瓊·克雷格黑德·喬治

At dusk she awoke， ready to go First Home hunting. She looked toward the abandoned lot where mice abounded. Elizabeths First Home was there， and her Sunning Spot was on the nearby woodpile. Rachet wouldnt look there nor in the pile of brush in the field. Elizabeths Hunting Lookout. She had sprayed it with her personal odor to tell other cats it was hers. Rachet respected this. The Sunning Spot and Hunting Lookout were stations in a cats environment that it selected and regularly used.

Rachet inhaled deeply and smelled the two Roxville cat members at the faraway tollbooth in the station parking lot on the other side of the tracks. Tatters and Tachometer had left strong scents on it by rubbing their sides against the pilings as they exited and entered their home. The scents said， “This is Tatters and Tachometers property.” Rachet would stay away from their space also.

The woods were no good; they were claimed by Ringx. The raccoon lived in that large hole in the maple tree and protected it with ferocity. Lysol， the skunk， denned under a nearby slash pine. She did not want her First Home near him.

Rachet crawled out from under the tire and was stealing down her trail to check for a home near the houses when Shifty， the red fox， caught wind of her. Running low， then leaping high， he pounced with open jaws. Rachet sped through the withered thistle patch. Shifty at her heels. He was so close she heard his jaws slam closed. She leaped， aiming for a hole in a mesh fence， went through it， and alit in the yard of the big Victorian house where Queenella made her home. Shifty was too wary to follow through the hole and skidded to a halt. He sniffed the fence， then trotted away.

Old and run-down， the house had a large porch that wrapped around two sides of it. The porch stopped at a tower three stories high， then continued on the other side. Stained glass glowed in the living room windows. Elaborate leaves and flowers， moldy from neglect， were carved above the windows and doors. Rachet looked about the yard. In it were motorboats covered with blue tarps; weeds grew between them. Slender voluntary saplings cropped up here and there at the fence. Old sugar maple trees at the edge of the yard were riddled with holes， showing where woodpeckers and flickers had drilled. A sign in the yard read OCCUPIED， in case someone thought the run-down house was empty and decided to explore it.

Rachet took a deep sniff. The old house smelled of people—and Queenella！ Suddenly， Windy， the barn owl， flew at Rachet to harass; she was a predator. She dipped low overhead， then flew on as silently as the moonlight. Rachet ducked， then ran forward.

She heard the sound of a wind rushing through a hole. She followed the sound to the stone foundation of the house， found a large break in the wall， and wedged into it. She wiggled along the three-foot-deep crack in the foundation and looked into the basement of the house. She did not jump to the floor but crouched and sniffed.

黃昏時(shí)，拉齊特醒了，準(zhǔn)備去尋找自己的“老家”。她望著那塊老鼠成群的荒地。伊麗莎白的“老家”在那里，她的曬太陽(yáng)處在附近的木柴堆上。拉齊特不會(huì)去那里找，也不會(huì)去荒地里的那個(gè)灌木叢。那是伊麗莎白的狩獵瞭望處。伊麗莎白在灌木叢那里留下了自己的氣味，告訴其他貓咪那是她的領(lǐng)地。拉齊特不會(huì)去那里。曬太陽(yáng)處和狩獵瞭望處是貓咪環(huán)境里的站點(diǎn)，是貓咪自己選好并且經(jīng)常使用的地方。

拉齊特深吸一口氣，聞到了羅克斯維爾火車(chē)站貓咪族群兩個(gè)成員的味道。它們?cè)阼F道另一邊，火車(chē)站停車(chē)場(chǎng)遠(yuǎn)端的過(guò)路收費(fèi)亭那里。破布和轉(zhuǎn)速計(jì)進(jìn)出家門(mén)的時(shí)候，總是用身子蹭門(mén)口的樁子，在那里留下了很強(qiáng)的氣味。那氣味說(shuō)明，“這里是破布和轉(zhuǎn)速計(jì)的地盤(pán)?！崩R特也要離他們的地方遠(yuǎn)一點(diǎn)。

樹(shù)林里不能安家。那是林克斯的地盤(pán)。浣熊就住在楓樹(shù)的那個(gè)大洞里，并且用武力守護(hù)著。萊索，那只臭鼬，家安在附近的一棵沼澤松底下。拉齊特可不想讓自己的“老家”靠近他。

拉齊特從輪胎下面爬出來(lái)，偷偷沿著自己的小路出行，想去人類(lèi)的房子附近找一個(gè)家。這時(shí)，希夫蒂，那只紅狐，聞到了拉齊特。希夫蒂伏低身子跑過(guò)來(lái)，然后高高跳起，張開(kāi)嘴巴撲下去。拉齊特飛速地跑過(guò)那片枯萎的薊草叢。希夫蒂緊跟不放。希夫蒂離拉齊特太近了，拉齊特聽(tīng)到了他嘴巴咬合的聲音。拉齊特高高跳起，朝著籬笆網(wǎng)上的一個(gè)洞跳過(guò)去，恰好穿過(guò)，然后落到一所維多利亞式大房子的院子里。這里是女王艾拉的家。希夫蒂很謹(jǐn)慎，沒(méi)有跟著穿過(guò)那個(gè)洞，腳步打滑停了下來(lái)。他聞了聞籬笆，然后快速走開(kāi)了。

這所房子老舊而且破敗不堪，兩側(cè)圍繞著一個(gè)巨大的門(mén)廊。門(mén)廊延伸到一個(gè)三層高的塔樓下面中斷，然后在塔樓的另一面又延伸下去?？蛷d窗戶的彩色玻璃熠熠生輝。門(mén)窗的上方雕刻有精美的葉子和花朵，因?yàn)闆](méi)人維護(hù)而發(fā)霉了。拉齊特看了看院子四周。院子里有幾艘蓋著藍(lán)色防水布的摩托艇;艇與艇之間長(zhǎng)著野草?；h笆周?chē)教幐Z出自發(fā)生長(zhǎng)的細(xì)長(zhǎng)樹(shù)苗。院子邊上，有古老的糖楓樹(shù)，樹(shù)上到處都是洞，看得出是啄木鳥(niǎo)和撲動(dòng) ? 鉆過(guò)孔的地方。院子里還有一個(gè)標(biāo)志，寫(xiě)著“有人居住”，以防人們認(rèn)為這所破房子空空如也，決定進(jìn)來(lái)探索一番。

拉齊特深吸一口氣嗅了嗅周?chē)?。老房子里有人，還有女王艾拉。突然，如風(fēng)，那只倉(cāng)鸮，飛撲過(guò)來(lái)騷擾拉齊特。倉(cāng)鸮是獵食動(dòng)物。如風(fēng)從頭頂?shù)惋w而過(guò)，然后繼續(xù)往前飛，像月光一樣悄然無(wú)聲。拉齊特躲開(kāi)襲擊，然后往前跑。

她聽(tīng)到了風(fēng)兒穿洞的聲響。循著風(fēng)聲，拉齊特來(lái)到老房子的石質(zhì)地基處，找到了墻上的一個(gè)大洞，擠了進(jìn)去。她扭動(dòng)身子沿著三英尺深的地基墻縫往前走，來(lái)探察老房子的地下室。她沒(méi)有直接跳到地面上，而是伏低身子嗅了嗅。

【背景知識(shí)】野外的貓咪都需要一個(gè)舒適安全的“老家”，還有附近的曬太陽(yáng)處和狩獵瞭望處。拉齊特也不例外。她四處搜尋，想找一個(gè)安身之所。終于，誤打誤撞，她來(lái)到了那個(gè)男孩的家，一棟古舊的房子。

【第一段】英文詞組First Home值得譯者琢磨一番?！暗谝患摇币馑疾幻鞔_。中國(guó)的兒童游戲里經(jīng)常有“回老家”“找老家”的說(shuō)法。這里的老家并非小時(shí)候的家，或者家人的故鄉(xiāng)，而是指“大本營(yíng)”。這一段介紹了野外貓咪的習(xí)性，他們通常需要一個(gè)“老家”，還有“曬太陽(yáng)處”以及“狩獵瞭望處”。

【第二段】原文第一句比較長(zhǎng)，地點(diǎn)狀語(yǔ)置后。譯文切分為兩句，并且調(diào)整了語(yǔ)序。原文第二句也不能按照英文的語(yǔ)序翻譯，譯文也只能調(diào)整語(yǔ)序，把原文的時(shí)間狀語(yǔ)和方式狀語(yǔ)提前。

【第三段】拉齊特憑借自己的嗅覺(jué)勘察周?chē)膭?dòng)物，發(fā)現(xiàn)自己可用的空間有限，危機(jī)四伏。

【第四段】第一句的譯文補(bǔ)充了一些信息，比如“自己的小路”“人類(lèi)的房子”，使得譯文更明白易懂。即使是日常出行，拉齊特都要冒生命危險(xiǎn)?？磥?lái)找尋新家勢(shì)在必行。原文的動(dòng)作描寫(xiě)很生動(dòng)，譯文也要如此。

【第五段】這一段是繁復(fù)的景物描寫(xiě)。第一句譯文的主語(yǔ)提前了，而且把原文的長(zhǎng)句進(jìn)行了切分。原文第三句的譯文也進(jìn)行了語(yǔ)序調(diào)整，這些一般都是必要的，因?yàn)橹杏⑽恼Z(yǔ)法習(xí)慣不同。

【第六段】老房子里的住戶出場(chǎng)了，一只倉(cāng)鸮。這之后還有倉(cāng)鸮的故事。新的環(huán)境需要適應(yīng)，有敵人有朋友，拉齊特必須小心謹(jǐn)慎。

【第七段】拉齊特通過(guò)墻縫擠進(jìn)了地下室，但她不敢一下子跳下去。里面已經(jīng)有貓咪居住了。

【小結(jié)】這一選段有精彩的動(dòng)作描寫(xiě)和繁復(fù)細(xì)致的景物描寫(xiě)，譯文應(yīng)當(dāng)注意中文的流暢和通順。另外，這里出現(xiàn)了很多動(dòng)物名稱。動(dòng)物名稱一般有兩種翻譯方法：音譯或者意譯。譯者并沒(méi)有執(zhí)著于某一種譯法，而是根據(jù)情況進(jìn)行選擇。意義恰當(dāng)?shù)膭t意譯，意義不兼容的則音譯。像拉齊特、伊麗莎白、林克斯、萊索、希夫蒂等都是音譯，而破布、轉(zhuǎn)速計(jì)、如風(fēng)等是意譯。Queenella是貓王，這個(gè)區(qū)域地位最高的貓咪，其譯名是意譯加音譯，女王+艾拉，表明她的身份和名稱。