从流浪汉到畅销书作家——来自一只猫的救赎
当你无数次失意的时候，你是不是总是盼望着能遇到那么一个人，一个契机，能够让你摆脱眼前的困境，能够让你重拾面对生活的勇气。
今天为大家分享一个故事，关于一只猫如何改变了一个人。
在伦敦，一个瘾君子、流浪汉遇上了一只流浪猫。从此，他告别堕落与流离，成为风靡世界的人物。他们的故事被写成书，畅销世界。
2007年的时候，詹姆斯遇到了一只橘黄色的猫，它饥肠辘辘满身伤痕的躲在公寓外面的楼梯井下。
The book, “A Street Cat Named Bob”, details how Bowen — a former heroin addict — found a starving, injured stray hiding under the stairwell in his apartment complex in 2007. Bowen was hesitant to take him in, but was unable to find anyone else to claim the wounded cat.
他带着这只猫去治病，抗生素的费用是他一天多的收入。
He took the cat to RSPCA to treat the abscess on his leg and a large wound in his side. Bowen spent more than a day’s wages on antibiotics for the stray cat.
“It was pretty much the last money I had, but I didn’t feel it was too much to help something in need. I’ve always loved cats,” Bowen told the Daily Mail.
詹姆斯3岁的时候父母就离异了，他跟着母亲去了澳大利亚，少年时经常被恐吓欺负，辗转不停的换学校使得他没有朋友，和继父也相处的不好。在他18岁的时候，他孤身一人回到了英国。在同父异母的妹妹那里短暂借住了一段时间后，他就去流浪街头了。之后就很快感染上了海洛因。
According to the Sunday Times, Bowen’s problems began when his parents separated when he was just 3 years old. He moved to Australia with his mother, and was bullied as a teenager. He changed schools often, and didn’t get along with his new stepfather. At 18, Bowen returned to England alone. After a short stint living with his half-sister, he found himself out on the streets, where he soon became addicted to heroin.
他说，当你穷困潦倒的时候，你能遇到的就是那些瘾君子，他们告诉你这可以让你睡得好，能让你感觉很爽——虽然这也是真的。但当你幡然醒悟之后，你发现自己已经一无所有了。
“When you’re sleeping rough, you are surrounded by people doing drugs,” Bowen told the Daily Mail. “They offer you some, saying it will help you sleep — which it does — or make you feel better. And before you know it, you’re thinking Why not? I’ve got nothing else.”
很快，他就严重沉迷于毒品了，差点吸毒致死。
Soon, he was a serious addict — precariously close to death.
10年后，在詹姆斯终于进入了治疗康复期的时候，他遇见了这只橘黄色的猫。
Ten years later, when Bowen was finally in the process of recovery, he discovered the orange cat underneath his stairwell.
最开始，即便詹姆斯帮鲍勃支付了治疗费用，也依然不想养它。
Initially, Bowen tried to let Bob go, even after paying for his veterinary treatment.
他把那只猫带到外面，但它不肯走。他每天出去乞讨，它也跟着。突然有一天那只猫爬上了他的身体，大概就是那时候詹姆斯被触动了吧。
“I’d take him outside, but he just wouldn’t run off. I would leave for a day’s [panhandling] and he’d follow me up the road. Then, one day, he followed me all the way on to the number 73 bus. He climbed on right after me!” Bowen told the Daily Mail.
最后，他还是发了慈悲让这只猫留了下来。一人一猫从此成为了不可分离的家人，一起去伦敦的街头乞讨。詹姆斯弹着吉他，鲍勃蹲在他脚边或是趴在他肩头。
Finally, he relented and let the cat stay. The pair soon became inseparable and were a familiar sight panhandling around London — Bowen strumming a guitar and Bob sitting at his feet or perching on his shoulders.
Bowen says that finding the cat and caring for his injuries enabled him to fix his own life. “I’ll never go back to drugs,” he told the Sunday Times. “I’ve learnt too much and grown up.”
Soon passers-by were bringing the cat bits of food, toys, and even clothes.
然后有人送围巾、毛衣、毛毯给鲍勃。
“Someone gave him a purple scarf,” Bowen told the Daily Mail. “Then everyone wanted to give him one. He must have more than 20 specially knitted scarves, a couple of [sweaters], ten blankets — mouse shaped-ones, cat-shaped ones. It’s amazing.”
再然后，有人给詹姆斯提供了一份正经的工作，成为英国《大志》杂志的销售员，他和鲍勃结束了居无定所的漂泊生活。
Two years ago, Mary Panchos, a literary agent who also worked on the UK version of Marley & Me, spotted Bowen and Bob selling a magazine for the homeless outside a subway station. That was the beginning of their relationship and soon Bowen had a book deal with Hodder & Stoughton.
“She said she had been walking past us for weeks, and wanted to know if I was interested in telling my story,” Bowen said. “Soon, we had publishers on board and six months later we had a book. It came out on my birthday. The best present of my life!”
詹姆斯把自己与鲍勃之间的故事记录下来写成一本书，书名就叫《一只名叫鲍勃的流浪猫》（A Street Cat Named Bob），这本书被翻译成30多种语言，全球畅销上百万册。
这本书里描绘了他在伦敦街头流浪的心酸，但更多的是一个流浪汉和一只猫彼此间相依为命、互相温暖的故事。
在国内，我们把这成为缘分。
在国外，他们把这叫做救赎。
鲍勃救赎了詹姆斯，让他从一个颠沛流离的流浪儿重新找回自我，找到人生前行的动力，找到了对这个世界的热情。
詹姆斯也救了鲍勃，让它免于伤害、饥饿和寒冷，给了它一个家。詹姆斯曾经说过，“（鲍勃）他是我的伙伴，不是我的伙计”，他也曾为了鲍勃和其他流浪汉打架。即便在书里面，他也没有过分夸大鲍勃的存在，他只是把他当做一只猫，一个家人。
“我们每个人的生命中都有第二次机会，但我们通常都没有把握住”。
幸运的是，詹姆斯把握住了。
鲍勃的出现，不止使他结束了身体的流离失所，更重要的是——
它结束了他精神的流浪。
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