The Man 3)knit his brow in thought.
　　男人皺起眉頭陷入了沉思。
　　“Now take each end of the string in one hand,” the Cat ordered.
　　The Man did so.
　　“The end in your left hand is my birth and the end in your right hand is my death. Now bring the two ends together,” the Cat said. The Man complied.
　　“You have made a continuous circle,” said the cat. “Does any point along the string appear to be different, worse or better than any other part of the string?”
　　The Man inspected the string and then shook his head “no.”
　　“Close your eyes again,” the Cat said. “Now 4)lick your hand.”
　　The Man widened his eyes in surprise.
　　“Just do it,” the Cat said. “Lick your hand, think of me in all my familiar places, think about all the pieces of string, and think about the cotton and the rose.”
　　“現(xiàn)在用兩只手捏住繩子的兩端。”貓命令道。
　　男人照做了。
　　“你左手捏著的那端就是我的出生，而右手的那端就是我的死亡?，F(xiàn)在把兩端連在一起。”貓說道。男人又照做了。
　　“你做出了一個(gè)連貫的圓圈，”貓說，“這個(gè)繩子上的任意一點(diǎn)同其他點(diǎn)有什么不同嗎？比繩子的其他部分更好或者更差嗎？”
　　男人審視著那根繩子，然后搖了搖頭。“沒有。”
　　“再次閉上你的眼睛，”貓說，“現(xiàn)在舔舔你的手。”
　　男人驚訝地睜大了眼睛。
　　“照我說的做吧，”貓說。“舔舔你的手，想想我在所有我熟悉的地方，想想所有的繩子，再想想棉花和玫瑰。”
　　The Man felt foolish, licking his hand, but he did as he was told. He discovered what a cat must know, that licking a paw is very calming and allows one to think more clearly. He continued licking and the corners of his mouth turned upward into the first smile he had shown in days. He waited for the Cat to tell him to stop, and when he didn’t, he opened his eyes. The Cat’s eyes were closed. The Man stroked the warm, brown fur, but the Cat was gone.
　　要舔自己的手，男人覺得很蠢，不過他還是照做了。他發(fā)現(xiàn)了貓所知道的秘密——舔爪子能讓你平靜下來(lái)，并讓你能夠思考得更加清楚。他繼續(xù)舔著，他的嘴角開始上翹，好多天來(lái)第一次露出了微笑。他等待著貓叫停，可是沒等到，于是他睜開了眼睛。貓的眼睛已經(jīng)閉上了。他摸了摸貓溫暖的褐色皮毛，可是貓已經(jīng)去了。
　　The Man shut his eyes hard as the tears poured down his face. He saw the Cat on the windowsill, then in his bed, then lying across his important papers. He saw him on the pillow next to his head, saw his bright gold eyes and darkest brown on his nose and ears. He opened his eyes and through his tears looked over at the rose growing in a pot on the windowsill and then to the circle of string he still held 5)clutched in his hand.
　　男人用力地閉上了眼睛，淚如泉涌。他看到貓蹲在窗臺(tái)上，然后是他的床上，然后躺在他的重要文件上。他看到貓?jiān)谒X袋邊的枕頭上，看到他明亮的金黃色的眼睛還有鼻子和耳朵上深褐色的毛發(fā)。他睜開眼睛，透過淚水，他望向窗臺(tái)上的花盆里生長(zhǎng)著的玫瑰，然后看向他依然捏在手里的繩圈。
　　One day, not long after, there was a new Cat on his lap. She was a lovely 6)calico and white ... very different from his earlier beloved Cat and very much the same.
　　不久以后的某一天，他的膝上有了一只新的貓咪。她是一只可愛的白色花斑貓——與之前那只他深愛的貓是那么地不同，然而又是那么地相同。