原作者：
来源Honoring the Best Bad Dog a Family Could Ever Have - New York Times
译者DroopyPapa
When John Grogan and his wife traveled to Ireland, they left behind the third member of the family: Marley, their Labrador retriever. Mr. Grogan wrote a six-page "Marley memo" for the dog sitter. This document nicely captures the pet's personality.
当约翰·杰罗甘和妻子去爱尔兰度假的时候，他们把另一个家庭成员——一条名叫马利的拉布拉多巡回犬——留在了家中。杰罗甘先生给临时到他们家照看马利的人写了长达六页的"马利备忘录"。这份备忘录恰如其分地捕捉到了这条狗的个性。
Vitamin pill: "The best way to give it to him is to simply drop it on the floor and pretend he's not supposed to have it."
维生素片："喂它吃的最好方法是把药片'掉'在地上，然后假装本来没想给它吃"。
Beverages: "His jowls hold a surprising amount of water, which runs out as he walks away from the bowl."
饮用水："它的嘴里能盛下多得惊人的水，在它离开水碗时，嘴里的水还在往外流"。
Obeying commands: "It's best if you're standing and not crouched down when you call him." Sedatives for thunderstorm phobia: "One pill 30 minutes before the storm arrives (you'll be a weather forecaster before you know it!)"
听从命令："在你唤它的时候，最好站直了，别蹲下来"。
针对雷声恐惧症的镇静药："在风暴来临前三十分钟喂食一片（你将在不知不觉中成为气象预报专家！）"。
Mr. Grogan knew the workings of Marley's mind. He makes that abundantly clear in "Marley and Me," a very funny valentine to all those four-legged "big, dopey, playful galumphs that seemed to love life with a passion not often seen in this world." It's a book with intense but narrow appeal, strictly limited to anyone who has ever had, known or wanted a dog.
杰罗甘先生知道马利脑子里在想些什么，在《马利和我》中他表达得很清楚。这本书是一份充满趣味的情书，致所有那些"又大又蠢，非常贪玩，老是横冲直撞，却怀有这个世上少有的对生活的热情"的四条腿动物。这本书对任何曾经养过、了解过或是想过养狗的人们具有强烈的吸引力，其他人却无法体会。
"Marley and Me" tenderly follows its subject from sunrise to sunset, from the ball-of-fluff stage to the heartbreaking farewell. In every chewed-up stereo speaker, busted screen door, purloined grilled cheese sandwich and bouquet of decapitated flowers, Mr. Grogan finds more about Marley to love.
《马利和我》将主人公的一生娓娓道来，从日出到日落，从它还是一团小毛球的时候一直到那叫人心碎的诀别时分。每个马利嚼烂的立体声音响、撞破的纱门、偷来的奶酪烤三明治或是摧残的花束，都让杰罗甘先生爱马利更多一点。
So this is a dog with a dark side. After all, the book's subtitle is "Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog." As Mr. Grogan found out when he described Marley that way in The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he is a columnist, that distinction is hotly contested; one reader said her Lab, Jason, was better qualified because he once ate a whole vacuum cleaner hose. Still, Marley was a strong candidate, and the book describes his qualifications with hilarity and affection.
这是只有着"阴暗面"的狗。毕竟，书的副标题就是"和世界上最坏的狗一起爱并生活着"。作为一个专栏作家，杰罗甘先生发现，当他在费城询问报的专栏里那样描述（马利）时，遭到了不少激烈抗议的声音：一位读者说，她的拉布拉多犬，"杰森"，更当得起这一美名，因为它有次吃下了一整条吸尘器管。当然，马利仍是个实力了得的候选者，作者在书里也愉快而宠溺地描述了它的资质。
As newlyweds, the Grogans were naïve enough to fall for Marley, the bargain puppy in his litter, without meeting his father. All they knew was that this Lab was a purebred. "This was my first time rubbing shoulders with anything resembling high breeding, my own family included," Mr. Grogan writes.
当初，杰罗甘夫妇这对新婚燕尔极其天真地看上了马利这条在一片杂乱中玩耍的特价小狗，甚至没有见见它的父亲。他们所知道的仅仅是这是条纯种拉布拉多犬。"包括我自己的家族血统在内，那是我头一回接触与高贵血统相关的东西"，杰罗甘先生（在书中）写道。
Only later did they realize that the "frothing, mud-caked banshee" seen briefly at the breeder's house might account for half of Marley's genes. So it made sense that Junior was rambunctious from the start. "It took him just one day to discover the best thing about his new home: toilet paper," the book recalls.
一直到后来他们才意识到可能正是在育狗所有过一面之缘的那只"嘴角流沫、浑身是泥的妖怪"决定着马利的一半基因。这么说这只小狗从一开始便桀骜不驯就可以解释通了。"只用了一天时间，它就发现了新家里最好玩的东西：厕纸"，作者回忆道。
For the book's purposes, the Grogans became dog parents at the perfect time: their lives are eventful over the course of this story. At first they were carefree enough to devote their full attention to Marley, to the point where Mr. Grogan had time to speculate about his dog's inner thoughts. They often appeared to be: "Go ahead! Pick it up! Drool all over it! Run!"
从书中看来，杰罗甘夫妇在最好的时候成为了小狗的主人：在这一段故事中，他们的生活险象环生。起先，他们没有其它要照顾的事情，可以将所有注意力放在马利身上，甚至杰罗甘先生有时间来揣摩马利脑子里都在想些什么。看上去它似乎经常在想着："跑过去！捡起来！流口水！跑！"
Things changed when the author's wife became pregnant. (The Grogans now have three children.) The dog's way of celebrating was to eat part of the pregnancy test kit. "Sorry to disappoint you, pal," Mr. Grogan told him while retrieving it, "but this is going in the scrapbook." Other items wrenched from Marley's jaws during the course of this story ("so that's where my comb went!") include a paycheck and a gold necklace. The necklace incident ended happily. Maybe you don't want to know how Mr. Grogan got it back.
直到作者的妻子怀孕，情况发生了变化。（此时杰罗甘夫妇已经有三个孩子了。）马利吃掉了一部分验孕棒来表达它对此事的庆祝。"很抱歉，要让你失望了，伙计"，杰罗甘先生夺回验孕棒，一边对马利说，"但这个是要被贴到剪贴簿里的"。在故事中从马利口中夺下的其它东西（"啊，原来我的梳子在这儿！"）包括一张支票和一条金项链。项链事件的结局很愉快，（不过）也许你并不想知道杰罗甘先生是怎么把它找回来的。
Only occasionally does "Marley and Me" contrive sitcom-ready situations. It's hard to believe that the author, even in the most amorous mood, could have mistaken Marley's warm breath for his wife's until he smelled Milk-Bone biscuits. And the image of a man being slurped on a moving toboggan by a pesky dog is too cartoonishly good to be true - unless the reader realizes how much universal Lab behavior is immortalized here. When Marley lands a movie role and finds a new way to mess up his walk-on-a-leash scene in each successive take, Mr. Grogan's description has a riotously authentic ring.《马利和我》偶尔会去刻意安排达情景喜剧的场景。即使作者再被爱情冲昏了头脑，也很难相信他居然会将马利呼出的热气和他老婆的弄混，一直到闻到"牛奶骨头饼干"的味道才反应过来。另外，一辆下滑的雪橇载着一只正在舔舐主人的缠人的狗，这情景也因为过于漫画而不像是真的——除非读者能够认识到这里所纪念的是多么常见的拉布拉多行为。当描述马利成为电影中的角色，在戏里成功地搞砸每一个遛狗片段时，杰罗甘先生的语气都极其生动真实。
Eventually a shadow falls over this story. Though the book is full of tail-thumping enthusiasm, there comes a time when Marley just can't shred the furniture any more. "I coaxed him along, calling out words of encouragement, but it was like watching a toy slowly wind down as its battery went dead," Mr. Grogan writes, about walking with Marley up a familiar hill. "Marley just did not have the oomph needed to make it to the top."
慢慢地，故事笼上了阴影。尽管整本书充满着啪啪甩打尾巴的热情，马利不再有力气撕碎家具的时候最终还是到来了。"我一路哄它，说着鼓励的话，但那感觉就像是看着一件玩具因为电池耗尽而慢慢停下"，在描述带马利到一个常去的小山散步时，杰罗甘先生这样写道。"马利已经没有精力爬到山顶"。
But Mr. Grogan describes even his dog's decline in terms of mischief. Though losing his hearing, Marley could (and did) still steal food from the kitchen counter; he just couldn't tell that he was about to be caught in the act. The book continues to record his antics. But it also captures the four-hanky nobility of Marley's struggling through his last days.
然而在杰罗甘先生的描述中，他的狗即使在衰老后仍然伴随着恶作剧。尽管失去了听力，马利仍然能够（并且真的那样做了）从厨房厨台偷吃的东西，它只是不知道它将当场被抓住。书中继续记录着马利的种种滑稽行为，但同时也记下了它在生命的最后时日里同死神作斗争的催人泪下的高贵品质。
Mr. Grogan keeps the book agile by sticking to Marley-centric episodes and by locating a crazed bit of Marleyness in any event he describes. He admits with shame that even while reporting on the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 crash of United Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pa., he could not keep the love and loss of Marley off his mind.
杰罗甘先生将书写得灵活自如，全书贯穿着以马利为中心的段落，并在描述每件事时都加入了一点马利型的狂热元素。他惭愧地承认，即使是在尚克斯维尔（译注：911事件中的劫机失事地点）报道911联合航空公司93号航班坠毁事故两周年纪念活动时，他仍无法驱赶脑中对马利的爱以及失去它的悲痛
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