浅译：奇幻猫(十五 • 1)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Bottle Magic
第十五章：瓶子魔法
1
The next morning, when Lillian was putting the eggs in the cold storage, she paused in the doorway and listened hard. She could hear Mother Manan in the parlor with her friend Sebastian--not what they were saying, exactly, but the steady ebb and flow of conversation.
第二天早上，当Lillian正把鸡蛋放到冷藏室时，她在门口停了下来，努力地听着，Manan妈妈和她的朋友Sebastian在客厅的——严格来说，不是他们的对话，而是谈话时声音不停的起起伏伏。
Stepping into the the cold storage, she set the basket of eggs on a shelf, then stood on a stool and reached way back to the tray of tincture bottles. Were they really a magic potion that let a body understand the language of the animals?
走进冷藏室，她把鸡蛋放到架子上，然后站到一张凳子上，伸手够那盘酊剂瓶。难道它们真的是能让人理解动物语言的魔法药？
She climbed down and went to the door again to listen, but the murmur of conversation continued in the parlor. She held one of the bottles to her chest and worked the stopper free. Raising it up to her nose, she gave it a sniff.
她从凳子上下来，继续到门那偷听，客厅里咕哝的谈话声还在继续。她拿出其中一个瓶子到胸口，拔去塞子，举到鼻子下，闻了闻。
It smelled foul, but then potions almost always smelled bad. Harlene made one from some kind of oil that Lillian and Aunt took all the winter long. When Lillian complained about the taste, Aunt just smiled and said, "That's how you know it's working."
闻起来像污水臭，不过药物也大抵总是难闻的。Harlene用某种油做过一种药，Lillian和姑姑吃了一整个长长的冬天。Lillian一抱怨那味道，姑姑就笑着说，“就是那味道你才知道它起作用了啊。”
If you could understand the language of the animals, she could learn things without having to wait for Mother Manan to interpret her dream--that is, if she ever even intended to. That seemed more doutful with every passing hour.
如果她能理解动物的语言，她就能获悉事情，而不必非等着Manan妈妈来给她解梦——这个，即使是她曾经打算的。 Manan妈妈是否会帮她解梦，在那里每过一个小时，都变得更让人怀疑。
Perhaps the cats around here might know why the cats back home stared at her all the time. Maybe the chickens or pigs or cows could tell her something--like were the bear people really planning to eat her? She could track down that fox and ask why he was following her. At the very least, she might be able to make a friend or two.
很可能附近的猫知道，为什么姑姑家附近的猫一直盯着她。也许这儿的鸡、猪或者奶牛能告诉她一些事－－比如熊人族是不是真打算吃了她？她也能追踪那只狐狸，问他为什么跟着她。至少至少，她或许能交到一两个朋友。
But taking some of the potion was as good as stealing. Aunt hadn't raised her like that. She could well argue that she'd earned the right to take a sip of the potion with all the hard work she'd been doing. It wasn't as though anybody had told her she shouldn't give it a taste.
但是喝一点药就像偷了东西似的。姑姑抚养她时可没那样教她。她可以去好好跟他们争辩，她一直以来努力做的所有事，已挣到了尝一口药水的权利了。即便没人说她不能喝一口。
Oh, that? she could say, if she were asked. I had a tickle in my throat, and I thought it was some kind of cold medicine like my neighbor Harlene makes.
噢，关于那个？如果她被问到，她可以说：我嗓子有点痒，我以为这是像我邻居Harlene做的某种感冒药那样的。
But who was to say it wasn't some kind of poison? Then they'd just found her lying dead in the cold storage.
但是，谁说这不会是某种毒药呢？ 那样的话，她们就会发现她躺在冷库里，死了。
2
She replaced the stopper and almost put the little brown bottle back, but then she thought of Joen and the mean way he looked at her. The bear people acted like she wasn't even a person. She was just like a slave to them.
她塞回瓶塞，快要把小棕瓶放回去了，然后她想到Joen，看她时那鄙视的样子。熊人族不把她当人看。她就只像是他们的奴隶。
Shooting a guilty glance at the door, she pulled the stopper out again. Before she could lose her nerve, she lifted the bottle to her mouth and took a sip. She gagged on the bitter taste but managed to swallow. The awful liquid burned as it went down her throat.
愧疚地瞥了一眼门口，她再次拉出瓶塞，在她失去镇定之前，她拿起瓶子到嘴边，尝了一口。苦味让她窒息，但她还是咽下去了。这难喝的液体沿喉咙下滑时一路灼烧着。
Fingers shaking, she stopped the bottle again and waited.
手指在发抖，她再次塞好瓶子，然后等待着效果出现。
After a few moments she decided she wasn't going to die. But she didn't feel any different, either, except she was a little sick to her stomach.
喝下一小会儿之后，她明确了她不会死。但她也没感到任何不同，除了胃部有点不适。
Served her right for stealing. Didn't matter how mean the bear people were.
熊人族对她多坏都不要紧了，她偷了她们的东西，她得到补偿了。
She put the empty bottle in her pocket, then climbed back up on the stool and repalced the tray in its original spot. Putting away the eggs, she closed the door of the cold storage. She hurried to her room and hid the bottle at the bottom of her food pouch.
她把空瓶子放到口袋里，然后踩上凳子，把托盘放回原来的地方。然后放好鸡蛋，她关上了冷藏室的门，匆匆回到房间，把瓶子藏在了她的食物袋的最下面。
"Girl!" Mother Manan called from the parlor. "We'll be needing some more tea in here."
“丫头！”Manan妈妈从客厅喊她，“我们这需要添茶了。”
"Yes, ma'am!" she called back, and put the kettle on.
“好的，夫人！”她喊回去，烧起水壶。
"Don't you dawdle."
“别磨蹭。”
"No, ma'am."
“没有，夫人。”
While she waited for the water to boil, she decided she didn't feel so bad after all for stealing that potion.
她在等水开的时候，她发现她偷了药水后，没觉得那么糟糕。
After she'd brought Mother Manan and her guest their tea and a platter of cookies, she got the wheelbarrow from the side of the house and went to the woodpile to fetch more firewood for the stove. A couple of the barn cats were sitting on the woodpile when she arrived, basking in the sun. One was a big old tom that Lillian called Rufus. He had a torn ear, and she'd seen him face off against a couple of the other cats, but he was always gentle around her. The other was a skinny black cat with a white spot in the middle of her brow. Lillian called her Star.
她给Manan妈妈和她的客人加了茶和一盘曲奇饼干以后，她推着独轮手推车从房屋的一边，到柴堆那去给炉子取更多的柴火。她到的时候，有两只棚里的猫正坐在木柴堆上晒着太阳。其中一只是一只个头大、年老的雄猫，Lillian给他起名叫Rufus，他有一只破裂的耳朵，她看见过他与其它的几只猫对抗，不过他在她周围时一直很温顺。另一只猫是一只瘦瘦的黑猫，她的眉宇间有块白点。Lillian管她叫Star。
（翻译：右米TXY）
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