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

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.

拉齊特的瞳孔因為憤怒和害怕而變大。她身上的毛也直立起來。女王艾拉不愿意離開拉齊特的地盤——拉齊特的領地。女王艾拉嗅到了拉齊特的怒火，亮出了自己的爪尖。艾拉發出了貓咪戰爭的氣息。

拉齊特也聞到了戰爭的氣息，她縮起腦袋來保護頸部，以防萬一。她已經看到了女王艾拉露出的爪尖，這預示著一場打斗即將來臨。

拉齊特看往別處，在女王艾拉看往別處的時候再轉過頭。女王艾拉看往別處，在拉齊特看往別處的時候再轉回頭來。這樣對峙了半個小時，之后，女王艾拉抬起后腿沖向通道，并且用氣味宣稱對這個地方的主權。

拉齊特用胡須察覺到了這個動作，站了起來。拉齊特壓低尾巴，直著腿走向女王艾拉。女王艾拉側身翻倒。艾拉的頭和肩膀前傾，這是一個“過來跟我打”的招式。拉齊特看到這個招式吃了一驚，停下來不再走。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，這是大部分哺乳動物的敏感部位。拉齊特一仰頭，躲開了艾拉伸出的利爪，然后像獅吼一般喘氣。艾拉再次揮爪，沒有擊中。艾拉大怒，用前爪抓住拉齊特拽倒在地，張開口，卻不出聲。她想用后腳豁開拉齊特脆弱的肚子。

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

地下室通往廚房的門開了。拉齊特因為婦人的出現而受驚，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，進入了大雪紛飛的世界，飛快地甩了甩爪子，又跳了回來。艾拉飛奔回熱水管道旁邊自己的破布箱子。

貓群內的級別在這次打斗之后發生了變化。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制之中，拉齊特現在排第二。打斗之后，女王艾拉不再理會拉齊特，拉齊特也不再理會女王艾拉。她們知道各自的位置。只要堅持這樣的次序，就可以確立彼此容忍的貓群規范。

【背景知識】生態文學動物小說，其中也不乏武打場面。拉齊特為了生存不得不戰，即便是女王級別的對手，也要與之奮力一搏。這一戰直接提高了拉齊特在貓群的地位，可謂收獲頗豐。作者細致傳神的打斗場面描寫自當來源于日常觀察，以及對動物深深的愛。

【第一段】第二句中有兩個her，譯文里直接明晰化為“拉齊特的”，因為中文里代詞使用不宜過多，否則容易混淆不清。最后兩句中出現了兩次smell，語法作用卻不一樣。第一個是聞到了別人的氣息，第二個是自己發出了某種氣息。譯者切不可混淆，譯文也需明示。

【第二段】站在拉齊特的視角，也已經看到了即將來臨的大戰，也聞到了戰爭的氣息。短語anticipating the worst沒有按照字面翻譯為“預測最壞的結果”，而是按照中文習慣轉化為“以防萬一”。短語spoke of跟上一段的smell of類似，都是“預示”的意思。

【第三段】貓咪對峙的場面奇特而有趣：看往別處，然后再回頭，反復多次。作者的描寫還原了真實的貓戰場景。女王艾拉進一步挑釁，沖到拉齊特的領地去撒尿。戰爭已不可避免。譯文添加了“主權”。

【第四段】貓咪直著腿走近，或者側身倒地，都是戰斗的姿勢。艾拉比拉齊特更有經驗，把握著主動權，揮動爪子直接挑釁。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性，想象貓戰的場景并描繪出來。

【第五段】女王側臥，姿勢比拉齊特低，所以拉齊特仰頭躲開攻擊。拉齊特憤怒了，所以獅吼一般喘氣。拉齊特躲過了艾拉的兩次攻擊，進一步激怒了女王。女王按住了拉齊特，想要一擊致命。肚子是貓咪的弱點，貓戰要攻擊對方的肚子，同時保護自己的肚子。

【第六段】貓戰進入白熱化。拉齊特拼死抵抗，要撕裂艾拉的肚子。艾拉變換姿勢，也抓向拉齊特的肚子。最后兩敗俱傷，雙雙尖叫起來。從戰果來看，艾拉稍占上風，拉齊特也不是善茬。譯文要盡力再現戰爭場面，保持短促有力的短句，把原文有意的重復手法再現出來。

【第七段】女主人進來，貓戰被迫中斷。艾拉趁機搶占地盤，并跳了出去。不料外面大雪紛飛，艾拉又被迫跳了回來。貓戰以意料之外的方式收場。

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

【小結】該選段的主題是貓咪戰爭場面。原文短促有力，多有重復句式，譯文一方面保留了原文的短句特色和重復句式，另一方面在適當的地方進行增譯，以便譯文更加順暢易懂和清楚明白。? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?□