飞禽走兽（2）

我：你照镜子能看见？

Me: Can you see yourself in the mirror?

她：嗯，直接看也成。我自己看自己爪子就不能虚着看，因为我不喜欢，要是没指甲就小粉爪就好了……她低下头看着自己的手一脸遗憾。

Her: Hmm, I can see directly. But I can't look at my own paws in a vague way because I don't like it. If I didn't have nails, I'd just have small pink paws... She lowered her head and looked at her hands, looking regretful.

我攥着笔不知道该写什么，只好接着问：你有看人不是动物的时候吗？比如某些时刻？

I gripped my pen, unsure of what to write, so I asked: Have you ever seen people who aren't animals? Like at certain moments?

她认真的想着：没有，还真没有……对了！有！我看照片看电影电视都是人，我也不知道为什么。

She thought seriously: No, actually I haven't... Oh! Yes! When I look at photos or watch movies and TV, those are all people; I don't know why.

我觉得我有点儿费解，目前看她很正常，没有任何病态表现，既不急躁也不偏执，性格开朗而绝对不是亢奋。

I found that a bit puzzling. She seemed very normal, with no signs of pathology—neither anxious nor paranoid, her personality was cheerful and definitely not hyperactive.

但是她所说的却匪夷所思。我决定从我自己入手。

But what she said was baffling. I decided to start with myself.

我：你看我是什么样的蜘蛛？

I: What kind of spider do you see when you look at me?

她：我只见过你这种，等我看看啊。说完她靠在椅背上开始虚着看我。

Her: I've only seen this kind of you, let me take a look. Then she leaned back in her chair and began to look at me vaguely.

我观察了一下，她的确是放松了眼肌在散瞳。

I observed for a moment—she really was relaxing her eye muscles and dilating her pupils.

她：你身上有花纹，但都是直直的线条，像画上去的，你的爪子……不对，是腿，可真长，不过没有真的大蜘蛛那种毛，你像是塑料的。

Her: You have patterns on you, but they're all straight lines, like they're painted on. Your paws... no, I mean legs, are really long, but you don't have the fur like a big spider, you look like you're made of plastic.

我不知道该说什么了。

I didn't know what to say anymore.

她：嗯，你刚才低头看手里的纸的时候，我虚着看你是在织网，你眼睛真亮，大灯泡似的，还能反光，嘴没大牙，是那种蚂蚱似得两大瓣儿……

Her: Hmm, when you were looking down at the paper in your hand earlier, I vaguely saw you weaving a web. Your eyes are really bright, like big light bulbs, they even reflect light. Your mouth doesn’t have big teeth, it’s like those big two parts of a grasshopper...

我觉得自己有点儿恶心，就打断了她：好了，别看了，我觉得自己很吓人了。我低头仔细看对她的简述。

I felt a bit disgusted, so I interrupted her: Alright, stop looking, I find myself quite scary now. I lowered my head to carefully consider her descriptions.

她：你又在织网了！

Her: You're weaving a web again!

我抬起头：什么样的网？

I looked up: What kind of web?

她停止了虚着的状态，回神仔细想着：嗯，是先不知道从哪儿拉出一根线，然后缠在前腿上，又拉出一根线，也缠在前腿上，很整齐的排着……

She stopped being vague and thought carefully: Hmm, it's like first pulling a line from somewhere, then wrapping it around your front legs, pulling out another line, wrapping it around the front legs again, very neatly arranged...

我：很快吗？

I: Is it fast?

她：不，时快时慢。

Her: No, sometimes fast, sometimes slow.

我猛然间意识到，那是我低头在整理自己的思路。

Suddenly, I realized that was me thinking as I bent down to organize my thoughts.

我：你再虚着看一下，如果我织网就说出来。

I: Look at me vaguely again. If I'm weaving a web, just tell me.

我猜她看到我的织网行为就是我在思考，我把各种可能性挨个理顺希望从中找出个解释……

I guessed that her seeing my weaving behavior meant I was thinking, sorting through various possibilities in hopes of finding an explanation...

她：又在织了！

Her: You're weaving again!

我并没看资料或者写什么，只是自己在想。

I wasn't looking at any materials or writing anything; I was just thinking.

我：我大概知道你是什么情况了，你有没有看见过很奇怪的动物？

I: I think I sort of understand your situation now. Have you ever seen any strange animals?

她：没有，都是我知道的，不过有我叫不出名字的，奇怪的还真没有。

Her: No, they're all ones I know, but there are some whose names I can't recall. There really aren't any strange ones.

我觉得她可能具有一种特别的感觉，比普通人强烈得多的感觉，她看到的人类直接映射为某种动物。

I felt that she might have a special perception, much stronger than that of ordinary people; she seemed to map the humans she saw directly onto some sort of animal.

但是我需要确定，因为这太离谱了。

But I needed to confirm because it was too outrageous.

大约花了几周的时间，我先查了一些动物习性，又了解了她的父母，跟我想的有些出入，但是总体来说差的不远。

After about a few weeks of time, I first researched animal behaviors and learned about her parents. What I found was somewhat different from what I expected, but generally not too far off.

她的猫妈妈是个小心谨慎的人，为人精细，但是外表给人漫不经心的感觉；她的鱼爸爸是蝠鱝（魔魟），平时慢条斯理的，但是心理年龄相对年轻，啥都好奇。

Her cat mother is a careful and meticulous person, but she seems careless on the surface; her fish father is a stingray, usually slow and laid-back, but psychologically relatively young and curious about everything.

对于鼹鼠的她，的确比较形象。看着开朗，其实是那种胆小怕事的女孩，偷偷摸摸淘个气捣个乱还成，大事儿绝对没她。基本符合她性格。

For her as a mole, it indeed fits her imagery. Looked cheerful, but she’s actually a timid girl; she can sneak around and cause some mischief, but definitely not for big matters. It generally matches her personality.

出于好奇，让她见了几个我的同事，她说的每一种动物的确对同事性格抓的比较准，这让我很惊奇。

Out of curiosity, I introduced her to a few of my colleagues, and she accurately described the traits of each colleague in terms of animals, which surprised me.

想着她的世界都是满街的老虎喜鹊狗熊兔子章鱼，我觉得多少有点儿羡慕。

Thinking of her world filled with tigers, magpies, bears, rabbits, and octopuses, I couldn't help but feel a bit envious.

最后我没办法定义她有任何精神方面的疾病，也不可能有，完全拜她开朗的性格所致。

In the end, I couldn't define her as having any mental illnesses, nor could she. It was entirely due to her cheerful personality.

不过我告诉她不要对谁都说这件事儿，可能会引来不必要的麻烦。

However, I told her not to tell everyone about this, as it might attract unnecessary trouble.

但是我没告诉她我很向往她惊人的天赋。

But I didn’t tell her how much I envied her incredible gift.

大约两年后一个学医的朋友告诉我一个生物器官：鼻犁器（费尔蒙嗅器）很多动物身上都有这个器官。

About two years later, a friend studying medicine mentioned to me a biological organ: the vomeronasal organ (also known as the Jacobsen's organ), which many animals possess.

那是一个特殊的感知器官，动物可以通过鼻犁器收集飘散在空气中的残留化学物质，从而判断对方的性别、威胁与否，甚至可以用来猎物追踪、预知地震。

It is a special sensory organ that allows animals to collect residual chemicals floating in the air, helping them determine the gender of others, identify potential threats, and even track prey or predict earthquakes.

这就是人们常说很多动物拥有的第六感。人类虽然还存在这个器官，但都已经高度退化。

This is what people often refer to as the sixth sense possessed by many animals. Although humans still have this organ, it has highly regressed.

我当时立刻想到了她的自我描述，鼹鼠。嗅觉远远强于视觉。

At that moment, I immediately thought of her self-description, the mole. Her sense of smell far exceeds her vision.

也许她的鼻犁器特别发达吧？当然那是我瞎猜的。

Maybe her vomeronasal organ is particularly developed? Of course, that's just my wild guess.

不过，说句不负责任的感慨，有时候眼睛看到的，还真不一定就是真实的。

However, to say an irresponsible thought, sometimes what the eyes see is not necessarily the truth.