A Boy and His Cat

一猫一世情

I’m not sure how he got to my clinic. He didn’t look old enough to drive, although his child’s body had begun to broaden and he moved with the heavy grace of young manhood. His face was direct and open.

我不知道他是怎样来到我的诊所的。他看起来还没到可以开车的年龄，虽然他那孩童的身躯已经开始发育，举手投足间也充满了年轻男子的翩翩风姿。他的表情坦率而真诚。

When I walked into the waiting room, he was lovingly petting his cat through the open door of the carrier on his lap. With a schoolboy’s faith in authority, he had brought his sick cat in for me to mend. The cat was a tiny thing, exquisitely formed, with a delicate skull and beautiful markings. She was about the boy’s own age, give or take a year. I could see how her spots and stripes and her fierce, bright face had evoked the image of a tiger in a child’s mind, and Tigress she had become. Age had dammed the bright green fire of her eyes into faded lace, but she was still elegant and self-possessed.

他的膝盖上放着一个猫笼，当我走进候诊室时，他正把手伸进敞开的小门，亲切地爱抚着他的猫。带着学生对于权威的信任，他将他那生病的猫带到我这里来治疗。猫的个头不大，身形纤美，有着精致的小脑袋和美丽的斑纹。她的年纪和那男孩差不多大，偏差不超过一岁。我可以从她的斑点和条纹，还有她那野性机灵的脸庞上看出，在孩子的心目中她就像是一只老虎，所以她的名字就叫虎妞。年龄的衰老使得她眼中明亮的绿色火焰黯然失色，但她依然优雅自若。

I began to ask questions to determine what had brought this charming pair to see me. Unlike most adults, the boy answered simply and directly. Tigress had had a normal appetite until recently, when she’d begun to vomit a couple of times a day. Now she was not eating at all and had withdrawn from her human family. She had also lost a pound, which is a lot when you weigh only six.

我开始问诊，了解为什么这两个可爱的家伙会到我这里来。和大多数成年人不同的是，男孩的回答简单而直接。虎妞的胃口一向正常，直到最近她开始每天呕吐好几次。如今她完全不吃不喝了，还躲避着她的人类家庭。她已经瘦了一磅(约0.454公斤)——如果你只有六磅重的话，这就瘦得很厉害了。

Stroking Tigress, I told her how beautiful she was while I examined her eyes and mouth, listened to her heart and lungs, and felt her stomach. My fingers found it: a tubular mass in mid-abdomen. Tigress politely tried to slip away. She did not like the mass being handled.

我抚摸着虎妞，一边对她说她是多么美丽，一边检查她的眼睛和嘴巴，听她的心肺，轻按她的胃部。我发现在她腹部的中部有个肾小管团。虎妞客气地试图溜走。她不喜欢被人摸到那块东西。

I looked at the fresh faced boy and back at the cat he had probably had all his 1ife. I was going to have to tell him that his beloved companion had a tumor. Even if it were surgically removed, she probably would survive less than a year, and might need weekly chemotherapy to last that long.

我看了看男孩稚嫩的脸庞，然后又看了看那只或许从小就陪伴着他的猫。我将不得不告诉他，他挚爱的伙伴得了肿瘤。即便做手术摘除了，她可能也活不过一年，而且可能还要每个星期做化疗才能维持得到。