“No,” said Coraline. “I brought a friend.” She could feel the cat stiffening under her hands, as if it were anxious to be away. Coraline wanted to hold on to it like a teddy bear, for reassurance, but she knew that cats hate to be squeezed, and she suspected that frightened cats were liable to bite and scratch if provoked in any way, even if they were on your side.
“才不是呢，”卡萝兰说，“我带回来的是我的朋友。”她感觉到猫全身绷得紧紧的，好像随时准备逃掉。卡萝兰很想紧紧搂着它，像她搂小毛熊玩具那样。可她知道，猫讨厌被人家抱得紧紧的。她还担心，如果紧紧搂这只本来就很紧张的猫，它会带咬带抓，哪怕她和它是一边的。
“So you’re back,” said the other mother. She did not sound pleased. “And you brought vermin with you.”
“这么说，你回来了。”另一个妈妈说。她的声音很不高兴，“还带回来一只害虫。”
“You know I love you,” said the other mother, flatly.
“你知道我爱你。”另一个妈妈平平板板地说。
“You have a very funny way of showing it,” said Coraline. She walked down the hallway, then turned into the drawing room, steady step by steady step, pretending that she could not feel the other mother’s blank black eyes on her back. Her grandmother’s formal furniture was still there, and the painting on the wall of the strange fruit (but now the fruit in the painting had been eaten, and all that remained in the bowl was the browning core of an apple, several plum and peach stones, and the stem of what had formerly been a bunch of grapes). The lion-pawed table raked the carpet with its clawed wooden feet, as if it were impatient for something.
“你爱得太奇怪了。”卡萝兰说。她走下过道，一拐弯，进了客厅。她步子迈得很稳，另一个妈妈的两只黑纽扣眼睛死死盯着她的后背，但卡萝兰假装没感觉到。奶奶以前的家具还在那儿，墙上还是挂着那幅奇怪的水果画。（但画里的水果已经被人吃掉了，水果碗里只剩下一个发黑的苹果核，几个李子核，桃核。那串葡萄只留下一根干干的葡萄枝。）那张矮木桌把它的狮子脚爪抓进地毯里，好像等得不耐烦，一心想朝谁扑过去一样。
Once inside, in her flat, or rather, in the flat that was not hers, Coraline was pleased to see that it had not transformed into the empty drawing that the rest of the house seemed to have become. It had depth and shadows, and someone who stood in the shadows waiting for Coraline to return.
进了自己的卧室。或者说，进了这间不是自己的卧室。卡萝兰高兴地看到，这间屋子并没有像宅子的其他部分一样，变成一幅铅笔画。它有景深，有阴影，阴影里还站着一个人，等着卡萝兰。
At the end of the room, in the corner, stood the wooden door, which had once, in another place, opened on to a plain brick wall. Coraline tried not to stare at it. The window showed nothing but mist.
客厅尽头的角落里，是那扇木头门。从前，在另一个世界，这扇木头门后面只有一堵平平常常的砖墙。卡萝兰尽量不朝它看。窗户外面什么都没有，只有一片白蒙蒙的雾。
This was it, Coraline knew. The moment of truth. The unravelling time.
最后关头。卡萝兰知道，最关键的一刻到了。马上就会分出胜负。
“Well?” said the other mother, sharply. “Where are they?”
“好了，”另一个妈妈厉声说，“找到了没有？拿出来看看。”
Coraline leaned against an armchair, adjusted the cat with her left hand, put her right hand into her pocket, and pulled out the three glass marbles. They were a frosted grey, and they clinked together in the palm of her hand. The other mother reached her white fingers out for them, but Coraline slipped them back into her pocket.
卡萝兰靠在一把扶手椅上，左手把猫抱得舒服些，右手伸进口袋，掏出三颗弹子。弹子是灰色的，像蒙了一层霜，在她手里撞得格格响。另一个妈妈伸出苍白的手指头，可卡萝兰已经把它们重新放回口袋。
The other mother had followed her in. Now she stood in the centre of the room, between Coraline and the mantelpiece, and looked down at Coraline with black-button eyes. It was funny, Coraline thought. The other mother did not look anything at all like her own mother. She wondered how she had ever been deceived into imagining a resemblance. The other mother was huge — her head almost brushed the ceiling of the room — and very pale, the colour of a spider’s belly. Her hair writhed and twined about her head, and her teeth were sharp as knives…
另一个妈妈跟着她走进客厅。她站在房间正中，在卡萝兰和壁炉架之间，那双黑纽扣眼睛从上往下看着她。真奇怪，卡萝兰想。这会儿，另一个妈妈的样子完全不像她真正的妈妈。不知以前是怎么想的，竟会觉得她跟自己的妈妈挺像。另一个妈妈的个子大极了，脑袋都快顶上了天花板。还有，她全身惨白，是蜘蛛肚皮那种白色。她的头发绕着脑袋翻来卷去，她的牙齿好尖，像刀子…
“Yes,” said Coraline. I must not look at the mantelpiece, she thought. I must not even think about it.
“对。”卡萝兰说。别朝壁炉架上看，她想，连想都不能想。
“Hold on,” she said. “We aren’t finished yet, are we?”
“先等等，”她说，“游戏还没完呢，对不对？”
She knew it was true, then. The other mother had no intention of letting her go, or of keeping her word. It had been an entertainment, and nothing more.
她知道了，幽灵小姑娘说得对，另一个妈妈根本没想过放她走，也没想过说话算话。她只想玩一场游戏，找点乐子，没别的。
“No,” said Coraline. “I know where my parents are.” The cat was heavy in her arms. She moved it forward, unhooking its claws from her shoulder as she did so.
“用不着。”卡萝兰说，“我知道我爸爸妈妈在哪儿。”怀里的猫真沉呀。她把它朝前挪了挪，从肩膀上摘下它抓得紧紧的爪子。
“Where?”
“在哪儿？”
The other mother looked daggers, but she smiled sweetly. “No,” she said. “I suppose not. After all, you still need to find your parents, don’t you?”
另一个妈妈的眼睛像两把刀子，脸上却甜甜地笑起来，“对，”她说，“还没完。你还得找到你的爸爸妈妈才行。”
“It stands to reason,” said Coraline. “I’ve looked everywhere you’d hide them. They aren’t in the house.”
“动动脑筋就知道了。”卡萝兰说，“能藏的地方我都找过。他们没在宅子里。”
“Well?” said the other mother. “Produce them. Would you like to look in the cellar again? I have some other interesting things hidden down there, you know.”
“怎么了？”另一个妈妈说，“拿出来呀。想再去地窖找找看？告诉你，那下面，我还藏着好几件挺有意思的东西哩。”
The other mother stood very still, giving nothing away, lips tightly closed. She might have been a wax statue. Even her hair had stopped moving.
另一个妈妈一动不动站在那儿，嘴唇闭得紧紧的，什么都瞧不出来。看她的样子，真像一座蜡像，连头发都不动了。
“So,” Coraline continued, both hands wrapped firmly around the black cat, “I know where they have to be. You’ve hidden them in the passageway between the houses, haven’t you? They are behind that door.” She nodded her head towards the door in the corner.
“所以，”卡萝兰继续说，两手稳稳地抱着黑猫，“我知道他们在哪儿。你把他们藏在我家的宅子和这儿之间的那条通道里了，对不对？就在那扇门里面。”她脑袋冲着角落里那扇门点了点。
The other mother remained statue-still, but a hint of a smile crept back on to her face. “Oh, they are, are they?”
另一个妈妈还是像蜡像一样，没有半点动静。但脸上却慢慢现出一丝笑意。“你这么想？是吗？”
“Why don’t you open it?” said Coraline. “They’ll be there, all right.”
“你敢不敢打开门？”卡萝兰说，“他们就在那儿，错不了。”
The other mother walked over to the door and pushed the key into the lock.
另一个妈妈走到门前，把钥匙插进锁孔。
It was her only way home, she knew. But it all depended on the other mother needing to gloat, needing not only to win but to show that she had won.
她知道，她只能从这条路回家去。但进不进得去，全看另一个妈妈想不想显示显示她有多高明。要是她不仅想赢，还想炫耀一番，那就好了。
The other mother reached her hand slowly into her apron pocket and produced the black iron key. The cat stirred uncomfortably in Coraline’s arms, as if it wanted to get down. Just stay there for a few moments longer, she thought at it, wondering if it could hear her. I’ll get us both home. I said I would. I promise. She felt the cat relax ever-so-slightly in her arms.
另一个妈妈的手慢慢伸进她的围谖口袋，掏出那把黑色的铸铁钥匙。猫不安地在卡萝兰怀里动起来，好像想跳下地。再安静一小会儿，她心里对它说，一小会儿就好。她心里一个劲儿劝说着，也不知道它听不听得见。我会让咱们全都回家去，我说过的，我保证。她感到，怀里的猫不动了，安静了。
Coraline heard the mechanism clunk heavily. She was already starting, as quietly as she could, step by step, to back away towards the mantelpiece.
卡萝兰只听门锁重重地发出一声响，“喀嚓”。她已经动起来了，尽量轻手轻脚，一步步蹭向壁炉。
She turned the key.
她转了一下钥匙。
The other mother pushed down on the door handle and pulled open the door, revealing a corridor behind it, dark and empty.
另一个妈妈的手落到门把手上，向下一压，拉开门，露出后面的过道。里面黑洞洞的，空空荡荡。
“There,” she said, waving her hands at the corridor. The expression of delight on her face was a very bad thing to see. “You’re wrong! you don’t know where your parents are, do you? They aren’t there.” She turned and looked at Coraline. “Now,” she said, “You’re going to stay here for ever and always.”
“看见没有？”她的手朝过道一挥，脸上那副得意的样子，难看死了，“你错了！你根本不知道你爸爸妈妈在哪儿，对不对？不在这儿。”她转过身，盯着卡萝兰，“现在，”她说，“你得永远留在这儿，再也走不了了。”
“No,” said Coraline. I’m not.” And, hard as she could, she threw the black cat towards the other mother. It yowled and landed on the other mother’s head, claws flailing, teeth bared, fierce and angry. Fur on end, it looked half again as big as it was in real life.
“不会，”卡萝兰说，“根本不会。”说完，她有多大力气使多大力气，把猫朝另一个妈妈狠狠一扔。猫一声嚎叫，落在另一个妈妈脑袋上，爪子乱抓，露出尖牙，样子凶极了。它的毛全部立起来，比它在真正的世界里大了足足一半。
Without waiting to see what would happen, Coraline reached up to the mantelpiece, closed her hand around the snow-globe, then pushed it deep into the pocket of her dressing gown.
卡萝兰没有傻站着看，她跑向壁炉架，一把抓起上面那个雪花球，深深揣进睡袍口袋。
The cat made a deep, ululating yowl and sank its teeth into the other mother’s cheek. She was flailing at it. Blood ran from the cuts on her white face — not red blood, but a deep, tarry black stuff.
猫一声大叫，牙齿咬进另一个妈妈的脸。她扑打着它，血从白乎乎的脸上直往下淌。不，不是真正的血，是一种黑黑黏黏的东西。
Coraline began to pull the door closed.
卡萝兰开始使劲拉，想把门关上。
“Quickly!” she said. The cat ran towards her, and they both stepped into the dark corridor.
“快！”她叫着。猫朝她跑来，他们一块儿踏进黑漆漆的过道。
“Leave her! Come on!” she shouted to the cat. It hissed, and swiped its scalpel-sharp claws at the other mother’s face in one wild rake which left black ooze trickling from several gashes on her nose. Then it sprang down towards Coraline.
“甩掉她，快过来！”她向猫喊。猫嘶嘶地叫了一声，锋利得像手术刀一样的猫爪一挥，在另一个妈妈脸上狠狠地又抓了一把。黑黑黏黏的东西马上从她鼻子上的几道伤口涌出来，慢慢向下流。接着，猫使劲一跳，跳下地。
It was colder in the corridor, like stepping down into a cellar on a warm day. The cat hesitated for a moment, then, seeing the other mother was coming towards them, it ran to Coraline and stopped by her legs.
过道里比外面冷，像大热天走进地窖似的。猫本来还有点犹豫，但看见另一个妈妈追上来，它赶紧跑来，站在卡萝兰腿边。
Coraline ran for the door. She pulled the key out of the lock.
卡萝兰朝那扇门奔去。她一把拔下锁孔上的钥匙。
It was heavier than she imagined a door could be, and pulling it closed was like trying to close a door against a high wind. And then she felt something from the other side starting to pull against her.
门怎么会这么沉？这扇门比她原来想的沉得多。关上它很费劲，像顶着大风关门。就在这时，她感到门另一面有东西在向那边拉。
Suddenly she was aware of other people in the corridor with her. She could not turn her head to look at them, but she knew them without having to look. “Help me, please,” she said. “All of you.”
突然间，她感到过道里还有其他人，和她在一起。她不能转过头去看他们，但用不着转身，她也知道他们是谁。“快帮帮我，”她说，“大家一起来。”
The other people in the corridor — three children, two adults — were somehow too insubstantial to touch the door. But their hands closed about hers, as she pulled on the big iron door handle, and suddenly she felt strong.
过道里的人——三个孩子，两个大人——都是影子，拉不住门。但他们的手放在她手上，和她拼命向里拉的手放在一起。卡萝兰突然觉得全身是劲儿。
“Never let up, miss! Hold strong! Hold strong!” whispered a voice in her mind.
“永不言败，女士！努力！努力！”脑海里，一个声音悄声说。
And then a voice that sounded like her mother’s her own mother, her real, wonderful, maddening, infuriating, glorious mother, just said, “Well done, Coraline,” and that was enough. The door started to slip closed, easily as anything.
“干得好，卡萝兰。”有这一声，就够了。门开始合拢，很轻松。接着，响起了另一个声音，像妈妈，她自己的妈妈，真正的妈妈，经常发火、经常责骂她的好妈妈。
“Pull, girl, pull!” whispered another.
“拉，小姐，拉！”另一个轻轻的声音说。
Shut! she thought. Then she said, out loud, “Come on, please.” And she felt the door begin to move, to pull closed, to give against the phantom wind.
快关呀！她想，接着说出了声：“快关上，求你了。”她感到门打开了，被那股看不见的风慢慢拉开。
“No!” screamed a voice from beyond the door, and it no longer sounded even faintly human.
“不！”门后传来一声尖叫，已经不再像人发出的声音了，一点都不像。
Something snatched at Coraline, reaching through the closing gap between the door and the doorpost. Coraline jerked her head out of the way, but the door began to open once more.
有什么东西从正在合拢的门缝伸进来，朝卡萝兰抓来。卡萝兰头一偏，差点没躲开。门又打开了一点。
They moved through her, then: ghost-hands lent her strength that she no longer possessed. There was a final moment of resistance, as if something were caught in the door, and then, with a crash, the wooden door banged closed.
他们使出了力气，把力气送进力气已经用完的卡萝兰身体里。门最后顶了一下，好像有什么东西卡在门缝里。然后，咔的一声，木头门猛地关上了。
“We’re going to go home,” said Coraline. “We are. Help me.” She ducked the snatching fingers.
“我们要回家，”卡萝兰说，“我们一定能回家。快帮帮我。”她一面说，一面躲闪着抓来抓去的手指。
“Come on!” said the cat. “This is not a good place to be in. Quickly.”
“快！”猫说，“这个地方邪得很，不能久留。快点。”
Coraline turned her back on the door and began to run, as fast as was practical, through the dark corridor, dragging her hand along the wall to make sure she didn’t bump into anything or get turned around in the darkness. It was an uphill run, and it seemed to her that it went on for a longer distance than anything could possibly go. The wall she was touching seemed warm and yielding now, and, she realised, it felt as if it was covered in a fine downy fur. It moved, as if it were taking a breath. She snatched her hand away from it.
卡萝兰转身就跑，在这个黑洞洞的过道里能跑多快就跑多快。两手扶着墙，怕不小心摔倒，或者在一片漆黑中走转了向。感觉是在向上跑。真长啊。卡萝兰觉得，世界上根本不可能有这么长的路。现在，手摸着的墙暖乎乎的，还在向后缩。她这才发现，它摸上去像蒙了一层细细的绒毛。墙动了，像吸了一口气。卡萝兰猛地缩回手。
Something dropped from Coraline’s head height to the floor. It landed with a sort of a scuttling thump.
有什么东西从卡萝兰脑袋的高度掉到地下，砰的一声，然后是一阵窸窸窣窣的声音。
Winds howled in the dark.
黑暗中，风号叫着。
Her eyes had adjusted to the dark. She could half-see, as faintly glowing patches ahead of her, two adults, three children. She could hear the cat, too, padding in the dark in front of her.
她的眼睛适应了黑暗，她可以艨朦胧胧看见了。就在她前头，两个大人，三个孩子，微微放光。她还听见了猫的脚步声，在前面叭嗒叭嗒响着。
She was scared she would bump into something, and she put out her hand for the wall once more. This time what she touched felt hot and wet, as if she had put her hand in somebody’s mouth, and she pulled it back with a small wail.
她生怕一头碰上什么东西，所以重新伸手扶着墙壁。这一次，扶着的地方又热又湿，好像她把手放在什么人嘴巴里似的。她轻轻叫了一声，缩回手。
And there was something else, which suddenly scuttled between her feet, nearly sending Coraline flying. She caught herself before she went down, using her own momentum to keep moving. She knew that if she fell in that corridor she might never get up again. Whatever that corridor was was older by far than the other mother. It was deep, and slow, and it knew that she was there É
还有别的东西，突然在她脚旁窜来窜去，绊得卡萝兰一个踉跄，差点摔在地上。她借着向前的劲儿，猛跑两步，这才稳住身子。她知道，只要在这条过道里摔倒，说不定就再也别想站起来了。不管这条过道是什么，它一定非常非常老，比另一个妈妈还老。它很深，动作很慢。它知道她在这儿…
Then daylight appeared, and she ran towards it, puffing and wheezing. “Almost there,” she called encouragingly, but in the light she discovered that the wraiths had gone, and she was alone. She did not have time to wonder what had happened to them. Panting for breath, she staggered through the door and slammed it behind her with the loudest, most satisfying bang you can imagine.
这时，前头露出了白天的亮光。她呼哧呼哧喘着气，拼命朝前跑去。“快到了。”她喊着，给大伙儿鼓劲儿。可她发现，走在前面的影子在亮光里消失了，过道里只剩下她一个人。她来不及捉摸到底出了什么事儿，只顾喘着粗气，跑出门，使劲关上。砰的一声。你怎么都想像不出这么响亮、这么让人高兴的关门声。
Coraline locked the door with the key, and put the key back into her pocket.
卡萝兰用钥匙锁上门，再把钥匙放进口袋。
The black cat was huddled in the farthest corner of the room, the pink tip of its tongue showing, its eyes wide. Coraline went over to it, and crouched down.
猫缩在客厅最外面的角落里，粉红色的舌头尖露在外面，瞪着圆圆的眼睛。卡萝兰走过去，蹲在它身旁。
“Then we’re friends?” said Coraline.
“这么说，咱们还是好朋友？”卡萝兰说。
“I’m sorry,” she said. I’m sorry I threw you at her. But it was the only way to distract her enough to get us all out. She would never have kept her word, would she?”
“对不起。”她说，“我把你朝她扔过去，真对不起。可只有这个办法才能分她的心，让咱们逃出来。你知道的，她一定不会说话算话。”
The cat looked up at her, then it rested its head on her hand, licking her fingers with its sandpapery tongue. It began to purr.
猫望着她，然后，它把头靠在她手上，沙拉拉的舌头舔着她的手指头。它喵喵叫起来。
She sat down on one of her grandmother’s uncomfortable armchairs, and the cat sprang up into her lap and made itself comfortable.
她在奶奶的一把坐着很不舒服的扶手椅上坐下，猫跳上她的膝盖，舒舒服服坐好。
The light that came through the picture window was daylight, real golden late-afternoon daylight, not a white mist-light. The sky was a robin’s-egg blue, and Coraline could see trees and, beyond the trees, green hills, which faded on the horizon into purples and greys. The sky had never seemed so sky; the world had never seemed so world.
描着花的窗户透进来一束光。外面是白天，真正的快傍晚的白天，不是白蒙蒙的雾。天蓝得像知更鸟的蛋，卡萝兰能看见树，树那边是小山，映在紫色的晚霞里。天空从来没有这么“天空”，世界也从来没有这么“世界”。
Coraline stared at the leaves on the trees and at the patterns of light and shadow on the cracked bark of the trunk of the beech tree outside the window, then she looked down at her lap, at the way that the rich sunlight brushed every hair on the cat’s head, turning each white whisker to gold.
卡萝兰望着窗外的山毛榉，望着它的树叶，望着它被阳光照得斑斑驳驳的树干。然后，她低下头，望着膝盖上的猫。明亮的阳光照在猫头上，它的每一根毛都亮晶晶的，每一根白色的猫胡子都被染成了金色。
Nothing, she thought, had ever been so interesting.
真美呀。她想，从来没有什么比现在更美。
And, caught up in the interestingness of the world, Coraline barely noticed that she had wriggled down and curled, cat-like, in her grandmother’s uncomfortable armchair, nor did she notice when she fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.
正欣赏着美景呢，卡萝兰不知不觉，身体一歪，像猫一样缩在奶奶那把让人不舒服的椅子里，睡熟了，一个梦都没做。
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