A little Jerry had slipped into Xiaolingzi’s room.
小灵子的房间跑进了一只小杰瑞。
It stared with shiny black eyes from the corner of the wardrobe. Its body wasn’t even hidden in shadow, and yet it vanished in the blink of an eye.
在衣柜拐角瞪着乌黑油亮的眼睛，身体则没在暗影里，不过一转眼就消失掉。
“There’s a mouse in my room!” she said, a bit startled, but also strangely amused. “I’ve never lived, slept, or cohabited with a mouse before!”
“我房间里进老鼠了！”惊吓里似乎带着些许新鲜，“我还没跟老鼠一起住过，睡过，生活过！”
And of course, there was some grievance. When had she ever been so wronged?
当然还有委屈，她什么时候受过这样的委屈？
In the days that followed, she got the full experience of living with Jerry.
接下来的几天，她充分体验了和杰瑞生活在一起的感觉。
Every night came with faint rustles, the sound of plastic bags being chewed.
夜里总有稀稀疏疏，塑料袋被撕咬的声音。
She slept in snatches, waking again and again; in the daytime, she pushed through drowsiness at the office.
晚上她睡一阵醒一阵，白天在办公室撑一阵困一阵。
To show due hospitality to Brother Jerry, I ordered some heavy-duty mouse traps and glue boards online.
为了照顾好杰瑞老弟，我网购了老鼠大夹子和粘鼠神贴。
I baited the traps with wheat flour, and the glue boards with leftover food. A proper feast.
老鼠夹子放些麦子粉，神贴上放点剩菜诱饵，盛情招待。
But Jerry, born in the South, seemed unimpressed by Northern cuisine.
似乎生于南方的杰瑞，不感冒北方的食物。
The bait was untouched. Even the trash can stayed upright.
食物一点没动，垃圾桶也不翻。
Either Jerry was picky or smart. Probably both.
这杰瑞老弟，不是挑剔就是聪明，我猜两者都有一些。
Days passed. Jerry kept chewing his plastic bags. Xiaolingzi kept losing sleep.
几天下来杰瑞还是咬它的塑料袋，小灵子还是失她的眠。
She sighed in frustration.
小灵子大为感叹，
She had stepped on her own traps multiple times.
她布下的老鼠夹，自己都踩了好几次，
Yet Jerry stayed unscathed, apparently smarter than she was.
而杰瑞老弟却是毫发无伤，简直比她还要聪明。
He reminded me of something. I used to believe in human exceptionalism.
杰瑞老弟不由令我想起，以前我是一个人类中心论者，
I didn’t realize I did, but I always assumed humans were special—conscious in ways lesser animals weren’t.
尽管不自知如此，但总认为人类是独特的，拥有其他低等生物所不具有的意识。
Then, in The Green Planet, I watched plants demonstrate survival strategies that looked like thought.
直到在《绿色星球》里，我观察到大量植物都有着自己的生存策略，
They responded to their environments, adapted their behavior, and evolved features to help them live.
仿佛都具有类似人类意识一样的东西——能够根据环境调整自身的行为，进化出有利于自身生存的部件和行为。
I was amazed by Jerry’s intelligence—almost like wisdom.
我惊叹杰瑞那近乎智慧的聪明。
And I began to think: maybe the difference between him and me isn’t consciousness versus none,
我还渐渐认为，杰瑞老弟和我的区别，并不是我有意识而它没有，
but complexity—more neurons, more intricate processing.
而是我拥有更多的神经元，能够产生更加复杂的意识活动，
Better hands, better tools, better language.
有更加便利的四肢和手指、更好的社会环境，
I can read, write, reflect, flirt.
能够识字、写文章、记录思考，能说些甜言蜜语，和异性打情骂俏。
If consciousness isn’t unique to humans, then intelligence—its crystallization—might not be either.
如果意识不为人类独有，那么作为意识的结晶——智慧，也不为人类独有。
Maybe consciousness belongs not to humans, but to life.
也许意识，可能是生命所独有，
And humans are only one kind of life.
而人类只是一种生命形态。
One day, Xiaolingzi found some long-forgotten Sachima under the bed.
这天，小灵子发现床下遗忘已久的沙琪玛，
Jerry had eaten four packs.
已经被杰瑞吃掉四包。
The wrappers were empty. Not a crumb left.
包装袋空空如也，里面的沙琪玛吃干抹净。
As a top predator—Tom, naturally—I had to step in.
作为顶级捕猎手的汤姆，我终究还是下场了。
I planned from a distance: don’t throw away the remaining Sachima—use it as bait.
我这样远程布局：剩下的沙琪玛不要丢，就当做诱饵，
Clearly, Jerry had a sweet tooth.
显然杰瑞老弟很喜欢甜点。
I deployed all the mouse traps, pulled out the glue boards.
老鼠夹都用上，神贴都拿出来。
Put the Sachima in the center of a glue board, and placed it back under the bed where he’d found it before.
沙琪玛搁在神贴中央，放回床底原来的位置，
Then added two big traps beside it.
再放两个大夹子。
I was sure—he’d tasted sweetness there, and he’d come back.
我笃定，它在那里尝到甜头，就一定会重返那儿，
Humans do. Animals do.
人如此，动物亦如此，
It’s coded into the genes of life.
这是刻在生命基因里的规则。
To add one more line of defense, I told her to leave the door ajar.
为了再增加一道防线，我让她留一条门缝，
In the gap, a big trap. On both sides, a glue board—easy entrance and exit.
缝间堵着一个大夹子，前后各铺一张神贴，方便杰瑞老弟进出。
Also prepped a bag. As soon as we caught him, we’d bag him and take him out.
再准备一个袋子，逮着就包起来拎出去。
The setup was thorough. The result, satisfying.
准备很充分，结果也很满意。
At 5 a.m., Jerry crossed the first line—
凌晨五点，杰瑞跨过了我的第一道防线，
the trap at the door was triggered but didn’t catch him.
门缝的夹子被触发了但没咬住它，
The glue boards, untouched.
而且前后的贴纸一点都没走样。
But when he reached his land of sweetness,
而当它吭哧吭哧抵达甜蜜乡，
Snap—the trap caught him by the neck.
“吱”一声，夹子咬住了它的脖子。
He’d returned to where he’d once tasted pleasure.
它终究还是回到了尝到甜头的地方。
Shenzhen has a lot of people.
深圳人很多，
Where there are people, there’s trash.
人多垃圾就多，
Where there’s trash, there’s Jerry.
杰瑞们自然少不了。
There have been four major plagues in human history.
人类历史上有四次大鼠疫，
The first was at the end of the Eastern Han dynasty.
第一次是东汉末年，
The second and third killed 50 million people.
第二和第三次弄死了五千万人，
The most recent was last century—12 million dead.
最近一次是上个世纪，死了一千两百多万人。
Clearly, Jerrys are practically avatars of plague.
可见杰瑞们简直是瘟疫的化身，
Modern society can’t allow them to stroll the streets or waltz into homes.
现代社会不能容忍它们招摇上街和登堂入室，
But still, I know—they are products of evolution,
但是我又知道，这是自然界进化的产物，
another expression of life.
这是生命的另一种形态。
At the species level, Jerry and I can’t coexist.
在物种层面，我和杰瑞不能同处，
But at the level of life—we are kin.
但在生命层面，我们又同源共生。
I once saw a sharp comment on Blue Planet II.
关于生命，我在《蓝色星球 2》看到一句精辟的弹幕，
It said: “Life always finds a way.”
它说“生命总会找到出路”。
The BBC nature docs prove this perfectly:
BBC 系列的自然纪录片，真是完美地诠释着这句话：
plants growing in wall cracks,
墙缝里的植物，
dry grass surviving the desert,
沙漠里的枯草，
tiny fish enduring tons of pressure in the deep sea,
深海承受几十吨水压的小鱼，
a hawkfish laying eggs beneath a shark’s jaw.
在鲨鱼嘴底下产卵的革鳞鮨（yi 第四声）。
And of course—humans too.
当然，人类也是典型体现。
Zoologists say mice have been around for over 40 million years.
动物学说，老鼠有四千多万年的历史，
Much longer than humans.
这比人类的历史要长得多。
It proves this species has always found ways to survive.
也足以说明在漫长的演化进程中，这个物种，一直在寻找出路。
One even found its way into Xiaolingzi’s room—
这不，有一只就找到小灵子房间来，
though it took the wrong turn.
虽然找错了。
It’s not just Jerry that stirs these thoughts in me.
不是杰瑞现在才让我有感而发，
I walk through life—into society, history, nature,
我走进生活，走进社会、历史、自然，
into my inner world, and into the worlds of others—
走进自己的内心、他人的世界，
encountering all sorts of life forms.
接触形形色色的生命形态，
But still, I’m puzzled.
但是常有困惑。
I can understand why species can’t share space,
我能理解生命里，物种生存空间的不兼容
why they deceive and kill each other.
和尔虞我诈、相互残杀，
But I don’t understand life itself.
但我不理解生命。
I can understand life as a series of nodes in the evolution of the universe—
我能理解，生命是宇宙演化的一串节点，
me as one node, Jerry another—
我是节点中的节点，杰瑞也是，
but I still don’t understand life.
但我不理解生命。
I don’t know where its force comes from.
我不理解生命的力量从何而来，
Why it always seeks a way.
生命为何总在寻找出路，
What the force to live actually means.
生的力量意味着什么。
Later, Xiaolingzi got up early, took Jerry outside in a bag, and went back to bed.
后来呢，小灵子一大早起来把杰瑞老弟拎出去，又回来睡回笼觉。
I asked her if Jerry got to eat the Sachima.
我问她杰瑞有没有吃到沙琪玛，
She said no.
她说没有。
That felt like a bit of a pity.
这就有些遗憾，
As a “Tom” myself, though a top hunter, I’m not cold-blooded.
我这头“汤姆”，只是顶级而不是冷血，
I would’ve preferred he left this world with a full belly.
我倒是希望它吃饱了上路的。
June 12, 2024,
二零二四年六月十二日，
In a park in Guangzhou.
广州公园里。