Why Foreign Literary Giants Love Cats

What sort of philosophers are we, who know absolutely nothing of the origin and destiny of cats?

—by Thoreau

1. Hemingway: Good night, my kitten

A cat has absolute emotional honesty:human beings, for one reason or another①for one reason or another 因某種理由 belly 英 ['bel?] 美 ['b?li] n. 腹部；胃；食欲 vi. 漲滿；鼓起 vt. 使鼓起,may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.

—by Hemingway

Outside right under their window a cat was crouched②crouch[kra?t?] vi. 蹲伏，蜷伏；卑躬屈膝 vt. 低頭；屈膝 n.蹲伏 fork 英 [f??k] 美 [f?rk] n. 叉；餐叉；耙 vt. 叉起；使成叉狀 vi. 分叉；分歧under one of the dripping green tables. The cat was trying to make herself so compact③compact英 [k?m'p?kt] 美 ['kɑmp?kt] n. 合同，契約；小粉盒adj. 緊湊的，緊密的；簡潔的 vt. 使簡潔；使緊密結合that she would not be dripped on.

'Anyway, I want a cat,' she said, 'I want a cat. I want a cat now. If I can't have long hair or any fun, I can have a cat.'

—by Hemingway Cat in the Rain

2. Borges: Yours is the solitude, yours the secret

When I am feeling low, all I have to do is-- watch my cats, and my courage returns. I study these creatures. They are my teachers.

—by Charles Bukovsky

They're saviors④savior['sevj?] n. 救世主；救星；救助者. The more cats you have, the longer you live.

—by Charles Bukovsky My Cats

More remote, even, than the Ganges or the setting sun⑤the setting sun 落日；夕陽西下, yours is the solitude⑥solitude 英 ['s?l?tju?d] 美 ['sɑl?tud] n. 孤獨；隱居；荒僻的地方, yours the secret. Your haunch allows the lingering…

—by Borges To a Cat

It's the lord of a place bounded like a dream.

—by Borges