Owney,the Post Office Dog

In 1895,a globetrotting mixed-breed mutt named Owney paid a brief call on Milwaukee.As was his custom,the dog arrived aboard one train and departed a few hours later by another.His home was anywhere U.S.mail traveled by railroad—and in the 1890s that waseverywhere.

1895年，环球旅行的混种小狗奥尼短暂到访了密尔沃基。一如往常，这只狗乘一辆火车抵达，几小时后又乘另一辆离开。美国邮政铁路行至哪里，哪里就是他的家——在1890年代，这意味着他的家无处不在。

[2]“A wanderer upon the face of the globe,if ever there was one,appeared in the office of Chief Clerk Frank P.Smith of the Railway Mail Service this morning,” reported theMilwaukee Journalon May 11,1895.“Post Office Owney is a dog,but he is no ordinary dog.He is the property of 7,000 railway clerks.”

[2]“一个环球漫游者，若是果真有的话，今日上午出现在铁路邮政局局长弗兰克·P.史密斯的办公室。”1895年5月11日的《密尔沃基新闻报》报道称，“邮差奥尼是一只狗，可他绝不是一般的狗。他属于7000名铁路邮政员工所共有。”

[3]Owney was a scruffy1scruffy不整洁的；邋遢的。puppy when he appeared at the Albany,N.Y.Post Office in 1888.Adopted by the clerks,Owney made his home at the post office thanks to a kind-hearted supervisor willing to overlook regulations.Owney soon started riding mail wagons and then Railway Post Office (RPO)train cars.

[3]1888年奥尼出现在纽约州的奥尔巴尼邮局时，还是一只脏兮兮的小奶狗。多亏一位好心的主管愿意无视规章，员工们才得以收留他，从此邮局便成了奥尼的家。奥尼很快开始乘坐邮车旅行，之后又登上铁路邮政列车。

[4]RPOs were specially designed rail cars coupled to passenger trains.As the train moved along,Railway Mail Clerks in the car would systematically sort the mail for destinations along the line.At places where the train didn’t stop for passengers,a clever contraption2contraption 奇特的装置。allowed bags of mail to be taken aboard from trackside hooks “on the fly.” At the same time,clerks would heave3heave举；拉；抛。sacks of mail destined for that town off the moving train.

[4]铁路邮政列车是专门设计的连接在客运列车上的轨道车。列车一路行驶，车上的铁路邮政员工有条理地分拣沿线站点的邮件。在列车不停靠上下乘客的地方，一个奇妙的装置通过轨道旁的钩子“凌空”将成袋的邮件运上车。与此同时，员工们将送达此地的邮包从运行的列车上抛下。

[5]It was an efficient operation and mail service could be astoundingly fast.One could walk down the passenger platform at New York’s Grand Central Terminal,drop a letter through a slot4slot（投放或插入东西的）窄缝，扁口。on the wall of the appropriate RPO,and be assured it would be delivered in Chicago the next day—all for the price of a 3-cent stamp.

[5]此举十分高效，以致邮政服务惊人地快捷。在纽约中央火车站，乘客沿着站台走，往铁路邮政专属投信口投进一封信，保准第二天就会被送达芝加哥——而这仅需一枚3分钱的邮票。

[6]The nationwide network of RPOs became Owney’s home for the remainder of his life.He would hop off one RPO at a station and randomly climb into another and curl up on a pile of mailbags knowing wherever he went the clerks would take care of him.

[6]遍布全国的铁路邮政网成了奥尼余生的家。他常常在站点从一辆邮政车上跳下，然后随机登上另一辆，蜷缩在一堆邮包上。他知道，不管到了哪里，总会有邮政员工照顾他。

[7]The National Postal Museum notes,“Railway mail clerks considered the dog a good luck charm.At a time when train wrecks were all too common,no train Owney rode was ever in a wreck.The Railway mail clerks adopted Owney as their unofficial mascot,marking his travels by placing medals and tags on his collar.”

[7]国家邮政博物馆表示：“铁路邮政员工都把这只狗当作幸运符。在一个列车事故频发的年代，奥尼乘坐的列车无一失事。员工们把奥尼作为他们的非官方吉祥物，并以在项圈 上 挂 勋 章 和 标 牌 的 方 式 记 录他的旅程。”

[8]The tags,usually metal luggage claims stamped with a city name,attracted the attention of theMilwaukee Journalreporter.“A huge collar,from which dangled a half-hundred or more tags from almost every conceivable corner of the country… is fixed firmly around his neck.These tags collect so rapidly that it becomes necessary to remove them at times and clerks along the line take them off and send them to ‘Owney,Albany,N.Y.,’ where they are carefully stored away in a room provided for this purpose in the Albany Post Office.”

[8]这些标牌通常是印有城市名的金属行李领取签，它们引起了《密尔沃基新闻报》记者的注意：“一个巨大的项圈，上面挂着五十多个标牌，来自美国几乎每一个能想到的角落……紧紧地箍在他的脖子上。这些标牌收集得太快，以至于不得不定期摘除。沿线的员工把它们摘下，寄至‘纽约州奥尔巴尼的奥尼’。在奥尔巴尼邮局一间专供收藏的房间里，它们被精心地保存。”

[9]Concerned the tags were a burden for the little dog,U.S.Postmaster General John Wanamaker had a custom harness5harness挽具；（起固定或保护作用的）背带。made for Owney—and also named him the Official Mascot of the Railway Mail Service.

[9]由于担心标牌会让这只小狗负重，美国邮政总长约翰·沃纳梅克特意为奥尼定制了一件背心——并将他指定为铁路邮政服务的官方吉祥物。

[10]In 1895,a few months after his visit to Milwaukee visit,Owney made an around-the-world trip.Starting from Tacoma,Washington in August,he traveled with mail bags throughout Asia,North Africa,the Middle East,and across Europe,before returning to New York City on December 23 and,finally,to his Post Office friends in Albany.

[10]1895年，在访问过密尔沃基数月后，奥尼踏上了一场环球旅行。8月份，他从华盛顿州的塔科马出发，和邮包一起，一路游经亚洲、北非、中东，并横穿欧洲，后于12月23日返归纽约，并最终回到奥尔巴尼邮局的朋友身边。

[11]For such a famous dog,Owney was admittedly not much to look at.The Journal reporter wrote,“He is a scotch terrier,somewhat larger than the ordinary specimen of that kind of dog.He has had many a knock in his time and he looks it.One eye has ceased to serve its original purpose.”

[11]尽管是如此有名的一只狗，但不可否认的是，奥尼长得并不好看。《密尔沃基新闻报》的记者写道：“他是一只苏格兰梗犬，比这个品种的一般狗要稍大些。他一生遭受了许多打击，这从外貌上就能看出。一只眼睛永久地损伤了。”

[12]Owney’s death was a sad one.In June 1897,he hopped off a train in Toledo,Ohio.It seems a postal clerk chained Owney to a post while waiting for a newspaper reporter to arrive.Not used to this kind of treatment and possibly becoming ill-tempered in his older years,Owney bit the clerk on the hand.The local postmaster ordered Owney put down.A Toledo police officer led the dog into an alley and shot him.

[12]奥尼的死令人痛心。1897年6月，他在俄亥俄州的托莱多从一列车上跳下。好像是一个邮政员工在等候一位新闻记者时，将它拴到了一根柱子上。奥尼不习惯这种待遇，也可能年纪大了脾气变坏，于是就咬了这位员工的手。当地邮局局长下令杀死奥尼，一名托莱多的警官就把狗引到胡同里枪杀了。

[13]Owney had traveled 143,000 miles in his lifetime.

Mail clerks around the country donated funds to have Owney’s remains preserved.In 1911,Owney became the property of the Smithsonian Institution.

[13]奥尼一生总共旅行了143000英里。

全国的邮政员工捐资保存了奥尼的遗体。1911年，奥尼为史密森学会所有。

[14]A century later,in 2011,Owney appeared on a U.S.postage stamp.Today he occupies a central place in the atrium6atrium（现代建筑物中央通常带有玻璃屋顶的）中庭。of the National Postal Museum,wearing his famous harness and surrounded by a few of the estimated 1,000 tags he accumulated in his travels.

[14]一个世纪后的2011年，奥尼出现在美国的邮票上。今天他被置于国家邮政博物馆正厅的中心位置，身着他那著名的背心，周身环绕着旅行中收集的标牌（估计有1000个）中的一些。

[15]One of the many tags in the Smithsonian’s collection is made of brass.It reads “Milwaukee license no.694,”and granted Owney the freedom to roam the city.■

[15]史密森学会收藏的标牌中有一个是黄铜制成的，上面写着“密尔沃基 牌照号694”，许可奥尼在这座城市自由行走。□

（译者曾获第三届“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛优秀奖）