瓊·克雷格黑德·喬治

A blade of grass twitched just outside the tire. Rachet instinctively drew her feet under her and studied the grass through the tear in the tire. It quivered—something alive. Her hunger told her—mouse. Her tail twitched， her rear end went up， her chest lowered， and she pounced， swinging an open-clawed paw—and missed.

The mouse ran. It scurried down its trail and dove under a soda can. Rachet ran after it but only so far. Sitting down behind a clump of grass， she waited， motionless， for the mouse to come out and go home.

The ground shook， and a train roared into the station. She remained still and listened. Moments later a mans voice shouted “All aboard！” The mouse took advantage of the sound and scurried into its nest in the ground.

With its disappearance Rachet felt really hungry. She sniffed. But she didnt smell mouse. She smelled more cats crossing the vacant lot.

Queenella was first. Well behind her， running short distances， then stopping， came Ice Bucket， a white but dirty cat. Next came Flea Market. Her brown fur was matted from biting fleas. A small calico， Elizabeth， came slinking low from the vacant lot. She crept daintily and shyly. Then came Tatters and Tachometer， sisters. They dashed out from under the old tollbooth at the entrance to the station parking lot， where they had made their First Home after the parking meters had been installed and the booth abandoned. All cats seek a First Home， the place to which they return again and again， be it a pillow by a fire， a corner of a couch， or a sheltered spot in the wilds. It is not necessarily a permanent place， for a cat will shift homes according to food supply， mood， and events. Sometimes one will change First Homes just for a cat whim.

All the cats were walking to the railroad station. Their inner alarm clocks told them it was 6：45 A.M.—the time the Bent Lady put out cans of cat food by the station platform. She came there every day to feed the cats of Roxville Station. She liked them better than the people in the housing project， who rarely spoke to her. The cats liked her， too. They meowed and said hello by bumping their foreheads against her trousers.

Rachet smelled the food—the kind of food from a can she had sometimes been fed. Its aroma piqued her hunger， and the hunger drove her forward. Boldly she joined the cats on the trek to the Bent Ladys hand-out—stopping and starting to keep out of their sight. Near the station platform she sat down and watched Ice Bucket and Flea Market approach the food. Their tails were up， not quite as high and straight as Queenellas， and they swished them to express their wariness of the queen.

就在輪胎外面，有片草葉抖了抖。拉齊特本能地把爪子收到身子底下，通過輪胎空隙觀察那棵草。草的抖動意味著有活物。她的饑餓感告訴她——是老鼠。拉齊特尾巴抖了抖，臀部抬起，胸部放低，爪子張開揮舞著撲了過去，但是沒有撲到。

老鼠跑了。它沿著鼠道逃竄，鉆到了一個汽水罐底下。拉齊特追著跑，但也只能到此為止。她在一個草叢后面坐下來，一動不動，等著老鼠從藏身處出來回家。

地面震動起來，一輛火車轟鳴著駛?cè)胲囌尽＠R特待著不動，仔細傾聽。過了一會兒有個男人喊：“各位請上車！”老鼠利用這個嘈雜的機會，竄進了地下的鼠窩。

老鼠消失了，這讓拉齊特感到的確很餓。她嗅了一下。沒聞到老鼠，卻聞到有很多貓在穿過那塊空地。

女王艾拉走在最前面。緊跟其后，跑跑停停的，是冰桶，一只臟兮兮的白貓。再后面是跳蚤市場。因為總是咬跳蚤，她的棕色毛發(fā)結(jié)成了硬塊。一只小花貓，伊麗莎白，伏低身子悄悄從空地溜過來，優(yōu)雅又膽怯。然后是破布和轉(zhuǎn)速計兩姐妹。她們是從那個老收費亭底下跑出來的。收費亭在火車站停車場的門口，因為安裝了新的計費表而廢棄。破布和轉(zhuǎn)速計兩姐妹從此就把老收費亭當作自己的大本營。所有的貓都會找一個大本營，就是它們會一次又一次回去的地方，不管是火爐旁的一個枕頭、沙發(fā)的一角，還是野外的某個藏身處。大本營不一定是永久的居所，因為貓會根據(jù)食物供應、情緒和事件搬家。有時候，貓更換大本營僅僅是因為興之所至。

所有的貓都在走向火車站。生物鐘告訴它們現(xiàn)在是早上6點45分，是駝背夫人在站臺上放貓食罐頭的時間。她每天都到那里去喂羅克斯維爾火車站的貓咪。與做房地產(chǎn)項目的人相比，駝背夫人更喜歡貓，那些人很少跟她說話。貓咪們也喜歡駝背夫人。它們喵喵叫著，用前額蹭著她的褲腳打著招呼。

拉齊特聞到了食物的香味——是那種她有時候也能吃到的罐頭食物。香味激起了她的饑餓感，饑餓感驅(qū)使她往前走。她大膽地加入了奔向駝背夫人貓食的大軍。她走走停停，不想讓別的貓看見。在站臺附近，拉齊特坐下來，遠遠看著冰桶和跳蚤市場走向食物。她們的尾巴高高舉起，但不如女王艾拉的尾巴那么高那么直，而且她們擺動著尾巴，表示出對女王的警惕。

【背景知識】剛剛被拋棄的拉齊特在荒野里艱難求生，一頓飽餐都不易獲得。萬幸的是，她還可以去蹭吃愛心人士的貓糧。不過，要吃貓糧也要看其他貓咪的臉色，畢竟，她是外來的。

【第一段】這里有兩處語序調(diào)整。第一處是第一句的地點狀語提前（就在輪胎外面），這樣更符合中文習慣。第二處是最后一句的方式狀語swinging an open-clawed paw（爪子張開揮舞著）提前，因為如果放在動作后面不符合中文敘事的一般邏輯。由此可見，英譯漢當中，狀語經(jīng)常有需要調(diào)整語序的時候。第三句是一個省略句，譯文添加了“意味著”，把整個句子連接起來。

【第二段】所謂mouse trail，就是老鼠來回走的小路。這里是老鼠的地盤，它熟門熟路，不容易被抓到。拉齊特年幼，沒有經(jīng)驗，更不容易抓到老鼠。

【第三段】第一句是貓咪視角：先是感覺地面震動，然后意識到火車到來。譯文不宜調(diào)整語序。

【第四段】第一句開頭的方式狀語中使用了抽象名詞disappearance，翻譯為中文時一般需要變換為動詞。如果仍然沿用名詞，比如“隨著老鼠的消失”，譯文會有較重的翻譯腔。

【第五段】貓群當中一般都有一個地位最高的。在這些流浪貓當中就是女王艾拉了。進食的時候，其他貓咪都要按照地位高低依次而行，不得僭越。即使自由自在的野外，也不是完全自由的天堂，同樣有暴力和欺壓。拉齊特只能慢慢適應環(huán)境。該段有多個貓咪的名字需要翻譯。一般情況下，動物名字都有意義，按照字面翻譯即可，除非名字的意義不明確。像拉齊特（rachet）的意思是“棘齒”，跟全書的意義沒有必然聯(lián)系，因此按照發(fā)音翻譯。而其他的貓咪，如冰桶、跳蚤市場、破布和轉(zhuǎn)速計姐妹等，都一一按照字面意義翻譯。至于文中的專有術語First Home，如直譯“第一家”，中文不容易理解，所以轉(zhuǎn)譯為“大本營”。

【第六段】這里提到做房地產(chǎn)項目的人，為以后他們毒死貓咪埋下伏筆。最后一句的譯文同樣調(diào)整了方式狀語的語序：方式狀語提前（用前額蹭著她的褲腳），動詞短語“打招呼”挪到了后面。

【第七段】第三句原文把副詞boldly放在句首起強調(diào)作用，然而中文卻不能照搬，這不符合中文習慣。名詞trek的本意是“行程、旅程”，在這里稍嫌夸張，譯文轉(zhuǎn)譯為“大軍（貓群）”。最后對貓咪高舉尾巴的動作描寫算是知識普及：尾巴舉多高顯示出貓咪在貓群的地位，舉得越高地位就越高。舉起尾巴搖擺是一種友好的示意。

【小結(jié)】該選段當中有多處狀語的翻譯需要注意，尤其是方式狀語的翻譯。原文的幾個方式狀語在譯文中都調(diào)換了位置，若非如此，中文會顯得不太自然。譯者有時候面臨抉擇：照搬原文語序或改變原文語序。本文中的幾處實例屬于不得不調(diào)換語序的范疇。