止痛药与猫

字幕原文

Tom's depression grew worse when Becky Thatcher stopped coming to school. 汤姆的抑郁症在贝琪·撒切尔不再上学后变得更糟。

She was ill, and Tom feared she might die. 她病了，汤姆担心她可能会死。

He lost all interest in playing pirates or soldiers. 他完全失去了玩海盗或当士兵的兴趣。

Life seemed hollow and gray. 生活显得空虚而灰暗。

Aunt Polly became very concerned and decided to try her various "health remedies" on him. 波莉姨妈变得非常担心，决定在他身上尝试她各种各样的“健康疗法”。

She was obsessed with new medicines and first tried the "water treatment." 她痴迷于新药，首先尝试了“水疗法”。

She would stand Tom in the woodshed at dawn and pour cold water over him. 她会在黎明时把汤姆带到柴房，然后把冷水浇在他身上。

Then she scrubbed him down with a towel as rough as a file. 然后她用一条粗糙得像锉刀一样的毛巾给他擦洗。

When this didn't work, she discovered a new medicine called "Pain-killer." 当这不起作用时，她发现了一种名为“止痛药”的新药。

It was essentially liquid fire. 它本质上就是液态的火焰。

Aunt Polly gave Tom a teaspoonful, 波莉姨妈给了汤姆一茶匙，

and the boy reacted with a wild interest 男孩的反应是表现出一种狂野的兴趣

that finally broke his "indifference." 这最终打破了他的“冷漠”。

To get his aunt to stop bothering him, Tom pretended to be fond of the medicine. 为了让姨妈不再烦他，汤姆假装喜欢这种药。

He asked for it so often that she eventually told him to help himself. 他经常要药，以至于她最终告诉他自己去拿。

Tom wasn't actually drinking the medicine; he was pouring it into a crack in the floor. 汤姆实际上并没有喝药；他把它倒进了地板的裂缝里。

One day, the family's yellow cat, Peter, came along and begged for a taste. 有一天，家里那只黄猫彼得走了过来，乞求尝一口。

"Don't ask for it unless you want it, Peter," Tom warned. “彼得，除非你想要，否则别要它，”汤姆警告道。

But Peter was persistent. 但彼得坚持不懈。

Tom pried the cat's mouth open and poured in the Pain-killer. 汤姆撬开猫的嘴，把止痛药倒了进去。

Peter immediately delivered a war-whoop 彼得立刻发出一声战嚎

and began dancing wildly around the room, 并开始在房间里疯狂地跳舞，

upsetting flower-pots and creating total chaos. 打翻花盆，制造了一片混乱。

Aunt Polly entered just in time to see the cat fly through the open window. 波莉姨妈及时进来，正好看到猫从开着的窗户飞了出去。

When she found the tell-tale teaspoon, she realized what Tom had done. 当她找到那把暴露真相的茶匙时，她意识到汤姆做了什么。

Tom explained that he had done it out of pity. 汤姆解释说他是出于怜悯才这样做的。

The cat, he said, "had no aunt" to burn his insides out with medicine. 他说，那只猫“没有姨妈”用药把它的内脏烧坏。

Aunt Polly felt a pang of remorse. 波莉姨妈感到一阵悔恨。

What was cruelty to a cat, she realized, might also be cruelty to a boy. 她意识到，对猫的残忍，可能对一个男孩来说也是残忍。