Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16 Dr. Gomez stood directly under Mr. Nemesis to try to break the cat's fall in case he dropped before the rescue equipment arrived. However, Dr. Gomez was very nervous about the fact that he was wearing a short-sleeved shirt. If he had to catch a falling cat with his bare arms, he was sure to end up looking like he'd wrestled a rosebush. "Hurry!" he called to Michael and Jane as they exited the garage with the ladder and fishing net.

戈麦斯医生站在“宿敌先生”的正下方，以防在救援设备到达之前猫掉下去。 然而，戈麦斯医生对他穿着短袖衬衫的事实感到非常紧张。 如果他不得不赤手空拳去接一只掉下来的猫，那他肯定会看起来像在和玫瑰花丛摔跤一样。 “快点！”迈克尔和简拿着梯子和渔网走出车库时，他对他们喊道。

Michael set up the ladder as Jane handed her dad the net. Dr. Gomez climbed to the top rung of the ladder as Michael, Merle, and Pearl held it steady at its base. The Tennessee squirrels remained on Michael's windowsill, nervously watching the action, while Jane stood in the yard and cried. "Poor Mr. Nemesis! Hang on!" she wailed. Dr. Gomez extended the net as high up as he could, but it was still a couple of feet under the cat. "Climb up higher!" Jane cried. "He's scared!" "Meow!!!" Mr. Nemesis howled in confirmation. "It's not a step! It's not a step!" Dr. Gomez yelled, reading the warning printed on the top of every A-frame ladder. "C'mon, Mr. Nemesis! Let go! I'll catch you!" "MEOW!!!" the cat howled even louder. "I'll help!" Larry the squirrel offered. He jumped onto the tree trunk and scurried up into the branches. "Mr. Nemesis, let go!" Dr. Gomez repeated. Larry took hold of the branch the desperate cat was clinging to and began shaking it wildly. "What are you doing?!!!" Mr. Nemesis demanded. To Dr. Gomez and the kids, it just sounded like a howl.

迈克尔架起梯子，简把网递给她爸爸。 戈麦斯医生爬到梯子的顶端，迈克尔、莫尔和珀尔则稳稳地站在梯子的底部。 田纳西松鼠呆在迈克尔家的窗台上，紧张地注视着他们的一举一动，而简则站在院子里哭泣。 “可怜的涅墨西斯先生！坚持住！”她哭着说。 戈麦斯医生尽可能地把网伸得高高的，但它仍然在猫下面几英尺的地方。 “爬得更高！”简哭了。 “他是害怕!”“喵呜! !”涅梅西斯先生怒吼着表示赞同。 “这不是一步！”这不是一步！”博士。 戈麦斯喊道，读着印在每个a型梯子顶部的警告。 “来吧，宿敌先生！”放开!我会抓住你的！”“喵！！”猫叫得更响了。 “我会帮!”松鼠拉里主动提出。 他跳上树干，急忙爬上树枝。 “复仇女神先生，放开我！”博士。 戈麦斯重复。拉里抓住那只绝望的猫紧紧抓住的树枝，开始疯狂地摇晃它。 “你在干什么？！！”Nemesis先生问道。 对戈麦斯医生和孩子们来说，就像嚎叫一样。

"Just being neighborly!" Larry yelled, stomping on the thin branch with all his weight. Suddenly, the twig snapped! Larry was able to grab on to a nearby branch as Mr. Nemesis fell safely into the waiting fishing net. "Hurray!" Jane shouted. Her precious kitty was now safe in the netting, though squirming wildly and making sounds seldom heard from a cat.

“睦邻友好嘛！”拉里大叫着，用全身的重量跺着那根细树枝。 突然，树枝断了！拉里抓住了附近的一根树枝，而克星先生则安全落入了等待的渔网中。 “加油!”简喊道。她的宝贝小猫现在在网里很安全，尽管它疯狂地扭动着，发出猫很少听到的声音。

"I'll get all of you! You'll all be sorry!" Merle, Pearl, Bob, Mary, and Larry heard Mr. Nemesis scream as Jane removed him from the net and took him back inside. He tried to break free and come after the squirrels, but the little girl's loving embrace was too tight. Before he knew it, Mr. Nemesis was purring helplessly as Jane scratched him behind his ears. "Poor baby kitty— flying through the air like a big butterfly," Jane cooed as Mr. Nemesis glared at the squirrels over her shoulder. "You see, Pearl! You helped him out, and now he's going to get us! Where's the blessing in that?!" Merle asked. "Merle, showing mercy to others isn't about being sure they'll be merciful to us in return. We do it because God was first merciful to us," Pearl explained. "We don't deserve the mercy he gives. It's a gift that he gives that we should also give to others, whether they deserve it or not."

“我会抓住你们所有人的！”你们都会后悔的！”默尔、珀尔、鲍勃、玛丽和拉里听到了复仇先生的尖叫，简把他从网里拉了出来，把他带回了屋里。 他试图挣脱，去追松鼠，但是小女孩爱的拥抱太紧了。 在他意识到这一点之前，复仇女神先生无助地呜呜叫着，简搔了搔他的耳后。 “可怜的小猫咪——像一只大蝴蝶一样在空中飞来飞去，”简低声说，这时克星先生正从她身后瞪着松鼠。 “你看，珠儿！你帮了他，现在他要来抓我们！这有什么好处呢？”默尔问道。 “梅尔，对别人仁慈并不是说他们一定会对我们仁慈。 我们这样做是因为上帝首先对我们仁慈，”珀尔解释说。 “我们不配得到他的仁慈。 这是他给我们的礼物，我们也应该给别人，不管他们是否值得。”

Merle, Bob, Mary, and Larry thought about Pearl's words. "Who knows?" Bob said. "Maybe one day Mr. Nemesis will come to realize the same thing." Dr. Gomez looked down at Bob, who to his ears was squeaking wildly. "Did that squirrel just say something?" he asked Merle.

莫尔、鲍勃、玛丽和拉里思索着珀尔的话。 “谁知道呢?”鲍勃说。“也许有一天，宿敌先生也会意识到同样的事情。” 戈麦斯医生低头看着鲍勃，鲍勃在他耳边疯狂地尖叫着。 “那只松鼠刚刚说了什么吗？”他问莫尔。