Right under our nose in our home cities and town on our sofas and lap a quiet invasion has been taking place. The cat is now officially the most popular pet in the Western world. In Britain alone it's reckoned there are 12 million cat a vast,softly purring army which it seems we are utterly¹ powerless to resist.

就在我们眼皮底下，家里，大城小镇内，沙发和膝头上，有种动物静悄悄地侵入我们的世界。猫已然正式成为西方国家最受欢迎的宠物。单单在英国，就估计有一千二百万只猫。面对这支只会轻轻呼噜的大军，我们似乎完全无力招架。

We don't have a cat. Well, not any more. For 18 years we had a gorgeous cat called The Bee. When he died, I missed him more than I could ever have imagined. I still think about him every day. We even gave him a little gravestone.

我们没有养猫，应该说，现在没有了。本来我们有一只很漂亮的猫，养了18年，给他起名叫“蜜蜂”。他死后，我对他的思念比想象中的还要深，现在每天仍然想起他。我们甚至为他立了块小小的墓碑。

People say that you choose a dog, but the cat chooses you. And people say that cats are 1)aloof. Well I don't know about that, all I know is that The Bee, our beloved cat, was much more than a pet, he was a friend. We loved him dearly. And do you know, I think he loved us dearly too.

有人说狗任人挑选，猫却挑选主人。有人说猫性情冷漠，这方面我不肯定。我只知道我们深爱的蜜蜂不只是宠物这么简单，他是我们的朋友。我们深爱他，而我相信他也深爱我们。

And yet I wonder if I ever really knew The Bee any more than I know the neighbourhood cats that now wander through our garden. Unlike dog so much of what cats do is secret and 2)nocturnal. Mysterious. It helps to explain why some people find them so disturbing. And why so many others find cats irresistible².

不过，我也怀疑自己对蜂蜜的了解是否比邻居那些经常在我们花园荡悠的猫更多。猫不像狗，他们在夜间静悄悄地活动，十分神秘。难怪他们令某些人感到心神不宁，又令有些人对他们无法抗拒。