捕鼠人（2023）

from the short story by ROALD DAHL
《捕鼠人》
（“当天”新闻日报）
下午 捕鼠人来到了加油站
In the afternoon, the rat man came to the petrol station.
他悄悄走上私人车道 步伐轻盈隐秘
He sidled up the driveway with a soft, stealthy gait.
他走在碎石上完全没脚步声
His feet made no noise at all on the gravel.
他一边肩膀挂着一只军用背包
He had an army knapsack slung over one shoulder.
身穿老式灯芯绒外套 带大号♥口袋
He wore an old-fashioned corduroy jacket with large pockets.
灯芯绒裤子的膝盖处绑有白色绳索
Corduroy trousers were tied around the knees with lengths of white string.
你好？ – 什么事？
Hello? – Yes?
我来灭鼠
Rodent operative.
他用黑色的小眼睛快速打量这地方
His small, dark eyes moved swiftly over the premises.
捕鼠人？ – 是我
The rat man? – That’s me.
他精瘦皮实 脸型凌厉
He was lean, leathery, a sharp face,
两颗如硫磺般的黄色长牙
two long, sulfur-yellow teeth
从上颚突出 悬在下唇之上
protruding from the upper jaw over the lower lip.
他的耳朵又圆又薄 长在靠后脑勺处
His ears were round and thin, set near the back of his head.
眼睛几乎是黑的
The eyes were almost black,
但当他看着你时 眼睛会泛起一点黄光
but when they looked at you, there was a flash of yellow in them.
来得挺快嘛 – 接到卫生办的特别指令
You’ve come quick. – Special orders from the Health Office.
你现在要把所有老鼠抓住咯？
And now you’re going to catch all the rats?
对 – 怎么抓？
Yeah. – How?
对呀 怎么抓？
Yes. How?
要看是什么老鼠 藏在哪 不同老鼠的抓法不同
Depends what rats, where they is. Different methods for different rats.
我猜是用陷阱 – 什么？
Trap them, I suppose. – What?
陷阱 – 陷阱？
Trap ’em. – Trap ’em?
捕鼠人哼了一声
The rat man snorted.
不用这种办法 又不是抓兔子
Won’t catch ’em that way. Rats ain’t rabbits.
他昂起头
He held his face up high,
用鼻子嗅闻空气 明显能看到鼻子左右抽动
sniffing the air with a nose that twitched perceptibly from side to side.
老鼠可聪明了 要想抓它们 就要先了解它们
Rats is clever. You wanna catch ’em, you gotta know ’em.
干这行必须了解老鼠的习性
You gotta know rats on this job.
知道它们会做什么吗？它们会看着你
You know what they do? They watch you.
一直看着你怎么准备消灭它们
Whole time you’re preparin’ how to exterminate ’em,
全程注视你
they’re watchin’ you.
该不会要进下水道吧？
This ain’t a sewer job, is it?
不用进下水道
No, it’s not a sewer job.
要进下水道就难办了 – 我想应该不难
Tricky things, sewer jobs. – I shouldn’t think so.
你肯定觉得不难吧？ 我倒是想看你处理一次试试
You shouldn’t, should you? I’d like to see you do a sewer job.
你具体会怎么做 我想知道
Just exactly how’d you set about it, I’d like to know.
应该是放毒饵吧
Poison them, I suppose.
那你会把毒饵放在哪里呢？
And where exactly would you put the poison?
扔进下水道？
Down the sewer?
捕鼠人眼神一亮 显得很得意
The rat man sparkled, triumphant.
我就知道 “扔进下水道”
Yeah, I knew it. “Down the sewer.”
知道会怎样吗？都会被冲走的
Know what’d happen? Get washed away completely.
所有毒饵都没了 下水道就像河流
All your poison. Sewer’s like a river.
好吧 那你会怎么做 捕鼠人先生？ 下水道要怎么处理？
All right. Well, what would you do, Mr. Rat Man? On a sewer job?
捕鼠人向前走进一步
The rat man advanced a step closer.
他声音变得神神秘秘的
His voice became secretive and confidential,
好像在泄露什么专业秘密
the voice of a man divulging professional secrets.
灭鼠时要先理解 老鼠是喜欢咬东西的动物 明白吗？
You works on the understandin’ a rat is a gnawin’ animal, see?
你给它什么 它就咬什么
Anythin’ you give ’em, they gnaws on it.
那如果让你来处理下水道的老鼠 你会怎么做？
So you got a sewer job on your hands. What d’you do?
他的声音 如同呱呱叫的青蛙一样柔软嘶哑
His voice had the soft, throaty sound of a croaking frog,
他那语气 似乎每个字 都是令人垂延三尺的美味
and he seemed to speak all his words with a wet-lipped relish,
一副津津有味的样子
as if they tasted good on the tongue.
你进入下水道
You go down the sewer
带一个普通的棕色纸袋
and you take along some ordinary brown paper bags
装满熟石膏粉 不放别的东西
filled with plaster of paris powder. Nothin’ else.
从下水道顶部悬挂下来
Then you suspend ’em from the roof of the sewer
袋子会垂下来 但又不碰到水
so they hangs down not quite touchin’ the water.
高度正好让老鼠够得着
Just high enough so a rat can reach ’em.
克劳德全神贯注地听着
Claud was listening, rapt.
老鼠会顺着下水道游过来 看见袋子就会停住
Old rat comes swimmin’ along the sewer, sees the bag. He stops.
它闻了闻 感觉味道不赖
Takes a sniff at it. It don’t smell so bad.
它会怎么做？ – 咬袋子
What’s he do? – He gnaws it.
没错！它会开始咬袋子 然后袋子会被咬破
That’s it! He starts gnawin’ at the bag, and the bag breaks,
老鼠满嘴都是石膏粉 痛苦不堪
and the old rat gets a mouthful of powder for his pains.
然后呢？
Well?
就一命呜呼了
Well, that does him.
这就死了？ – 死透了
That kills him? – Stone dead.
熟石膏… – 湿了之后会膨胀
Plaster of paris… – It swells when you wet it.
进入老鼠的喉管 立刻膨胀
Gets into the rat’s tubes and swells right up
世上没有比这更快的灭鼠方法了
and kills him quicker than anythin’ in the world.
所以说你得了解老鼠的习性
That’s where you got to know rats.
捕鼠人脸上洋溢着狡诈的骄傲之情
His face glowed with a shifty pride.
他搓了搓瘦长的手指 举起双手 靠近面部
He rubbed his stringy fingers together, holding the hands up close to his face.
那么 老鼠在哪呢？
Now, where’s them rats?
“老鼠”这个词的发音 带有馥郁的果香气
The word “rats” came out with a rich, fruity sound
好像在用融化的黄油漱口
as if he were gargling with melted butter.
就在马路对面的草垛里
In the hayrick across the road.
不在屋里？ – 只在草垛里 别的地方没有
Not inside? – Only in the hayrick. Nowhere else.
我打赌屋里也有 进去拿你的食物 散播病害和疾病
I’ll wager they’re inside too, gettin’ in your food, spreadin’ disease.
这里有人生病吗？ – 他直直地看着我 然后又看克劳德
Got any sickness here? – He looked pointedly at me, then at Claud.
大家都挺好的 – 确定？
Everyone’s well. – Quite sure?
很确定 – 这很难说
Quite sure. – You never know.
他负担起了公卫生官员的职责
He’d taken upon himself the mantle of a public health officer,
得知我们没染上鼠疫而感到失望
disappointed we were not suffering from bubonic plague.
不管怎么说 老鼠就在草垛里 你打算怎么弄走它们？
Nevertheless, the rats are in the hayrick. How will you remove them?
捕鼠人咧了咧嘴 露出狡猾的微笑
The rat man grinned a crafty, toothy grin.
他伸手进背包 拿出一个大锡罐
He reached into his knapsack and withdrew a large tin,
一边说话 一边用手上下掂量
weighing it up and down in his hands as he spoke.
毒药 特制毒药 十分致命
Poison. Special poison. Deadly poison.
如果被人发现你有一勺这种玩意 那你会被抓走
They’d put you inside if they caught you with even a spoonful of this.
这里的剂量足以杀死一百万人
There’s enough here to kill a million men.
想看看吗？ – 好的
Want to see? – Yes, please.
他用一便士撬开了盖子
He took a penny and prized open the lid.
就是这个
There it is.
他欣喜地介绍这个东西 并拿起来给克劳德看
He spoke almost lovingly of the stuff and held it forward for Claud.
是玉米或大麦吧？
Corn or barley, is it?
燕麦 泡在剧毒里的燕麦
Oats. Oats soaked in deadly poison.
只放一颗进嘴里 三分钟就死翘翘了
You take just one grain in your mouth and you’re a goner in three minutes.
这个锡罐绝不会离开我的视线
Never out of me sight, this tin.
他摸了摸锡罐 轻微晃动了一下
He caressed the tin and shook it…
…so the oat grains rustled softly inside.
让燕麦米在里面轻轻晃动
不过你的老鼠今天吃不到这个 反正它们也不会吃的
But your rats don’t get this today. They wouldn’t have it, anyway.
所以说要了解老鼠的习性 老鼠很多疑 疑心非常重
That’s where you got to know rats. Rats is suspicious. Terrible suspicious.
所以今天要给它们 吃干净美味的上好燕麦
So today they get some nice, clean, tasty oats
不会对它们造成任何伤害
as will do ’em no harm in the world.
把它们养胖 就是这样 然后明天也是同样的安排
Fatten ’em up, that’s all. And tomorrow, the same again.
后天也是如此 大后天也一样
And the day after that, and the day after that.
味道如此美妙 整个街区的老鼠
And it’ll taste so good, all the rats in the district
很快都会闻讯赶来
will be comin’ along soon enough.
非常聪明
Very clever.
干这一行必须要聪明 要比老鼠聪明
You got to be clever on this job, cleverer than a rat.
这样就很不一般了
And that’s saying something.
我说：“那你差不多也是老鼠了”
“You’ve almost got to be a rat yourself.”
我脱口而出 来不及阻止自己
It slipped out before I could stop myself.
我是情不自禁的 我当时看着那个男人
I couldn’t help it, I was looking at him at the time.
但他对这话的反应令人惊奇
The effect it had on him was surprising.
对！ – …他喊道
That’s it! – …he cried.
你搞懂了 确实说到点上了
Now you got it, you really said somethin’.
优秀的捕鼠人必须要更像老鼠
A good ratter’s gotta be more like a rat than anythin’ else.
比老鼠更聪明
Cleverer even than a rat,
这绝非易事 我跟你们说
and that is not an easy thing to be, let me tell you.
好 那就赶紧开始吧
Well, let’s get on with it.
利奥诺拉·本森夫人 还让我火速赶去庄园呢
Lady Leonora Benson’s asking for me urgent up at the manor.
她家也有老鼠吗？
She’s got rats too?
每个人家都有老鼠
Everybody’s got rats.
捕鼠人慢慢沿着私人车道走
The rat man ambled off down the driveway.
他走起路来也很像老鼠 让你感到好奇