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.
鮑里斯低頭看著監獄那漫長又漆黑的走廊——看不到盡頭。他被帶到一處很少有人親眼見過，但每個人都非常害怕的地方——禁閉房。他身后傳來了看守的笑聲。“好吧，這會給你一個教訓，”他說，“一旦進了禁閉房，你就什么壞事也做不了了。”鮑里斯拖著雙腳沿著走廊向前走去。他知道自己沒有希望了。
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，甚至連他自己也不敢相信那件事是自己做的。現在，他的余生都要在監獄里度過。他就像一頭被困在籠子里的野獸。這樣的現狀，他再也無法繼續面對！這就是他試圖越獄的原因。事情發生時，太陽剛剛落山。他獨自一人在院子里。本應在那里的看守犯了一個錯誤，把鮑里斯自己留在了那里。鮑里斯野獸般地奔向圍墻，爬了上去，幾乎快要成功翻越了。正在此時，他聽到有人大喊：“別動，犯人！”于是他身體僵住了。這事就發生在昨天。而此時此刻，他正走向一個甚至更加糟糕的牢籠。
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.
鮑里斯感到了絕望。他們正朝著走廊盡頭走去。此時，鮑里斯看到走廊的盡頭有一扇門，門上的小窗口內裝著柵欄。他之前就知道這里的樣子。別人告訴過他里面會是什么樣。他們說的沒錯。守衛開了三把鎖后打開了那扇門，然后把鮑里斯推了進去。這個房間的形狀有些像鋼筆，又長又窄，里面只放著一張床。墻壁較高的位置有一扇帶柵欄的小窗。墻壁用老舊、粗糙的石頭壘砌而成。在鮑里斯看來，它們好像正向他包圍過來。他的呼吸開始變得短促，心怦怦直跳。他轉向看守，祈求說：“不，我不能呆在這里。讓我回到我以前的牢房吧。我再也不會做任何錯事了。”“你應該早點意識到這一點，”看守說。然后，他砰地一聲關上了鮑里斯面前那扇重重的門。
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.
鮑里斯雙手伸向那扇門。他抓住了門上的柵欄，并試圖搖動它。“你會后悔的！”他對著看守的背影大喊道。看守只是回頭笑了笑。鮑里斯坐在床上，閉上了眼睛。他不想環顧這間牢房。他擔心自己會失去理智。雷聲把鮑里斯從可怕的噩夢中喚醒。他夢見幾只大老鼠正尖聲叫著沖向他。他睜開了眼睛。他非常害怕那些老鼠是真實存在的。他最討厭老鼠了。他最擔心的事就是——這間牢房里可能有老鼠。鮑里斯環顧了一下這間牢房——幾乎漆黑一片。正在此時，一道閃電照亮了整間牢房。光線落到他床頭的墻上。這幾秒鐘的光亮，讓鮑里斯看到了令他心跳加速的東西。墻壁上的一塊石頭看上去跟其它的不太一樣，它周圍的水泥上有一條細細的裂縫。鮑里斯試圖避免內心中重新燃起希望的火焰，但并沒有成功。
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.”
他伸出了顫抖的雙手，抓住了那塊大石頭。他來回移動著那塊石頭，突然那塊石頭松動了！鮑里斯拉了一下，那塊石頭隨即掉到了他的手中。當他從那塊掉下來的石頭留下的洞口凝視過去時，一道閃電照亮了整個洞口。他的面前出現了一條向前延伸的隧道……一只大老鼠匆匆跑了進去。當鮑里斯看到那只老鼠時，他驚恐地向后一跳。他想把那塊大石頭放回原處。此時，另一道閃電劃過了漆黑的牢房，照亮了他面前的那條隧道，似乎在歡迎他重獲自由。鮑里斯目測了一下隧道的大小。它的入口端很窄，但越到里面越寬。這寬度看起來足夠他爬行通過。又一道閃電照亮了隧道。他搜尋著老鼠的蹤跡。“也許我根本沒看到它，”鮑里斯低聲自語道，“也許那只是噩夢給我留下的陰影。”

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，身體顫抖著，內心中充滿了恐懼和希望。就在這時，鮑里斯聽到牢房外傳來了守衛的腳步聲。他撲了過去，用身體擋住了那塊石頭和那個洞口。他的身體用力地靠在墻壁上。他就這樣等待著，與此同時腳步聲停在了牢房外面。他覺得自己會因承受不住這可怕的緊張局面而尖叫出來。然后，腳步聲遠去了。他們慢慢地沿著走廊向前走去。最終，這嘈雜的腳步聲消失在深夜之中。
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.
突然間，鮑里斯意識到自己不能再等了。他把頭伸進隧道，然后身體的其余部分也鉆了進去。他試圖回頭看看，但隧道太狹窄了。現在沒有回頭路了。鮑里斯一點兒一點兒地朝隧道深處蠕動著身體。他腹部貼地爬動著，感覺自己就像一條正朝著自己棲身的洞中爬行的蛇。他感到隧道變得越來越潮濕，越來越寒冷。
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.
隨著隧道開始變得粘稠，里面的空間變越來越寬大。鮑里斯用他那雙顫抖的雙腿站了起來。他試圖看穿前方的黑暗。他將雙手伸向身前，沿著黑暗的隧道緩慢地向前走著。尖銳的巖壁刺傷了他的雙手。他用一只手擦了擦額頭上的汗水，感覺到手上有鮮血滲出。
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，隧道出現了一個很大的向下傾斜角度。鮑里斯雙腳前滑，背朝下摔在地上，然后不斷地朝隧道深處滑了下去。最終，他在隧道地面突然變得平坦的位置停了下來。他急促地喘著氣，肺部撕裂般地疼痛。他爬了起來，伸手去摸粘稠的隧道壁。然后，真相像一記重擊一樣砸在了他的身上——他再也回不去了。他身后的隧道壁太陡、太滑了。他只有一個機會——他必須繼續前進。他必須繼續前進……同時抱著隧道有盡頭的希望。
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.
鮑里斯向前行進著，雙手扒著隧道壁，試圖能夠加快速度。他感到隧道開始變得越來越狹窄。他的呼吸變得越來越短促。此時，隧道出現了一個向左的急轉彎。突然，鮑里斯看到了令他如釋重負的一幕。穿過遠處的洞口，他可以看到蒼白的月光。他就要成功逃出這里了。
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.
他可以嗅到夜晚空氣的味道。他掙扎地朝著前方月光的方向前進。隧道出現了一個向上的轉彎。鮑里斯必須抓住隧道壁的兩邊，同時將雙腳插在壁的裂縫中。慢慢地，他爬了上去。他感到傷口流下的血進入了自己的袖子。但痛苦又算得了什么，唯一重要的是前方的月光。鮑里斯感到夜晚的空氣撞了他的臉上。他現在已經很近了，已經距離自由很近了。此時，從他身后傳來的聲音嚇到了他——是他那抓住隧道壁的雙腳發出的聲音。它們就跟在他身后。鮑里斯加快速度爬到了隧道的頂部。此時的月光如此明亮，以至于他可以看到他身前的那雙自己的手。他感覺到一只老鼠從他一條腿上掠過。但，他離成功只有幾碼遠的路程了。
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.
鮑里斯用他最后的一點兒力氣向著月光猛撲過去。他感到自己的頭撞到了什么堅硬、冰冷的東西。片刻后，他驚呆了。他睜開雙眼。在他面前，月光透過一扇沉重的大門上的柵欄照射進來。大門上緊靠著一副冰冷的白骨骨架。他沒有成功逃脫，也回不去了。結局就是如此：這里只有鮑里斯……和老鼠。