There are thousands of stories in the real world, but every single one of them is from the Land-of-Almost-Awake. And the very best are from Miamas.
真实世界有成千上万的故事，每一个都来自不眠大陆。但其中最好的产自密阿玛斯。
The other five kingdoms have produced the odd fairy tale now and then of course, but none of them are anywhere near as good. In Miamas, fairy tales are still produced around the clock, lovingly handmade one by one, and only the very, very finest of them are exported. Most are only told once and then they fall flat on the ground, but the best and most beautiful of them rise from the lips of their tellers after the last words have been spoken, and then slowly hover off over the heads of the listeners, like small, shimmering paper lanterns. When night comes they are fetched by the enphants. The enphants are very small creatures with decorous hats who ride on cloud animals (the enphants, not the hats). The lanterns are gathered up by the enphants with the help of large golden nets, and then the cloud animals turn and rise up towards the sky so swiftly that even the wind has to get out of the way. And if the wind doesn’t move out of the way quickly enough, the clouds transform themselves into an animal that has fingers, so the cloud animals can give the finger to the wind. (Granny always bellowed with laughter at this; it was a while before Elsa worked out why.)
其他五个王国也生产奇怪的童话故事，但没有一个称得上是好故事。在密阿玛斯，童话故事依旧紧锣密鼓地被生产出来，每一个都是手工精心制作，只有其中最好的能够出口。大多数只被讲述了一次，就掉落在地上，而最好最美丽的那些，在最后一个字讲述完毕后，就从讲述者的唇边上升，慢慢盘旋至听众的头顶，像小小的、闪闪发光的纸灯笼。当夜晚降临，蚁象会来收集。蚁象是一种微小的生物，戴着庄重得体的帽子，骑在云兽上。它们用巨大的金网收集灯笼，然后云兽就转身飞向天空，飞得那么快，连风都为之让路。如果风躲闪得不够快，云朵就会变成长着手指的动物，对着风比中指。（外婆说到这里，总会哈哈大笑，爱莎后来才知道为什么。）
Granny told her about the lamentable curse of the sea-angel, and about the two princelings who waged war on each other because they were both in love with the princess of Miploris. She also talked about the princess engaged in a fight with a witch who had stolen the most valuable treasure in the Land-of-Almost-Awake from her, and she described the warriors of Mibatalos and the dancers of Mimovas and the dream hunters of Mirevas. How they all constantly bickered and nagged at each other about this or that, until the day the Chosen One from Mimovas fled the shadows that had tried to kidnap him. And how the cloud animals carried the Chosen One to Miamas and how the inhabitants of the Land-of-Almost-Awake eventually realized that there was something more important to fight for. When the shadows amassed their army and came to take the Chosen One by force, they stood united against them. Not even when the War-Without-End seemed unlikely to end in any other way than crushing defeat, not even when the kingdom of Mibatalos fell and was leveled to the ground, did the other kingdoms capitulate. Because they knew that if the shadows were allowed to take the Chosen One, it would kill all music and then the power of the imagination in the Land-of-Almost-Awake. After that there would no longer be anything left that was different. All fairy stories take their life from the fact of being different. “Only different people change the world,” Granny used to say. “No one normal has ever changed a crapping thing.”
外婆给她讲过海天使的可悲诅咒，以及两位年轻的王子同时爱上密普洛瑞斯公主并由此展开一场战斗。而这位公主的敌人是个女巫，她从公主那里偷走了不眠大陆上最珍贵的宝物。外婆还讲过密巴塔洛斯的战士、密莫瓦斯的舞者、密瑞瓦斯的捕梦人。他们总是为了某事争论不休，直到密莫瓦斯的天选之子从想要绑架他的暗影手中逃脱。后来云兽带着天选之子来到密阿玛斯，而不眠大陆的居民终于意识到有更重要的事情需要他们为之战斗。当暗影集结军队前来，想以武力带走天选之子时，它们受到了居民们团结一致的抵抗。即使不眠大陆在无尽战争中眼看着将惨败，即使密巴塔洛斯将被夷为平地的时候，其他王国还是没有投降。他们知道如果让暗影带走天选之子，那将扼杀不眠大陆所有的音乐，摧毁想象的力量。之后，将再也不会出现任何“与众不同”的事物。所有童话故事都是因为“与众不同”而存在。“只有与众不同的人才能改变世界，”外婆曾经这么说，“平庸的人什么屁事都改变不了。”
And at the peak of the highest mountain in the Land-of-Almost-Awake, known as the Telling Mountain, the enphants open their nets and let the stories fly free. And that is how the stories find their way into the real world.
不眠大陆最高的山峰是“讲述山”，蚁象在那儿打开网，让故事们自由飞翔。那里就是故事们进入真实世界的途径。
At first when Elsa’s granny started telling her stories from Miamas, they only seemed like disconnected fairy tales without a context, told by someone who needed her head examined. It took years before Elsa understood that they belonged together. All really good stories work like this.
外婆最初给爱莎讲密阿玛斯的故事时，它们似乎只是没有背景、互不关联的童话故事，听着像是讲故事的人脑袋有毛病。爱莎花了几年才明白，它们是一个整体。所有好故事都是如此。
“The belt?” Dad asks as she takes a seat.
“安全带？”爸爸在她坐下时提醒。
Dad turns off the stereo just before she jumps into Audi. Elsa is glad that he does, because Dad always looks very downhearted when she points out to him that he listens to the worst music in the world, and it’s very difficult not pointing it out to him when you have to sit in Audi and listen to the worst music in the world.
爱莎跳上奥迪的时候，爸爸正要关上音响。爱莎很高兴他这么做了。每次爱莎指出他听的是全世界最难听的音乐时，爸爸总是很沮丧。而当你坐在奥迪里，不得不听着全世界最难听的音乐时，又很难不指出这一点。
“Well, hi there, you old hyena!” she yells at Dad. Because that’s what she would have yelled if Granny had picked her up. And Granny would have bellowed back, “Hello, hello, my beauty!” And then everything would have felt better. Because you can still feel scared while you’re yelling “Well, hi there, you old hyena!” to someone, but it’s almost insane how much more difficult it is.
“哈，你好呀，老鬣狗！”她冲着爸爸喊。外婆接她时，她就是这么喊的。而外婆则会大吼着回应：“你好，你好，我的美人！”于是爱莎的心情就会变得好受一点儿。但如果你对某人喊出“哈，你好呀，老鬣狗”这句话时还是感到很害怕，那么可想而知情况有多么糟糕了。
And then she used to talk about the wurses. And Elsa should have understood this from the beginning. She really should have understood everything from the beginning.
她也曾讲过呜嘶的事。爱莎本该从一开始就明白的。她真的应该从一开始就明白这一切。
Elsa’s heart is still thumping in her chest.
爱莎的心脏还在胸膛里猛跳。
Dad looks unsure about it. Elsa sighs and straps herself in and tries to slow her pulse by thinking about things she isn’t afraid of. Dad looks even more hesitant.
爸爸看上去有些不安。爱莎叹了口气，系上安全带，回忆那些她不害怕的东西让脉搏慢下来。爸爸看上去更迟疑了。
“You want to do something?” he says, sounding slightly anxious when he says “something.”
“你想做点儿什么吗？”当他说“什么”的时候，听上去有一点点紧张。
“Your mum and George are at the hospital again…”
“你妈妈和乔治又去医院了…”
Elsa knows he’s only offering to be nice. Because he has a bad conscience about seeing her so seldom and because he pities Elsa because her granny has died and because this Wednesday thing was rather sudden for him. Elsa knows this because Dad would never usually suggest doing something “fun,” because Dad doesn’t like having fun. Fun things make Dad nervous. One time when they were on holiday when Elsa was small, he went with Elsa and Mum to the beach, and then they had so much fun that Dad had to take two ibuprofen and lie down all afternoon for a rest at the hotel. He had too much fun once, said Mum.
爱莎知道他这么问只是出于礼貌。因为他知道自己与爱莎见面的次数太少，因为他可怜爱莎的外婆刚刚去世，因为周三来接她这件事对他来说挺突然的。爱莎全都明白，因为爸爸通常不会建议“找点儿乐子”，他不喜欢“找乐子”。“乐子”让爸爸紧张。在爱莎小时候，某次假期，他和爱莎、妈妈一起去了海滩，他们玩得特别开心，可后来爸爸却不得不吃上两颗止疼片，在酒店里躺平休息了一下午。他一次性找了太多乐子，妈妈说。
“I know,” says Elsa, as you do when something has not succeeded in allaying your fears.
“我知道。”爱莎说，但是没能成功抑制住自己的恐惧。
Dad nods. Elsa throws her backpack between the seats and it lands lying across the backseat. Dad turns around and straightens it up very neatly.
爸爸点点头。爱莎把背包扔到后面，它横躺在两排座位之间的地上。爸爸扭过身，将它摆正。
Elsa shrugs.
爱莎耸耸肩。
“We can do something… fun?”
“我们可以找点儿…乐子？”
“A fun overdose,” said Elsa, and then Mum laughed for a really long time.
“乐子嗑过头了。”爱莎说，然后妈妈大笑了好一阵子。
The strange thing about Dad is that no one brings out the fun in Mum as much as he does. It’s as if Mum is always the opposite pole of a battery. No one brings out order and neatness in Mum like Granny, and no one makes her as untidy and whimsical as Dad. Once when Elsa was small and Mum was talking on the phone with Dad, and Elsa kept asking, “Is it Dad? Is it Dad? Can I talk to Dad? Where is he?” Mum finally turned around and sighed dramatically: “No, you can’t talk to Dad because Dad is in heaven now, Elsa!” And when Elsa went absolutely silent and just stared at her mum, Mum grinned. “Good God, I’m only joking, Elsa. He’s at the supermarket.”
奇怪的是，没人能像爸爸那样多地激发出妈妈有趣的一面。妈妈总是站在与人相反的一边。外婆使她表现出条理和整洁，而爸爸则让她变得散漫又异想天开。爱莎更小的时候，有一次妈妈和爸爸通电话，爱莎一直在旁边问：“是爸爸吗？是爸爸吗？我能和爸爸说话吗？他在哪里呀？”妈妈最后转过身，做作地叹气：“不，你不能跟爸爸说话，因为爸爸现在在天堂，爱莎！”爱莎一下子安静了，死死地盯着妈妈。妈妈笑出声：“拜托，我在开玩笑，爱莎。他在超市。”
The morning after, Elsa came into the kitchen with shiny eyes when Mum was drinking coffee with loads of lactose-free milk, and when Mum, looking worried, asked why Elsa was looking so upset, Elsa replied that she had dreamed that Dad was in heaven. And then Mum went out of her mind with guilt and hugged Elsa hard, hard, hard and said sorry over and over and over, and then Elsa waited almost ten minutes before she grinned and said: “Good God, I was only joking. I dreamed he was at the supermarket.”
第二天早上，爱莎眼泪汪汪地走进厨房，妈妈正在里面用无乳糖牛奶泡咖啡。妈妈担心地问爱莎为什么看上去很难过，爱莎回答说自己梦到“爸爸去天堂了”。妈妈满怀内疚，用力紧紧抱住爱莎，跟她一遍又一遍地说对不起。爱莎等了差不多十分钟，然后咧嘴大笑：“拜托，我只是在开玩笑。我梦到他在超市。”
She grinned just like Granny used to do.
那一刻她的笑容就像外婆。
After that, Mum and Elsa often used to joke with Dad and ask him what it was like in heaven. “Is it cold in heaven? Can one fly in heaven? Is one allowed to meet God in heaven?” asked Mum. “Do you have cheese-graters in heaven?” asked Elsa. And then they laughed until they couldn’t sit straight. Dad used to look really quite hesitant when they did that. Elsa misses it. Misses when Dad was in heaven.
那次之后，妈妈和爱莎经常开爸爸的玩笑，问他天堂是啥样的。“天堂冷吗？在天堂人能飞吗？在天堂能看见上帝吗？”妈妈问。“天堂有奶酪研磨器吗？”爱莎问。然后她们就哈哈大笑，笑到直不起身。与此同时，爸爸看上去总是很疑惑。爱莎非常怀念那个时候，怀念爸爸在天堂的时光。
“Is Granny in heaven now?” she says to him and grins, because she means it as a joke, and she imagines he’ll start laughing.
“外婆现在在天堂吗？”爱莎笑着问爸爸，她把这当作一个笑话，希望他能开怀大笑。
But he doesn’t laugh. He just looks that way, and Elsa feels ashamed of saying something that makes him look that way.
但他没有真的笑，只是勉强咧咧嘴，爱莎因为让他做出这副表情而感到羞愧。
“Oh, never mind,” she mumbles and pats the glove compartment. “We can go home, it’s cool,” she adds quickly.
“哦，算了。”她小声咕哝，轻拍仪表台上的储物箱，“可以回家了，很好。”她紧接着补充道。
They see the police car from a distance, in the street outside the house. And Elsa can already hear the barking as they are getting out of Audi. The stairs are full of people. Our Friend’s furious howling from inside its flat is making the whole building shake.
他们离很远就看到停在公寓楼外面马路上的警车。下车时，爱莎已经听见了犬吠声。楼梯上全是人。“我们的朋友”在它自己公寓里发出的怒吼，让整栋建筑都颤抖了起来。
Dad nods and looks relieved and disappointed.
爸爸点了点头，看上去既失望又松了口气。
Elsa nods and gives him a quick hug. Stairwells filled with people make Dad very tentative. He gets back into Audi and Elsa goes inside by herself. And somewhere beyond that ear-splitting noise from Our Friend she hears other things too. Voices.
爱莎点点头，快速地拥抱了他一下。楼梯井里满是人，这让爸爸非常不安。他回到奥迪里面，而爱莎自己一个人走进了大楼。除了“我们的朋友”那撕心裂肺的吠叫声外，她还听见了其他声音。人声。
“Do you have… a key?” asks Dad.
“你有…钥匙吗？”爸爸问。
Elsa doesn’t nod back, she just pushes past and runs.
爱莎没有回应，她只是推开人群，跑了起来。
Dark, composed, and threatening. They have uniforms and they move about outside the flat where the boy with a syndrome and his mother live.
阴沉、冷静、险恶。他们穿着制服，在生病男孩和他妈妈居住的公寓外走来走去。
She hears one of the police talking into a telephone, mentioning the words “Animal Control” and “to be destroyed.” Britt-Marie is standing halfway up the stairs, close enough to be able to give the police suggestions about what they should do, but at a safe distance in case the beast manages to get out the door. She smiles in a well-meaning way at Elsa. Elsa hates her. When she reaches the top floor, Our Friend starts baying louder than ever, like a hurricane of ten thousand fairy tales. Looking down the shaft between the flights of stairs, Elsa can see that the police are backing away.
她听见一名警察对着电话说了些什么，提到了“动物管控中心”和“清除”这些词。布里特—玛丽站在楼梯中段，足够近，可以给警察的行动提供建议，但也保持着安全距离，以防那野兽冲出房门。她善意地冲爱莎微笑。爱莎恨她。爱莎跑到顶楼时，“我们的朋友”叫得格外响，就好像“一万个童话故事”级别的飓风。透过楼梯间的扶手向下看，爱莎看见警察们都在后退。
Eyeing Our Friend’s door intently but clearly afraid of getting too close, they press themselves to the wall on the other side. One of the policewomen turns around. Her green eyes meet Elsa’s — it’s the same policewoman she and Granny met at the station that night Granny threw the turds. She nods morosely at Elsa, as if trying to apologize.
他们盯着“我们的朋友”的房门，但明显害怕靠得太近，所以倚着另一侧的墙壁。其中一位女警察转过身，她的绿色眼睛和爱莎的眼睛相遇了——正是外婆扔屎球那晚，她和外婆在警察局遇见的那个女警察。她朝爱莎愁眉苦脸地点点头，似乎是在道歉。
And Elsa should have understood it all from the beginning. She really should have.
爱莎应该一开始就明白的。真的。
There is an absolutely unimaginable number of very special monsters in the forests and mountains of Miamas. But none were more legendary or more deserving of the respect of every creature in Miamas (even Granny) than the wurses.
在密阿玛斯的森林与山脉中存在着数量无法想象的特殊怪兽，但没有一种比呜嘶更传奇，更值得所有密阿玛斯生物（甚至包括外婆）尊敬。
It was the Princess of Miploris who banished them from the Land-of-Almost-Awake, Granny used to explain, a sense of guilt lingering in the silences between her words. When the princess was still a child she’d wanted to play with one of the puppies while it was sleeping. She tugged its tail and it woke in a panic and bit her hand. Of course, everyone knew that the real blame lay with her parents, who had not taught her never ever to wake the wurse that’s sleeping. But the princess was so afraid and her parents so angry that they had to put the blame on someone else, so they could live with themselves. For this reason the court decided to banish the wurses from the kingdom forever. They gave a particularly merciless group of bounty-hunting trolls permission to hunt them with poison arrows and fire.
是密普洛瑞斯的公主将它们从不眠大陆放逐的，外婆曾这么说，她话语间的沉默暗藏内疚。当公主还是个小孩子时，她想和其中一只正在睡觉的幼崽玩耍。她拉它的尾巴，它惊醒并咬了她的手。当然，所有人都知道真正有责任的是她的父母，他们没有教她绝对不能在呜嘶睡觉时去吵醒它。但公主太害怕了，而她的父母则非常愤怒，必须责怪他人，才能让自己安心。于是，王室决定将呜嘶们从王国永远流放。他们还放任一群特别无情的赏金猎人巨怪用毒箭和火焰来猎捕它们。
They were as big as polar bears, moved as fluidly as desert foxes, and were as quick on the attack as cobras. They were stronger than oxen, with the stamina of wild stallions and jaws more ferocious than tigers’. They had lustrous black pelts as soft as a summer wind, but underneath, their hides were thick as armor. In the really old fairy tales they were said to be immortal. These were the tales from the elder eternities, when the wurses lived in Miploris and served the royal family as castle guards.
它们像北极熊那么大，像沙狐一般动作流畅优美，像眼镜蛇一样攻击迅猛。它们比公牛更强壮，有着野马般的体力，咬合力胜过老虎。它们黑亮光滑的毛如夏日清风般柔软，而其下的兽皮却有如盔甲般厚实。在很老很老的童话故事中，它们是永生不死的。这些故事是从上古永恒时传下来的，那时呜嘶居住在密普洛瑞斯，担任王室的城堡守卫。
Obviously the wurses could have hit back; not even the assembled armies of the Land-of-Almost-Awake would have dared face them in battle, that was how feared the animals were as warriors. But instead of fighting, the wurses turned and ran. They ran so far and so high into the mountains that no one believed they would ever be found again. They ran until the children in the six kingdoms had grown up without seeing a single wurse in their entire lives. Ran for so long that they became legendary.
呜嘶本可以反击，即使是不眠大陆的联合军也不敢在战斗中与它们正面交锋。呜嘶就是如此可怕的勇士。但它们没有选择战斗，而是转身逃走了，跑到深山密林中，没人认为还能再找到它们。呜嘶离开了很久，以至于六大王国的孩子一生都没再见过一只呜嘶。它们最终成为了传说。
It was only with the coming of the War-Without-End that the Princess of Miploris realized her terrible mistake. The shadows had killed all the soldiers in the warrior kingdom of Mibatalos and leveled it to the ground, and now they pressed in with terrific power against the rest of the Land-of-Almost-Awake. When all hope seemed lost, the princess herself rode away from the city walls on her white horse. She rode like a storm into the mountains and there, after an almost endless search that made her horse succumb to exhaustion and almost crushed her too, the wurses found her.
直到无尽战争的到来，密普洛瑞斯的公主才意识到自己犯了严重的错误。暗影杀死了战士之国密巴塔洛斯中所有的士兵，并将整个王国摧毁殆尽，而如今它们用可怕的力量继续攻击不眠大陆余下的王国。当所有希望似乎都已消失时，公主本人骑着白马离开城墙，像一阵狂风般飞驰入山谷，在一番永无止境的搜寻之后，她的坐骑精疲力竭，差点儿压死她。就在这时，呜嘶找到了她。
The War-Without-End ended that day. The shadows were driven across the sea. And Wolfheart disappeared back into the forests. But the wurses remained, and to this day they are still serving as the princess’s personal guard in Miploris. On guard outside her castle gate.
那一天，无尽战争结束了。暗影们被赶到了海的对面。狼心再度消失在了森林中。但呜嘶们留了下来，直至今日，它们依旧在密普洛瑞斯担任着公主的私人护卫，驻守在她的城堡门外。
By the time the shadows heard the thunder and felt the ground shaking, it was already too late for them. The princess rode at the front on the greatest of all wurse warriors. And that was the moment of Wolfheart’s return from the forests. Maybe because Miamas was teetering on the edge of extinction and needed him more than ever. “But maybe…” Granny used to whisper into Elsa’s ear when they sat on the cloud animals at night, “maybe most of all because the princess, by realizing how unjust she had been to the wurses, proved that all the kingdoms deserved to be saved.”
雷声滚滚、大地震动的时候，暗影们将迎来自己的末日。公主一马当先，身后是呜嘶中最勇猛的战士。那一刻狼心也从森林中归来。也许是因为密阿玛斯濒临灭亡，极度需要他的救援。“但也许…”夜晚，外婆和爱莎坐在云兽身上，外婆对她耳语，“也许最重要的原因是公主意识到她曾对呜嘶们造成的不公，证明了所有王国都应该被拯救。”
Elsa hears Our Friend barking quite madly down there now. She remembers what Granny said about how “making a racket amuses it.” Elsa feels a bit unsure about Our Friend’s sense of humor, but then remembers what Granny said about Our Friend not needing to live with anyone. Granny didn’t live with anyone herself, of course, and when Elsa pointed out that perhaps she shouldn’t compare herself to a dog, Granny rolled her eyes. Now Elsa understands why.
此时，爱莎听见楼下“我们的朋友”在疯狂地大叫。她想起外婆说过“制造混乱令它愉悦”。爱莎不是很认同“我们的朋友”的幽默感，但又想起外婆说过“我们的朋友”不需要和别人住在一起。当然外婆自己也没有和别人同住，但爱莎曾指出也许她不该把自己和一条狗相提并论。外婆翻了个白眼。爱莎现在知道为什么了。
She should have got all this from the start. She really should have.
爱莎应该一开始就明白的。真的。
The police gently shove him and his mother into their flat. Britt-Marie minces back and forth with tiny steps on her floor. Elsa hates her through the banisters.
警察温柔地把他和他妈妈推进他们自己的房间。布里特—玛丽踩着碎步走来走去。爱莎透过栏杆怒视着她。
Because this is no dog.
因为那不是狗。
Our Friend is completely quiet for a moment, as if it has made a strategic retreat for a moment to gather its strength for the real battle. The police jingle the bunch of keys and talk about being “ready in case it attacks.” They all sound fuller of themselves now, because Our Friend is no longer barking.
“我们的朋友”安静了片刻，仿佛暂时战术性撤退，打算为真正的战斗积蓄力量。那警察手中的钥匙叮当作响，嘴上说着什么“准备好以防它攻击”。他们现在听上去多少有些自信了，因为“我们的朋友”不叫了。
One of the police fumbles with a big bunch of keys. Elsa hears the main door opening downstairs and between Our Friend’s barks she hears the boy with a syndrome dancing up the stairs.
一名警察笨手笨脚地摸出一大串钥匙。爱莎听见楼下的大门被打开，在“我们的朋友”的号叫间隙，她听见生病的男孩蹦蹦跳跳地走上楼。
Elsa hears another door opening, and then she hears Lennart’s voice. He asks timidly what’s happening. The police explain that they have come to “take charge of a dangerous dog.” Lennart sounds a bit worried. Then he sounds a little like he doesn’t know what to say. Then he says what he always says: “Does anyone want a cup of coffee? Maud just made some fresh.”
爱莎听见另一扇门打开，然后是莱纳特的声音。他胆怯地问发生了什么。警察解释说他们前来“搞定一只危险的狗”。莱纳特的声音听上去有点儿担心，又有点儿迷茫。之后他说出了那句常挂在嘴边的话：“有人想要杯咖啡吗？莫德刚煮了些新鲜的。”
Britt-Marie interrupts, hissing at him that surely Lennart can understand that the police have more important things to get on with than drinking coffee. The police sound a little disappointed about this. Elsa sees Lennart going back up the stairs. At first he seems to consider staying on the landing, but then seems to realize this might lead to a situation of his own coffee getting cold and conclude that whatever is going on here, it could not possibly be worth a risk like that. He disappears into the flat.
布里特—玛丽打断了他，耻笑说他应该明白警察现在有比喝咖啡更重要的事情要做。警察对此似乎有点儿失望。爱莎听见莱纳特上楼回去。一开始，他好像打算留在楼梯平台上观望，但又马上意识到自己的咖啡可能因此放凉，最后决定不管这里将发生什么，都不值得冒这样的风险。于是，他离开楼道，回了房间。
The first bark after that is short and defined. As if Our Friend is merely testing its vocal cords. The second is so loud that all Elsa can hear for several eternities is a ringing sound in her ears. When it finally ebbs away, she hears a terrific thud. Then another. And one more. Only then does she understand what the noise means. Our Friend is launching itself with all its strength at the inside of the door.
这之后的第一声吠叫短促清晰，仿佛“我们的朋友”只是在测试它的声带。第二声响到在“数个永恒”中，爱莎只能听见自己的耳鸣。当耳鸣终于消退，她听见一声可怕的“砰”。然后又是一声。再一声。直到此时，她才明白那声音意味着什么。“我们的朋友”正用全身的力量从里面撞着门。
Elsa hears one of the police talking on the telephone again. She can’t hear most of what’s being said, but she hears the words “extremely large and aggressive.” She peers down through the railings and sees the police standing a few yards from the door of Our Friend’s flat, their self-confidence dwindling as Our Friend throws itself at the door with increasing force. Two more police have turned up, Elsa notices. One of them has brought a German Shepherd on a leash. The German Shepherd doesn’t seem to think it’s a terrific idea to go wherever that thing, whatever it is, is trying to get out. It watches its handler a little like Elsa looked at Granny that time she tried to rewire Mum’s microwave.
爱莎听见一位警察又开始打电话。她听不清到底说了些什么，只有断续的字词，例如“极度庞大且有攻击性”。她透过栏杆向下张望，看见警察站在离“我们的朋友”门口几米外，当“我们的朋友”撞击门的声音越来越响时，他们的自信心也越来越少。爱莎注意到又出现了两名警察，其中一人用皮带牵着一条德国牧羊犬。这只牧羊犬似乎固执地认为，到那个未知生物随时可能夺门而出的地方去不是个好主意。它看着主人，就像外婆给妈妈的微波炉更换电线时爱莎看外婆的眼神。
Our Friend barks one last time, horrifyingly loud. Then grows silent again. There’s a lot of noise on the stairs for a moment, and then Elsa hears the main entrance door closing. The police have clearly decided to wait farther away from whatever is living in that flat, until Animal Control gets there. Elsa watches through the window as they make off, something in their body language suggesting coffee. Whereas the German Shepherd has something in its body language that suggests it is considering early retirement.
“我们的朋友”最后吠了一声，震撼人心。然后又安静了。楼梯处嘈杂了好一阵，随后爱莎听见正门关上的声音。警察显然决定在离那公寓远一点儿的地方等待动物管控中心的人来，不管公寓里面住的是什么。爱莎透过窗户看着他们落荒而逃，肢体语言表示他们迫切需要喝杯咖啡。而那只德国牧羊犬的肢体语言显示出它在考虑提早退休。
“Call in Animal Control, then,” Elsa hears the policewoman with green eyes saying, at last, with a disconsolate sigh.
“那就呼叫动物管控中心。”爱莎听见绿眼睛的女警察最后怅然地叹息道。
“That’s what I said! Exactly what I said!” Britt-Marie calls out eagerly.
“我就是这么说的！就是这么说的！”布里特—玛丽急切地叫出声。
The green eyes throw a glance at Britt-Marie that causes her to shut up abruptly.
绿眼睛瞥了布里特—玛丽一眼，她立即闭嘴了。
Everything is suddenly so quiet on the stairs that Britt-Marie’s lone tripping steps farther down are giving off an echo.
楼梯上突然安静下来，布里特—玛丽孤独又磕绊的下楼脚步声在楼道里回荡。
Elsa stands there of two minds. (She knows that “of two minds” is a phrase for the word jar.) She can see the police through the window, and in retrospect Elsa will not be able to explain exactly why she does it. But no true knight of Miamas could stand and watch a friend of Granny’s being killed without trying to do something about it. So she quickly sneaks down the stairs, taking extra care as she passes Britt-Marie and Kent’s flat, and taking the precaution of stopping on every half-landing to listen and make sure the police are not coming back in.
爱莎犹豫不决地站着。透过玻璃窗，她能看见外面的警察，如果被逮个正着，爱莎将无法解释自己的动机。但密阿玛斯真正的骑士不能不做尝试就干站着，眼看着外婆的一位朋友被杀。于是她快速溜下楼梯，经过布里特—玛丽和肯特的公寓门时格外注意，每下半层她都停下来听听动静，确保警察没有回来。
Finally she stops outside Our Friend’s flat and carefully opens the mail slot. Everything is black in there, but she hears Our Friend’s rumbling breath.
最后，她站在“我们的朋友”的公寓门外，小心翼翼地推开投信口。里面一片漆黑，但她听见了“我们的朋友”低沉的呼吸声。
“It’s me. The one with the Daim bars.”
“是我。给你巧克力的那个。”
“It’s… me,” Elsa stammers.
“是…我。”爱莎结结巴巴地说。
Our Friend doesn’t answer. But she can hear its breathing slowing down. Elsa’s words tumble out of her as if someone had toppled them over.
“我们的朋友”没有回答。但她能听见它的呼吸声放慢了。句子从爱莎的口中乱七八糟地倒了出来，就像有人把它们打翻了。
“Hey… I mean this might sound mega-weird… but I sort of think my granny would have wanted you to get out of here somehow. You know? If you have a back door or something. Because otherwise they’ll shoot you! Maybe that sounds mega-weird, but it’s pretty weird that you’ve got your own flat as well… if you get what I mean…”
“你好…我知道也许这听起来很奇怪…但是我有点儿觉得我外婆可能希望你从这里出去。你觉得呢？你家有后门之类的吗？因为不然的话，他们会开枪打死你的！也许这听上去很奇怪，但你有自己的公寓这件事也够奇怪的了…如果你明白我的意思的话…”
Only once all the words have fallen out of her does she realize that she’s spoken them in the secret language. Like a test. Because if there’s just a dog on the other side of the door, it won’t understand. But if it does understand, she thinks, then it’s something quite different. She hears a sound made by a paw the size of a car tire, quickly scraping the inside of the door.
直到她说完了所有这些话，她才意识到自己用了秘密语言，就像在做一个测试。如果门的另一侧只是一条狗，它不会明白。“但如果它真的明白了，”她想，“那它就是别的什么。”她听见一只像车轮那么大的爪子迅猛地在门里扒拉了两下。
She doesn’t know exactly how to start this type of conversation. And Our Friend doesn’t answer. On the other hand, it doesn’t throw itself against the door either. Elsa sees this as a clear sign of progress in their communication.
她不知道具体该怎样开启这样的对话。“我们的朋友”没有回答。另一方面，它也没有撞门。爱莎认为这是他们沟通的一个标志性进展。
Elsa grows aware of someone standing behind her, as if a ghost has appeared behind her. Or a…
爱莎察觉到有人站在她身后，就像鬼魂一样，又…
It smells of soap.
闻上去一股肥皂味。
“Hope you understand,” Elsa whispers in the secret language.
“希望你明白。”爱莎用秘密语言小声说。
She never hears the door opening behind her. The only thing she has time to register is Our Friend backing away from the door. As if preparing itself.
她没有听见身后开门的声音，仅仅发现“我们的朋友”从门边退后，似乎是在做着准备。
Everything goes terribly fast after that. They hear the door opening at the bottom of the stairs. The voices of the police. And someone else who, Elsa realizes, must be Animal Control. Looking back, Elsa is not completely convinced that she’s in control of her own movements. If she’s been placed under a spell or something it wouldn’t be so unlikely, considering that even if it was unlikely, it would be far less unlikely than running into a flipping wurse. But when the door closes behind her, she’s standing in the front hall in The Monster’s flat.
然后，一切急转直下。他们听见楼底的门开了。警察的声音，还有别人，爱莎意识到，一定是动物管控中心。事后回想起来，爱莎觉得自己的行为不受自己控制，就像是被下了咒或是中了其他巫术，不然的话，她绝对不会和该死的呜嘶撞个满怀。反正当房门在她的身后关上时，她已经站在怪物家的玄关了。
Elsa throws herself against the wall as The Monster silently sweeps past with a key in his hand. In the next moment, she is caught halfway between The Monster and Our Friend. And these really are the biggest damned wurse and the biggest damned monster Elsa has ever seen. It feels as if someone is standing on her lungs. She wants to scream, but nothing comes out.
怪物手持钥匙安静地挥了挥，爱莎吓得猛然靠向墙壁。下一秒，她就被堵在了怪物和“我们的朋友”之间。而这真的是爱莎有生以来见过的块头最大的呜嘶和最大的怪物，她都快喘不过气来了。她想尖叫，但没发出声音。
“Look out!” growls the voice.
“小心！”那声音低声咆哮。
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