An old crab grew restless. Finding himself stiff all over, he knew it was time for him to moult his shell.

He dashed here and there in search of a cave to hide. He was going to block up the mouth of cave so that he could moult in secret. He knew it would be very dangerous to shed his shell in the open because, with his new shell still being soft, he might be eaten up by other crabs. This fear was not groundless for he himself had really seen it happen to other moulting crabs.

The old crab kept moving about in a hurry.

A nearby crab asked, “Hey, brother, what’s the rush?”

“I am going to moult,” answered the old crab. “Wouldn’t it be all right to moult right here? I could help you out with it.”

“How horrible that would be!”

“You mean while you’ll not scared of other things in the cave you’re scared of your own kind?”

“No, I’m not scared of my own kind.”

“Then what are you scared of?”

“Nothing but being eaten up by you.”

注释:

《螃蟹》是近年发现的鲁迅佚文。文章发表于1919年8月间，时值五四运动方兴未艾，作者通过寓言故事，提醒人们新生事物往往有被旧事物消灭于萌芽状态的危险。

(1)“觉得全身太硬了”译为Finding himself stiff al over，其中all over意即“全身”或“浑身”，作状语短语用。如逐字译为finding his whole body stiff并无不可，但语言稍欠地道。

(2)“蜕壳”译为to moult his shell，其中to moult 为专用语，意同to cast off。

(3)“外面蜕壳”中的“外面”意即“在露天”，故译为（to moult）in the open，以代替to moult outside the cave。

(4)“身子还软”意即“蜕去旧壳后新壳还软”，故译为with his new shell still being soft。如按字面直译为with his body still being soft则欠确切，因“身子”在此指“新壳”，不泛指“躯体”。

(5)“旁边的螃蟹”译为A nearby crab比Ａcrab beside him灵活。

(6)“就怕你要吃掉我”译为Nothing but being eaten up by you, 乃I’m scared of nothing but being eaten up by you之略。

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