1. Boris looked down the long, dark hallway of the prison. It looked endless. He was being taken to a place that few people had seen. But everyone feared it. Solitary. Behind him, the guard laughed. “Well, this will teach you a lesson,” he said. “Once you’ve been in solitary, there will be no more bad behaviour from you.” Boris forced his feet to move down the hall. He knew there was no hope for him.
鲍里斯低头看着监狱那漫长又漆黑的走廊——看不到尽头。他被带到一处很少有人亲眼见过，但每个人都非常害怕的地方——禁闭房。他身后传来了看守的笑声。“好吧，这会给你一个教训，”他说，“一旦进了禁闭房，你就什么坏事也做不了了。”鲍里斯拖着双脚沿着走廊向前走去。他知道自己没有希望了。
2. Seven years ago, he had committed a crime. It was a crime so terrible that even he could not believe that he had done it. Now he was in prison for the rest of his life. He was trapped like an animal in a cage. He could not face it any longer! That’s why he had tried to escape. It had been just after sunset. He was all alone in the courtyard. The guard who was supposed to be there had made a mistake. He had left Boris alone. Boris had run for the wall like an animal. He had climbed up and was almost over. Then he had heard the words, “Freeze, prisoner!” And he had frozen. That was just yesterday. Now he was headed to an even worse cage.
七年前，他犯了罪。他的罪行非常可怕，甚至连他自己也不敢相信那件事是自己做的。现在，他的余生都要在监狱里度过。他就像一头被困在笼子里的野兽。这样的现状，他再也无法继续面对！这就是他试图越狱的原因。事情发生时，太阳刚刚落山。他独自一人在院子里。本应在那里的看守犯了一个错误，把鲍里斯自己留在了那里。鲍里斯野兽般地奔向围墙，爬了上去，几乎快要成功翻越了。正在此时，他听到有人大喊：“别动，犯人！”于是他身体僵住了。这事就发生在昨天。而此时此刻，他正走向一个甚至更加糟糕的牢笼。
3. Boris felt hopeless. They were coming to the end of the hallway. Boris saw the door at the end. He saw the bars across the small window in the door. He knew that this was it. The others had told him what it would be like inside. They were right. The guard unlocked three locks. Then he swung open the door. He pushed Boris inside. The room was like a pen. It was long and narrow with one bed. High up there was a small window with bars across it. The walls were of old, rough stone. To Boris, it felt as if they were closing in on him. His breath started to come in short gasps. His heart pounded. Boris turned to the guard. “No,” he begged. “I can’t take it here. Let me go back to where I was. I’ll never do anything wrong again.” “You should have thought of that earlier,” the guard said. Then he slammed the heavy door in Boris’s face.
鲍里斯感到了绝望。他们正朝着走廊尽头走去。此时，鲍里斯看到走廊的尽头有一扇门，门上的小窗口内装着栅栏。他之前就知道这里的样子。别人告诉过他里面会是什么样。他们说的没错。守卫开了三把锁后打开了那扇门，然后把鲍里斯推了进去。这个房间的形状有些像钢笔，又长又窄，里面只放着一张床。墙壁较高的位置有一扇带栅栏的小窗。墙壁用老旧、粗糙的石头垒砌而成。在鲍里斯看来，它们好像正向他包围过来。他的呼吸开始变得短促，心怦怦直跳。他转向看守，祈求说：“不，我不能呆在这里。让我回到我以前的牢房吧。我再也不会做任何错事了。”“你应该早点意识到这一点，”看守说。然后，他砰地一声关上了鲍里斯面前那扇重重的门。
4. Boris reached for the door. He grabbed the bars in his hands and tried to shake them. “You’ll be sorry!” he yelled after the guard. The guard just looked back and laughed. Boris sat down on the bed. He shut his eyes. He didn’t want to look around the cell. He was afraid that he would lose his mind. Thunder woke Boris from a terrible nightmare. He had dreamed that rats were running at him, screeching. He opened his eyes. He was afraid the rats were really there. He hated rats more than anything. It was his biggest worry . . . that there might be rats in solitary. Boris looked around the cell. It was almost dark. Then a flash of lightning lit up the cell. The light fell on the wall at the head of his bed. In those few seconds of light, Boris saw something that made his heart leap. One of the stones in the wall looked different. There was a thin crack in the cement around it. Boris tried to fight off a new feeling of hope. But he couldn’t help himself.
鲍里斯双手伸向那扇门。他抓住了门上的栅栏，并试图摇动它。“你会后悔的！”他对着看守的背影大喊道。看守只是回头笑了笑。鲍里斯坐在床上，闭上了眼睛。他不想环顾这间牢房。他担心自己会失去理智。雷声把鲍里斯从可怕的噩梦中唤醒。他梦见几只大老鼠正尖声叫着冲向他。他睁开了眼睛。他非常害怕那些老鼠是真实存在的。他最讨厌老鼠了。他最担心的事就是——这间牢房里可能有老鼠。鲍里斯环顾了一下这间牢房——几乎漆黑一片。正在此时，一道闪电照亮了整间牢房。光线落到他床头的墙上。这几秒钟的光亮，让鲍里斯看到了令他心跳加速的东西。墙壁上的一块石头看上去跟其它的不太一样，它周围的水泥上有一条细细的裂缝。鲍里斯试图避免内心中重新燃起希望的火焰，但并没有成功。
5. His hands were shaking. He reached down and grabbed the large stone. He moved it back and forth. Then, suddenly, it came loose! Boris pulled, and the rock fell forward into his hands. As Boris stared into the hole left by the rock, a flash of lightning lit it up. A tunnel stretched before him . . . with a rat hurrying down into it. Boris jumped back in horror when he saw the rat. He thought about putting the large stone back in place. Then another flash of lightning cut through the darkness of the cell. The tunnel lit up in front of him. It seemed to welcome him to freedom. Boris measured the size of the tunnel with his eyes. It was narrow at the beginning. But then it became wider. It looked wide enough for him to crawl though. Another flash of lightning lit up the tunnel. He searched for any sign of the rat. “Maybe I didn’t see it at all,” Boris whispered to himself. “Maybe it was just a shadow of my nightmare.”
他伸出了颤抖的双手，抓住了那块大石头。他来回移动着那块石头，突然那块石头松动了！鲍里斯拉了一下，那块石头随即掉到了他的手中。当他从那块掉下来的石头留下的洞口凝视过去时，一道闪电照亮了整个洞口。他的面前出现了一条向前延伸的隧道……一只大老鼠匆匆跑了进去。当鲍里斯看到那只老鼠时，他惊恐地向后一跳。他想把那块大石头放回原处。此时，另一道闪电划过了漆黑的牢房，照亮了他面前的那条隧道，似乎在欢迎他重获自由。鲍里斯目测了一下隧道的大小。它的入口端很窄，但越到里面越宽。这宽度看起来足够他爬行通过。又一道闪电照亮了隧道。他搜寻着老鼠的踪迹。“也许我根本没看到它，”鲍里斯低声自语道，“也许那只是噩梦给我留下的阴影。”

6. He sat in the darkness, shaking with fear and hope. Just then, Boris heard the guard’s footsteps outside his cell. He threw himself over the stone and hole. He pressed his body against the wall. He waited as the footsteps came to a stop outside his cell. He thought he would scream from the horrible tension. Then the footsteps moved away. They slowly drifted down the hallway. Finally, the noise faded into the night.
他坐在黑暗中，身体颤抖着，内心中充满了恐惧和希望。就在这时，鲍里斯听到牢房外传来了守卫的脚步声。他扑了过去，用身体挡住了那块石头和那个洞口。他的身体用力地靠在墙壁上。他就这样等待着，与此同时脚步声停在了牢房外面。他觉得自己会因承受不住这可怕的紧张局面而尖叫出来。然后，脚步声远去了。他们慢慢地沿着走廊向前走去。最终，这嘈杂的脚步声消失在深夜之中。
7. Suddenly, Boris knew he could not wait any longer. He stuck his head into the tunnel and pushed the rest of his body through. He tried to look back, but the tunnel was too narrow. There was no turning back now. Boris squirmed deeper and deeper into the tunnel. Crawling on his stomach, he felt like a snake slithering into its hole. He felt the tunnel grow damper and colder.
突然间，鲍里斯意识到自己不能再等了。他把头伸进隧道，然后身体的其余部分也钻了进去。他试图回头看看，但隧道太狭窄了。现在没有回头路了。鲍里斯一点儿一点儿地朝隧道深处蠕动着身体。他腹部贴地爬动着，感觉自己就像一条正朝着自己栖身的洞中爬行的蛇。他感到隧道变得越来越潮湿，越来越寒冷。
8. Just as the tunnel began to grow slimy, it opened up and became wider. Boris stood up on his trembling legs. He tried to see into the darkness ahead. He put his hands out in front of him and walked slowly through the black tunnel. The rocky walls were sharp and tore at his hands. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with one hand and felt warm blood oozing from it.
随着隧道开始变得粘稠，里面的空间变越来越宽大。鲍里斯用他那双颤抖的双腿站了起来。他试图看穿前方的黑暗。他将双手伸向身前，沿着黑暗的隧道缓慢地向前走着。尖锐的岩壁刺伤了他的双手。他用一只手擦了擦额头上的汗水，感觉到手上有鲜血渗出。
9. Suddenly, the tunnel sloped down at a sharp angle. Boris’s feet slipped forward. He landed on his back. He slid deeper and deeper into the tunnel. He came to a stop where the floor of the tunnel suddenly became flat. His breath was coming in short gasps that tore at his lungs. He picked himself up. He reached for the slimy walls of the tunnel. Then the truth hit him like a blow. He could never go back. The walls of the tunnel behind him were too steep and slippery. He had only one chance. He had to push on. He had to push on . . . and hope that there was an end to the tunnel.
突然，隧道出现了一个很大的向下倾斜角度。鲍里斯双脚前滑，背朝下摔在地上，然后不断地朝隧道深处滑了下去。最终，他在隧道地面突然变得平坦的位置停了下来。他急促地喘着气，肺部撕裂般地疼痛。他爬了起来，伸手去摸粘稠的隧道壁。然后，真相像一记重击一样砸在了他的身上——他再也回不去了。他身后的隧道壁太陡、太滑了。他只有一个机会——他必须继续前进。他必须继续前进……同时抱着隧道有尽头的希望。
10. Boris moved himself forward. He clawed at the walls with his hands, trying to hurry. The tunnel was beginning to feel more and more narrow. His breath was coming in shorter and shorter gasps. Then the tunnel made a sharp turn to the left. Suddenly Boris saw something that made him cry out in relief. Through an opening in the distance, he could see the pale rays of the moon. He was almost there.
鲍里斯向前行进着，双手扒着隧道壁，试图能够加快速度。他感到隧道开始变得越来越狭窄。他的呼吸变得越来越短促。此时，隧道出现了一个向左的急转弯。突然，鲍里斯看到了令他如释重负的一幕。穿过远处的洞口，他可以看到苍白的月光。他就要成功逃出这里了。
11. He could smell the night air. Boris struggled toward the patch of moonlight ahead of him. The tunnel was turning upward. Boris had to grab both sides of the wall and dig his feet into the cracks in the wall. Slowly, he pulled himself up. Boris felt the blood from his cuts run down into his sleeves. But the pain didn’t matter. All that mattered was the patch of light ahead. Boris felt the night air against his face. He was close now. Close to freedom. Then a sound behind him terrified him. It was the sound of clawed feet. They were following him. Boris scrambled up to the top of the tunnel even faster. The moonlight was so bright now that he could see his hands in front of him. He felt a rat brush against his leg. But he had only a few yards to go.
他可以嗅到夜晚空气的味道。他挣扎地朝着前方月光的方向前进。隧道出现了一个向上的转弯。鲍里斯必须抓住隧道壁的两边，同时将双脚插在壁的裂缝中。慢慢地，他爬了上去。他感到伤口流下的血进入了自己的袖子。但痛苦又算得了什么，唯一重要的是前方的月光。鲍里斯感到夜晚的空气撞了他的脸上。他现在已经很近了，已经距离自由很近了。此时，从他身后传来的声音吓到了他——是他那抓住隧道壁的双脚发出的声音。它们就跟在他身后。鲍里斯加快速度爬到了隧道的顶部。此时的月光如此明亮，以至于他可以看到他身前的那双自己的手。他感觉到一只老鼠从他一条腿上掠过。但，他离成功只有几码远的路程了。
12. With his last bit of strength, Boris lunged toward the light. He felt his head crash into something hard and cold. For a moment he was stunned. Then he opened his eyes. In front of him, the moon shone through the bars of a heavy gate. Still pressed up against it were the cold, white bones . . . of a skeleton. There was no escape. There was no going back. This was it. Just Boris . . . and the rats.
鲍里斯用他最后的一点儿力气向着月光猛扑过去。他感到自己的头撞到了什么坚硬、冰冷的东西。片刻后，他惊呆了。他睁开双眼。在他面前，月光透过一扇沉重的大门上的栅栏照射进来。大门上紧靠着一副冰冷的白骨骨架。他没有成功逃脱，也回不去了。结局就是如此：这里只有鲍里斯……和老鼠。