陷阱，还有一些语序、句式、词语的调整转换及个别词语的明晰化问题。译文一一做了处理。可见，文学翻译中，原文的词语、句式、语序、语义等一般都需要适当调整，才能得到较为理想的译文。