The way he walked was so like a rat, it made you wonder.
那种缓慢、近乎微妙的漫步 膝盖还要弯曲着
That slow, almost delicate, ambling walk with a lot of give at the knees
走在碎石上完全没有脚步声
and no sound at all from his footsteps on the gravel.
他跃过大门 快速绕着草垛行走
He hopped over the gate, and walked quickly ’round the hayrick,
将一把燕麦撒到地上
scattering handfuls of oats onto the ground.
第二天 他回来重复了这个流程
The next day he returned and repeated the procedure.
第三天他又来了 第四天也是
The day after that he came again, and the day after that,
最后 又过了一天 他投了有毒的燕麦
and finally, on the fourth day, he put down the poisoned oats.
不过他没有四处播撒 而是堆成了一小堆
But he didn’t scatter these. Instead, he placed them in little piles
放在草垛的每个角落
at each corner of the hayrick.
你养了狗吗？ – 是的
You got a dog? – Yes.
如果你想它痛苦挣扎地死去 那就让它进那个门
Well, if you want him to die a horrible, twisting death, let him in that gate.
第二天 他来收尸体
The next day he came to collect the dead.
给我一个旧袋子 我要用袋子把它们装起来
Get me an old sack. I’m gonna need one to put ’em in.
他现在变得膨胀自大起来 黑眼睛闪着骄傲之情
He was puffed up and important now, the black eyes gleaming with pride.
他准备要为观众展示抓捕成果
He was about to display the results of his catch to the audience.
克劳德拿了一个袋子 然后我们走到马路对面
Claud fetched a sack and we walked across the road.
捕鼠人围着草垛搜寻
The rat man prowled around the hayrick,
弯下腰检查其中一堆毒诱饵
bending over to inspect one of his piles of poison.
出问题了 – …他嘀咕道
Something wrong here. – …he muttered.
他的声音轻柔却又愤怒
His voice was soft and angry.
他慢慢走到另外一堆诱饵前 蹲下去靠近查看
He ambled over to another pile and got down to examine it closely.
真是出大问题了 – 怎么回事？
Something wrong here. – What’s the matter?
他没有作答 但是 显然老鼠没有碰他的诱饵
He didn’t answer, but it was clear the rats hadn’t touched his bait.
我说：“这些老鼠可聪明了”
“These are very clever rats here,” I said.
捕鼠人听了很不高兴
The rat man was annoyed
脸上和鼻子露出不悦 这能从他那两颗
and showed it on his face and nose and by the way the two yellow teeth
咬着下唇的黄牙看出来
were pressing into his lower lip.
别跟我说废话 – …他说 并看着我
Don’t give me that crap. – …he said, looking at me.
这些老鼠没问题 但有人在喂它们
Nothing’s wrong with these rats, somebody’s feedin’ ’em.
它们在别处有很多鲜嫩多汁的食物
They got somethin’ juicy to eat somewhere, plenty of it.
这世界上没有老鼠能拒绝燕麦 除非它们的肚子已经鼓得要爆了
No rats in the world will turn down oats unless their bellies is full to burstin’.
捕鼠人不快地转身走开
The rat man turned away, sullen.
他开始用小铲子把毒燕麦铲起来
He knelt down again scooping up the poisoned oats with a small shovel,
小心地倒回锡罐里
tipping it carefully back into a tin.
等他完事之后 我们三个都穿过马路走回去
When he had finished, all three of us walked back across the road.
捕鼠人站在汽油泵旁边
The rat man stood by the petrol-pump,
现在的捕鼠人满脸歉意 变得谦卑
a rather sorry, humble rat man now
开始显露出在沉思的神态
whose face was beginning to take on a brooding aspect.
他因为捕鼠失败而气馁
He had withdrawn into himself over his failure,
眼神遮掩 不怀好意
the eyes veiled and wicked,
在一颗黄牙旁边吐出一点舌头
the little tongue darting out to one side of the two yellow teeth.
他抬起眼睛 鬼祟地扫了我一眼
He looked up at me, a surreptitious glance,
然后看向克劳德
then over at Claud.
他抽动着鼻孔 嗅闻着空气
His nose-end twitched, sniffing the air.
他踮起脚尖上下晃动 轻轻摆动身体
He raised himself up and down on his toes, swaying gently,
用轻柔神秘的声音说…
and in a soft voice, soft and secretive, he said…
想看一样东西吗？
You want to see something?
他明显想要挽回自己的名声
He was trying to retrieve his reputation.
什么？ – 想看点神奇的东西吗？
What? – You want to see something amazing?
他把右手伸进外套上的狩猎口袋
He put his right hand into the poacher’s pocket of his jacket
拿出一只肥硕的活老鼠 死死被他用手指抓住
and brought out a large, live rat clasped tight between his fingers.
天啊！
Good God!
没错 看到没？
That’s it. You see?
他微微俯身 脖子向前伸
He was crouching slightly and craning his neck forward
斜眼看着我们 手里拿着这只棕色的大老鼠
and leering at us and holding this enormous brown rat,
他用一根手指和大拇指组成圆环 圈住老鼠的脖子
one finger and thumb making a tight circle around its neck,
夹住它的头 防止它扭头咬人
clamping its head so it couldn’t turn and bite.
你在口袋里装着老鼠到处溜达？
Do you go around with rats in your pockets?
无论去哪 我总要带上一两只老鼠
Always a rat or two about me somewhere.
他把另一只闲着的手伸进另一个口袋 拿出了一只白色的小…
He put his free hand into the other pocket and produced a small, white…
那是雪貂吗？ – 捕鼠人窃笑着 发出嘶嘶声
Is that a ferret? – The rat man snickered, hissing.
这只雪貂似乎认识他 被抓着也没有动
The ferret seemed to know him and stayed still.
雪貂猎杀老鼠的速度是最快的
Nothing will kill a rat quicker than a ferret.
他让跟前的两只动物靠得更近一些
He held the two animals close in front of him
让雪貂的鼻子 距离老鼠的脸只有15厘米
so the ferret’s nose came within six inches of the rat’s face.
雪貂粉亮如珠的眼睛盯着老鼠
The pink beady eyes of the ferret stared at the rat.
老鼠挣扎着 试图躲开这个捕食者
The rat struggled, trying to edge away from the killer.
接下来 – …他说道
Now. – …he said.
看好了
Watch.
他卡其衬衣上的纽扣是松开的
His khaki shirt was open at the neck,
他举起老鼠 把它放进里面
and he lifted the rat and slipped it down inside,
贴着他的皮肤
next to his skin.
他的腰带可以阻止 老鼠钻入腰部以下的地方
His belt prevented the rat from going lower than his waist.
然后 他把雪貂也放了进去
He slipped the ferret in next.
立刻 他的衬衣里出现一大阵骚动
Immediately, there was a great commotion inside the shirt.
似乎老鼠围着男人的身体逃窜 而雪貂则穷追不舍
It appeared the rat was running around his body, chased by the ferret.
它们转了六七圈 小的凸起在追赶大的凸起
Six or seven times they went around, the small bulge chasing the larger one,
每转一圈 距离都变得越来越近
gaining on it slightly each circuit, drawing closer and closer
直到两个凸起好像要合在一起了
until at last the two bulges seemed to come together,
然后是一阵扭打和刺耳的尖叫
and there was a scuffle and a series of shrill shrieks.
在整个表演过程中 捕鼠人一动不动
Throughout this performance, the rat man stood absolutely still,
双腿分开 手臂自然垂着
legs apart, arms hanging loosely,
用深色的眼睛 冷静地看着克劳德凝固的表情
dark eyes resting calmly on Claud’s frozen face.
最终 他把手伸进衬衣的下面
Finally, he took his hand and reached down into his shirt
拉出了那只雪貂
and pulled out the ferret.
另一只手拿出了死老鼠
With the other, he took out the dead rat.
雪貂白色的嘴边有一丝血迹
There were traces of blood around the white muzzle of the ferret.
我说道：“我好像不太喜欢看”
“Not sure I liked that very much,” I said.
你从来没看过这种场景 我敢打赌
You never seen nothin’ like it before, I’ll bet you that.
确实没有
Can’t say I have.
总有一天 你的肚子会被狠狠咬一口
You’ll get a nasty nip in the guts one of these days.
…克劳德跟他说 但这话让他来劲了 捕鼠人又开始神气奕奕
…Claud told him, but was intrigued, and the rat man was becoming cocky again.
还想看更有意思的吗？
You want to see something far more amazing?
就是那种除非亲眼所见 否则绝不会相信的东西？
Something you’d never believe unless you’re seeing it with your own eyes?
我看了克劳德一眼 不仅是有点担忧
I glanced at Claud more than slightly apprehensive.
好啊
Yes.
他把死老鼠放进一个口袋 又把雪貂放入另一边口袋
The rat man slipped the dead rat into one pocket
and the ferret into the other.
然后他伸手进背包 拿出了第二只活老鼠
Then he reached into his knapsack and produced a second live rat.
老天啊！
Holy Christ!
无论去哪 我总要带上一两只老鼠
Always got one or two rats about me somewhere.
干这行必须了解老鼠的习性
You got to know rats on this job,
要了解它们的习性 你就得把它们带在身旁
and if you wanna know ’em you gotta have ’em around.
这是沟鼠 就是这只 上年纪的沟鼠 贼聪明
This is a sewer rat, this one. An old sewer rat, clever as buggery.
它一直在看着我 好奇我接下来会做什么 看到没？
See him watchin’ me all the time, wonderin’ what I’m gonna do next?
看见没？ – 令人不适
See him? – Most unpleasant.
“你接下来会做什么？”
“What will you do?”
我感觉这次展示可能不如上一个呢
I had a feeling I’d like this demonstration less than the last one.
给我拿一条绳索 – 克劳德拿了一条绳索
Fetch me a piece of string. – Claud fetched a piece of string.
捕鼠人把它系在老鼠的后腿上
The rat man looped it around the rat’s hind leg.
老鼠挣扎着 但是捕鼠人抓得很紧
The rat struggled, but the rat man held it tight.
接下来 屋里有桌子吗？
Now, you got a table inside?
我说：“我们不想让老鼠进屋”
“We don’t want the rat inside,” I said.
那我需要一张桌子 或者是平的东西
Well, I need a table. Or somethin’ flat, anyway.
我们走到汽油泵旁边 捕鼠人把沟鼠放在上面
We walked over to the petrol-pump and he put the sewer rat on top.
他把绳索绑在杆子上 把老鼠拴住
He attached the string to a post so the rat was now tethered.
一开始它蜷缩着不动 很有疑心
At first, it crouched, unmoving and suspicious,
一只硕大的灰老鼠 长着乌黑透亮的眼睛
a big-bodied gray rat with bright black eyes
带皮屑的长尾巴弯曲着 搭在金属表面上
and a scaly tail that lay in a long curl on the metal surface.
它在看别处 但是又从眼角瞄他
It was looking away, but watching him sideways
看看他想做什么
to see what he was going to do.
捕鼠人后退几步 老鼠立刻放松了下来
The rat man stepped back a few paces, and immediately the rat relaxed.
一屁♥股♥坐了下去
It sat up on its haunches
开始舔舐胸部的灰色毛发
and began to lick the gray fur on its chest.
然后它用两只前爪挠了挠口鼻处
Then it scratched its muzzle with both front paws.
似乎它并不担心站在附近的其他人
It seemed quite unconcerned about the other men standing nearby.
要不打个小赌吧？ – …捕鼠人说道
How about a little bet? – …the rat man said.
我说：“不了 谢谢”
“No, thank you.” I said.
玩一下嘛 打赌才更有意思 – 你想打赌什么？
It’s more fun if you bet. – What do you want to bet on?
我打赌我不用手就能干掉那只老鼠
I can kill that rat without using my hands.