我不知道他是怎样来到我的诊所的。他看起来还没到可以开车的年龄，虽然他那孩童的身躯已经开始发育，举手投足间也充满了年轻男子的翩翩风姿。他的表情坦率而真诚。

　　When I walked into the waiting room, he was lovingly petting his cat through the open door of the carrier on his lap. With a schoolboy’s faith in authority, he had brought his sick cat in for me to mend. The cat was a tiny thing, exquisitely formed, with a delicate skull and beautiful markings. She was about the boy’s own age, give or take a year. I could see how her spots and stripes and her fierce, bright face had evoked the image of a tiger in a child’s mind, and Tigress she had become. Age had 1dammed the bright green fire of her eyes into faded lace, but she was stillelegant and 1self-possessed.

　　他的膝盖上放着一个猫笼，当我走进候诊室时，他正把手伸进敞开的小门，亲切地爱抚着他的猫。带着学生对于权威的信任，他将他那生病的猫带到我这里来治疗。猫的个头不大，身形纤美，有着精致的小脑袋和美丽的斑纹。她的年纪和那男孩差不多大，偏差不超过一岁。我可以从她的斑点和条纹，还有她那野性机灵的脸庞上看出，在孩子的心目中她就像是一只老虎，所以她的名字就叫虎妞。年龄的衰老使得她眼中明亮的绿色火焰黯然失色，但她依然优雅自若。

　　I began to ask questions to determine what had brought this charming pair to see me. Unlike most adults, the boy answered simply and directly. Tigress had had a normal appetite until recently, when she’d begun to 1vomit a couple of times a day. Now she was not eating at all and had withdrawn from her human family. She had also lost a pound, which is a lot when you weigh only six.

　　我开始问诊，了解为什么这两个可爱的家伙会到我这里来。和大多数成年人不同的是，男孩的回答简单而直接。虎妞的胃口一向正常，直到最近她开始每天呕吐好几次。如今她完全不吃不喝了，还躲避着她的人类家庭。她已经瘦了一磅（约0.454公斤）——如果你只有六磅重的话，这就瘦得很厉害了。

　　Stroking Tigress, I told her how beautiful she was while I examined her eyes and mouth, listened to her heart and lungs, and felt her stomach. My fingers found it: a tubular mass in 1mid-abdomen. Tigress politely tried to slip away. She did not like the mass being handled.

　　我抚摸着虎妞，一边对她说她是多么美丽，一边检查她的眼睛和嘴巴，听她的心肺，轻按她的胃部。我发现在她腹部的中部有个肾小管团。虎妞客气地试图溜走。她不喜欢被人摸到那块东西。

　　I looked at the fresh faced boy and back at the cat he had probably had all his 1ife. I was going to have to tell him that his beloved companion had a 1tumor. Even if it were 1surgically removed, she probably would survive less than a year, and might need weekly chemotherapy to last that long.

　　我看了看男孩稚嫩的脸庞，然后又看了看那只或许从小就陪伴着他的猫。我将不得不告诉他，他挚爱的伙伴得了肿瘤。即便做手术摘除了，她可能也活不过一年，而且可能还要每个星期做化疗才能维持得到。

　　It would all be very difficult and expensive. So I was going to have to tell this boy that his cat was likely to die. And there he was, all alone. Death is something we push to the background andignore as long as possible, but in reality every living thing we love will die. It is an omnipresent part of life. How death is first experienced can be life-forming. It can be a thing of horror and suffering, or a peaceful release.

　　这样治疗难度颇大，且费用高昂，所以我将不得不告诉这个男孩，他的猫很可能会死去。然后，就剩下他孤单一人了。我们常常刻意漠视死亡：尽可能久地忽视它的存在，但实际上，我们深爱的每个生命都会死去。死亡是生命中挥之不去的一部分。第一次直面死亡的经历会影响往后的生活。它可能会是一件恐怖而痛苦的事情，或者也可能会是一种安详的解脱。