“I’m an explorer,” said Coraline out loud, but her words sounded muffled and dead on the misty air. She had made it out of the cellar, hadn’t she?
“我是个探险家。”卡萝兰大声说，可在这一片雾气里，她的声音像蒙上了一层东西，一下子就没声儿了。不过，那个地窖她都逃出来了，对不对？
And she had. But if there was one thing that Coraline was certain of, it was that this flat would be worse.
她逃出来了。但如果说有一件事是卡萝兰确信的，那就是楼顶这套房间一准更吓人。
Coraline walked up the steps outside the building to the topmost flat where, in her world, the crazy old man upstairs lived. She had gone up there once with her real mother, when her mother was collecting for charity. They had stood in the open doorway, waiting for the crazy old man with the big moustache to find the envelope that Coraline’s mother had left, and the flat had smelled of strange foods and pipe tobacco and odd, sharp, cheesy-smelling things which Coraline could not name. She had not wanted to go any further inside than that.
卡萝兰走在宅子外面的楼梯上，向阁楼套间爬去。在她自己的世界里，那是疯老头儿住的地方。她和自己真正的妈妈上去过一次，陪她去做慈善募捐。当时，她们站在敞开的房门前，闻见房子里一大股奇特的食物味儿、烟草味儿，还有一种卡萝兰说不出名字的气味，很怪，很冲，有点像奶酪。那一次，她说什么也不肯进屋去。
She reached the top of the steps. The topmost flat had once been the attic of the house, but that was long ago.
她到了顶楼。这套房间原本是宅子的阁楼，那是好久好久以前的事了。
We have eyes and we have nerveses.
我们有眼睛，我们有脑筋。
She knocked on the green-painted door. It swung open, and she walked in.
她敲敲刷着绿漆的房门。门开了，她走进去。
When we rise from underneath, whispered a dozen or more tiny voices, in that dark flat with the roof so low where it met the walls that Coraline could almost reach up and touch it.
当我们从下面爬起来的时候，在那间黑暗的公寓里，听声音有十多个，可能还要多。小小的声音，悄声唱着。里面黑乎乎的，屋顶很低，靠墙的地方，卡萝兰差不多可以伸手够到。
We have tails, we have teeth.
我们有尾巴，我们有牙齿。
“Little girl,” said a rustling voice in a far room.
“小姑娘。”最里头一间屋子里响起一个嘶哑的声音。
you’ll all get what you deserveses.
你们会得到你们应得的。
Red eyes stared at her. Little pink feet scurried away as she came close. Darker shadows slipped through the shadows at the edges of things.
一双双红眼睛瞪着她，许多粉红色的小爪子从她身边跑开。屋里的家具是一个个暗影，许多更暗的影子悄没声儿地溜进家具的影子里。
There was nothing here that frightened her. These things — even the thing in the cellar — were illusions, things made by the other mother in a ghastly parody of the real people and real things on the other end of the corridor. She couldn’t truly make anything, decided Coraline. She could only twist and copy and distort things that already existed.
在这个世界里，没有什么东西能吓倒她。这些东西全是假的，是幻象，就连地窖里那些东西也是。都是另一个妈妈比着通道另一头的真正世界里的人和东西做出来的，而且做得很差劲。卡萝兰明白了，她其实做不出任何真正的东西，只能把本来就有的东西复制一遍。
“Yes,” said Coraline. I’m not frightened, she told herself, and as she thought it she knew that it was true.
“哎。”卡萝兰说。我不害怕，她告诉自己。刚刚想完，她便知道这是真的。
It smelt much worse in here than in the real crazy old man upstairs’s flat. That smelled of food (unpleasant food, to Coraline’s mind, but she knew that was a matter of taste: she did not like spices, herbs or exotic things). This place smelled as if all the exotic foods in the world had been left out to go rotten.
这儿真臭，比真正的疯老头儿的房间还臭。真正的世界里，这套房子里一股食物气味（而且是难吃得要命的食物。但卡萝兰也知道，每个人的口味不一样。她不喜欢香料、香草，或者别的稀奇古怪的食物）。可在这儿，好像全世界所有稀奇古怪的食物都堆在这套屋子里，放了很久，全都腐烂了。
“Come here, little girl. I know what you want, little girl.” It was a rustling voice, scratchy and dry. It made Coraline think of some kind of enormous dead insect. Which was silly, she knew. How could a dead thing, especially a dead insect, have a voice?
“上这儿来，小姑娘。我知道你想找什么，小姑娘。”声音粗拉拉的，又干又哑，让卡萝兰想起个头很大的死昆虫。她知道这是犯傻。死东西怎么会说话？更别说死昆虫了。
Then the voice came again, and her train of thought was gone.
就在这时，里屋的声音又响起来，打断了她的思路。
And once she had asked herself the question, she began to understand the answer.
想到这里，卡萝兰明白了，这里面肯定有鬼。
And then Coraline found herself wondering why the other mother would have placed a snowglobe on the drawing-room mantelpiece; a place that, in her world, was quite bare.
就在这时，卡萝兰想起一件事：另一个妈妈为什么要在客厅壁炉架上放一个雪花球。在卡萝兰的世界里，壁炉架上光光的，什么都没有。
She walked through several rooms with low, slanting ceilings until she came to the final room. It was a bedroom, and the other crazy old man upstairs sat at the far end of the room, in the near-darkness, bundled up in his coat and hat.
她穿过几间屋顶低矮的房间，最后走进最里头那间。这是一间卧室，另一个楼上的疯老头儿坐在房间另一头，裹着大衣，扣着帽子。光线太暗，简直看不见。
As Coraline entered he began to talk. “Nothing’s changed, little girl,” he said, his voice sounding like the noise dry leaves make as they rustle across a pavement. “And what if you do everything you swore you would? What then? Nothing’s changed. You’ll go home. You’ll be bored. You’ll be ignored. No one will listen to you, not really listen to you. You’re too clever and too quiet for them to understand. They don’t even get your name right.”
卡萝兰刚进门，他就说起话来。“什么都不会变，小姑娘。”他说。声音就像干树叶子，沙沙响着飘过人行道，“就算你把所有发誓要做到的事儿都做到了，又怎么样？什么都不会变。你会回家，你会厌烦。人家不会理你。没人听你说什么，就算听也是做做样子。你太聪明，又太不起眼了，他们是不会理解的。他们连你的名字都叫错了。”
“And will there be grey, wet days where I just don’t know what to do and there’s nothing to read or to watch and nowhere to go and the day drags on forever?” asked Coraline.
“会不会有那种提不起精神的时候？你知道，什么都是灰蒙蒙湿漉漉的，我不知道应该做什么。没东西读，也没东西看，没地方去。这种时候会不会一直拖下去，一天又一天？”卡萝兰问。
“Stay here with us,” said the voice from the figure at the end of the room. “We will listen to you and play with you and laugh with you. Your other mother will build whole worlds for you to explore, and tear them down every night when you are done. Every day will be better and brighter than the one that went before. Remember the toybox? How much better would a world be built just like that, and all for you?”
“留下吧，跟我们在一起。”屋里那个声音说，“我们会听你说话，和你玩，和你笑。你的另一个妈妈会给你造出一个世界，让你在里面探险。等你探完，再毁了重新造一个。每一天都比前一天更好。记得那个玩具盒子吗？想想，整整一个玩具世界，全是你一个人的。多好啊。”
“And could I have Day-glo green gloves to wear, and yellow Wellington boots in the shape of frogs?” asked Coraline.
“还有，我能戴那种绿色的荧光手套吗？再穿上做成青蛙样子的雨靴？”卡萝兰问。
“Every meal will be a thing of joy,” whispered the voice from under the old man’s hat. “Nothing will pass your lips that does not entirely delight you.”
“每顿饭都包你吃得心满意足。”老头子的帽子下面传来轻悄悄的声音，“保证不会让你吃一丁点儿你不喜欢的东西。”
From the shadows, the man said, “Never.”
暗影里的人说：“绝不会有那种时候。”
“And will there be awful meals, with food made from recipes, with garlic and tarragon and broad beans in?” asked Coraline.
“会不会有那种难吃的饭菜，按照菜谱做出来的，还加上大蒜、香蒿、扁豆什么的？”卡萝兰问。
Coraline sighed. “You really don’t understand, do you?” she said. “I don’t want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really. What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted? Just like that, and it didn’t mean anything. What then?”
卡萝兰叹了口气，“看样子，你真是不懂，对不对？”她说，“我不愿意想要什么就有什么。没人愿意。嘴上说说可以，心里都是不愿意的。想要什么就有什么，那还有什么乐趣？真要那样的话，什么都没意思了。”
“Frogs, ducks, rhinos, octopuses — whatever you desire. The world will be built new for you every morning. If you stay here, you can have whatever you want.”
“青蛙、鸭子、犀牛、章鱼，只要你喜欢，什么样儿的雨靴都行。每天早晨，你一睁眼，就会看到一个新世界。只要留在这儿，你想要什么就有什么。”
“I don’t understand,” said the whispery voice.
“我不明白。”那个轻悄悄的声音嘶嘶地说。
“Of course you don’t understand,” she said, raising the stone with the hole in it to her eye. “You’re just a bad copy she made of the crazy old man upstairs.”
“你当然不明白。”她说，从石头洞眼里望着那个人影，“你只是一份做得很差劲的拷贝，是她比着楼上那个疯老头儿的模样造出来的一件东西。”
“Not even that any more,” said the dead, whispery voice.
“现在，连拷贝都算不上了。”那个低沉、嘶哑、呆板的声音说。
There was a glow coming from the raincoat of the man, at about chest height. Through the hole in the stone the glow twinkled and shone blue-white as any star. She wished she had a stick or something to poke him with; she had no wish to get any closer to the shadowy man at the end of the room.
那个人裹在身上的大衣里透出一点光，就在胸口那个位置。从洞眼望过去，光点一闪一闪的，蓝白色，像星星发出的光。她真希望自己手里有根棍子，可以捅捅那个人影。她不愿意靠近那个缩在房间暗角里的人影。
Coraline took a step closer to the man, and he fell apart. Black rats leapt from the sleeves and from under the coat and hat, a score or more of them, red eyes shining in the dark. They chittered and they fled. The coat fluttered and fell heavily to the floor. The hat rolled into one corner of the room.
卡萝兰向那个人迈了一步，他忽然塌了。袖筒里、帽子下、大衣里，大群老鼠直往外窜，红红的眼睛在黑乎乎的房间里闪闪发亮。吱吱喳喳，老鼠四下乱跑。大衣忽扇忽扇，重重倒在地板上。帽子滚进屋角。
The other rats watched her from the corners of the room as she ran after it.
卡萝兰追上去。其他老鼠躲在屋角里，盯着她。
Now, rats can run faster than people, especially over short distances. But a large black rat holding a marble in its two front paws is no match for a determined girl (even if she is small for her age) moving at a run. Smaller black rats ran back and forth across her path, trying to distract her, but she ignored them all, keeping her eyes fixed on the one with the marble, who was heading straight out of the flat, towards the front door.
没错儿，老鼠比人跑得快。距离短的话，人别想赶上老鼠。可如果一只大黑老鼠前爪抱着一颗弹子，它就不是一个下定决心赶上它的小姑娘的对手了。大群个头小些的老鼠在她前头乱窜，想分散她的注意力。卡萝兰不理睬它们，眼睛死死盯着那只抱着弹子的大老鼠。大老鼠想逃出这套房子，朝前门跑去。
They reached the steps on the outside of the building.
他们奔到宅子外的楼梯上。
Coraline had time to observe that the house itself was continuing to change, becoming less distinct, and flattening out, even as she raced down the stairs. It reminded her of a photograph of a house now, not the thing itself. Then she was simply racing pell-mell down the steps in pursuit of the rat, with no room in her mind for anything else, certain she was gaining on it. She was running fast — too fast, she discovered, as she came to the bottom of one flight of steps, and her foot skidded and twisted and she went crashing on to the concrete landing.
卡萝兰冲下楼梯，同时注意到，这幢宅子好像在不断变化，变得越来越模糊，越来越扁。就在她冲下楼梯这一小会儿，它就又扁了不少。现在，她觉得它更像一张宅子的照片，不像宅子本身。她来不及多想，她正连滚带爬冲下楼梯追击老鼠，脑子里装不下别的东西。她快追上了，她跑得很快——太快了，快到楼梯脚时，脚滑了一下，一拧，她一头摔在楼梯下面的水泥地上。
Coraline reached out her hand and pulled the coat open. It was empty, although it was greasy to the touch. There was no sign of the final glass marble in it. She scanned the room, squinting through the hole in the stone, and caught sight of something that twinkled and burned like a star, at floor level, by the doorway. It was being carried in the forepaws of the largest black rat. As she looked, it slipped away.
卡萝兰伸出一只手，掀开大衣。摸上去油腻腻的，里面什么都没有，找不着最后那颗大理石弹子。她眯缝着眼睛，从石头洞眼里扫视这间屋子，发现一个像星星一样亮晶晶的东西，就在靠近门口的地板上。它被一只个头最大的老鼠用两只前爪抱在怀里。她刚刚朝那个方向一看，大老鼠撒腿就跑。
Her left knee was scraped and skinned, and the palm of one hand she had thrown out to stop herself was a mess of scraped skin and grit. It hurt a little, and it would, she knew, soon hurt much more. She picked the grit out of the palm and climbed to her feet and, as fast as she could, knowing that she had lost and it was already too late, she went down the final set of steps to ground level.
左边膝盖破了，擦掉一大块皮。撑地的一只巴掌也擦破了，满手泥。有点疼。她知道，过一阵子会疼得更厉害。她搓掉巴掌上的泥，以最快速度站起来。她心里知道，太晚了，老鼠肯定逃掉了。
She looked around for the rat, but it was gone, and the marble with it.
她四周张望，可哪儿也找不到那只老鼠。老鼠逃了，带着那颗弹子。
Her hand stung where the skin had been scraped, and there was blood trickling down her ripped pyjama-leg from her knee. It was as bad as the summer that her mother had taken the training wheels off Coraline’s bicycle; but then, back then, in with all the cuts and scrapes (her knees had had scabs on top of scabs) she had a feeling of achievement. She was learning something, doing something she had not known how to do before. Now she felt nothing but cold loss. She had failed the ghost-children. She had failed her parents. She had failed herself, failed everything.
手上擦破的地方针扎似的疼，睡裤膝盖撕破了，里面滴答滴答淌血。感觉好像上个夏天，妈妈去掉了她的儿童自行车的辅助轮一样。那时卡萝兰也摔得浑身是伤（膝盖上的伤多得数都数不清），可当时的她有一种成就感，觉得自己学到了本事，能做到从前做不到的事了。可现在，她什么成就感都没有，心里感到的只有冷飕飕的失败。她把那几个幽灵小孩输掉了，她把自个儿的爸爸妈妈输掉了，她把自己也输掉了。什么都输掉了。
She closed her eyes and wished that the earth would swallow her up.
她紧紧闭上眼睛，恨不得地面张开一道口子，把她吞下去。
There was a cough.
响起一声咳嗽。
She opened her eyes, and saw the rat. It was lying on the brick path at the bottom of the steps, with a surprised look on its face — which was now several centimetres away from the rest of it. Its whiskers were stiff, its eyes were wide open, its teeth visible and yellow and sharp. A collar of wet blood glistened at its neck.
她睁开眼睛，看见了那只老鼠。它躺在楼梯背后的角落里，脸上是大吃一惊的表情。那张脸，现在和它的身子分开了，隔着好几英寸。它的胡子硬邦邦地撅着，眼睛睁得大大的。嘴也张着，露出黄黄的尖牙。脖子上湿漉漉的，一圈血印子。
Beside the decapitated rat, a smug expression on its face, was the black cat. It rested one paw on the grey glass marble.
断了脑袋的老鼠旁边是那只猫，得意洋洋的样子。猫爪子搭在那颗灰色的大理石弹子上。
“I think I once mentioned,” said the cat, “that I don’t like rats at the best of times. It looked like you needed this one, however. I hope you don’t mind my getting involved.”
“我记得我以前说过，”猫说，“我其实不太喜欢抓老鼠。不过，你好像特别想抓住这一只。我插了一手，希望你不介意。”
“I think,” said Coraline, trying to catch her breath, “I think you may… have said… something of the sort.”
“我记得，”卡萝兰乐得连气儿都喘不上了，“你好像——这么说过。”
The cat lifted its paw from the marble, which rolled towards Coraline. She picked it up. In her mind, a final voice whispered to her, urgently. “She has lied to you. She will never give you up, now she has you. She will no more give any of us up than she can change her nature.”
猫抬起爪子，大理石弹子朝她滚过来。她拾起来。脑海里响起一个声音，很轻，语气却很紧急。“那恶妇使诈。休想她放过你我。要她放时，除非变了本性。须知江山易改，本性难移。”
And the mantelpiece in the drawing room back home was quite empty. But, knowing that, she knew something else, as well.
客厅壁炉架上一直什么都没有。知道这个，她就什么都知道了。
“The other mother. She plans to break her promise. She won’t let us go,” said Coraline.
“另一个妈妈。她想耍赖。她不会放咱们走的。”卡萝兰说。
“I wouldn’t put it past her,” admitted the cat. “Like I said, there’s no guarantee she’ll play fair.” And then he raised his head. “Hello É did you see that?”
“我才不相信她呢。”猫赞同地说，“我早就说过，不敢保证她会公平。”它突然抬起头，“哟…看见没有？”
The hairs on the back of Coraline’s neck prickled, and Coraline knew that the girl’s voice told the truth. She put the marble in her dressing-gown pocket with the others.
卡萝兰脖子上的汗毛都立起来了。她知道幽灵女孩说的是实话。她把这颗弹子放进睡袍口袋，和另外两颗弹子放在一起。
She had all three marbles, now.
现在，三颗弹子都在她这里了。
All she needed to do was to find her parents.
只要再找到爸爸妈妈就行了。
“What?”
“什么？”
“Look behind you,” said the cat.
“你后面。”猫说。
And, Coraline realised, that was easy. She knew exactly where her parents were. If she had stopped to think, she might have known where they were all along. The other mother could not create. She could only transform, and twist, and change.
卡萝兰有点吃惊地发现，最后这件任务其实再简单不过。爸爸妈妈在哪儿，她知道得一清二楚。要是她早一点好好想想，说不定早就发现他们在哪儿了。另一个妈妈其实造不出真东西。她只会变形、歪曲、改变。
The house had flattened out even more. It no longer looked like a photograph — more like a drawing, a crude, charcoal scribble of a house drawn on grey paper.
宅子更扁了。现在，它连照片都算不上——更像一幅铅笔画。粗糙、简单，用铅笔画在一张灰纸上的宅子。
The cat’s fur was on end, and its tail was bristling like a chimney-sweep’s brush.
猫的毛竖起来，尾巴上面的毛全爹开了，像扫烟囱的人用的大刷子。
“What’s wrong?” asked Coraline.
“怎么了？”卡萝兰问。
“Whatever’s happening,” said Coraline, “thank you for helping with the rat. I suppose I’m almost there, aren’t I? So you go off into the mist or wherever you go, and I’ll, well, I hope I get to see you at home. If she lets me go home.”
“不知出了什么事。”卡萝兰说，“但还是谢谢你。我猜，我差不多算赢了，对不对？嗯，你回雾里去吧，回你来的地方去。我会，嗯，我希望，今后还能在我家里见到你，如果她肯放我回家的话。”
“They’ve gone,” said the cat. “They aren’t there any more. The ways in and out of this place. They just went flat.”
“不见了。”猫说，“全都不见了。进出这个地方的路，全都变扁了，缩得没有了。”
“Is that bad?”
“很糟吗？”
“You’ll be fine,” said Coraline. “Everything’s going to be fine. I’ll take you home.”
“你会没事的，”卡萝兰说，“一切都会好起来。我带你回家。”
The cat lowered its tail, swishing it from side to side angrily. It made a low growling noise in the back of its throat. It walked in a circle, until it was facing away from Coraline, and then it began to walk backwards, stiffly, one step at a time, until it was pushing up against Coraline’s leg. She put down a hand to stroke it, and could feel how hard its heart was beating. It was trembling, like a dead leaf in a storm.
猫放低尾巴，气愤地扫来扫去，喉咙深处发出低低的咆哮。它转了个圈子，脸背对着卡萝兰。接着，它又退回来，步子很僵硬，蹭着卡萝兰的腿。她伸出手抚摸着它，觉得它的心跳得非常厉害。它在打哆嗦，像大风里的树叶。
The cat said nothing.
猫什么都没说。
The cat was heavy, but not too heavy to carry. It licked at the palm of her hand, where the blood from the scrape was welling up.
猫没有反抗，只是不停地打哆嗦。她一只手托着它，让它把前爪搭在她肩膀上。猫挺沉，但也不算太沉，她抱得动。它舔了舔她直冒血珠的手掌心。
“If the only way out is past her,” said Coraline, “then that’s the way we’re going to go.” She went back to the cat, bent down and picked it up. The cat did not resist. It simply trembled. She supported its bottom with one hand and rested its front legs on her shoulder.
“要是咱们只能通过她才能回家，”卡萝兰说，“咱们就要通过她，一定得这么办。”她走到猫身旁，蹲下，抱起它。
“Come on, cat,” said Coraline. She took a step back towards the steps, but the cat stayed where it was, looking miserable and, oddly, much smaller.
“别怕，猫。”卡萝兰说。她朝楼梯上迈了一步，可猫留在后头没动。它的模样瞧上去很可怜，还有，连个子都奇怪地小了一圈。
She got to her front door — now just a small-child’s scrawl of a door — and she pushed her hand against it, half-expecting that her hand would rip through it, revealing nothing behind it but blackness and a scattering of stars.
她走到自己的卧室门边。现在，它像小孩子乱涂乱画出来的一扇门。她伸出手，一推。以为手会直接穿过门，发现门后面是一片黑，什么都没有，只有无数星星，东一颗西一颗。
But the door swung open, and Coraline went through.
可是，门开了。卡萝兰走进去。
Coraline walked up the steps one at a time, heading back to her own flat. She was aware of the marbles clicking in her pocket, aware of the stone with the hole in it, aware of the cat pressing itself against her.
卡萝兰一步一步走上楼梯，走向她的卧室。她能感觉到大理石弹子在口袋里碰得叮叮响，感觉到那块带洞眼的石头的重量，感觉到猫紧紧偎着她。
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