英美文學賞讀-《Marley＆Me》29.chapter4：Mr.Wiggles

最新 03-31

～原文～

following theinstructionson the bag,we gave Marley three large bowls of puppy chow a day.Hewolfeddown everymorselin a matter ofseconds.What went in came out,of course,and soon,our backyard was asinvitingas aminefield.we didn』t dareventureout into it without eyessharplypeeled.If Marley』sappetitewas huge,his droppings were huge still,giantmoundsthat look virtually unchanged from what had earlier gone in the other end.was he evendigestingthis stuff?

Apparently he was.Marley was growing at afuriouspace.Like one of those amazingjungle vinesthat can cover a house in hours.he was expendingexponentiallyin all directions.Each day he was a little longer,a little wider,a little taller,a little heavier.He was twenty-one pounds when I brought him home and within weeks was up to fifty. his cute little puppy head that I so easilycradledin one hand as I drove him home that first night had rapidlymorphedinto somethingresemblingthe shape andheftof a blacksmith』sanvil.His paws were enormous,hisflanksalready just as the books promised,his slip of a puppy tail was becoming as thick and powerful as an otter』s.

～譯文～

遵照賣家的指示，我們每天給Marley三大碗狗糧。他瞬間將它們一掃而光。當然，怎麼進去的就怎麼出來,很快，我們家的後院就變得像一片誘人的雷區了。我們可不敢在沒有仔細掃視過的情況下就冒然走出去。如果Marley的食慾很大，那麼他排出來的就很大，這一端出來的一堆龐然大物看起來就和從另一端進去時幾乎沒有任何變化，這些東西他到底消化了沒有？

顯然是消化了。Marley以某種驚人的速度在長大。就像那些不可思議的藤蔓那樣只需幾個小時就可以遮天蔽日。他以指數級的趨勢向各個方向伸展著。每天長一點、寬一點、高一點、重一點。剛到新家的時候他只有二十一磅，短短几周就長到五十磅。曾經我只用一個手掌就能包裹住的小腦袋瓜子，其形狀和重量已經變異成為鐵匠們用來打鐵時墊在下面的砧板，又大又硬。他巨大的爪子和延伸出來的側腹部，已經和書里說的一模一樣，那根滑不溜秋的小狗尾巴，也越來越像濃密而有力的水獺尾巴了。