猫鼠游戏

 

文/王逢鑫

 

李克强总理说：“我们做的是面向公众、涉及公众利益的工作，决不能跟老百姓玩这种‘猫捉老鼠’的游戏！”

 

“猫捉老鼠的游戏”的英语对应词是cat and mouse或cat-and-mouse game，直译为“猫鼠游戏”。说到“猫捉老鼠”，猫是强者，是主动的捕捉者；而老鼠是弱者，是被动的、设法逃脱的猎物。

 

猫捉到老鼠以后，有时不是立即吃掉，而是故意放走，然后再将其捉住，有些像三十六计的“欲擒故纵”。猫捉老鼠的游戏，又有点儿像“逗你玩”。这是一种猫的捕猎行为，例如：

 

1. The domestic cat often appears to play with the mouse by releasing it after capture. This hunting behavior is actually due to its instinctive imperative to ensure that the prey is weak enough to be killed without endangering the cat. 家猫抓住老鼠又放掉，常常像是跟老鼠玩耍。这种捕猎行为实际上是出于猫的本能，确保猎物足够弱小，猫可以杀死它而不会危害自身。

 

猫想抓住老鼠，但不是总能得手；而老鼠为了活命，常常得以逃生，不一定总是输者。猫鼠游戏成了一时难决胜负的竞赛。汉语和英语都有描述这种现象的词组，只是英语的cat and mouse用连词and表示猫和鼠之间的并列关系，体现二者轮流处于优势，例如：

 

2. “Cat and mouse”, often expressed as “cat-and-mouse game”, is an English-language idiom dating back to 1675 meaning“a contrived action involving constant pursuit, near captures, and repeated escapes”. In extreme cases, the idiom may imply that the contest is never-ending. “cat and mouse”, 常常亦作“cat-and-mouse game”，是一个可以追溯到1675年的英语习语，意思是“涉及不停追逐、几乎抓到又不断逃脱的有预谋的行动”。在极端情况下，这个习语意味着竞赛永无休止。

 

3. In colloquial usage,“cat and mouse”has often been generalized to mean that the advantage constantly shifts between the contestants, leading to an impasse or de facto stalemate. 在口语用法中，“cat and mouse”的意思已被概括为优势在比赛者之间不断转换，导致一种僵局或事实上的平局。

 

4. “Cat and mouse”implies a relationship in which two parties closely monitor and challenge one another in a suspicious or self-protective manner, often because each party is attempting to gain an advantage over the other. “猫鼠游戏”意味着双方以怀疑或自我保护的姿态互相紧密监视和挑战的关系，常常是因为各方都试图取得压倒对方的优势。

 

猫鼠游戏常用来比喻强者与弱者之间的冲突，或是前者欲擒故纵后者，或是一方故意戏弄另一方。现实世界中，这样的事例比比皆是, 例如：

 

5. Mary had been playing cat and mouse with her boyfriend Tom. Finally Tom got tired of it and broke up with Mary. 玛丽一直跟男朋友汤姆玩猫鼠游戏。最后，汤姆感到厌倦了，就跟玛丽分手了。

 

6. The hackers played a cat and mouse game with the computer system administrators. The hackers kept trying new tricks, and the system administrators kept mounting electronic defenses to prevent damage and catch the hackers. 黑客与电脑系统管理员们玩起猫鼠游戏。黑客们不断试用新花招，而系统管理员不断采取电子防护措施以防止受损，并抓住黑客。

 

当然，人们在大千世界里也会偶见猫鼠和谐相处的场面，将其视为奇闻或趣闻，例如：

 

7. The photo captured the interesting moment of a cat playing with a tiny mouse as its new friend in a garden. 这张照片捕捉了一只猫在花园里将一只小鼠当成新朋友与其嬉戏的有趣瞬间。

 

中外不乏猫鼠题材和隐喻的文艺作品。《三侠五义》描写南侠展昭因多次救包公，阅武楼献艺被皇帝封为“御猫”, 但此封号惹怒江湖上绰号为“五鼠”的五义兄弟，引发五鼠闹东京的故事，极为精彩。20世纪40年代，在家乡青岛看过美国经典动画片Tom and Jerry，对其中的猫鼠游戏至今仍有模糊记忆，例如：

 

8. The novel entitled The Three Heroes and Five Gallants written by Shi Yukun of the Qing Dynasty tells about the rivalry between the three heroes including Zhan Zhao nicknamed “Royal Cat” and the five gallants nicknamed “Five Mice” during the Song Dynasty. 清朝石玉昆写的题为《三侠五义》的小说，讲述了宋朝包括绰号“御猫”的展昭在内的“三侠”与绰号“五鼠”的“五义”之间的冲突。

 

9. The cartoon series Tom and Jerry created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera describes a never-ending rivalry between its two main characters, Tom Cat and Jerry Mouse, with Tom hardly succeeding in catching Jerry, mainly because of Jerry’s luck. 威廉·汉纳和约瑟夫·巴伯拉在1940年创作的卡通系列片《猫和老鼠》，描述了两个主人公汤姆猫和杰瑞鼠之间永无休止的冲突，而每次都是汤姆差点儿捉住杰瑞却被它逃脱，主要是杰瑞走运。