The Cats of Roxville Station (Excerpt X)《羅克斯維爾火車站的貓》（節(jié)選十）

瓊·克雷格黑德·喬治 譯析/吳文安 Jean Craighead George

Rachets pupils grew large with anger and fear; her fur bristled. Queenella would not move off her property—her territory. Queenella smelled Rachets ire and unsheathed her claws. She smelled of cat war.

Rachet too， smelled the pheromones of war and pulled in her head to protect her neck， anticipating the worst. She had seen Queenellas unsheathed claws， which spoke of a coming fight.

She looked away， then back when Queenella was looking away. Queenella looked away， then back when Rachet was looking away. A half hour of this and Queenella lifted her hindquarters to dash for the passageway and claim it with her scent.

Rachet sensed this movement on her whiskers and arose. Tail low， she walked stiff-legged toward Queenella， who rolled to her side. Her head and shoulders led her body—a “come fight me” move. Rachet， surprised by this move， stopped walking. Queenella raised a forepaw， feigning a strike. Rachet crept forward again—getting closer.

Queenella struck at Rachets nose， a sensitive spot on most mammals. Rachet lifted her nostrils out of the reach of her unsheathed claws and breathed lionlike. Queenella swung and missed. Enraged， she grabbed and pulled down Rachet with her forepaws， her mouth open， her voice silent. With her hind feet she tried to claw open Rachets vulnerable stomach.

Though she was held tightly in Queenellas forepaws and jaws， Rachets strong rear feet could still rake mercilessly at Queenellas belly. Both cats were on their sides， slashing at each other with claw and tooth. Queenella howled. Rachet hissed， spit， and growled. Suddenly Queenella rolled under Rachet and raked her stomach with her powerful hind feet. Rachet shrieked. Queenella shrieked.

The door to the kitchen opened. Rachet， alarmed by the appearance of the woman， stopped clawing Queenellas stomach and ran back to her heating duct. Queenella jumped to her feet and without even shaking her ruffled fur， dove through the break in the foundation， spraying her scent on the walls of the passageway to claim it as hers. She jumped out into a snowy world， flipped her paws， and leaped back inside. She sped to her box of rags by the hot water pipes.

Rank changed with that fight. Rachet had battled with the queen， and they had come off almost even. She was now second in the Roxville cat hierarchy. After the fight Queenella did not pay any attention to Rachet， and Rachet did not pay any attention to Queenella. They knew their positions， and by obeying them the cat rule of tolerance was established.

拉齊特的瞳孔因?yàn)閼嵟秃ε露兇?。她身上的毛也直立起?lái)。女王艾拉不愿意離開(kāi)拉齊特的地盤(pán)——拉齊特的領(lǐng)地。女王艾拉嗅到了拉齊特的怒火，亮出了自己的爪尖。艾拉發(fā)出了貓咪戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的氣息。

拉齊特也聞到了戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的氣息，她縮起腦袋來(lái)保護(hù)頸部，以防萬(wàn)一。她已經(jīng)看到了女王艾拉露出的爪尖，這預(yù)示著一場(chǎng)打斗即將來(lái)臨。

拉齊特看往別處，在女王艾拉看往別處的時(shí)候再轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)頭。女王艾拉看往別處，在拉齊特看往別處的時(shí)候再轉(zhuǎn)回頭來(lái)。這樣對(duì)峙了半個(gè)小時(shí)，之后，女王艾拉抬起后腿沖向通道，并且用氣味宣稱對(duì)這個(gè)地方的主權(quán)。

拉齊特用胡須察覺(jué)到了這個(gè)動(dòng)作，站了起來(lái)。拉齊特壓低尾巴，直著腿走向女王艾拉。女王艾拉側(cè)身翻倒。艾拉的頭和肩膀前傾，這是一個(gè)“過(guò)來(lái)跟我打”的招式。拉齊特看到這個(gè)招式吃了一驚，停下來(lái)不再走。女王艾拉舉起了一只前爪虛晃一招。拉齊特再次匍匐前行——越來(lái)越近。

女王艾拉伸爪去擊打拉齊特的鼻子，這是大部分哺乳動(dòng)物的敏感部位。拉齊特一仰頭，躲開(kāi)了艾拉伸出的利爪，然后像獅吼一般喘氣。艾拉再次揮爪，沒(méi)有擊中。艾拉大怒，用前爪抓住拉齊特拽倒在地，張開(kāi)口，卻不出聲。她想用后腳豁開(kāi)拉齊特脆弱的肚子。

拉齊特雖然被艾拉用前爪和嘴巴緊緊抓住，但她強(qiáng)壯的后腳仍然可以狠狠地抓撓艾拉的肚子。兩只貓都側(cè)身躺著，用爪子和牙齒廝打。女王艾拉嚎叫起來(lái)。拉齊特嘶嘶叫、吐口水、低吼。突然，艾拉滾到拉齊特身下，用她強(qiáng)有力的后爪撕扯拉齊特的肚子。拉齊特尖叫起來(lái)。女王艾拉尖叫起來(lái)。

地下室通往廚房的門開(kāi)了。拉齊特因?yàn)閶D人的出現(xiàn)而受驚，不再抓撓艾拉的肚子，跑回到暖氣管道上。女王艾拉跳起身，來(lái)不及抖抖亂蓬蓬的皮毛就躍入地基中的裂縫，然后朝著通道墻面噴灑自己的氣味，要占為己有。然后艾拉跳了出去，進(jìn)入了大雪紛飛的世界，飛快地甩了甩爪子，又跳了回來(lái)。艾拉飛奔回?zé)崴艿琅赃呑约旱钠撇枷渥印?/p>

貓群內(nèi)的級(jí)別在這次打斗之后發(fā)生了變化。拉齊特跟貓群的女王打了一架，最后幾乎平手。在羅克斯維爾火車站貓群的等級(jí)制之中，拉齊特現(xiàn)在排第二。打斗之后，女王艾拉不再理會(huì)拉齊特，拉齊特也不再理會(huì)女王艾拉。她們知道各自的位置。只要堅(jiān)持這樣的次序，就可以確立彼此容忍的貓群規(guī)范。

【背景知識(shí)】生態(tài)文學(xué)動(dòng)物小說(shuō)，其中也不乏武打場(chǎng)面。拉齊特為了生存不得不戰(zhàn)，即便是女王級(jí)別的對(duì)手，也要與之奮力一搏。這一戰(zhàn)直接提高了拉齊特在貓群的地位，可謂收獲頗豐。作者細(xì)致傳神的打斗場(chǎng)面描寫(xiě)自當(dāng)來(lái)源于日常觀察，以及對(duì)動(dòng)物深深的愛(ài)。

【第一段】第二句中有兩個(gè)her，譯文里直接明晰化為“拉齊特的”，因?yàn)橹形睦锎~使用不宜過(guò)多，否則容易混淆不清。最后兩句中出現(xiàn)了兩次smell，語(yǔ)法作用卻不一樣。第一個(gè)是聞到了別人的氣息，第二個(gè)是自己發(fā)出了某種氣息。譯者切不可混淆，譯文也需明示。

【第二段】站在拉齊特的視角，也已經(jīng)看到了即將來(lái)臨的大戰(zhàn)，也聞到了戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的氣息。短語(yǔ)anticipating the worst沒(méi)有按照字面翻譯為“預(yù)測(cè)最壞的結(jié)果”，而是按照中文習(xí)慣轉(zhuǎn)化為“以防萬(wàn)一”。短語(yǔ)spoke of跟上一段的smell of類似，都是“預(yù)示”的意思。

【第三段】貓咪對(duì)峙的場(chǎng)面奇特而有趣：看往別處，然后再回頭，反復(fù)多次。作者的描寫(xiě)還原了真實(shí)的貓戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)景。女王艾拉進(jìn)一步挑釁，沖到拉齊特的領(lǐng)地去撒尿。戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)已不可避免。譯文添加了“主權(quán)”。

【第四段】貓咪直著腿走近，或者側(cè)身倒地，都是戰(zhàn)斗的姿勢(shì)。艾拉比拉齊特更有經(jīng)驗(yàn)，把握著主動(dòng)權(quán)，揮動(dòng)爪子直接挑釁。拉齊特雖然年幼，卻不怯陣，步步緊逼。在此，譯者需要熟悉貓咪的習(xí)性，想象貓戰(zhàn)的場(chǎng)景并描繪出來(lái)。

【第五段】女王側(cè)臥，姿勢(shì)比拉齊特低，所以拉齊特仰頭躲開(kāi)攻擊。拉齊特憤怒了，所以獅吼一般喘氣。拉齊特躲過(guò)了艾拉的兩次攻擊，進(jìn)一步激怒了女王。女王按住了拉齊特，想要一擊致命。肚子是貓咪的弱點(diǎn)，貓戰(zhàn)要攻擊對(duì)方的肚子，同時(shí)保護(hù)自己的肚子。

【第六段】貓戰(zhàn)進(jìn)入白熱化。拉齊特拼死抵抗，要撕裂艾拉的肚子。艾拉變換姿勢(shì)，也抓向拉齊特的肚子。最后兩敗俱傷，雙雙尖叫起來(lái)。從戰(zhàn)果來(lái)看，艾拉稍占上風(fēng)，拉齊特也不是善茬。譯文要盡力再現(xiàn)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)場(chǎng)面，保持短促有力的短句，把原文有意的重復(fù)手法再現(xiàn)出來(lái)。

【第七段】女主人進(jìn)來(lái)，貓戰(zhàn)被迫中斷。艾拉趁機(jī)搶占地盤(pán)，并跳了出去。不料外面大雪紛飛，艾拉又被迫跳了回來(lái)。貓戰(zhàn)以意料之外的方式收?qǐng)觥?/p>

【第八段】第一句原文十分簡(jiǎn)潔，譯文進(jìn)行了適當(dāng)增譯，使得意思更明白。第三句的譯文也有增譯，點(diǎn)明了是羅克斯維爾火車站貓群中的級(jí)別。第四和第五句的譯文保留了原文的重復(fù)句式。最后一句的譯文也有增譯，目的是讓譯文更清楚明白。

【小結(jié)】該選段的主題是貓咪戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)場(chǎng)面。原文短促有力，多有重復(fù)句式，譯文一方面保留了原文的短句特色和重復(fù)句式，另一方面在適當(dāng)?shù)牡胤竭M(jìn)行增譯，以便譯文更加順暢易懂和清楚明白。? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?□