黑猫

黑猫

The Black Cat

对于我即将形诸笔墨的这段极荒诞却又极寻常的叙述，我既不指望也不恳求有人相信。倘若在此种连我的感官都抗拒自身证据的情况下还寄望于此，我便真成了疯子。然而，我并未发疯——而且极为确凿的是，我也并未做梦。

For the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief. Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Yet, mad am I not—and very surely do I not dream.

但明日我便将赴死，今日我愿倾吐肺腑。我当前的意旨，是将一系列纯属家庭琐事的经历，平白、简练且不加置评地呈诸世人面前。

But to-morrow I die, and to-day I would unburthen my soul. My immediate purpose is to place before the world, plainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of mere household events.

这些变故就其后果而言，曾令我惊骇——令我备受折磨——令我走向毁灭。然而我无意对其详加剖析。于我而言，它们所呈现的唯有恐怖；于许多人而言，它们或许显得并不比怪诞之物更可怕。

In their consequences, these events have terrified—have tortured—have destroyed me. Yet I will not attempt to expound them. To me, they have presented little but horror—to many they will seem less terrible than barroques.

或许在日后，会有人以某种智识将我这梦魇般的幻象归结为寻常之理——某种较之于我更为冷静、更为缜密且远不似我这般易冲动的智识；这样的人在我满怀敬畏记述的境况中，将能洞察出这无非是一连串极其自然的因果相循罢了。

Hereafter, perhaps, some intellect may be found which will reduce my phantasm to the common-place—some intellect more calm, more logical, and far less excitable than my own, which will perceive, in the circumstances I detail with awe, nothing more than an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effects.

我自幼便以温顺仁厚的秉性著称。我的心肠之软甚至显豁到令我沦为同伴戏弄的笑柄。

From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions.

我尤为喜爱动物，父母也对我百般纵容，由着我豢养形形色色的宠物。我大部分时间都与它们相伴，且唯有在喂抚抚弄它们之际最为欢愉。

I was especially fond of animals, and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets. With these I spent most of my time, and never was so happy as when feeding and caressing them.

这种性格癖好随我年岁渐长，及至成年，我仍视其为我最主要的快乐源泉之一。

This peculiarity of character grew with my growth, and in my manhood, I derived from it one of my principal sources of pleasure.

对那些曾对忠诚敏慧的爱犬怀有深情之人，我无须费心去阐明由之所得的欣慰是何种性质，又达至何种强烈程度。

To those who have cherished an affection for a faithful and sagacious dog, I need hardly be at the trouble of explaining the nature or the intensity of the gratification thus derivable.

畜类那种无私且甘于奉献的爱，蕴有一种直抵人心的力量；对于屡屡领教过凡俗之人微薄交情与脆弱忠信的人而言，尤为如此。

There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man.

我早年成婚，并欣慰地发现妻子的性情与我颇为投缘。察觉到我对家养宠物的偏爱后，她从不放过任何搜罗合心宠物之良机。

I married early, and was happy to find in my wife a disposition not uncongenial with my own. Observing my partiality for domestic pets, she lost no opportunity of procuring those of the most agreeable kind.

我们养了鸟、金鱼、一条良犬、几只兔子、一只小猴，还有一只猫。

We had birds, gold-fish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and a cat.

这后者是一只体型异常庞大且极俊美的动物，通体漆黑，聪黠至令人惊叹的境地。

This latter was a remarkably large and beautiful animal, entirely black, and sagacious to an astonishing degree.

论及这只猫的灵性时，心底颇染迷信色彩的妻子屡屡提及古老的民间传说，即认为所有黑猫皆是乔装打扮的女巫。

In speaking of his intelligence, my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise.