2. 三月呻吟

Moaning and Groaning for Three Months

灯火在寒风中飘忽不定。　

　　The little lamp fluttered in the cold wind.

有些中国人认为冬天吃狗肉能暖身子，所以在这个大冷天，狗肉店里座无虚席。店里人声喧嚣，空气里弥漫着狗肉味。

　　Some Chinese believe that dog meat warms you up in cold weather, so on this chilly day, there were no empty seats in the dog meat restaurant. The air was full of the smell of dog meat and the sounds of the raucous crowds.

在后店，曹生源正在把另一只死狗放到锅里去煮。他屠狗为生多年，最后还开起了自己的狗肉店。生意红火，还雇了个帮工。　　

　　In the back of the restaurant, to the right, Cao Shengyuan was putting another dead dog into the kettle to boil. He had been a dog butcher for years, and finally opened his own restaurant. Business was good enough to hire a helper.

帮工说："曹大哥，这只狗的肉可真够肥的啊？"　　

　　His helper was just saying to him, "Brother Cao, this one is really meaty?"

曹生源笑道："真是！这肥狗能让我们赚不少钱呢！"

　　Cao Shengyuan chuckled. "You said it! This fat dog is going to make a lot of money for us!"

煮狗的水热起来之后，他们继续磨刀。　　

　　They continued getting their knives ready as the water to boil the dog heated up.

忽然，那只狗从锅里跳了出来，象是径直朝曹生源飞去。它扑向曹生源，咬住了他的脖子。曹生源大声尖叫救命！　　

　　Suddenly, the dog leapt out of the kettle. It seemed to fly through the air, straight at Cao. It pounced at him and bit him in the neck. Cao shrieked for help!

店里所有的顾客都过来看看究竟发生了什么事情。他们看到那只狗咬住曹生源的脖子，血从伤口里喷涌而出！这太可怕了！　　

　　All the customers in the restaurant came to see what the matter was. They saw the dog biting Cao's neck. His blood was pumping out of the wound. What a terrible sight!

当他把狗从脖子上拉开后，曹生源四处求医，但是不管用什么药，伤口还是不断地化脓、恶化。伤口疼痛异常，曹生源日夜哀号。　　

　　After he got the dog off his neck, Cao Shengyuan went to many doctors to treat his wound, but no matter what kind of medicine they put on it, it kept rotting and getting worse. It hurt so much that Cao moaned and groaned day and night.

痛苦了三个月后，曹生源终于死了。那个地方所有爱吃狗肉的人都不再吃肉了，因为他们明白了任何肉食都源自无边的苦痛。　　

　　After three months of pain, Cao finally died. All the people in the area who liked dog meat gave it up, because they realized that the meat of any animal is produced through enormous suffering.