154: In Dog We Trust - This American Life
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00:00 00:00 Transcript Share This American Life Life Partners How to Listen Episodes Recommended About Overview Staff Announcements Fellowships Jobs Music Make Radio On The Road FAQ Submissions Merch Contact Us Our Other Shows Merch Follow Us Life Partners Subscribe to our newsletter Full episode Toggle Audio and Transcript Sync Transcript | Episode #154 | May 4, 2012 154: In Dog We Trust Note: This American Life is produced for the ear and designed to be heard.
00:00 00:00 文字记录 分享此 美国生活 生活伙伴 如何收听 剧集 推荐 关于 概述 员工公告 奖学金 工作 音乐 在路上制作电台 常见问题解答 提交 商品 联系我们 我们的其他节目 商品 关注我们 生活伙伴 订阅我们的时事通讯 整集 切换音频和文字记录同步 文字记录 | 内容第 154 集 | 2012 年 5 月 4 日 154：《我们信任的狗》 注：《This American Life》是为耳朵而制作的，旨在让人们听到。
If you are able, we strongly encourage you to listen to the audio, which includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page.
如果可以的话，我们强烈建议您收听音频，其中包括页面上没有的情感和重点。
Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors.
文字记录是使用语音识别软件和人工转录员结合生成的，可能包含错误。
Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print.
请在印刷版引用前检查相应的音频。
Prologue Ira Glass Heather and her girlfriend lived with a cat named Sid.
序言 艾拉·格拉斯·希瑟和她的女朋友和一只名叫席德的猫住在一起。
The girlfriend was always inventing these cute, little, affectionate nicknames for Sid, but never did that for Heather.
女朋友总是给席德起这些可爱、小、亲切的昵称，但从来没有给希瑟起过这样的绰号。
She was always praising Sid, and asking Heather to praise Sid, but never gave that kind of approval to Heather.
她总是赞扬希德，并要求希瑟赞扬希德，但从未给予希瑟那样的认可。
If anything, she was sort of detached when it came to Heather.
如果说有什么不同的话，那就是当谈到希瑟时，她有点冷漠。
And so, even though Sid was just a cat, against her will, against her better judgment, Heather started to get jealous.
因此，尽管希德只是一只猫，但希瑟违背了她的意愿，违背了她更好的判断，开始嫉妒。
I remember that I would wake up in the morning and I would hear her saying things like, "You are so beautiful.
我记得早上我醒来时，我会听到她说这样的话：“你真漂亮。
You are a princess.
你是一位公主。
Look at you."
看看你。”
And as I opened my eyes, I'd realize that she's talking not to me, but to the cat.
当我睁开眼睛时，我意识到她不是在对我说话，而是在对猫说话。
Mm hmm.
嗯嗯。
I know if there had been another woman, I would have compared myself to her physically.
我知道如果有另一个女人，我会把自己和她进行身体比较。
What does she look like?
她长什么样？
What kinds of things is my girlfriend attracted to that I could aspire to?
我的女朋友会被哪些我可以追求的事物所吸引？
What personality traits?
有什么性格特征？
Is she funny?
她有趣吗？
But I didn't know what it was about Sid.
但我不知道席德是怎么回事。
I could see that she was attractive as a cat.
我看得出来她像一只猫一样迷人。
I could see that she had this nonchalance that was beautiful.
我可以看出她有一种美丽的淡然。
She didn't seem to care really, that she was loved.
她似乎并不真正关心她是否被爱。
So those were things that I did think about, really, cultivating even, but--
所以这些是我确实考虑过的事情，甚至是培养，但是——
You thought about cultivating a nonchalance--
你想过培养一种淡然的态度——
That I was this concerned about it shows you that it would have been a fake, but yeah, I thought about cultivating that.
我如此担心它表明它可能是假的，但是，是的，我考虑过培养它。
Since a pet can engage our affection, it also engages all the other feelings that can go with affection, jealousy and dependence and anger and all the others.
既然宠物可以引起我们的感情，它也可以引起所有其他的感情，比如感情、嫉妒、依赖、愤怒等等。
And as soon as any one feeling kicks in, all the complicated dynamics that happen between people, any household, any family, inevitably kick in, as with Heather and Sid the cat.
一旦有任何一种感觉出现，人与人、任何家庭、任何家庭之间发生的所有复杂的动态就会不可避免地发生，就像希瑟和猫席德一样。
I felt sort of the same way I felt-- you know how when you have a crush on someone, and then you're friends with their significant other, and all the awkwardness as you pretend that you don't have the feelings that you do for this other person?
我的感觉和我的感觉有点一样——你知道当你迷恋某人，然后你和他们的另一半成为朋友时，以及当你假装你对另一个人没有感觉时所有的尴尬吗？
I sort of felt like Sid was the significant other of the person for whom I had feelings.
我有点觉得希德是我有感情的人的另一半。
So I felt awkward around Sid and I felt like I had to-- I don't know.
所以我在 Sid 身边感到很尴尬，我觉得我必须——我不知道。
I felt like they were together before I was around, and I was an interloper.
我觉得他们在我出现之前就已经在一起了，而我是一个闯入者。
All the awkwardness surrounding that.
所有的尴尬都围绕着它。
And so what's it like to be in a love triangle with another woman and a cat?
那么与另一个女人和一只猫陷入三角恋是什么感觉呢？
Well, it was pretty diminishing.
嗯，它的数量相当减少。
I mean, it was a beautiful cat.
我的意思是，那是一只漂亮的猫。
Well, from WBEZ Chicago and Public Radio International, it's This American Life .
嗯，来自 WBEZ 芝加哥和国际公共广播电台，这是《美国生活》。
I'm Ira Glass.
我是艾拉·格拉斯。
Today on our program, In Dog We Trust.
今天我们的节目《我们信任的狗》。
Stories of dogs and cats and other animals that live in our homes.
生活在我们家里的狗、猫和其他动物的故事。
Exactly how much are they caught up in our everyday family dynamics?
他们到底在多大程度上参与了我们日常的家庭动态？
To what degree do they actually function as non-speaking members of our families?
他们在多大程度上实际上充当了我们家庭中不会说话的成员？
We answer these questions today, and others, with three stories in three acts.
今天，我们通过三幕中的三个故事来回答这些问题以及其他问题。
Act One, The Youth in Asia, in which writer David Sedaris describes how a Great Dane-- and not a very smart one-- was able to completely replace him and his sisters when they grew up and moved out of their parents' house.
第一幕《亚洲青年》中，作家大卫·塞达里斯描述了一只大丹犬——而且不是很聪明——在他和他的姐妹们长大并搬出父母的房子后，如何完全取代了他们。
Act Two, If Cats Ran Hollywood, in which we learn what it is that cats want to watch on television from the man who produced the world's best-selling video for cats.
第二幕，如果猫跑好莱坞，我们从制作世界上最畅销的猫视频的人那里了解到猫想在电视上看什么。
If cats ran Disney Studios, would its mascot be a mouse?
如果迪士尼工作室是猫经营的，它的吉祥物会是老鼠吗？
Act Three, Resurrection.
第三幕，复活。
What it means in a family when a pet armadillo dies, and what it means it doesn't.
当宠物犰狳死了对一个家庭意味着什么，它不死又意味着什么。
Stay with us.
留在我们身边。
Act One, The Youth in Asia.
第一幕，亚洲青年。
When a pet dies, to what degree can it be replaced by another pet?
当一只宠物死亡后，在多大程度上可以被另一只宠物取代？
To what degree can pets replace people in our lives?
宠物能在多大程度上取代我们生活中的人？
David Sedaris has this story.
大卫·塞达里斯有这样一个故事。
In the early 1960s, during what my mother referred to as "the tail end of the Lassie years," my parents were given two collies, which they named Rastus and Duchess.
20 世纪 60 年代初，也就是我母亲所说的“莱西时代的末期”，我父母养了两只柯利牧羊犬，他们给它们取名为 Rastus 和 Duchess。
We were living then in New York State, out in the country, and the dogs were free to race through the forest.
那时我们住在纽约州的乡下，狗们可以自由地在森林里奔跑。
They napped in meadows and stood knee-deep in frigid streams, costars in their own private dog food commercial.
他们在草地上打盹，站在齐膝深的寒冷溪水中，在自己的私人狗粮广告中合演。
Late one January evening, while lying on a blanket in the garage, Duchess gave birth to a litter of slick, potato-sized puppies.
一月的一个傍晚，公爵夫人躺在车库的毯子上，生下了一窝光滑、土豆大小的小狗。
When it looked as though one of them had died, our mother placed the creature in a casserole dish and popped it into the oven, like the witch in Hansel and Gretel.
当其中一个看起来似乎已经死亡时，我们的母亲将其放入砂锅中，然后将其放入烤箱，就像《汉塞尔与格蕾特》中的女巫一样。
"Oh, keep your shirts on," she said.
“哦，穿上你的衬衫，”她说。
"It's only set on 150.
“它只设置为 150。
I'm not baking anyone.
我不会烘烤任何人。
This is just to keep it warm."
这只是为了保暖。”
The heat revived the sick puppy and left us believing that our mother was capable of resurrecting the dead.
高温使生病的小狗复活了，让我们相信我们的母亲有能力复活死者。
Faced with the responsibilities of fatherhood, Rastus took off.
面对父亲的责任，拉斯特斯起飞了。
The puppies were given away, and we moved south, where the heat and humidity worked against the best interests of a collie.
小狗被送走了，我们搬到了南方，那里的炎热和潮湿不利于牧羊犬的最大利益。
Duchess's once beautiful coat now hung in ragged patches.
公爵夫人曾经漂亮的外套现在已经破烂不堪。
When finally, full of worms, she collapsed in the ravine beside our house, we reevaluated our mother's healing powers.
最后，当她浑身是虫子倒在我们家旁边的峡谷时，我们重新评估了母亲的治愈能力。
The entire animal kingdom was beyond her scope.
整个动物王国都超出了她的范围。
She could only resurrect the cute dead.
她只能复活可爱的死者。
The oven trick was performed on half a dozen dazed and chubby hamsters, but failed to work on my first guinea pig, who died after eating four cigarettes and an entire pack of matches.
烤箱魔术在六只茫然而胖乎乎的仓鼠身上进行了，但对我的第一只豚鼠却不起作用，它在吃了四根香烟和一整包火柴后死了。
"Don't take it too hard," my mother said, removing her oven mitts.
“别太难受了，”我母亲一边说，一边摘下了烤箱手套。
"The world is full of guinea pigs.
“世界上到处都是豚鼠。
You can get another one tomorrow."
明天你可以再去拿一份。”
Eulogies tended to be brief, our motto being, there's always more where this one came from.
悼词往往很简短，我们的座右铭是，永远有更多的悼词。
A short time after Duchess died, our father came home with a German Shepherd puppy.
公爵夫人去世后不久，我们的父亲带着一只德国牧羊犬小狗回家。
For reasons that were never fully explained, the privilege of naming the dog went to a friend of my older sister's, a 14-year-old girl named Cindy.
由于从未完全解释过的原因，为这只狗命名的特权授予了我姐姐的一个朋友，一个名叫辛迪的 14 岁女孩。
She was studying German at the time, and after carefully examining the puppy and weighing it with their hands, she announced that it would be called Maedchen, which apparently meant "girl" in what she referred to as "Deutsch."
当时她正在学习德语，在仔细检查了这只小狗并用手称重后，她宣布将其命名为“Maedchen”，在她所说的“德语”中，这显然意味着“女孩”。
When she was six months old, Maedchen was hit and killed by a car.
六个月大时，Maedchen 被车撞死。
Her food was still in the bowl when our father brought home an identical German Shepherd, the same Cindy christened as Maedchen Two.
当我们的父亲带回家一只一模一样的德国牧羊犬时，她的食物还在碗里，辛迪把它命名为“梅辰二号”。
This tag-team progression was disconcerting, especially for the new dog, who was expected to possess both the knowledge and the personality of her predecessor.
这种双打的进展令人不安，尤其是对于新狗来说，人们期望它拥有前任的知识和个性。
"Maedchen One would never have wet on the floor like that," my father would scold.
“Maedchen One 绝对不会把地板弄湿成这样，”我父亲会责备道。
And the dog would sigh, knowing she was the canine equivalent of a rebound.
狗会叹息，知道她在犬类中相当于反弹。
Maedchen Two never accompanied us to the beach and rarely posed in any of the family photographs.
梅琴二号从未陪我们去海滩，也很少在家庭照片中摆出姿势。
Once her puppyhood was spent, we more or less lost interest.
一旦她度过了幼年期，我们或多或少就失去了兴趣。
"We ought to get a dog," we'd sometimes say, completely forgetting that we already had one.
“我们应该养一只狗，”我们有时会说，完全忘记我们已经养了一只。
During the era of the Maedchens, we had a succession of drowsy, secretive cats who seemed to share a unique bond with our mother.
在 Maedchens 时代，我们养了一系列昏昏欲睡、神秘的猫，它们似乎与我们的母亲有着独特的联系。
"It's because I open their cans," she said, though we all knew it ran deeper than that.
“这是因为我打开了他们的罐头，”她说，尽管我们都知道事情的意义远不止于此。
What they had in common were their claws.
它们的共同点是爪子。
That and a deep-seated need to destroy my father's golf bags.
还有毁掉我父亲的高尔夫球袋的根深蒂固的需要。
The first cat passed into a disagreeable old age and died hissing at the kitten who had prematurely arrived to replace her.
第一只猫进入了令人不快的老年，并在对过早到来取代她的小猫发出嘶嘶声而死。
When, at the age of nine, the second cat was diagnosed with feline leukemia, my mother was devastated.
当我九岁时，第二只猫被诊断出患有猫白血病时，我的母亲非常伤心。
"I'm going to have Sadie put to sleep," she said.
“我要让萨迪入睡，”她说。
"It's for her own good, and I don't want to hear a word about it from any of you.
“这是为了她好，我不想听到你们任何人谈论这件事。
This is hard enough as it is."
这已经够难的了。”
The cat was put down, and then came the anonymous postcards and phone calls orchestrated by my sisters and I.
猫被安乐死了，然后我和姐妹们精心安排了匿名明信片和电话。
The cards announced a miraculous new cure for feline leukemia, while the callers identified themselves as representatives of Cat Fancy magazine.
这些卡片宣布了一种治疗猫白血病的神奇新疗法，而来电者则自称是《猫幻想》杂志的代表。
"We'd like to use Sadie as our cover story and we're hoping to schedule a photo shoot.
“我们想用 Sadie 作为我们的封面故事，我们希望安排一次照片拍摄。
Is tomorrow possible?"
明天可以吗？”
After spending a petless year with only one child still living at home, my parents visited a breeder and returned with a Great Dane they named Melina.
在家里度过了没有宠物的一年后，我的父母拜访了一位饲养员，并带回了一只大丹犬，他们将其命名为梅琳娜。
They loved this dog in proportion to its size, and soon their hearts had no room for anyone else.
他们对这只狗的喜爱与它的大小成正比，很快他们的心就容不下其他任何人了。
In terms of family, their six children had been nothing more than a failed experiment.
对于家庭来说，他们的六个孩子只不过是一个失败的实验。
Melina was the real thing.
梅琳娜是真实存在的。
The dog was their first true common interest.
狗是他们第一个真正的共同兴趣。
And they loved it equally, each in their own way.
他们同样以自己的方式热爱它。
Our mother's love tended towards the horizontal, a pet being little more than a napping companion, something she could look at and say, "That looks like a good idea.
我们母亲的爱倾向于横向，宠物只不过是一个打瞌睡的伙伴，她可以看着它说：“这看起来是个好主意。
Scoot over, why don't you." A stranger peeking through the window might think that the two of them had entered a suicide pact.
赶紧过去吧，怎么不过去呢。”一个陌生人从窗户里偷看可能会认为他们两个已经达成了自杀协议。
She and the dog sprawled like corpses, their limbs arranged into an eternal embrace.
她和狗像尸体一样四肢摊开，四肢永远拥抱在一起。
My father loved the Great Dane for its size, and frequently took her on long, aimless drives, during which she'd stick her heavy, anvil-sized head out the window and leak great quantities of foamy saliva.
我父亲喜欢大丹犬的体型，经常带着她漫无目的地长途跋涉，期间她会把沉重的、铁砧大小的头伸出窗外，流出大量泡沫状的唾液。
Other drivers pointed and stared, rolling down their windows to shout, "Hey, you got a saddle for that thing?" When out for a walk there was the inevitable, "Are you walking her, or is it the other way 'round?"
其他司机指指点点，摇下车窗喊道：“嘿，你有那个东西的马鞍吗？”出去散步时，不可避免地会出现这样的问题：“你是在遛她，还是反过来？”
Our father always laughed, is if this were the first time he'd heard it.
我们的父亲总是笑，如果这是他第一次听到的话。
The attention was addictive, and he enjoyed a pride of accomplishment he'd never felt with any of us.
这种关注让人上瘾，他享受着一种他在我们任何人身上从未感受到的成就感。
It was as if he were somehow responsible for her size and stature, as if he'd personally designed her spots and trained her to grow to the size of a pony.
就好像他对她的身材和身材负有某种责任，就好像他亲自设计了她的斑点并训练她长到小马的大小。
When out with the dog, he carried a leash in one hand and a shovel in the other.
当他带着狗出去时，他一手拿着皮带，另一只手拿着铲子。
"Just in case," he said.
“以防万一，”他说。
"Just in case, what, she dies, and you need to bury her?" I didn't get it.
“以防万一，怎么，她死了，你需要埋葬她吗？”我没明白。
"No," he'd say.
“不，”他会说。
"It's for, you know, it's for her business."
“这是为了，你知道，这是为了她的事。”
My father was retired, but the dog had business.
我父亲退休了，但狗还有生意。
I was living in Chicago when they first got Melina, and every time I came home, the animal was bigger.
当他们第一次得到梅琳娜时，我住在芝加哥，每次我回家，这只动物都更大了。
Every time, there were more Marmaduke cartoons displayed upon the refrigerator, and every time, my voice grew louder as I asked myself, "Who are these people?"
每一次，冰箱上都会出现更多的马默杜克漫画，每一次，我的声音都变得更大，我问自己：“这些人是谁？”
"Down, girl," my parents would chuckle as the puppy jumped up, panting for my attention.
“下来，女孩，”当小狗跳起来，气喘吁吁地吸引我的注意力时，我的父母会轻笑。
Her great padded paws reached my waist, then my chest and shoulders, until eventually, her arms wrapped around my neck and her head towering above my own, she came to resemble a dance partner scouting the room for a better offer.
她那带垫子的大爪子伸到我的腰部，然后是我的胸部和肩膀，直到最后，她的手臂搂住我的脖子，她的头高过我的头，她就像一个舞伴，在房间里寻找更好的报价。
"That's just her way of saying hello," my mother would say, handing me the towel used to wipe up the dog's bubbling seepage.
“这只是她打招呼的方式，”我母亲一边说，一边递给我用来擦狗冒泡的渗水的毛巾。
"Here, you missed a spot on the back of your head."
“在这里，你错过了后脑勺的一个地方。”
The dog's growth was monitored on a daily basis, and every small accomplishment was documented for later generations.
每天都会监测狗的生长情况，每一个小成就都被记录下来供后代使用。
One can find few pictures of my sister Tiffany, while Melina has entire volumes devoted to her terrible twos.
人们几乎找不到我妹妹蒂芙尼的照片，而梅琳娜却有一整本书专门讲述她那可怕的两岁的照片。
"Hit me," my mother said on one of my returns home from Chicago.
“打我，”有一次我从芝加哥回家时，我母亲说道。
"No, wait, let me go get my camera." She left the room and returned a few moments later.
“不用了，等等，我去拿相机。”她离开了房间，片刻后又回来了。
"OK," she said.
“好吧，”她说。
"Now hit me.
“现在打我吧。
Better yet, why don't you just pretend to hit me."
更好的是，你为什么不假装打我呢。”
I raised my hand, and my mother cried out in pain.
我举起手，妈妈疼得哇哇大叫。
"Ow!" She yelled.
“哎哟！”她喊道。
"Somebody help me.
“有人帮助我。
This stranger is trying to hurt me, and I don't know why."
这个陌生人想要伤害我，但我不知道为什么。”
I caught an advancing blur moving in from the left, and the next thing I knew I was down on the ground, the Great Dane tearing holes in the neck of my sweater.
我看到一道模糊的东西从左边移动过来，接下来我就知道自己已经倒在了地上，那只大丹犬在我的毛衣领子上撕开了几个洞。
The camera flashed, and my mother squealed with delight.
相机闪光，妈妈高兴地尖叫起来。
"God, I love that trick."
“天哪，我喜欢这个把戏。”
I rolled over to protect my face.
我翻身以保护我的脸。
"This isn't a trick."
“这不是诡计。”
My mother snapped another picture.
我妈妈又拍了一张照片。
"Oh, don't be so critical.
“哦，别这么挑剔。
It's close enough."
已经足够接近了。”
With us grown and out of the house, my sisters and I foolishly expected our parents' lives to stand still.
随着我们长大并离开家，我和我的姐妹们愚蠢地期望父母的生活会一成不变。
They were supposed to stagnate and live in the past, but instead, they constructed a new "we," consisting of Melina and the founding members of her fan club.
他们本应停滞不前，活在过去，但相反，他们构建了一个新的“我们”，由梅琳娜和她的粉丝俱乐部的创始成员组成。
Someone who obviously didn't know her too well had given my mother a cheerful stuffed bear with a calico heart stitched onto its chest.
一个显然不太了解她的人送给了我母亲一只快乐的毛绒玩具熊，胸前缝着一颗印花布心形玩具熊。
According to the manufacturer, the bear's name was Mumbles, and all it needed in order to thrive were two AA batteries and a regular diet of hugs.
据制造商介绍，这只熊的名字叫 Mumbles，它需要的只是两节 AA 电池和定期的拥抱，才能茁壮成长。
"Where's Mumbles?" my mother would ask, and the dog would jump up and snatch the bear from its hiding place on top of the refrigerator, yanking it this way and that in hopes of breaking its neck.
“曼布尔斯在哪儿？”我妈妈一问，狗就会跳起来，把熊从冰箱顶上的藏身之处抓起来，把它拉来拉去，希望能扭断它的脖子。
"That's my girl," my mother would say.
“那是我的女儿，”我母亲会说。
"We don't like Mumbles, do we?" I learned that we liked Morley Safer, but not Mike Wallace, that we didn't like Mumbles or thunder, but were crazy about Stan Getz records and the Iranian couple who'd moved in up the street.
“我们不喜欢曼布尔斯，是吗？”我了解到我们喜欢 Morley Safer，但不喜欢 Mike Wallace，我们不喜欢 Mumbles 或雷霆，但对 Stan Getz 唱片和搬到街上的伊朗夫妇很着迷。
It was difficult to keep straight, but having known these people all my life, I didn't want to be left out of the "we."
说实话很难，但我一生都认识这些人，我不想被排除在“我们”之外。
During the final years of Maedchen Two and the first half of the Melina epic, I lived with a female cat named Neil.
在《Maedchen Two》的最后几年和《梅琳娜》史诗的前半部分，我和一只名叫尼尔的母猫住在一起。
My mother looked after the cat when I moved from Raleigh, and flew her to Chicago once I'd found a place and settled in.
当我从罗利搬来时，我母亲照顾了这只猫，当我找到地方并安顿下来后，她就用飞机将她带到了芝加哥。
Neil was old when she moved to Chicago, and then she got older.
尼尔搬到芝加哥时已经老了，然后她就变老了。
She started leaving teeth in her bowl and developed the sort of breath that could remove paint.
她开始把牙齿留在碗里，并发展出一种可以去除油漆的呼吸。
When she stopped cleaning herself, I took to bathing her in the sink, and she'd stand still, too weak to resist the humiliation of shampoo.
当她停止清洗自己时，我开始在水槽里给她洗澡，她会一动不动地站着，太虚弱了，无法抵抗洗发水的羞辱。
Soaking wet, I could see just how thin and brittle she really was.
她浑身湿透，我可以看出她是多么的瘦弱和脆弱。
Almost comic, like one of those cartoon cats checking her fur coat at the cloak room of the seafood restaurant.
几乎是滑稽的，就像一只卡通猫在海鲜餐厅的衣帽间检查她的皮大衣。
Her kidneys shrank to the size of raisins, and though I loved her very much, I assumed the vet was joking when he suggested dialysis.
她的肾脏缩小到葡萄干大小，尽管我非常爱她，但当兽医建议进行透析时，我认为他是在开玩笑。
I took her for a second opinion.
我征求了她的第二意见。
Vet number two tested her blood and phoned me at home, saying, "Perhaps you should think about euthanasia."
二号兽医给她做了血液检测，并给我家里打电话说：“也许你应该考虑安乐死。”
I hadn't heard that word in a while and pictured scores of happy Japanese children spilling from the front door of their elementary school.
我已经有一段时间没听到这个词了，脑海中浮现出几十个快乐的日本孩子从小学前门涌出来的情景。
"Are you thinking about it?" he asked.
“你在想吗？”他问道。
"Yes," I said.
“是的，”我说。
"As a matter of fact, I am."
“事实上，我是。”
In the end, I returned to the animal hospital and had her put to sleep.
最后，我回到动物医院并让她入睡。
When the vet injected the sodium phenobarbital, Neil fluttered her eyes, assumed the nap position, and died.
当兽医注射苯巴比妥钠时，尼尔眨了眨眼睛，采取了午睡的姿势，然后死了。
A week after putting her to sleep, I received Neil's ashes in a forest green can.
让她入睡一周后，我收到了尼尔的骨灰，装在一个森林绿色的罐子里。
She'd never expressed any great interest in the outdoors, so I scattered her remains on the carpet and then vacuumed her back up.
她从来没有对户外活动表现出任何浓厚的兴趣，所以我把她的遗体撒在地毯上，然后用吸尘器把她吸回去。
The cat's death struck me as the end of an era.
猫的死让我觉得一个时代的结束。
It was, of course, the end of her era, but with the death of a pet, there's always that urge to crowd the parentheses and string black crepe over an entire 10- or 20-year period.
当然，这是她时代的结束，但随着宠物的去世，在整个 10 或 20 年的时间里，总是有一种在括号里挤上黑色绉纱的冲动。
The end of my safe college life, the last of my 30-inch waist, my faltering relationship with my first real boyfriend.
我安全的大学生活结束了，我30英寸腰的最后一根筋，我和第一个真正的男朋友的关系摇摇欲坠。
I cried for it all and spent the next several months wondering why so few songs were written about cats.
我为此哭泣，并在接下来的几个月里想知道为什么关于猫的歌曲如此之少。
My mother sent a consoling letter along with a check to cover the cost of the cremation.
我母亲寄了一封安慰信和一张支票来支付火葬费用。
In the left-hand corner, under the heading marked Memo, she'd written, "Pet Burning." I had it coming.
在左上角标有“备忘录”的标题下，她写下了“宠物焚烧”。我已经让它来了。
When my mother died, Melina took over her side of the bed.
我母亲去世后，梅琳娜占据了她那一侧的床。
Due to their size, Great Danes generally don't live very long.
由于体型较大，大丹犬通常寿命不长。
My father massaged her arthritic legs, carried her up the stairs, and lifted her into bed.
我父亲按摩了她患有关节炎的双腿，抱她上了楼梯，然后把她抱到了床上。
He treated her the way that men in movies treat their ailing wives, the way he would have treated my mother had she allowed such naked displays of affection.
他对待她的方式就像电影中的男人对待生病的妻子一样，如果我母亲允许如此赤裸裸地表达爱意，他也会对待她。
Melina's parentheses contained the final 10 years of his married life.
梅琳娜的括号里写的是他婚姻生活的最后十年。
She'd attended my father's retirement, lived through my sister's wedding, and knew who everyone was talking about when they mentioned the "M" words, Mom, Mumbles, and Morley Safer.
她参加了我父亲的退休典礼，经历了我姐姐的婚礼，并且知道每个人在提到“M”字样时都在谈论谁：妈妈、曼布尔斯和莫利·萨弗。
Regardless of her pain, my father could not bear to let her go.
不管她多么痛苦，父亲都不忍心放开她。
The youth in Asia begged him to end her life.
亚洲的年轻人恳求他结束她的生命。
"Onegai desu," they said, "sugu." But he held out until the last minute.
“Onegai desu，”他们说，“sugu。”但他坚持到了最后一刻。
A month after Melina died, my father returned to the breeder and came home with another Great Dane, a female like Melina, gray spots like Melina, only this one is named Sophie.
梅琳娜去世一个月后，我父亲回到饲养员那里，又带着另一只大丹犬回家，一只像梅琳娜的雌性，像梅琳娜一样的灰色斑点，只是这只名叫索菲。
He tries to love her, but readily admits that he may have made a mistake.
他试图爱她，但很快承认自己可能犯了一个错误。
She's a nice enough dog, but the timing is off.
她是一只足够好的狗，但时机不对。
When walking the puppy through the neighborhood, my father feels not unlike the foolish widower stumbling behind his energetic young bride.
当带着小狗穿过邻居时，我父亲的感觉就像是一个愚蠢的鳏夫在他精力充沛的年轻新娘身后跌跌撞撞。
Her stamina embarrasses him, as does her interest in younger men.
她的耐力让他感到尴尬，她对年轻男人的兴趣也让他感到尴尬。
The passing drivers slow to a stop and roll down their windows, "Hey," they yell, "Are you walking her, or is it the other way 'round?" Their words remind him of happier times, of milder forces straining against the well-worn leash.
路过的司机慢慢停下来，摇下车窗，“嘿，”他们喊道，“你是在遛她，还是反过来？”他们的话让他想起了快乐的时光，想起了对那条破旧的皮带施加的温和力量。
He still gets the attention, but now, in response, he just lifts his shovel and groans.
他仍然引起人们的注意，但现在，作为回应，他只是举起铲子并呻吟。
David Sedaris's story "The Youth in Asia" appears in his book, Me Talk Pretty One Day.
大卫·塞达里斯 (David Sedaris) 的故事《亚洲青年》出现在他的书《Me Talk Pretty One Day》中。
A version of this story also appeared in Esquire magazine.
这个故事的一个版本也出现在《Esquire》杂志上。
Act Two, If Cats Ran Hollywood.
第二幕，如果猫跑好莱坞。
With millions of Americans treating their pets like members of the family, it was really only a matter of time before cats and dogs got what everyone else in the family has, their own TV show.
随着数以百万计的美国人像对待家庭成员一样对待他们的宠物，猫和狗获得家庭中其他人拥有的东西、自己的电视节目实际上只是时间问题。
At least their own videos.
至少他们自己的视频。
In 1987, Steve Malarkey was a computer technician, and he hated his job.
1987 年，史蒂夫·马拉基 (Steve Malarkey) 是一名计算机技术员，他讨厌自己的工作。
He wanted to do something else.
他想做点别的事。
And since he loved cats-- he had a Cornish Rex of his own named Stick-- he thought he might invent some cat product to sell.
由于他喜欢猫——他有一只自己的康沃尔卷毛猫，名叫“棍子”——他认为他可以发明一些猫产品来销售。
He tried a few things.
他尝试了一些事情。
Scratching posts.
刮帖子。
A cat warmer called The Warmeus, which heated the animal with a 60-watt light bulb.
一种名为 The Warmeus 的猫取暖器，用 60 瓦的灯泡给动物加热。
No luck.
运气不好。
Then fate intervened, as it sometimes does these days, over the television.
然后命运就通过电视介入了，就像现在有时会发生的那样。
I'm sitting down at the breakfast table on Sunday morning one day.
有一天，周日早上我坐在早餐桌前。
And you remember that show by Charles Kuralt?
你还记得 Charles Kuralt 的那个节目吗？
Remember at the end of that show, as the credits were rolling, they would have this peaceful scene of a doe stepping through a mountain stream?
还记得在那部剧的结尾，当片尾字幕滚动时，他们会看到母鹿踏过山涧的宁静场景吗？
Sure, absolutely.
当然，绝对。
His show, Sunday Morning , they would always end it with birds flying and stuff like that.
他的节目《星期日早晨》总是以鸟儿飞翔之类的东西结束。
Nature scenes.
自然场景。
Right.
正确的。
Well, when I was in Washington, DC, there was a show on directly after that in the morning.
嗯，当我在华盛顿特区时，早上紧接着就有一场演出。
It was a local version of Charles Kuralt's show.
这是查尔斯·库拉尔特 (Charles Kuralt) 演出的本地版本。
And they had a local host, and I can't remember his name.
他们有一位当地的主人，但我不记得他的名字了。
And so at the end of their show one time, they decided to do a little nature scene also.
因此，在演出结束时，他们决定也制作一些自然场景。
Only since they didn't have much of a budget, they just trained a camera on the back of the studio.
只是因为他们没有太多的预算，所以他们只是在工作室的后面安装了一台摄像机。
You mean they just pointed it out the window of the studio?
你是说他们只是把它指到了工作室的窗外？
They just pointed it out the window of the studio.
他们只是把它指向工作室的窗外。
And to get a little motion, they threw some birdseed back there.
为了获得一点动静，他们向那里扔了一些鸟食。
How classy.
多么优雅啊。
Steve Malarkey It was wonderful.
史蒂夫·马拉基 太棒了。
But at any rate, they ran the credits, and apparently, the phone lines lit up.
但无论如何，他们播放了片尾字幕，显然，电话线亮了。
People were calling in saying that their cats were going crazy.
人们打电话来说他们的猫疯了。
They were all looking at the television set and meowing.
他们都在看着电视机，喵喵叫。
And the Sunday that I watched, the host said, "If you've got any cats, get ready because we're about ready to show this segment again, because we got a request for it from about 40 cats in the Washington, DC area."
我观看的那个星期天，主持人说，“如果你有猫，请做好准备，因为我们准备再次播放这个片段，因为我们收到了华盛顿特区大约 40 只猫的请求。”
And the segment came up, and Stick came running.
当这个片段出现时，斯蒂克跑了过来。
I hadn't even seen Stick.
我什至都没见过斯蒂克。
I don't know where she was, but as soon as she heard the first bird chirp, she came like a shot out of nowhere and just right up to the television set and stuck her little face right in front of that TV.
我不知道她在哪里，但当她听到第一声鸟鸣声时，她就像突然冒出来的子弹一样，径直走到电视机前，把她的小脸贴在电视机前。
And her head was bobbing back and forth.
她的头来回摆动。
And she started making these little sounds that cats make when they see a bird.
她开始发出猫看到鸟时发出的小声音。
It's kind of like a little chirping noise.
有点像叽叽喳喳的声音。
So I got to thinking about that.
所以我必须考虑这个问题。
And I thought, well, maybe I can make a whole video production for the cat.
我想，好吧，也许我可以为这只猫制作一个完整的视频作品。
Maybe that's something I can sell.
也许这就是我可以卖的东西。
So Steve opened up the Yellow Pages and went looking for a video production company.
于是史蒂夫打开黄页，寻找一家视频制作公司。
One after another turned down him down-- literally refused to take his money-- until he found a guy who was willing to produce a video for cats.
一个又一个人拒绝了他——实际上是拒绝收他的钱——直到他找到一个愿意为猫制作视频的人。
They filmed in Steve's backyard.
他们在史蒂夫的后院拍摄。
All I thought we really needed to do was to get as many close-ups as we could of birds and squirrels and whatever else happened to fly by at the time.
我认为我们真正需要做的就是尽可能多地拍摄鸟类、松鼠以及当时飞过的其他物体的特写镜头。
He suggested that we might be better off with antics, as he put it.
正如他所说，他建议我们采取滑稽动作可能会更好。
He suggested that if we could get birds fighting or squirrels chasing themselves around trees or something like that.
他建议我们可以让鸟儿打架，或者让松鼠在树周围追逐，或者类似的东西。
Now, you did actually end up getting some footage of birds confronting each other, like your videographer wanted.
现在，你实际上最终得到了一些鸟类相互对抗的镜头，就像你的摄影师想要的那样。
Do cats care?
猫关心吗？
Have you watched cats watch the footage to see if they prefer whether the footage is more active, whether the birds are fighting with each other or in motion?
您是否观察过猫观看镜头，看看它们是否喜欢镜头是否更活跃，鸟儿是否互相打斗或运动？
The cats don't care.
猫不在乎。
They don't care one iota if they're fighting or sleeping or whatever.
他们一点也不关心他们是在打架、睡觉还是其他什么。
They really don't care at all.
他们真的根本不在乎。
And it doesn't matter if the bird's in motion or just standing there?
鸟儿是在运动还是只是站在那里并不重要？
Well, from what we can tell, they are attracted to the actual motion of their natural prey.
嗯，据我们所知，它们被自然猎物的实际运动所吸引。
If you look at a bird-- a chicken, a pigeon, something like that-- when they're walking along, they have a very distinct motion.
如果你观察一只鸟——一只鸡，一只鸽子，类似的东西——当它们行走时，它们有一个非常独特的动作。
The head goes first, then followed by the body, and it's very quick.
头在前，身体在后，速度很快。
And apparently, this sets off all sorts of bells in a cat's head.
显然，这会在猫的脑袋里敲响各种警钟。
And they just will stay there and stare at it until it doesn't move anymore or until it's gone.
他们只会呆在那里盯着它，直到它不再移动或消失。
Have you tried other things that we know that cats like, for example, the sound of crumpling paper?
您是否尝试过其他我们知道猫喜欢的东西，例如揉皱纸的声音？
No, I haven't tried the crumpling paper yet.
不，我还没试过弄皱的纸。
Have you had anybody just dangle string in a video?
你有没有人在视频中晃过绳子？
No, not yet.
不，还没有。
Not yet.
还没有。
Ira Glass Do you think it would work?
艾拉·格拉斯（Ira Glass）你认为它有用吗？
Oh, I see, but not every cat is a string cat.
哦，我明白了，但并不是每只猫都是串猫。
If you want to sell a lot of these things, you've got to give them some birds and squirrels.
如果你想卖掉很多这些东西，你就必须给他们一些鸟和松鼠。
A little bit of chipmunks help.
一点花栗鼠的帮助。
Now, there's other tapes.
现在，还有其他磁带。
There's some out there that have nothing but fish on them.
有些上面除了鱼什么也没有。
Oh, do cats like the fish?
噢，猫喜欢吃鱼吗？
Steve Malarkey Some cats like the fish, but not as many.
史蒂夫·马拉基（Steve Malarkey） 有些猫喜欢这种鱼，但数量并不多。
Now, some cats like to look at lizards.
现在，有些猫喜欢看蜥蜴。
We've got that covered.
我们已经解决了这个问题。
We've got one video that's absolutely nothing but lizards on it.
我们有一个视频，里面除了蜥蜴什么都没有。
But what you're saying is, birds and squirrels are pretty much your money shot in this business.
但你想说的是，鸟类和松鼠几乎是你在这个行业中的赚钱对象。
Yeah, that's the bread and butter is the birds and squirrels.
是的，这就是面包和黄油，就是鸟和松鼠。
Just thinking about what it is that people like in films and videos, we don't just watch movies of food.
想想人们喜欢电影和视频中的什么，我们不只是看食物电影。
We like to see other people in dramatic situations, difficult situations.
我们喜欢看到其他人处于戏剧性的境地、困难的境地。
Have you experimented with or thought about doing things like cats-- where they could see another cat in some sort of peril?
你是否尝试过或考虑过做像猫一样的事情——它们可以看到另一只猫处于某种危险之中？
Perhaps somebody is holding the cat over a bath full of water.
也许有人把猫抱在装满水的浴缸上。
And then it gets away at the last minute.
然后它在最后一刻消失了。
You haven't tried that?
你还没有尝试过吗？
No, I haven't tried that.
不，我还没试过。
It's probably out of my budget range at any rate.
无论如何，这可能超出了我的预算范围。
A cat and a bath?
一只猫和一个浴缸？
Steve Malarkey A bath?
史蒂夫·马拉基 洗澡？
Well, it's too easy, actually, to terrify a cat.
嗯，事实上，吓唬一只猫太容易了。
Is that true?
这是真的吗？
Steve Malarkey Yeah, and if they see another cat, they adopt a pose which is extremely defensive.
史蒂夫·马拉基 是的，如果他们看到另一只猫，他们会采取一种极其防御性的姿势。
Cats are extremely territorial.
猫的领地意识极强。
Whenever one presents itself, whether it's on video or actually out the window or wherever the cat may be, they don't like it all.
每当一只猫出现时，无论是在视频中还是在窗外，或者无论猫在哪里，他们都不喜欢这一切。
And the hair stands up on the back of their back and their tail.
它们的后背和尾巴上的毛发都竖起来了。
Steve Malarkey.
史蒂夫·马拉基。
His real name.
他的真名。
It cost him $25,000 to film and edit Video Catnip .
拍摄和编辑 Video Catnip 花费了他 25,000 美元。
When he finished, it took three months before he made his first sale.
当他完成后，花了三个月的时间才完成了第一笔销售。
In his first year and a half, he only sold 400 copies total.
在他的第一年半里，他总共只卖出了 400 本。
Then, after just one syndicated newspaper story about the videos, sales immediately jumped to 30,000 a year and stayed there for a decade, though Steve says that in the last year, sales have dropped to about half that.
然后，在报纸上发表了一篇关于这些视频的联合报道后，销量立即跃升至每年 30,000 部，并保持这一水平长达十年，尽管史蒂夫表示，去年销量已下降到大约一半。
He thinks this is because people don't want their cats pawing their new, delicate, beautiful flat-screen TVs.
他认为这是因为人们不希望他们的猫用爪子抓他们新的、精致的、漂亮的平面电视。
His website, cattv.com.
他的网站是cattv.com。
When we showed Video Catnip to a North Side Chicago cat named Oscar, Oscar, I have to say, was utterly captivated by the sound, but refused to look at the TV screen, even when his owner tried to turn his body toward the TV.
当我们向芝加哥北区一只名叫奥斯卡的猫播放视频猫薄荷时，我不得不说，奥斯卡完全被声音迷住了，但拒绝看电视屏幕，即使他的主人试图将身体转向电视。
Some cats just prefer radio.
有些猫只是喜欢收音机。
When you think about it, what is it about having cats in their home that makes people so crazy to buy all sorts of stuff?
你想一想，家里养猫是什么原因让人们如此疯狂地购买各种东西呢？
I think mostly what it is is that cats have a tendency to give people a sense of failure.
我认为最主要的原因是猫容易给人一种失败感。
When people look at their cat, if their cat looks back at them, you can almost read in their face, the cat thinking something like, "Is this all there is?
当人们看着他们的猫时，如果他们的猫回头看他们，你几乎可以从他们的脸上看出，猫在想，“这就是全部吗？
Isn't there anything else you can give me?"
你还有什么可以给我的吗？”
Wow.
哇。
Steve Malarkey Cats just have this sense about them that they should be worshipped.
史蒂夫·马拉基猫对自己有一种感觉，认为自己应该受到崇拜。
You're saying that people buy stuff for their cat because they're trying to get on the good side of the cat?
你是说人们给他们的猫买东西是因为他们想为猫着想？
I think so.
我想是的。
Yeah.
是的。
Woman Some of the things that they sell are OK, but some of them are just kind of ridiculous.
女人 他们卖的有些东西还不错，但有些就有点可笑了。
This young woman works in America's fastest-growing occupation, cashier.
这位年轻女子从事的是美国发展最快的职业——收银员。
One of our producers was buying doggy treats in one of those big chain stores that sells pet supplies.
我们的一位生产商正在一家销售宠物用品的大型连锁店购买狗狗零食。
And this cashier started railing against some of the products sold in the store, the very store in which she was standing.
这位收银员开始抱怨她所在的商店里出售的一些产品。
St. John's Wort for dogs.
狗用圣约翰草。
Stuffed animals for your real animals.
适合您真实动物的毛绒动物。
In the interest of equal time, hoping for the fair expression of all points of view, we returned to her with a tape recorder.
为了时间平等，希望所有观点都能得到公平的表达，我们带着录音机回到了她身边。
We had these dog CDs.
我们有这些狗 CD。
It's got "Sunday in the Park" and some other soothing things for your dog's stress anxiety.
它有“公园里的周日”和其他一些舒缓狗狗压力焦虑的东西。
That's kind of retarded.
这有点迟钝了。
But it's the truth.
但这是事实。
How would you know your dog has stress?
你怎么知道你的狗有压力？
Does his hair stand up on the back of his neck and turn gray or fall out?
他颈后的头发是否竖立、变灰或脱落？
It's crazy.
太疯狂了。
They sell sweaters for dogs, raincoats for dogs.
他们卖狗毛衣、狗雨衣。
They sell pup pouches.
他们卖小狗育儿袋。
It's like a backpack for a dog.
就像狗的背包一样。
What's the point?
有什么意义？
They've got these little hats, sun visor things.
他们有这些小帽子、遮阳板之类的东西。
Come on.
快点。
I mean, it's ridiculous.
我的意思是，这太荒谬了。
All these years, dogs have gone around the world, for centuries, without half of this garbage.
这些年来，狗已经走遍了世界各地，几个世纪以来，没有一半的垃圾。
So why do they need it now?
那么为什么他们现在需要它呢？
We have flavored bones.
我们有调味骨头。
Strawberry, watermelon, orange, spinach, corn.
草莓、西瓜、橙子、菠菜、玉米。
Like the dog cares.
就像狗一样关心。
I had a dog that chewed on panties.
我有一只狗，它会咬内裤。
Come on, it's crazy.
来吧，这太疯狂了。
Why do these people go and spend all this type of money on these animals?
为什么这些人要把这么多钱花在这些动物身上？
And to me, it doesn't make any sense.
对我来说，这没有任何意义。
A disgruntled worker in America's burgeoning pet industrial complex.
美国新兴宠物工业园区的一名心怀不满的工人。
[MUSIC - "SERENADE TO A POODLE" BY SLIM GAILLARD]
[音乐 - SLIM GAILLARD 的《贵宾犬小夜曲》]
Coming up, one of the best-known stories from the Bible reenacted with an armadillo.
接下来，圣经中最著名的故事之一将与犰狳一起重演。
Sort of.
有点像。
And what animal takes a licking and keeps on ticking?
什么动物会舔一下并继续滴答作响？
Answers in a minute, from Public Radio International when our program continues.
当我们的节目继续进行时，国际公共广播电台将在一分钟内答复。
It's This American Life .
这就是美国生活。
I'm Ira Glass.
我是艾拉·格拉斯。
Each week on our program, of course, we choose some theme, bring you a variety of different kinds of stories on that theme.
当然，每周我们的节目都会选择一些主题，为您带来关于该主题的各种不同类型的故事。
Today's program, In Dog We Trust.
今天的节目是《我们信任的狗》。
Stories of pets and the degree to which they function like any other family members.
宠物的故事以及它们与其他家庭成员一样的功能程度。
We've arrived at Act Three of our program.
我们已经到了节目的第三幕了。
Act Three, Resurrection.
第三幕，复活。
Earlier in today's show, David Sedaris talked about the animals that his mother could and could not bring back to life.
在今天的节目早些时候，大卫·塞达里斯谈到了他母亲能够和不能复活的动物。
This is another story about what it is that animals can take the place of in our lives and in our homes.
这是另一个关于动物在我们的生活和家庭中可以取代什么的故事。
From writer Brady Udall.
来自作家布雷迪·尤德尔。
It was three days after our old man died that my brother, Donald, accomplished the most spectacular deed of his life.
我们的老人去世三天后，我的兄弟唐纳德完成了他一生中最伟大的事迹。
I wish I could have been there to see it, Donald taking the Greyhound down to Nogales all by himself, buying the baby armadillo for 800 pesos from a pie-faced Indian woman at the Santa Acuna market, tucking the little thing under his arm like a football, and running the length of the pedestrian border station, past the heat-struck tourists in their sombreros and loud socks and the guards with their sidearms and walkie-talkies, pushing through the last steel-toothed turnstile, and sprinting like a madman into the heart of the Nogales slums.
我真希望我能亲眼目睹这一幕，唐纳德独自一人乘坐灰狗巴士前往诺加利斯，在圣阿库纳市场以 800 比索的价格从一位大饼脸的印度妇女手中买下了小犰狳，把这个小东西像足球一样夹在腋下，跑过步行边境站，经过穿着宽边帽和响亮袜子的中暑游客和手持手枪和对讲机的警卫，推开最后一个通道。钢齿十字转门，像疯子一样冲进诺加利斯贫民窟的中心。
It was his proudest moment, though it did take him the rest of the day and half the night of wandering among the hookers and street-corner punks to find a bus that would bring him back to Ajo, where we lived.
这是他最自豪的时刻，尽管他花了一整天和半个晚上在妓女和街角小混混中徘徊，才找到一辆巴士把他带回我们住的阿霍。
There he was after I came home from hours of frantic searching, sitting stiff-backed on the couch, beaming.
我经过几个小时的疯狂寻找回到家后，他就在那里，背部僵硬地坐在沙发上，笑容满面。
The little armadillo was rooting at the crotch of his pants, and Donald's pink, sweating face had screwed itself up with such a grin of utter self-satisfaction.
小犰狳在他的裤裆里翻腾，而唐纳德那张粉红色的、出汗的脸因一种完全自我满足的笑容而扭曲了。
Donald ended up giving the armadillo to me.
唐纳德最终把犰狳给了我。
"A present," he said, "something to make me feel better." I thanked him, took the armadillo, which clawed at my t-shirt like a cat, and gave it a little squeeze.
“一份礼物，”他说，“能让我感觉好一点的东西。”我谢过他，接过犰狳，它像猫一样抓着我的 T 恤，然后轻轻地挤压了它。
What else could I do?
我还能做什么？
My father had worked as a janitor for 21 years.
我的父亲当了21年的看门人。
But he was also a reader of books, a scholar if it is possible to be both a scholar and a sixth-grade dropout.
但他也是一个读书人，如果可以的话，他是一个学者，同时也是一个学者和一个六年级的辍学生。
And one of his favorite subjects was zoology.
他最喜欢的科目之一是动物学。
He could bore you into a coma with what he knew about the great horned owl or the common mealworm or the laughing hyenas of Africa.
他可以用他对非洲大角鸮、普通粉虫或笑鬣狗的了解让你陷入昏迷。
But of all the beasts of the animal kingdom, he loved and admired the humble armadillo most.
但在动物王国的所有野兽中，他最喜爱和欣赏的是卑微的犰狳。
"Nope, not the smartest or the prettiest," he would say when one of them scatted across the highway in front of our old Le Mans, "but the hardiest, you see what I'm saying, the most resourceful."
“不，不是最聪明或最漂亮的，”当其中一个人穿过我们老勒芒前面的高速公路时，他会说，“但是最坚强的，你明白我说的，最足智多谋的。”
He often promised he would get us an armadillo for a pet, but he died before he could come through, an end-all heart attack standing in line at the grocery store.
他经常答应给我们买一只犰狳当宠物，但他还没来得及实现就死了，最终心脏病发作，在杂货店排队。
I was 17, Donald 19.
那年我 17 岁，唐纳德 19 岁。
Our mother-- a Guatemalan migrant worker who'd married my father under the impression he would one day be a rich man who could buy her a Cadillac and a house with a swimming pool-- had run off when we were babies.
我们的母亲是一名危地马拉移民工人，她嫁给了我父亲，以为他有一天会成为一个富翁，可以给她买一辆凯迪拉克和一栋带游泳池的房子。当我们还是婴儿时，她就离家出走了。
So it was just the two of us now.
所以现在就只有我们两个人了。
It took me about a week to get over the shock, and then I did what I had to.
我花了大约一周的时间才从震惊中恢复过来，然后我做了我必须做的事。
I dropped out of school, started working full-time pouring concrete for Hassenpheffer's and moved Donald and me to a cheaper apartment near the McComb & Sons wrecking yard, where Donald could watch the cars getting pulverized from our window.
我辍学了，开始全职为哈森菲弗浇筑混凝土，并把唐纳德和我搬到了麦库姆父子报废场附近的一套更便宜的公寓，在那里唐纳德可以从我们的窗户看到汽车被粉碎。
We got money from the state that paid for Donald's medication, but the rest was up to me.
我们从国家那里得到了支付唐纳德药物费用的钱，但剩下的就取决于我了。
Donald was really something else.
唐纳德确实是另外一个人。
What could be done with a guy who ate his own earwax?
一个吃了自己耳垢的人该怎么办？
Who carried a maroon mini-Bible in the band of his underpants and read random scriptures out loud at inappropriate times?
谁在内裤的带子里夹着一本栗色的迷你圣经，并在不适当的时候大声朗读经文？
Who could be sashaying about the room one minute, doing a dead-on impression of Sammy Davis Jr., and the next be downstairs in the closet grunting like a pig and trying to tear his hair out?
谁可能前一分钟还在房间里大摇大摆，模仿小萨米·戴维斯，下一分钟就在楼下的衣柜里像头猪一样咕咕叫，试图扯下他的头发？
From a distance, you wouldn't have been able to tell him from any other teenager.
从远处看，你根本无法将他与其他少年区分开来。
He had relatively good hygiene, did not usually talk to himself in public, and was something of a handsome devil, with his dark hair hanging down over pale green eyes.
他的卫生条件比较好，平时很少在公共场合自言自语，黑发垂下来，遮住淡绿色的眼睛，有点英俊的魔鬼气质。
Sometimes, I would take him to a party or a dance with me, and the girls would flock around us.
有时，我会带他去参加聚会或舞会，女孩们就会围着我们转。
He could be as charming as Hugh Hefner in short bursts before he'd have to run off and hide in the bathroom.
他可能会像休·海夫纳一样在短时间内变得像休·海夫纳一样迷人，然后他就不得不跑到浴室里躲起来。
I remember once when I was 9 or 10 and we were playing in the backyard.
我记得有一次，当我九岁或十岁的时候，我们在后院玩耍。
He kept pestering me, saying "I am the Indian.
他一直缠着我说：“我是印度人。
You are the cowboy, OK?" I told him to shut his trap.
你是牛仔，好吗？”我告诉他关闭他的陷阱。
I was busy building a cave for my army men.
我正忙着为我的军人建造一个洞穴。
He wouldn't give up.
他不会放弃。
"Me Indian, you cowboy, okeydokey?" Over and over.
“我是印第安人，你是牛仔，好吗？”一遍又一遍。
"Dammit, Donald, you freak!" I hollered.
“该死的，唐纳德，你这个怪物！”我喊道。
"Do whatever you want, but just shut up for a second."
“做你想做的事，但闭嘴一秒钟。”
"I'm not a freak," he said, sticking his chin out.
“我不是怪人，”他伸出下巴说道。
"All right then," I said, "You're a retard extraordinaire."
“好吧，”我说，“你真是个非凡的弱智。”
The next time I looked up, Donald was on top of a doghouse with a bow-and-arrow set my father had bought for him at a garage sale.
当我再次抬头时，唐纳德正站在一个狗屋顶上，手里拿着一套我父亲在旧货拍卖会上为他买的弓箭。
He had the arrow notched and pulled back to his ear, just like the Indians we saw on TV.
他把箭头切开缺口，拉回到耳朵上，就像我们在电视上看到的印第安人一样。
I hadn't noticed before, but now I saw that he had taken off his shirt and tucked it in the elastic of his shorts, so it looked like he was wearing a loincloth, and had used a little blood from the scab on his elbow to make fiendish red streaks across his face.
之前我没注意到，现在我看到他脱下了衬衫，塞进了短裤的松紧带里，看起来就像是缠着缠腰布，还用肘部结痂的一点血在脸上划出了一道道凶恶的红色条纹。
He was doing it perfect, really, just like a TV Indian, an honest-to-God savage.
他做得很完美，真的，就像一个电视上的印第安人，一个诚实的野蛮人。
I didn't believe he would really shoot me, so I just sat there like a jackass, my hands full of dirt.
我不相信他真的会向我开枪，所以我就像个傻瓜一样坐在那里，双手沾满了泥土。
I didn't see him let go of the bowstring, but I certainly did hear the "thop" the arrow made when it hit me in the chest, dead center.
我没有看到他松开弓弦，但我确实听到了箭击中我胸口时发出的“扑通”声。
More from the surprise than anything, I fell flat on my back.
更多的是因为惊讶，我仰面躺倒了。
It was only a target arrow, but it pierced my sternum just enough to stand upright from my chest, waving around sluggishly like a reed in a river.
这只是一支箭，但它刺穿了我的胸骨，刚好从我的胸口直立起来，像河里的芦苇一样缓慢地挥舞着。
I lay in the grass and stared up at the neon yellow fletching of the arrow.
我躺在草地上，抬头凝视着霓虹黄色的箭羽。
My hands were still full of dirt.
我的手上仍然沾满了泥土。
Donald jumped down from the doghouse and stood over me.
唐纳德从狗窝里跳下来，站在我身边。
He was smiling an odd, satisfied smile, as if he was expecting to be congratulated on his marksmanship.
他脸上挂着一种奇怪而满意的微笑，仿佛他期待着别人祝贺他的枪法。
He looked down at me for a long time before he gently put his hand around the shaft of the arrow without pulling it out.
他低头看了我良久，才轻轻地把手放在箭杆上，没有拔出来。
He said, "Right smack-dab in the heart, white man."
他说：“对了，白人。”
I told Donald I wanted him to name the armadillo.
我告诉唐纳德我想让他为犰狳命名。
After several days of deliberation, he decided to name it after Otis, the happy drunk on The Andy Griffith Show , who our father had resembled in almost eerie detail.
经过几天的深思熟虑，他决定以《安迪·格里菲斯秀》中快乐的醉汉奥蒂斯的名字来命名它，我们的父亲在几乎令人毛骨悚然的细节上与他相似。
I had gotten used to taking care of Donald alone-- I had no choice-- but Otis was a different story.
我已经习惯了独自照顾唐纳德——我别无选择——但奥蒂斯却是另一回事。
First of all, Otis smelled.
首先，奥蒂斯闻了闻。
He gave off a musky odor that intensified whenever he was nervous or hungry.
他散发出一种麝香的气味，每当他紧张或饥饿时，这种气味就会变得更强烈。
And no matter if we scrubbed him raw with industrial soap and water, the smell would come back in an hour or so.
无论我们用工业肥皂和水把他擦干净，一小时左右，气味就会再次出现。
And then there was the furniture.
然后是家具。
Armadillos are burrowing animals.
犰狳是穴居动物。
This is something I learned from my father.
这是我从父亲那里学到的。
And in the confines of our small apartment, Otis didn't have many opportunities to burrow.
在我们的小公寓里，奥蒂斯没有太多挖洞的机会。
Instead, he would march through the house like a tiny gray tank and move the furniture around.
相反，他会像一辆灰色的小坦克一样在房子里大步走动，并移动家具。
He'd waddle into the living room, put his blunt forehead against one of the legs of the coffee table, and bear down, inching it around the room, his little squirrel claws scrabbling on the wood floor.
他会摇摇晃晃地走进客厅，用他那钝的前额抵住咖啡桌的一条腿，然后用力压下去，在房间里慢慢地移动，他的小松鼠爪子在木地板上乱抓。
At least once a week, he would crawl between the mattress and box springs of my bed and take a dump.
每周至少有一次，他会爬到我床上的床垫和弹簧床之间拉屎。
My father was right about armadillos.
我父亲对犰狳的看法是正确的。
They are hardy, they are resourceful, and if Otis is typical, they're as dumb as donkey crap.
他们很坚强，足智多谋，如果奥蒂斯是典型的话，他们就像驴子一样愚蠢。
Sometimes, in the course of his incessant apartment wandering, Otis would find himself trapped in a corner and would spend the rest of the evening attempting to claw his way out.
有时，在他不断在公寓里徘徊的过程中，奥蒂斯会发现自己被困在一个角落里，并会在晚上剩下的时间里试图找出路。
Otis was technically my pet, but Donald cared for him, worried over him, tormented him, teased him, then made up with tearful professions of regret and affection.
严格来说，奥蒂斯是我的宠物，但唐纳德关心他，担心他，折磨他，戏弄他，然后含着悔恨和爱意流泪弥补。
While I was away at work, they would do things together.
当我不在工作时，他们会一起做事。
Donald would carry Otis around outside, conversing with him, rooting in the weeds in the vacant lot, searching for earthworms or crickets for Otis's dinner.
唐纳德会带着奥蒂斯在外面到处走动，与他交谈，在空地上的杂草中扎根，寻找蚯蚓或蟋蟀作为奥蒂斯的晚餐。
Sometimes, Donald would hide behind the recliner and, when Otis passed by, would jump out and shout in a high soprano wail, "Look out, Otis!"
有时，唐纳德会躲在躺椅后面，当奥蒂斯经过时，他会跳出来，用高亢的女高音哭喊：“小心，奥蒂斯！”
Poor Otis would spring two feet into the air like a startled cat, his leathery body twisting, his claws clutching at nothing.
可怜的奥蒂斯会像一只受惊的猫一样跳到空中两英尺，他皮革般的身体扭曲着，他的爪子抓着什么也没有。
And once he'd landed, he'd scurry into the hallway, looking back over his shoulder, embarrassment in those little piggy eyes.
一旦落地，他就会匆匆跑进走廊，回头看去，那双小猪眼里满是尴尬。
This kind of living arrangement was no boost to my social life, I can tell you.
我可以告诉你，这种生活安排并没有促进我的社交生活。
If I ever wanted to bring a girl home, I figured I'd have some difficulty explaining why the apartment smelled like a bear's den, why the furniture was strewn around, and why my brother was naked and hiding behind the couch, waiting to scare the daylights out of an armadillo.
如果我想带一个女孩回家，我想我很难解释为什么公寓闻起来像熊窝，为什么家具散落一地，为什么我哥哥赤身裸体躲在沙发后面，等着把犰狳吓跑。
It took five years before I found someone I loved enough to bring home.
我花了五年的时间才找到一个我足够爱的人带回家。
Allison was good about everything, told me I was a saint and a Christian to be taking care of Donald.
艾莉森对一切都很好，告诉我我是一个圣人和基督徒来照顾唐纳德。
She was so wonderful and beautiful and good-smelling, I could barely stand it.
她是如此美妙、美丽、芬芳，我几乎无法忍受。
Eventually, I proposed to her, after which I went home to talk to Donald.
最终，我向她求婚，然后我回家和唐纳德谈谈。
It was springtime in the desert, the smell of cactus blossoms everywhere, and I was so full of love and desire I could barely see straight.
那是沙漠的春天，到处都是仙人掌花的香味，我充满了爱和欲望，几乎无法直视。
Allison and I had decided that we would get an apartment nearby, that with my new promotion at Hassenpheffer's and Allison's job at the county courthouse, we could afford our own place, and, with the help of the government, support Donald.
艾莉森和我决定在附近买一套公寓，随着我在哈森菲弗的新晋升和艾莉森在县法院的工作，我们可以买得起自己的房子，并且在政府的帮助下支持唐纳德。
Donald would be all right as long as we checked on him daily, made sure he was taking his medication, and occasionally washed down the place with ammonia, so the smell wouldn't bother the neighbors.
只要我们每天检查唐纳德，确保他正在服用药物，并且偶尔用氨水冲洗这个地方，这样气味就不会打扰邻居，唐纳德就会没事。
I have to admit the thought of escaping from Donald and Otis and that cave of an apartment was almost as enticing as the thought of being together with Allison.
我不得不承认，逃离唐纳德和奥蒂斯以及那个公寓的洞穴的想法几乎和与艾莉森在一起的想法一样诱人。
At home, when I sat Donald down to explain things to him, I could barely get a word out.
在家里，当我让唐纳德坐下来向他解释事情时，我几乎一句话也说不出来。
I stuttered and stammered, kept wiping my mouth.
我结结巴巴，不停地擦着嘴。
When I finally made things clear, Donald whipped out his mini-Bible and frantically paged through it, but couldn't seem to come up with anything, the first time I'd ever seen him at loss for a scripture.
当我终于把事情说清楚时，唐纳德拿出他的迷你圣经，疯狂地翻阅它，但似乎什么也想不出来，这是我第一次看到他对经文不知所措。
He yanked at his hair and ground his teeth together until they squeaked.
他拉扯自己的头发，咬紧牙关，直到牙齿发出吱吱声。
Finally, without saying anything, he snatched up Otis who had been napping under one of the couch cushions, and went into the laundry room, slamming the door behind him.
最后，他什么也没说，一把拉起正在沙发垫下打瞌睡的奥蒂斯，走进洗衣房，关上门。
I felt like kicking that door down and wringing his neck.
我真想踢开那扇门，扭断他的脖子。
Couldn't he at least try to be happy for me, to think of somebody other than himself for one minute?
难道他不能至少试着为我感到高兴，为我考虑一分钟而不是他自己吗？
I wanted only to be with Allison, and I hated Donald for making it so difficult, hated him for the years of responsibility and obligation and lost opportunities, hated him in the way only a brother can hate a brother.
我只想和艾莉森在一起，我恨唐纳德让事情变得如此困难，恨他多年来的责任和义务以及失去的机会，恨他的方式只有兄弟才能恨兄弟。
I took a few steps toward the stairwell to leave.
我朝楼梯间走了几步准备离开。
I didn't care, I was going to stay at Allison's, my first night ever away from Donald, when I heard a splashing noise from inside the apartment.
我不在乎，我正打算住在艾莉森家，这是我离开唐纳德的第一个晚上，这时我听到公寓里传来了溅水的声音。
The laundry room door was locked, and I shouted Donald's name, but got no response.
洗衣房的门锁着，我大喊唐纳德的名字，但没有得到回应。
I tried to kick in the door, which was made of something like cardboard.
我试图踢开那扇用纸板之类的东西制成的门。
My foot went right through it.
我的脚直接穿过了它。
Once I had my leg free, I looked through the splintered hole and could see Donald hunched over the overflowing utility sink, both arms submerged up to his biceps.
当我把腿放开后，我透过裂开的洞往里看，看到唐纳德弓着背在溢出的公用水槽上，双臂浸没在二头肌处。
The back of his neck was purple and pulsing full of angry blood, and it took me only a moment to understand he was trying to drown Otis.
他的脖子后面呈紫色，充满了愤怒的血液，我只花了一会儿就明白他想淹死奥蒂斯。
I unlocked the door and grabbed him from behind, but he resisted me, grunting and plunging Otis deeper into the water.
我打开门，从后面抓住他，但他拒绝了我，咕哝着，把奥蒂斯扔进了更深的水里。
I wrestled him out into the living room, where we fell sideways against the couch.
我把他摔到客厅，我们一起倒在沙发上。
Donald twisted away from me and stood up, the water dripping off his elbows, forming a puddle around his shoes.
唐纳德扭身离开我，站了起来，水从他的手肘上滴下来，在他的鞋子周围形成了一个水坑。
Otis was curled up in a ball, just like when he slept, and Donald began to shiver so badly that he lost his grip and let Otis's body slide out of his hands and hit the floor with a wet slap.
奥蒂斯蜷缩成一团，就像睡觉时一样，唐纳德开始颤抖得厉害，以至于他失去了控制，让奥蒂斯的身体从他手中滑落，湿漉漉的一巴掌砸在了地板上。
Donald's face twisted into a mask of concentrated grief.
唐纳德的脸因悲伤而扭曲。
"See?" he wept.
“看？”他哭了。
"See what I did?"
“看看我做了什么？”
Looking at my brother, I felt all the parts of me that had been opening up since I had met Allison collapse on each other like so many empty rooms.
看着我的兄弟，我感到自从遇见艾莉森以来，我身体的所有部分都像许多空荡荡的房间一样相互崩溃。
It would have to be me and Donald, brothers, inseparable, no one else allowed.
必须是我和唐纳德，形影不离的兄弟，没有其他人允许。
I don't remember if I looked away, or if it was as sudden as it seemed, but one moment, Otis was a sad, wet corpse, as dead as an armadillo could be, and the next he was huffing and twitching and scrabbling to his feet.
我不记得我是否把目光移开了，或者是否像看起来那么突然，但有那么一刻，奥蒂斯是一具悲伤、潮湿的尸体，就像一只犰狳一样死了，而下一刻他就气喘吁吁、抽搐着，爬了起来。
Donald let out an arching shriek, which sent Otis zigzagging into the kitchen where a mad chase ensued, Donald slipping and flailing, knocking over chairs and pulling down the drapes, still choking and sobbing, now with relief.
唐纳德发出一声弓形尖叫，奥蒂斯曲折地走进厨房，一场疯狂的追逐随之而来，唐纳德滑倒并挥舞着，撞倒了椅子，拉下了窗帘，仍然窒息和抽泣，现在松了口气。
He finally herded Otis under the table and, once he had pulled him out, he held him up, his fingers locked in a death grip around his little body, and cried, "Otis is resurrected!
他最终将奥蒂斯赶到了桌子底下，把他拉出来后，他把他举了起来，手指死死地抓住了他小小的身体，喊道：“奥蒂斯复活了！
Otis is resurrected!"
奥蒂斯复活了！”
A fair trade.
公平贸易。
Donald got his armadillo back, and I got to marry Allison.
唐纳德找回了他的犰狳，而我则嫁给了艾莉森。
Never again did Donald show any sign of jealousy or resentment.
唐纳德再也没有表现出任何嫉妒或怨恨的迹象。
He was the best man at our wedding, read a long section from Zephaniah at the reception, and even bought us a gift, a book called Hot Sex for Cold Fish .
他是我们婚礼上的伴郎，在招待会上读了很长一段《西番雅书》，甚至给我们买了一份礼物，一本叫《冷鱼的热性》的书。
Things went well those first few years.
最初几年一切进展顺利。
We saved up enough to buy the concrete business from old Hassenpheffer, who retired to ride his Harley around the continent.
我们攒了足够的钱从老哈森菲弗那里买了混凝土生意，他退休后骑着他的哈雷摩托车环游非洲大陆。
And Donald and Otis seemed to thrive together.
唐纳德和奥蒂斯似乎一起茁壮成长。
We stopped in to visit as often as we could.
我们尽可能经常停下来参观。
Allison cooked dinner for them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and we paid a housecleaning service to scrub the apartment down every week, put the furniture back in place, and steam the carpets.
艾莉森每周二和周四为他们做饭，我们每周支付一次房屋清洁服务，将公寓擦洗干净，将家具放回原位，并蒸汽地毯。
Donald had his first episode one night while I was in Phoenix at a heavy equipment auction.
一天晚上，当我在凤凰城参加重型设备拍卖时，唐纳德迎来了他的第一集。
They found him digging up the lawn in front of the City First Bank, blabbering about how difficult it was to find high-grade earthworms on the south end of town.
他们发现他正在城市第一银行门前的草坪上挖土，一边喋喋不休地说在城镇南端要找到高级蚯蚓是多么困难。
When the cops tried to approach him, he pelted them with dirt clods and threatened to eat a fistful of worms if they got any closer.
当警察试图接近他时，他向他们扔土块，并威胁说，如果他们再靠近，他就吃一把虫子。
He spent most of the night in the holding tank before Sheriff Brasky figured out who he was and gave me a call.
在布拉斯基警长弄清楚他是谁并给我打电话之前，他在储水池里呆了大半夜。
A few months later, Donald climbed an old elm at the city park which branched out over a sidewalk.
几个月后，唐纳德爬上了城市公园里的一棵老榆树，这棵老榆树延伸到人行道上。
He managed to pee on a few passersby before the groundskeeper knocked him off a branch with a well-thrown rake.
他设法在几个路人身上撒尿，然后场地管理员用一把精心扔出的耙子把他从树枝上撞下来。
We took him to a doctor, who adjusted his medication and suggested that Donald be put in a home, where he could get the care and attention he needed, where he could socialize with somebody besides an armadillo.
我们带他去看医生，医生调整了他的药物治疗，并建议将唐纳德安置在一个家中，在那里他可以获得所需的护理和关注，在那里他可以与犰狳之外的其他人交往。
I brought up the subject with Donald, but he told me he would rather die than give up Otis and go live in a house with a bunch of half-wits and knuckleheads.
我向唐纳德提起了这个话题，但他告诉我，他宁愿死也不愿放弃奥蒂斯，去住在一所有一群傻瓜和傻瓜的房子里。
The only other option we knew was taking in Donald and Otis ourselves.
我们知道的唯一其他选择就是亲自接纳唐纳德和奥蒂斯。
Allison was eight months pregnant with our second baby, the business was really starting to take off.
艾莉森怀着我们的第二个孩子八个月了，生意才真正开始腾飞。
It just wasn't a good time, we told ourselves.
我们告诉自己，这不是一个好时机。
We might be able to work something out in a few months when things had settled down.
当事情稳定下来后，我们也许可以在几个月内解决一些问题。
By the end of the summer, Donald was dead.
夏末，唐纳德去世了。
The call came in the middle of the night, like they always do.
像往常一样，电话是在半夜打来的。
Sheriff Brasky told me that Donald had been hit by a car on 87 near the refinery.
布拉斯基警长告诉我，唐纳德在 87 路炼油厂附近被车撞了。
He had run through traffic completely naked, dodging cars and sprinting down the median until an old couple in a minivan clipped him with their bumper, knocking him over a temporary steel divider and onto a concrete platform where he was partially impaled by a jutting piece of rebar.
他赤身裸体地穿过车流，躲避汽车，冲过中央隔离带，直到一对开着小型货车的老夫妇用保险杠撞到了他，把他撞倒在临时钢制隔板上，摔到了混凝土平台上，并被一根突出的钢筋刺穿了部分身体。
He bled to death before the ambulance arrived.
在救护车到达之前，他因失血过多而死亡。
After I went to the hospital to identify his body, I drove out to the accident site.
去医院认领尸体后，我开车前往事故现场。
For half an hour I combed both sides of the highway without a flashlight until I found Otis, cowering under a piece of discarded plywood.
半个小时里，我在没有手电筒的情况下搜寻了高速公路两侧，直到发现奥蒂斯，他蜷缩在一块废弃的胶合板下。
His left foreleg was mangled, nearly torn from his body, and he was bleeding from the soft flesh of his belly.
他的左前腿被打碎了，几乎从身体上撕下来，腹部柔软的肉在流血。
I drove him over to the only veterinarian in town, Larry Oleander, and pounded on the door until he answered.
我开车送他到镇上唯一的兽医拉里·奥兰德那里，然后敲门直到他回答。
Larry was an old retired cowboy with a glass eyeball and a dent in his head where a mule had kicked him.
拉里是一位退休的老牛仔，他的眼球是玻璃的，头上有一个被骡子踢到的凹痕。
"Jesus Geronimo Christ," he said.
“天哪，杰罗尼莫基督，”他说。
It was 4 o'clock in the morning.
当时是凌晨四点。
I held Otis out to him, and he said, "What you have there is an armadillo."
我把奥蒂斯递给他，他说：“你那是一只犰狳。”
"Son," he said, "I don't know what you think--"
“儿子，”他说，“我不知道你怎么想——”
"Do it." Larry Oleander peered up at me.
“做吧。”拉里·奥兰德抬头看着我。
He sighed and held the screen door open.
他叹了口气，打开纱门。
"Come the hell on in."
“快进来吧。”
Larry amputated Otis's leg, stitched up the wound on his underside, and bandaged him until he looked like one big wad of gauze.
拉里截掉了奥蒂斯的腿，缝合了他下面的伤口，并用绷带包扎了他，直到他看起来像一大团纱布。
When I tried to pay him, he waved his hand in front of my face, took a slug off a bottle of vodka he kept under the operating table.
当我试图付钱给他时，他在我面前挥了挥手，从他放在手术台下的一瓶伏特加中抽出了一口。
"Jesus, Richard.
“天啊，理查德。
Just promise me you'll never make a peep about this to anybody."
只要向我保证你永远不会向任何人偷看这件事。”
I took Otis home, and he has been part of our family ever since.
我把奥蒂斯带回家，从那时起他就成了我们家庭的一员。
Over the last few years, I have added on a wing to the house just for him.
在过去的几年里，我专门为他在房子里加了一个侧翼。
He has a room with a skylight and two bay windows, his own pillow-bed to sleep under, and a bunch of old furniture to push around.
他有一间带天窗和两扇凸窗的房间，有自己的枕头床可以睡觉，还有一堆旧家具可以推来推去。
As far as I am aware, he is the only three-legged armadillo on earth with his own personal wading pool.
据我所知，他是地球上唯一拥有自己的浅水池的三足犰狳。
Allison is not thrilled about having an armadillo in her home, never has been, but she knows it's important to me.
艾莉森对家里有一只犰狳并不感到兴奋，从来没有，但她知道这对我很重要。
The kids-- we have four of them now-- can't stand Otis either.
孩子们——我们现在有四个孩子——也无法忍受奥蒂斯。
They want another pet, some kind of happy, slobbering dog or an albino snake to impress their friends.
他们想要另一只宠物，某种快乐、流口水的狗或一条白化蛇来给他们的朋友留下深刻的印象。
Otis is not only real, real dumb, they argue, but also smells like doo-doo.
他们认为，奥蒂斯不仅是真正的、真正的愚蠢，而且闻起来像嘟嘟。
They're not sure which is worse.
他们不确定哪个更糟。
I tell them they are correct, they'll get no disagreement from me, but Otis is our pet, and we're going to love him no matter what.
我告诉他们他们是对的，他们不会从我这里得到不同意见，但奥蒂斯是我们的宠物，无论如何我们都会爱他。
I try not to let myself forget how blessed I am, my beautiful family, my dream house up in the hills, a successful business that pretty much runs without me.
我尽量不让自己忘记我是多么幸福，我美丽的家庭，我梦想中的山上房子，一个几乎不需要我就能运转的成功企业。
I am happy and satisfied most of the time.
大多数时候我是快乐和满足的。
But every once in a while, maybe once or twice a year, something will come over me, a dark mood that I can't shake, usually at night when everyone is asleep and the house is quiet.
但每隔一段时间，也许一年一两次，我就会有一些事情袭来，一种我无法摆脱的阴暗情绪，通常是在晚上，当每个人都睡着了，房子里很安静的时候。
And I'll get Otis out from under his pillow-bed and take him upstairs.
我会把奥蒂斯从他的枕头床底下救出来并带他上楼。
I run a bath, sitting on the lip of the tub, holding him close to my chest the way he likes it.
我洗澡，坐在浴缸的边缘，按照他喜欢的方式把他抱在我的胸前。
Usually I just let him paddle around, but sometimes, when the tub is almost overflowing, I take him firmly in both hands and plunge him into the water.
通常我只是让他划水，但有时，当浴缸快满溢的时候，我会用双手牢牢地抓住他，把他扔进水里。
There's not a clock in the bathroom, so I count, one alligator, two alligator, three alligator.
浴室里没有钟，我数了数，一只鳄鱼，两只鳄鱼，三只鳄鱼。
This is how I count off the seconds.
这就是我数秒的方式。
Otis struggles like a tiny lion for the first two or three minutes, writhing and spasming wildly, sending up a boiling foam of bubbles, fighting and scratching with everything he's got, and I hate myself for what I'm doing to him.
在最初的两三分钟里，奥蒂斯像一头小狮子一样挣扎，疯狂地扭动和痉挛，喷出沸腾的泡沫，用他所有的东西战斗和抓挠，我讨厌自己对他所做的一切。
Usually between the fourth and fifth minute is when he starts to lose his will.
通常在第四到第五分钟之间他就开始失去意志。
And his thrashing weakens, as he gradually curls up in on himself, like a flower dying, and goes utterly still.
当他逐渐蜷缩起来，就像一朵即将凋零的花一样，他的挣扎减弱了，然后完全静止了。
This is always the hardest part for me.
这对我来说始终是最难的部分。
The urge to pull him out is almost unbearable, but I go 5 or 10 seconds longer than the last time.
想把他拉出来的冲动几乎难以忍受，但我比上次多了5或10秒。
One alligator.
一只鳄鱼。
Two alligator.
两条鳄鱼。
Three alligator.
三只鳄鱼。
Four alligator.
四鳄鱼。
Five alligator.
五鳄鱼。
Until I can't stand it anymore.
直到我再也无法忍受为止。
I lift him out, and he lies there in my hands, like a deflated soccer ball, and I'm sick with dread knowing that this time, I've taken it too far.
我把他抱了出来，他躺在我手里，就像一个瘪了气的足球，我害怕得要命，因为我知道这一次我做得太过分了。
I've killed him.
我已经杀了他了。
I stare down at him and wait, hardly blinking, wait for that first twitch or jerk, for his nostrils to flare with life.
我低头盯着他，眼睛几乎不眨一下，等待着他的第一次抽动或抽动，等待他的鼻孔因生命而张开。
And usually, there's an almost imperceptible shudder from under his hard shell, a stirring, and his tail will begin to vibrate like a piano wire.
通常情况下，他的坚硬外壳下会发出几乎难以察觉的颤抖，一种搅动，他的尾巴会开始像钢琴弦一样振动。
And he slowly, hesitantly, opens up and stretches himself, clawing the air and coughing like a newborn.
他慢慢地、犹豫地打开身体，伸展身体，抓着空气，像新生儿一样咳嗽。
Sitting on the edge of the bathtub with Otis wet and dripping in my arms, I'm always overcome with the same vision.
坐在浴缸边上，奥蒂斯湿漉漉的，滴着水在我怀里，我总是被同样的景象所征服。
Donald clutching a newly-revived Otis, his face slick with tears, transformed from a man twisted inside out with grief to someone awestruck at the realization that our worst mistakes can be retrieved, that death can be traded in for life, that what has been destroyed can be made whole again.
唐纳德紧紧抓住刚复活的奥蒂斯，脸上挂着泪水，他从一个因悲伤而从里到外扭曲的人变成了一个敬畏的人，因为我们意识到我们最严重的错误可以挽回，死亡可以换来生命，被摧毁的东西可以再次变得完整。
With a sudden surge, Otis struggles to get out of my lap.
奥蒂斯突然猛地一猛，挣扎着从我的腿上爬起来。
He is an armadillo, and there is exploring to do.
他是一只犰狳，需要探索。
I let him down and watch him slide around on the linoleum and try to push the toilet off its base.
我把他放了下来，看着他在油毡上滑来滑去，并试图将马桶推离底座。
And I feel a small, bitter joy lodge in my heart.
我感到心里有一种小小的、苦涩的喜悦。
"Otis is resurrected," I whisper.
“奥蒂斯复活了。”我低声说道。
I carry him to his room and make sure he is comfortable under his pillow-bed and only then will I be able to walk peacefully through the dark, quiet halls of my home, kiss each of my children goodnight, and lie down next to my wife to sleep.
我把他抱到他的房间，确保他在枕头床下感到舒服，只有这样我才能平静地走过我家黑暗、安静的大厅，亲吻我的每个孩子晚安，然后躺在我妻子旁边睡觉。
Brady Udall.
布雷迪·尤德尔.
His short story "Otis Is Resurrected" was first published in Story magazine.
他的短篇小说《奥蒂斯复活了》首次发表在《故事》杂志上。
It is a work of fiction.
这是一部虚构作品。
No armadillos were harmed in the making of this radio story.
在制作这个广播故事的过程中，没有犰狳受到伤害。
[MUSIC - "GONNA BUY ME A DOG" BY THE MONKEES]
[音乐 - 猴子们的“给我买一只狗”]
Well, today's program was produced by Alex Blumberg and myself with Susan Burton, Blue Chevigny, and Julie Snyder.
嗯，今天的节目是由 Alex Blumberg 和我与 Susan Burton、Blue Chevigny 和 Julie Snyder 共同制作的。
Production help from Todd Bachmann, Eric Haverston, Seth Lind, and Bruce Wallace.
托德·巴赫曼、埃里克·哈弗斯顿、塞斯·林德和布鲁斯·华莱士为制作提供了帮助。
Music help from Mr. John Connors.
约翰·康纳斯先生的音乐帮助。
[ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS] Special shout out today to my own dog, Piney.
[致谢] 今天特别向我自己的狗 Piney 致谢。
If my plan has worked correctly, Piney right now is at home listening to my voice over a little radio in the kitchen.
如果我的计划顺利的话，派尼现在正在家里厨房里的小收音机里听我的声音。
Piney?
松树？
I'm up here in the radio.
我在收音机里。
Piney, sit.
派尼，坐下。
I wonder if this is working.
我想知道这是否有效。
Our website, where you can get our free weekly podcast or listen to our old shows for free, www.thisamericanlife.org.
我们的网站 www.thisamericanlife.org，您可以在其中获取我们的免费每周播客或免费收听我们的旧节目。
This American Life is distributed by Public Radio International.
《美国生活》由国际公共广播电台发行。
[FUNDING CREDITS] WBEZ management oversight for our program by Mr. Torey Malatia, who thinks our show would be a lot more popular if we would just take his advice.
[资金来源] WBEZ 管理部门由 Torey Malatia 先生对我们的节目进行监督，他认为如果我们听取他的建议，我们的节目会更受欢迎。
You've got to give them some birds and squirrels.
你必须给他们一些鸟和松鼠。
They don't care one iota if they're fighting or sleeping or whatever.
他们一点也不关心他们是在打架、睡觉还是其他什么。
I'm Ira Glass, back next week with more stories of This American Life .
我是艾拉·格拉斯，下周回来，带来更多《美国生活》的故事。
Yeah, that's the bread and butter is the birds and squirrels.
是的，这就是面包和黄油，就是鸟和松鼠。
This American Life is produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago and delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange.
《This American Life》与 WBEZ Chicago 合作制作，并由 PRX 公共广播电台传送到各电台。