Coraline locked the door of the drawing room with the cold black key.
卡萝兰用那把冰冰凉的黑钥匙把客厅角落那扇门锁好。
Coraline went to the freezer and took out the spare loaf of frozen bread in the bottom compartment. She made herself some toast, with jam and peanut butter. She drank a glass of water.
卡萝兰走到冰箱前，从底层格子里拿出剩下的一块冻面包。她给自己做了个吐司面包，涂上果酱和花生酱。吃完以后，她喝了一杯水。
Her mother still hadn’t returned from her shopping expedition.
去买东西的妈妈还没回来。
She waited for her parents to come back.
她等着爸爸妈妈回来。
She went back into the kitchen, and climbed on to a chair. She tried to put the bunch of keys back on top of the door again. She tried four or five times before she was forced to accept that she just wasn’t big enough, and she put them down on the counter next to the door.
她回到厨房，爬上椅子，想把那串钥匙重新放回门框上。试了四五次都不行，卡萝兰只好承认，她的个子就是不够高。最后，她把钥匙放在门边一张台子上。
After a while she started yawning. Then she undressed, brushed her teeth and put herself to bed.
过了一会儿，她开始打哈欠。卡萝兰脱了衣服，刷牙，上床睡觉。
When it began to get dark, Coraline microwaved herself a frozen pizza.
等呀等呀，天黑了。卡萝兰用微波炉热了一块冻披萨吃。
Then Coraline watched television. She wondered why grown-ups gave themselves all the good programmes, with all the shouting and running around in.
然后，卡萝兰看电视。她心想，大人真是的，把所有好节目都留给自己，不让小孩子看。电视里跑跑跳跳，吵吵闹闹，真好看。
In the morning she went into her parents’ room, but their bed hadn’t been slept in, and they weren’t around. She ate tinned spaghetti for breakfast.
天亮以后，她走进爸爸妈妈的卧室。床上整整齐齐的，没睡过。到处都找不着他们。卡萝兰的早饭吃的是罐头装的意大利细面条。
For tea she went down to see Misses Spink and Forcible. She had three digestive biscuits, a glass of limeade, and a cup of weak tea. The limeade was very interesting. It didn’t taste anything like limes. It tasted bright green and vaguely chemical. Coraline liked it enormously. She wished they had it at home.
下午茶是在斯平克小姐和福斯波尔小姐那儿喝的。吃了三块饼干，喝了一杯柠檬汽水，一杯很淡的茶。柠檬汽水真好玩，没有一点儿柠檬昧，只有蔬菜味，还有点儿药味。卡萝兰喜欢极了。家里要是也有柠檬汽水就好了。
“Missing,” said Coraline. “I haven’t seen either of them since yesterday. I’m on my own. I think I’ve probably become a single child family.”
“不见了。”卡萝兰说，“从昨天起就没见着他们。家里只有我一个。我猜我成了单亲——不，单子家庭了。”
“She’s vanished under mysterious circumstances,” said Coraline, “and I believe my father has as well.”
“她神秘失踪了。”卡萝兰说，“我看，爸爸也神秘失踪了。”
For lunch she had a block of cooking chocolate and an apple. The apple was yellow and slightly shrivelled, but it tasted sweet and good.
午饭吃了一大块巧克力，加上一个苹果。苹果黄了，有点蔫，味道倒是甜甜的，不错。
“Tell your mother that we found the Glasgow Empire press clippings we were telling her about. She seemed very interested when Miriam mentioned them to her.”
“告诉你妈妈，说《格拉斯哥王国报》的剪报我们已经找到了。米里亚姆上次跟她聊起的时候，她好像挺感兴趣。”
“I’m afraid we’ll be out all day tomorrow, Caroline lovey,” said Miss Forcible. “We’ll be staying with April’s niece in Royal Tunbridge Wells.”
“明天我们恐怕一整天不在家，卡罗琳宝贝儿。”福斯波尔小姐说，“我们住阿普里尔的侄女家，在通布里奇。”
“How are your dear mother and father?” asked Miss Spink.
“你的爸爸妈妈好吗？”斯平克小姐问。
CORALINE’S STORY
卡萝兰的小说：
AND DANCED UNTIL HER FEET TURND INTO SOSSAJES. THE END.
她跳啊跳啊后来脚都跳坏了完毕。
Coraline woke up in the night. She went into her parents’ bedroom, but the bed was made and empty. The glowing green numbers on the digital clock glowed 3:12 a. m.
半夜里，卡萝兰醒了。她走进爸爸妈妈的卧室，可床还是铺得好好的，上面一个人都没有。夜光数字钟上是几个绿色数字：3：12。
She ran herself a bath with too much bubble bath in it, and the bubbles ran over the side and went all over the floor. She dried herself, and the floor as best she could, and went to bed.
她放了一浴缸水，洗了个泡泡浴。浴液倒得太多，泡泡从浴缸里流出来，淌了一地。她把自己擦擦干，又试着擦干地板（做得不好，反正她尽力了）。然后，卡萝兰上床睡觉。
She opened her money box and walked down to the supermarket. She bought two large bottles of limeade, a chocolate cake, and a new bag of apples, and went back home and ate them for dinner.
她打开她的存钱袋，取出钱，去了趟超市。她买了两大瓶柠檬汽水，一块巧克力饼，一袋苹果。回家以后，她拿这些当晚饭吃。
SHE USED TO DANCE A LOT. SHE DANCED
她跳了很多舞。
She printed out the story and turned off the computer.
她把小说打印出来，关上电脑。
She cleaned her teeth, and went into her father’s office. She woke up his computer and wrote a story.
她漱了口，走进爸爸的书房，打开电脑，写了一篇小说。
THERE WAS A GIRL HER NAME WAS APPLE.
从前有个女孩叫阿普里尔。
They showed Coraline a photographic album, with photographs of Miss Spink’s niece in it, and then Coraline went home.
她们给卡萝兰看一本相集，里面有许多斯平克小姐的侄女的照片。看完之后，卡萝兰就回家了。
Then she drew a picture of the little girl dancing underneath the words on the paper.
然后，她又在句子下面画了一个跳舞的小女孩。
The cat stared at her. Then it walked out into the hall. She followed. It walked the length of the corridor and stopped down at the very end, where a full-length mirror hung. The mirror had been, a long time before, the inside of a wardrobe door. It had been hanging there on the wall when they moved in, and, although Coraline’s mother had spoken occasionally of replacing it with something newer, she never had.
猫盯着她，然后，它走到过道上。卡萝兰跟着它。猫一直走到过道尽头，那儿挂着一面一人高的镜子。很久以前，它本来镶在一个大衣柜柜门里面，后来才挪出来挂在墙上。卡萝兰一家搬进来时，这面镜子已经在那儿了。卡萝兰的妈妈常说要换一面新的，可一直没换。
Coraline was woken by cold paws batting her face. She opened her eyes. Big green eyes stared back at her. It was the cat.
凉冰冰的爪子拍打着她的脸，卡萝兰醒了。她睁开眼睛。一双大大的绿眼睛盯着她。是那只猫。
“Hello,” said Coraline. “How did you get in?”
“你好，”卡萝兰说，“你是怎么进来的？”
All alone, in the middle of the night, Coraline began to cry. There was no other sound in the empty flat.
深更半夜，又是一个人。卡萝兰哭了起来。除了她的哭声，空空的屋子里静悄悄的。
The cat blinked at her slowly.
猫冲她眨了一下眼睛，眨得很慢。
She climbed into her parents’ bed, and, after a while, she went back to sleep.
她爬上爸爸妈妈的大床，过了一会儿，卡萝兰睡着了。
The cat didn’t say anything. Coraline got out of bed. She was wearing a long T-shirt and pyjama bottoms. “Have you come to tell me something?”
猫不说话。卡萝兰下了床，她穿着一件长T恤，一条睡裤。“你来是想跟我说什么话吗？”
“Do you know where Mummy and Daddy are?”
“你知道我妈妈爸爸在哪儿吗？”
“Is that a yes?”
“意思是——‘是’，对吧？”
The cat blinked again. Coraline decided that that was indeed a yes. “Will you take me to them?”
猫又眨了一下眼睛。卡萝兰想，这肯定是个‘是’。“你能带我去找他们吗？”
The cat yawned, which made its eyes flash green.
猫打了个哈欠，绿眼睛亮闪闪的。
Coraline turned on the light in the hall.
卡萝兰打开过道灯。
The mirror showed the corridor behind her; that was only to be expected. But also reflected in the mirror were her parents. They stood awkwardly in the reflection of the hall. They seemed sad and alone. As Coraline watched, they waved to her, slowly, with limp hands. Coraline’s father had his arm around her mother.
镜子里照出她身后的过道。这谁都想得到。想不到的是，镜子里还有她的爸爸妈妈。他们站在镜子中的过道里，样子孤苦伶仃的。卡萝兰看见他们抬起手，无力地朝她慢慢挥着。卡萝兰爸爸的另一只手搂着妈妈的肩膀。镜子里，卡萝兰的爸爸妈妈望着她。爸爸张开嘴，说了些什么。可她一点也听不见。
In the mirror Coraline’s mother and father stared at her. Her father opened his mouth and said something, but she could hear nothing at all. Her mother breathed on the inside of the mirror-glass, and quickly, before the fog faded, she wrote: SU PLEH with the tip of her forefinger. The fog on the inside of the mirror faded, and so did her parents, and now the mirror reflected only the corridor, and Coraline, and the cat.
妈妈在镜子上哈了口气，趁镜子另一面上的雾气没散，用手指写了几个字：HELP US（救救我们）。虽然字是反的，但卡萝兰还是认了出来。镜子另一面的雾慢慢淡了，不见了。爸爸妈妈也一样。现在，映在镜子里的只有过道、卡萝兰，还有猫。
“They aren’t going to come back, are they?” said Coraline. “Not under their own steam.”
“他们不会回来了，对不对？”卡萝兰说，“光靠他们自己，他们回不来。”
“Where are they?” Coraline asked the cat.
“他们上哪儿去了？”卡萝兰问猫。
The cat made no reply, but Coraline could imagine its voice, dry as a dead fly on a windowsill in winter, saying, Well, where do you think they are?
猫没有回答，但卡萝兰想像得出它的声音，干巴巴的，像一只死苍蝇。这个嘛，你以为他们上哪儿去了？
She walked into her father’s study. She sat down at his desk. Then she picked up the telephone, and opened the phone book and called the local police station.
她走进爸爸的书房，坐在他的书桌后，然后拿起电话，打开电话簿，给本地的警察局打电话。
“Kidnapping. Grown-up-napping, really. My parents have been stolen away into a world on the other side of the mirror in our hall.”
“绑票，我是说绑爸爸妈妈。我的爸爸妈妈被偷走了，有人把他们绑架到我家过道镜子后面的世界去了。”
“Possibly,” said Coraline, who was not going to be diverted, “but I am ringing to report a crime.”
“可能吧。”卡萝兰才不会被他岔过去呢，“我打电话是要报案的。”
“Police,” said a gruff male voice.
“警察局。”电话里传来一个男人声音。
“You’re up a bit after your bedtime, aren’t you, young lady?” said the policeman.
“小姑娘，这么晚了，你上床睡觉的时间该过了吧？”警察说。
“Right,” said Coraline. “Then I suppose there is only one thing left to do.”
“好吧，”卡萝兰说，“那么，我认为，只有一个办法。”
“And what sort of crime would that be?”
“你要报哪种案子？”
The cat blinked at her. Coraline took it as a yes.
猫眨了一下眼睛。卡萝兰认定它的意思是“对”。
“And do you know who stole them?” asked the police officer.
“偷爸爸妈妈的人是谁？你知道吗？”警察问。
Coraline could hear the smile in his voice, and she tried extra hard to sound like an adult might sound, to make him take her seriously.
卡萝兰听得出来，警察的声音笑嘻嘻的。所以她格外努力，尽量像大人那样说话，好让警察重视她。
“Hello,” she said. “My name is Coraline Jones.”
“你好，”她说，“我的名字叫卡萝兰·琼斯。”
“I think my other mother has them both in her clutches. She may want to keep them and sew their eyes with black buttons, or she may simply have them in order to lure me back into reach of her fingers. I’m not sure.”
“我认为，抓走他们的是我的另一个妈妈。说不定她想扣住他们不放，给他们缝黑纽扣当眼睛，好把我引过去。我也不太清楚。”
“You ask your mother to make you a big old mug of hot chocolate, and then give you a great big old hug. There’s nothing like hot chocolate and a hug for making the nightmares go away. And if she starts to tell you off for waking her up at this time of night, why you tell her that that’s what the policeman said.” He had a deep, reassuring voice. Coraline was not reassured.
“你去跟你妈妈说，让她给你做大大的一杯热巧克力，再好好抱抱你。热巧克力加抱抱，治噩梦百发百中。如果她让你走开，别这么晚打扰她睡觉，你就告诉她，这是警察说的。”他用一种很庄重的声音安慰她。可卡萝兰不觉得安慰。
“Ah. The nefarious clutches of her fiendish fingers, is it?” he said. “Mm. You know what I suggest, Miss Jones?”
“哦。落进了她那双邪恶的爪子里，对不对？”他说，“嗯，我倒有个主意，琼斯小姐。知道是什么主意吗？”
“When I see her,” said Coraline, “I shall tell her that.” And she put down the telephone.
“看到她的时候，”卡萝兰说，“我一定告诉她。”她放下电话。
“No,” said Coraline. “What?”
“不知道。”卡萝兰说，“是什么主意？”
The black cat, who had sat on the floor grooming its fur through this entire conversation, now stood up and led the way into the hall.
卡萝兰打电话的时候，那只黑猫一直蹲在地板上舔毛。这时，它站起来，领着她走进过道。
Coraline went back into her bedroom and put on her blue dressing gown and her slippers. She looked under the sink for a torch, and found one, but the batteries had long since run down and it barely glowed with the faintest straw-coloured light. She put it down again and found a box of in-case-of-emergency white wax candles, and thrust one into a candlestick. She put an apple into each pocket. She picked up the ring of keys and took the old black key off the ring.
卡萝兰回到自己的房间，穿上她的蓝色睡袍，蹬上拖鞋。来到厨房后，她从柜子里找出一枝手电筒，可惜电池老早以前就用光了，只有一点点最淡的黄光。她放下手电筒，重新翻腾，找到一盒应急备用的白蜡烛。她拿出一根，插在蜡烛架上，又往每只衣袋里塞了一只苹果。卡萝兰拿起钥匙串，从钥匙环上解下那把又旧又黑的钥匙。
She went back into her bedroom, and rummaged in the pocket of her jeans. She found the stone with the hole in it, and put it into her dressing-gown pocket.
她回到自己的房间，在牛仔裤口袋里一阵乱翻。她找到了中间带洞眼的小石头，把它放进睡袍口袋。她走进客厅。
“When I was a little girl,” said Coraline to the cat, “when we lived in our old house, a long, long time ago, my dad took me for a walk on the wasteland between our house and the shops.
“我还是个小女孩的时候，”卡萝兰对猫说，“那是好久好久以前的事了，当时我们还住在我们的老房子里。有一次，爸爸带我出去散步，去我们家和商店中间的那块荒地。”
She walked into the drawing room and looked at the door. She had the feeling that the door was looking back at her, which she knew was silly, and knew on a deeper level was somehow true.
她来到客厅，望着那扇门。她觉得那扇门好像在瞪着她。她知道这是个傻念头，但在心底里，她知道，这个傻念头是真的。
“It wasn’t the best place to go for a walk, really. There were all these things that people had thrown away back there — old cookers and broken dishes and dolls with no arms and no legs, and empty cans and broken bottles. Mum and Dad made me promise not to go exploring back there, because there were too many sharp things, and tetanus and such.”
“其实，荒地算不上散步的好地方。到处是别人扔了不要的东西：旧锅烂碗，缺胳膊少腿的玩具娃娃，空罐子，碎瓶子。妈妈爸爸要我保证不上那儿去探险，因为那儿的尖东西很多，怕得上破伤风什么的。”
She lit the candle wick with a match and watched it sputter and light, then she picked up the black key. It was cold in her hand. She put the key into the keyhole in the door, but did not turn it.
她划了一根火柴，点着蜡烛，望着火苗摇晃了几下，变亮了。她拿起那把黑钥匙。钥匙握在手里，凉冰冰的。她把钥匙插进门上的钥匙孔。转不动。
“And then we stopped and we puffed and we panted, and we looked back down the gully.”
“然后，我们停下来，呼哧呼哧直喘。我们朝山下那条水沟看。”
“As I got to the top of the hill I heard somebody thundering up the hill behind me. It was my dad, charging like a rhino. When he reached me he picked me up in his arms and swept me over the edge of the hill.”
“我快跑到山头了，听见后面砰砰砰的，有人朝山头跑。是我爸爸，跑得跟犀牛一样猛。赶上我以后，他一把抱起我，一口气冲上山头。”
“The air was alive with yellow wasps. We must have stepped on a wasps’ nest in a rotten branch as we walked. And while I was running up the hill, my dad stayed and got stung, to give me time to run away. His glasses had fallen off when he ran.”
“空中黄乎乎的，全是大马蜂。我们走的时候，准是踩上了哪段烂木头上的马蜂窝。我朝山上跑的时候，爸爸留在那儿没动，挨马蜂叮，让我有逃跑的时间。后来，他的眼镜都跑丢了。”
“We must have walked for about twenty minutes. We went down this hill, to the bottom of a gully, where a stream was, when my Dad suddenly said to me, “Coraline — run away. Up the hill. Now!” He said it in a tight sort of way, urgently, so I did. I ran away up the hill. Something hurt me on the back of my arm as I ran, but I kept running.”
“我们肯定走了二十多分钟。有座小山，我们下到山脚一条水沟边，里面有水。爸爸突然向我说，‘卡萝兰——快跑，跑上山。跑啊！’声音紧绷绷的，非常急，所以我撒腿就跑。跑着跑着，胳膊后面扎了一下，好痛，可我还是跑。”
“But I kept telling them I wanted to explore it. So one day my dad put on his big brown boots and his gloves and put my boots on me and my jeans and sweater, and we went for a walk.
“可我老是跟他们说，我想去那儿探险。所以，有一天，爸爸穿上他那双褐色大靴子，戴上手套，也给我套上靴子、牛仔裤、厚衣服，然后去那儿走一趟。”
“So,” said Coraline, “later that afternoon my dad went back again to the wasteland, to get his glasses back. He said if he left it another day he wouldn’t be able to remember where they’d fallen.
“那天下午，”卡萝兰说，“爸爸又回到那片荒地找他的眼镜。他说，再耽搁一天的话，他就想不起眼镜扔在什么地方了。”
“I only had the one sting on the back of my arm. He had thirty-nine stings, all over him. We counted later, in the bath.”
“我只在胳膊后面被叮了一下。他被叮了三十九下，全身都是。我们挨个儿数过，在浴室数的。”
The black cat began to wash its face and whiskers in a manner that indicated increasing impatience. Coraline reached down and stroked the back of its head and neck. The cat stood up, walked several paces until it was out of her reach, then it sat down and looked up at her again.
黑猫开始洗脸抹胡子，表示它不耐烦了。卡萝兰伸手下去，摸它的后脑、脖子。猫站起来，走了几步，走到她够不着的地方坐下，仰头望着她。
“And soon he got home, wearing his glasses. He said that he wasn’t scared when he was standing there and the wasps were stinging him and hurting him and he was watching me run away. Because he knew he had to give me enough time to run, or the wasps would have come after both of us.”
“没过多久，他回家了，戴着眼镜。他说，当时他站在那儿，马蜂叮他，疼极了，他看着我向上跑。可他不害怕。因为他知道，他得给我留出足够的逃跑时间，不然的话，马蜂叮的就是我们两个人。”
Coraline turned the key in the door. It turned with a loud clunk.
卡萝兰一拧门上的钥匙。很响的喀嚓一声，转动了。
The door swung open.
门开了。
There was no brick wall on the other side of the door: only darkness. A cold wind blew through the passageway. Coraline made no move to walk through the door.
门后面没有砖墙，只有一片黑。里面的过道吹来一股风，冷飕飕的。卡萝兰没有向前走。
She could smell dust and damp and mustiness. The cat padded along beside her. “And why was that?” asked the cat, although it sounded barely interested.
一股灰尘味儿、潮湿味儿、霉味儿。猫走在她身边。“为什么？”猫说，但好像并没有多大兴趣。
“And he said that wasn’t brave of him, doing that, just standing there and being stung,” said Coraline to the cat. “It wasn’t brave because he wasn’t scared: it was the only thing he could do. But going back again to get his glasses, when he knew the wasps were there, when he was really scared. That was brave.”
“他说，他不是勇敢，站在那儿让马蜂叮他。”卡萝兰告诉猫，“不是勇敢，因为他并不害怕。他只能这么做。可第二次，他去取眼镜的时候，知道有马蜂，他很害怕。那一次才是勇敢。”
The candle cast huge, strange, flickering shadows along the wall. She heard something moving in the darkness, beside her, or to one side of her, she could not tell. It seemed as if it was keeping pace with her, whatever it was.
蜡烛光把他们的影子映在墙上，奇奇怪怪的影子，摇来晃去。她听见黑暗中有动静，就在她身边，要不就是在她身后。她说不清。不管是什么东西，它好像一路紧紧跟着她。
She took her first step down the dark corridor.
她朝黑洞洞的门里迈出第一步。
“Because,” she said, “when you’re scared but you still do it anyway, that’s brave.”
“因为，”她说，“你害怕一件事，可还是要去做，那才是勇敢。”
“And that’s why you’re going back to her world, then?” said the cat. “Because your father once saved you from wasps?”
“所以你才会去她的世界？”猫说，“因为你爸爸以前救过你？”
“Don’t be silly,” said Coraline. “I’m going back for them because they are my parents. And if they noticed I was gone I’m sure they would do the same for me. You know you’re talking again?”
“别傻了。”卡萝兰说，“我去救他们，因为他们是我的爸爸妈妈。要是他们发现我不见了，他们准会做同样的事儿。知道吗？你又开始说话了。”
“Darling,” said the woman. “Why did you ever run away from me?”
“亲爱的，”女人说，“上次你干吗离开这儿呀？”
“How fortunate I am,” said the cat, “in having a travelling companion of such wisdom and intelligence.” Its tone remained sarcastic, but its fur was bristling, and its brush of a tail stuck up in the air.
“有这么聪明、这么智慧的一位旅伴，”猫说，“我真是幸运啊。”说话是讽刺的语气，可它的毛都立了起来，蓬蓬松松的大尾巴高高竖着。
Coraline was going to say something, like “sorry” or “wasn’t it a lot shorter walk last time?” when the candle went out as suddenly as if it had been snuffed by someone’s hand.
卡萝兰正想说点什么，比如‘对不起’，或者‘上次来的时候路好像没这么长’。就在这时，蜡烛灭了。一下子就灭了，好像被谁用手掐灭了似的。
There was a scrabbling and a pattering, and Coraline could feel her heart pounding against her ribs. She put out one hand… and felt something wispy, like a spider’s web, brush her hands and her face.
有声音，脚在地上蹭着走的声音。嚓啦嚓拉，叭嗒叭嗒。卡萝兰的心怦怦直跳。她伸出一只手…摸到什么细细的、黏糊糊的东西，像蜘蛛网，沾在她的手上脸上。
“Coraline? Darling?” she called.
“卡萝兰？亲爱的？”她说。
At the end of the corridor the electric light went on, blinding after the darkness. A woman stood, silhouetted by the light, a little ahead of Coraline.
过道尽头，电灯亮了。在黑洞洞的过道里走了这么久，灯光刺得卡萝兰睁不开眼。灯光映出一个女人的剪影，就在卡萝兰前头不远。
“Mum!” said Coraline, and she ran forward, eager and relieved.
“妈妈！”卡萝兰喊起来，松了一口气，向前跑过去。
Coraline was too close to stop, and she felt the other mother’s cold arms enfold her. She stood there, rigid and trembling as the other mother held her tightly.
卡萝兰已经跑近了，收不住脚，感到另一个妈妈冰冷的手抓住了她。她站在那儿，吓得动都不敢动，全身直哆嗦。另一个妈妈紧紧搂住她。
“Where are my parents?” Coraline asked.
“我的爸爸妈妈在哪儿？”卡萝兰问。
“We’re here,” said her other mother, in a voice so close to her real mother’s that Coraline could scarcely tell them apart. “We’re here. We’re ready to love you and play with you and feed you and make your life interesting.”
“我们都在这儿。”她的另一个妈妈说。声音跟她真正的妈妈像极了，简直分不出来。“我们在这儿。我们什么都准备好了，会爱你，跟你玩，喂你吃好喝好，让你过得开开心心的。”
Coraline pulled back, and the other mother let her go, with reluctance.
卡萝兰使劲一挣，另一个妈妈不太情愿地放开她。
Coraline walked down the hallway until she reached the mirror at the end. There was nothing reflected in it but a young girl in her dressing gown and slippers, who looked like she had recently been crying but whose eyes were real eyes, not black buttons, and who was holding tightly to a burned-out candle in a candlestick.
卡萝兰走到过道尽头的镜子前。里面什么都没有，只有一个穿睡袍拖鞋的小姑娘，一看就知道刚刚哭过，但眼睛是真正的眼睛，不是黑纽扣，手里紧紧攥着一只蜡烛架，上面插着一根快点完的蜡烛。
She looked at the girl in the mirror and the girl in the mirror looked back at her.
她望着镜子里的小姑娘，镜子里的小姑娘望着她。
The other father, who had been sitting on a chair in the hallway, stood up and smiled. “Come on into the kitchen,” he said. “I’ll make us a midnight snack. And you’ll want something to drink — hot chocolate, perhaps?”
另一个爸爸一直坐在过道的一把椅子里，他站起来，笑着说：“来，进厨房。”他说，“我给大家做点消夜。你准想喝点什么，热巧克力？”
I will be brave, thought Coraline. No, I am brave. She put down the candlestick on the floor, then she turned round.
我一定要勇敢，卡萝兰想。不，我本来就勇敢。她把蜡烛架放在地板上，转过身来。
The other mother and the other father were looking at her hungrily.
另一个妈妈和另一个爸爸盯着她，眼睛里一股馋痨劲儿。
The other father looked disappointed. The other mother smiled, showing a full set of teeth, and each of the teeth was a tiny bit too long. The lights in the hallway made her black-button eyes glitter and gleam.
另一个爸爸好像很失望。另一个妈妈笑了，露出一嘴牙，每一颗牙都稍稍长了点儿。过道的灯光照在她眼睛上，两颗黑纽扣闪闪发亮。
“I don’t need a snack,” she said. “I have an apple. See?” And she took an apple from her dressing-gown pocket, then bit into it with relish and an enthusiasm that she did not really feel.
“我不要消夜，”她说，“我有一个苹果。瞧见没？”她从睡袍口袋里掏出一个苹果，咬了一大口。好大的一口，其实她这会儿并不饿。
The world seemed to shimmer a little at the edges.
这个世界的边边角角好像闪了一下，摇摇晃晃，有点儿模糊。
“You don’t frighten me,” said Coraline, although they did frighten her, very much. “I want my parents back.”
“你们吓唬不了我。”卡萝兰说，其实他们把她吓坏了，“把我的爸爸妈妈还给我。”
“They weren’t bored of me,” said Coraline. “You’re lying. You stole them.”
“他们没觉得我烦。”卡萝兰说，“你撒谎。你把他们偷走了。”
“Whatever would I have done with your old parents? If they have left you, Coraline, it must be because they became bored with you, or tired. Now, I will never become bored with you, and I will never abandon you. You will always be safe here with me.” The other mother’s wet-looking black hair drifted around her head, like the tentacles of a creature in the deep ocean.
“我拿你从前的爸爸妈妈干什么？要是他们离开你，卡萝兰，肯定是不喜欢你，烦了，或者累了。可我呢，我永远不会觉得你烦，也永远不会离开你。在这儿，跟我在一起，你永远是安全的。”另一个妈妈的黑头发好像湿漉漉的，在脑袋后面摆来摆去，很像生活在海底的动物的触须。
“See?” said her other mother.
“明白吗？”她的另一位母亲说。
Coraline simply glared at the other mother.
卡萝兰一句话都不说，瞪着另一个妈妈。
“That was a fine holiday,” said Coraline’s father.
“这个假期过得真好。”卡萝兰的爸爸说。
“And,” said her father, “I take great comfort in knowing that her other mother will take better care of her than we ever could.”
“还有，”她爸爸说，“我觉得很高兴，她的另一个妈妈会好好照顾她，比我们俩做得更好。”
“I’ll prove it,” said the other mother, and brushed the surface of the mirror with her long white fingers. It clouded over, as if a dragon had breathed on it, and then it cleared.
“我证明给你看。”另一个妈妈说，长长的、白乎乎的指头抹过镜面。镜面像蒙了一层雾，好像有头龙在上面喷了一口气儿似的。接着，雾气散开了。
“Silly, silly Coraline. They are fine wherever they are.”
“傻孩子，傻孩子。你从前的爸爸妈妈好好的没事，不管他们现在在哪儿。”
In the mirror it was daytime already. Coraline was looking at the hallway, all the way down to her front door. The door opened from the outside and Coraline’s mother and father walked inside. They carried suitcases.
镜子里是白天，卡萝兰看到了过道，还能一直看下去，连家里的大门都看得清清楚楚。大门从外面打开了，卡萝兰的爸爸妈妈走进来，手里提着旅行箱。
The mirror fogged and faded and reflected the night once more.
镜子蒙上了一层雾，褪了色，又反射出夜色。
“No,” said Coraline. “I don’t see. And I don’t believe it either.”
“不，”卡萝兰说。“我不明白。我也不相信。”
“How nice it is, not to have Coraline any more,” said her mother with a happy smile. “Now we can do all the things we always wanted to do, like go abroad, but were prevented from doing by having a little daughter.”
“真好啊，再也没有卡萝兰了。”她的妈妈高高兴兴笑着说，“现在，我们一直想做的事儿都可以做了，比如去国外。从前因为有个小女儿，什么事都干不了。”
Coraline sat down on the sofa and ate her apple.
卡萝兰坐在沙发上吃苹果。
The rat returned, dragging the key behind it.
老鼠回来了，拖着钥匙。
“Please,” said her other mother. “Don’t be difficult.” She walked into the drawing room and clapped her hands twice. There was a rustling noise and a black rat appeared. It stared up at her. “Bring me the key,” she said.
“求你了，”她另一个母亲说。“别为难我。”她走进客厅，拍手两下。一声沙沙作响，一只黑老鼠出现了。它盯着她看。“把钥匙给我，”她说。
She hoped that what she had just seen was not real, but she was not as certain as she sounded. There was a tiny doubt inside her, like a maggot in an apple core. Then she looked up and saw the expression on her other mother’s face: a flash of real anger, which crossed her face like summer lightning, and Coraline was sure in her heart that what she had seen in the mirror was no more than an illusion.
她希望她刚才看到的不是真的，但她没有听起来那么确定。她内心有一种小小的怀疑，就像苹果核里的蛆虫。然后她抬起头来，看到了她另一个母亲脸上的表情：一道真正的愤怒的闪光，像夏天的闪电一样掠过她的脸，卡萝兰心里确信，她在镜子里看到的只是一个幻觉。
The rat chittered, then it ran through the open door that led back to Coraline’s own flat.
老鼠叽叽喳喳地叫着，然后跑过通向卡萝兰自己公寓的敞开的门。
“There is only one key. Only one door,” said the other father.
“只有一把钥匙。只有一扇门，”另一个父亲说。
“Hush,” said the other mother. “You must not bother our darling Coraline’s head with such trivialities.” She put the key in the keyhole and twisted. The lock was stiff, but it clunked closed.
“嘘，”另一个母亲说。“你不能用这些琐碎的事来打扰我们亲爱的卡萝兰。”她把钥匙放进钥匙孔里，扭了扭。锁很硬，但关上时发出了咔嚓声。
“Why don’t you have your own key on this side?” asked Coraline.
“你为什么不把自己的钥匙放在这边？”卡萝兰问。
She placed her long white fingers on the shoulders of the other father, and she walked him out of the room.
她把她白色的长手指放在另一个父亲的肩膀上，然后她带他走出房间。
She dropped the key into her apron pocket.
她把钥匙掉进围裙口袋里。
Outside, the sky had begun to lighten to a luminous grey.
外面的天空开始变亮，变成了明亮的灰色。
“If we aren’t going to have a midnight snack,” said the other mother, “we still need our beauty sleep. I am going back to bed, Coraline. I would strongly suggest that you do the same.”
“如果我们不打算在午夜吃零食，”另一位母亲说，“我们仍然需要美丽的睡眠。我要回去睡觉了，卡萝兰。我强烈建议你也这样做。”
Something furry pushed itself against her side in one smooth, insinuating motion. Coraline jumped, then breathed a sigh of relief when she saw what it was.
什么毛茸茸的东西一晃，在她腿上蹭了一下。卡萝兰吓得跳起来，接着才发现是什么。她松了口气。
“Oh. It’s you,” she said to the black cat.
“噢，原来是你呀。”她对那只黑猫说。
She was indeed tired, but she did not want to sleep in the bedroom. She did not want to sleep under the same roof as her other mother.
她累坏了，但又不想在卧室睡觉。她不想和她的另一个妈妈睡在一幢房子里。
Coraline walked over to the door at the far corner of the drawing room. She tugged on it, but it was tightly locked. The door of her other parents’ bedroom was now closed.
卡萝兰走到客厅角落的那扇门前，拉了一下，可门锁死了。另一个爸爸和妈妈的卧室门也关上了。
The front door was not locked. Coraline walked out into the dawn and down the stone steps. She sat down on the bottom step. It was cold.
大门没锁。外面已经有点亮光了，卡萝兰走出门，沿着石头台阶走下去，坐在最下面一级台阶上。真凉啊。
“What if it was dinnertime?” asked Coraline. “Wouldn’t you want to be called then?”
“要是开饭的时候到了呢？”卡萝兰说，“开饭的时候总得叫你一声吧？”
“Why does she want me?” Coraline asked the cat. “Why does she want me to stay here with her?”
“她为什么想要我？”卡萝兰问猫，“为什么想让我留在这儿不走？”
“Well, what if I wanted to call you?”
“嗯，我想叫你的话，该怎么办？”
“Of course,” said the cat. “But a simple cry of ‘dinner!’ would do nicely. See? No need for names.”
“当然，”猫说，“不过，好办。喊一声‘开饭了’就行。懂了吧？用不着名字。”
“See?” said the cat. “It wasn’t so hard recognising me, was it? Even without names.”
“瞧，”猫说，“认出我并不难嘛，对不对？就算没有名字，一样能认出我。”
The cat looked as if it were about to say something else sarcastic. Then it flicked its whiskers, and said, “Challenge her. There’s no guarantee she’ll play fair, but her kind of thing loves games and challenges.”
瞧猫的样子，它好像又准备说点刺人的话。接着，它抹了抹胡子，说：“向她挑战。她不一定会公公平平地玩，但她那一类东西都喜欢玩游戏，喜欢挑战。”
The cat wrinkled its nose and managed to look unimpressed. “Calling cats,” it confided, “tends to be a rather overrated activity. Might as well call a whirlwind.”
猫鼻子一皱，装出一副不在乎的模样。“叫我们猫，这个嘛，是有点麻烦。”它承认说，“你还不如冲着旋风叫唤呢。”
“She wants something to love, I think,” said the cat. “Something that isn’t her. She might want something to eat as well. It’s hard to tell with creatures like that.”
“我想，她希望有一件可以爱的东西。”猫说，“除了她自己以外，别的什么东西。也可能想找点可以吃的。像她那种东西，很难说清她想干什么。”
“Do you have any advice?” asked Coraline.
“你有什么好主意吗？”卡萝兰问。
“What kind of thing is that?” asked Coraline. But the cat made no answer, simply stretched, luxuriantly, and walked away. Then it stopped, and turned, and said, “I’d go inside if I were you. Get some sleep. You have a long day ahead of you.”
“哪一类东西？”卡萝兰问。猫没有回答，只舒舒服服伸了个大懒腰，走开了。走几步又停下来，转过头，说：“我要是你的话，我就进屋去。睡会儿觉。今天一天长着呢。”
And then the cat was gone.
说完，猫走了。
Still, Coraline realised, it had a point. She crept back into the silent house, past the closed bedroom door beyond which the other mother and the other father… What? she wondered. Slept? Waited? And then it came to her that, should she open the bedroom door, she would find it empty, or, more precisely, that it was an empty room and it would remain empty until the exact moment that she opened the door.
卡萝兰想呀想呀，觉得它说得挺有道理。她爬起来，回到静悄悄的屋里，走过另一个妈妈和另一个爸爸的卧室…他们在里面干什么？睡觉？等待？她突然明白了：如果推开门，她准会发现里面空空的，一个人都没有；或者，说得更准确一点儿，这是一个空房间，但就在她开门的那一眨眼工夫，里面就会变出人来。
Coraline checked under her bed, looking for rats, but there was nothing there. She took off her dressing gown and slippers and climbed into bed and fell asleep with barely enough time to reflect, as she did so, on what the cat could have meant by a challenge.
卡萝兰看了看床铺底下，看有没有老鼠。床下什么都没有。她脱下睡袍和拖鞋，爬上床，脑袋一沾枕头就睡着了，连想想猫说的“挑战”是什么意思都没来得及。她本来打算好好想想的。
The toys in the toybox were still mostly asleep, and they stirred and muttered as she moved their box, and then they went back to sleep.
玩具盒里的玩具大多还在睡觉。她搬动它们的盒子时，玩具们动弹起来，嘟嘟囔囔的，然后又接着睡觉。
Somehow, that made it easier. Coraline walked into the green and pink parody of her own bedroom. She closed the door and hauled the toybox in front of it — it would not keep anyone out, but the noise somebody would make trying to dislodge it would wake her, she hoped.
不知为什么，想明白了这一点以后，卡萝兰反而觉得有了点把握。她走进自己那间颜色怪里怪气、绿中带红的卧室。她关上门，又用玩具盒子把门项上。这么一个盒子，当然谁都挡不住。但如果有人想进来，一碰到盒子，里面的玩具就会哗啦啦直响，把她惊醒。至少，她是这么希望的。
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