這一段節錄是取自 The Soul of Octopus 這本書。 故事的地點是 波士頓水族館。 書的主題是章魚。 這一段裡提到的 Octavia 是一隻老章魚， 母的， 已經孵卵孵了十個月的章魚。 但因為他是在水族館裡產卵，所以這些卵是不會孵化的。 一般而言， 章魚產了卵後就代表他已逐步走向死亡。 所以章魚的負責人 Bill 就買了一隻小章魚準備將來替代 Octavia 的位置。 他給小章魚取名叫 Kali。 可惜的是， 幾個月後， Kali 意外死亡。 所以 Bill 又買了一隻 小章魚， 取名 Karma。 那時候，Octavia 雖然有衰老死亡的跡象，但是無法確知他會在甚麼時候走。 而這個日長夜大的 Karma 卻已經不願待在他的水桶裡了。 當時， 很多館員和義工都在討論是否要把 Octavia 和 Karma 調換環境。 在經過一段時間的討論後， 發生了以下的故事。 (譯者)
After I left the aquarium, Octavia's left eye got worse, and her right eye was cloudy. Especially if she were senescent, and not in her right mind, in a tank full of other animals and rough surfaces, the chances she might further injure herself were great. And by Thursday morning, another factor had arisen that Bill was forced to consider.
在我 (作者 Sy Montgomery) 離開波士頓( 水族館) 去旅行後， Octavia 的左眼開始惡化，甚至右眼也開始混濁了。 Octavia 如果是因為老化而造成精神反常，(讓他住在一個滿是其他動物和到處都是粗糙岩石搭建起來的水箱)，
(他那用粗糙岩石搭建的水箱裡又住了其他不少動物)， (到處都是怪石和其他粗糙的結構的水族館展覽水箱裡)，是很容易受傷的。 在星期四當天，又發生了一件事，促使 Bill 下定決心要給 Octavia 搬家。
At about 10 a.m., his glance was drawn to movement in Karma's barrel. Without opening the top, he looked down on a sight he had never before seen: an octopus hanging upside down at the surface, her black beak clearly visible, persistently chewing on the mesh-like plastic conweb across the top of the lid.
Karma had already severed some of the brand-new cable ties that held the mesh onto the screw top. When Bill saw this, he understood why he'd had to replace some of the ties after Kali died. Now he realized that the damage to the ties had not just been the result of normal wear and tear: Kali, like Karma, had been systematically gnawing through them in and effort to escape.
早上十點鐘，Bill 注意到了 Karma 水桶裡的動靜。 在沒有打開蓋子的情況下，他俯身看到一幅從沒見過的景象，一隻章魚，倒著浮在水面上，他黑黑的喙正專注地咬嚙著桶蓋上的細網。
Karma 之前就已經把桶蓋上一些全新的帶子給咬斷過了。 這次 Bill 看到這副景象，他才知道為什麼在 Kali 死掉之後，他要把一些桶子裡的繩帶換新。 那時他以為繩帶壞掉是因為正常的使用下損壞的，但現在他知道，繩帶壞掉是因為之前的章魚， Kali，為了逃跑而作的努力！
"I was nervous," Bill told me, "I still didn't want to move Octavia." He was afraid he might injure her; he was afraid he wouldn't be able to catch her at all. He had never moved a live octopus out of the exhibit before. "But Karma gave me no choice. Octavia gave me no choice."
"我很緊張。" Bill 跟我說：" 我還是很不想把 Octavia 從展覽箱移開。" 他很怕在移開的過程裡會傷害到 Octavia；而且 也沒有把握一定可以抓到 Octavia。 他從來沒有把一隻活生生的章魚從展覽水箱裡移開過。 "但是 Karma 逼著我這樣做。 Octavia 也逼著我這樣做。"
Bill spend the rest of that Thursday moving around fish... Bill chose to try to move Octavia and Karma after the public had left, because he wasn't sure how it would go.
Bill 花了星期四所有的時間來做準備工作，從移除不同種類的魚開始。。。(這工作過程不只是牽涉到 Octavia 的展覽水箱，而是包括很多其他水箱，因為 Octavia 水箱裡的種類不少，當一種魚移到另一個水箱時，另一水箱的魚也要看情況移往下一個水箱。譯者註。) Bill 等到水族館對外公開的時間結束後才開始移動 Octavia 和 Karma，因為他實在不知道整個過程會發生甚麼事
Luckily, Bill's Thursday volunteer, Darshan Patel, twenty-nine, was there to help. Together they lifted Karma's 50-gallon barrel out of the sump and placed it on the floor. Bill propped open the lid to Octavia's exhibit. While Darshan watched from the public side, Bill used a soft, deep-bodied mesh net with a metal handle to try to scoop Octavia up from her corner. At the touch of the net, Octavia tucked up deeper into her corner; Bill couldn't reach her from that angle. So the two men switched positions, and Darshan went upstairs to make sure Octavia didn't try to escape the open tank while Bill went downstairs to assess the situation.
幸運的是，Bill 星期四的義工，29 歲的Darshan Patel，願意留下來幫忙。 他們一起把 Karma 50 加侖的水桶從換水的機器上移開，放到地上。 Bill 把 Octavia 展覽水箱上部的門閥打開。 Darshan 從有玻璃的展覽廳中，觀察並提供 Bill 方向，Bill 在水箱上邊拿著特別的大網從上方伸進水箱中，試圖把 Octavia 給撈出來。 Octavia 一碰到網子 立刻地躲進更深的角落裡。 Bill 的網子無法從那個角度搆到 Octavia。 於是 Bill 和 Darshan 互換地方， Darshan 到了水箱的上方，防止 Octavia 從那兒逃出來。 Bill 則在展覽廳透過玻璃研究下一步要如何進行。
To give them more room to maneuver, they needed to remove an additional portion of the cover, which was bolted to the tank. Darshan donned waders so he could stand in the tank while Bill worked from above. Octavia's cloudy eyes swiveled to follow them as he worked.
為了要有更多空間可以操作，他們把水箱上面用螺絲綁定的蓋子一個一個移除。 Darshan 更身著吊帶釣魚褲準備進入魚箱來配合 Bill。 同一時間裡，Octavia 用他那混濁的雙眼緊緊跟著 Darshan 。
Darshan is five foot ten; the water came up to his waist, but when he bent over, cold water poured inside his waders. When the lid came off, Octavia began to move towards the back glass that separates her tank from the wolf eels. Bill worked a net above; Darshan used a net, plus his free hand, while in the water. "We were being gentle, trying to guide her into the net," Bill told me. But Octavia evaded them again and again. Even with four of her arms in the net, she was holding on to the rocks with four others. As Darshan pursued her, she poured two of her arms and half her body into a crevice and refused to let go. "For an old octopus, she was still super-strong," Darshan said. "You have to have respect for her suckers. It's crazy how strong they are."
Darshan 是五呎十吋高，水箱的水只到他的腰，可是他一彎身，那冷水就滾進了他的吊褲裡。 就在他們把更多的蓋子移除時， Octavia 更是把自己整個貼在水箱後的玻璃上，那玻璃是分隔章魚水箱和鰻狼魚水箱的。 這時， Bill 從上頭伸進一個網子， Darshan 在水裡也用一個網子還加上他的手。 "我們非常小心而且輕柔的引導他進網子裡。" Bill 跟我說。 但是 Octavia 一次又一次的躲過他們。 即使他有四肢觸手在網子裡， 其他四肢觸手卻牢牢吸在石頭上。 當 Darshan 又一次的追著他，Octavia 把兩肢觸手和半個身體擠進了石縫裡怎麼也不放。 "就一個老章魚而言，他實在太強壯了。" Darshan 說："他的吸盤真是令我佩服。"
It was obvious this wasn't going to work. So while Darshan, soaked and freezing, stayed in the tank, with Octavia just inches from the top, Bill changed quickly into his wet suit. They prayed Octavia wouldn't try to come out.
這樣不是辦法。 Darshan 只好又濕又冷的待在水箱裡，眼睜睜的看著 Octavia 就在身旁，等 Bill 去換潛水衣。 他們只有祈禱 Octavia 不會在這個時候逃出水箱。
Darshan moved back as Bill got into the cramped tank, both men careful to step around the two leather stars and anemones on the bottom. And then, as the sea stars observed the proceedings eyelessly from his usual position across from Octavia's lair, Bill bent his six-foot-five frame in half so that, although he couldn't see her tucked up under the rocks, he could feel Octavia's suckers. With his fingers, he gently urged her into his waiting net.
為了讓 Bill 擠進水箱，Darshan 往後挪出了空間。 兩人都非常小心他們的下腳處，深怕會踩到兩隻皮海星和其他的海葵。 雖說海星沒有眼睛，但海星一動不動的待在平常和 Octavia 巢穴對面的角落裡，Bill 就好像在海星的窺視下， 彎下他六尺五吋身軀，雖然他依舊無法看到 Octavia， 但他可以觸摸到 Octavia 的吸盤。 Bill 用他的手指，輕輕催促著 Octavia進入他的網中。
To Darshan's astonishment, at the touch of Bill's hand Octavia entered Bill's net on the first try. She had not tasted Bill's skin for ten months. All that time, because she was under the ceiling of her lair, she could not see it was him handing her food on the grabber. And yet, Octavia's response to Bill's touch showed two remarkable aspects of her relationship with her keeper. She not only remembered him; she trusted him, too.
出乎 Darshan 的意料之外， 在 Bill 第一次的觸摸下，Octavia 乖乖地進入了網子。 Octavia 已經有十個月沒有品嘗過 Bill 的肌膚了。 這期間， Octavia 都躲在自己洞穴裡的天花板下，所以 Octavia(他) ( 在這十個月裡 )並沒有看到是 Bill 伸了長長的管子來給他餵食的。 但如今 Octavia 在給 Bill 觸摸後的反應裡，展現了 Octavia(他) 和飼養員之間的關係，有著兩點令人驚奇的地方。 那就是， Octavia 不僅僅記得 Bill； 而且，他也信任 Bill.
(自 The Soul of Octopus by Sy Montgomery， Chapter 8)
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