那次小猫事件已经过去一年了,有一天我向外望去,目光落在一张桌子上,看见杰克的耳朵竖着,头歪向一边,盯着地面。在它的脚下有一只小猫咪,静静地坐着。我试图用温和的话语安抚杰克,使它平静下来,我又往前走得近些,希望能阻止那种我确信即将发生的悲惨攻击。那只小猫的眼睛受到了严重感染,可能已经看不见了,不知道自己在哪里或是还不知道自己即将面临危险。但是杰克只是盯着那只小猫,然后又看看我,再转过去看看小猫。我听见了猫的叫声,发现桌子底下还有一只小猫。于是我把这两只猫都放进盒子里,将这个盒子作为它们临时的家。我把盒子放在车库,然后开始给我所知道的那些动物收养所打电话,不厌其烦地向他们说着同样的故事——我的狗从来不允许那些猫进入我们家,我需要立刻将这两只小猫重新安置好。
第二天早晨,我们又发现3只小猫躺在门口的柴堆旁,蜷缩在一起取暖。于是我把它们也带了进来,并放在盒子里。
我的心情异常沉重。现在,我们已经有5只小猫了,它们的眼睛都感染得很厉害。它们都将被送到一个挤满了被遗弃的动物的家庭里。一整天,我都在不停地打电话,只是一遍又一遍地被告知已经没有足够的地方再收养更多的动物了。我知道现在我已经无从选择了。我的眼中噙着泪,拨通了兽医院的电话,希望他们把小猫永远带出我的生活。与此同时,我又看了看杰克,它静静地观察着身边的一切,没有流口水,也没有喘息声。它看起来没有一点不安与急躁,我感觉有些事情发生了改变。
于是,我平静地坐着,而且心中有一个声音告诉我该怎么做。我给兽医打了电话,预约检查小猫的眼睛。从兽医院回家的路上,我去了一家宠物店,买了第一箱猫食。回到家中,我将放小猫的盒子拿到屋里。杰克在旁边等着。时间到了,于是我小心翼翼地将那几只小猫放在厨房的地板上,屏住呼吸,时刻准备在必要时刻去拯救那几只小猫。
杰克走了过来,用鼻子挨个闻了闻那几只小猫,接着就坐在它们的中间,看着我。那几只小猫蜂拥而上,很高兴能够找到这么大的可以依偎的既温暖又毛茸茸的身体来取暖。那是杰克打开它的心扉接受这5只小猫咪的时刻,我不知道它是不是也想起了当时自己也需要一个家。我蹲下来感谢它的爱心和怜悯,告诉它,我是多么感激它走进了我的生活。但是这些感激的话语等到以后再告诉他吧——杰克和它的小猫咪们已经睡着了。
心灵小语
我不知道它是不是也想起了当时自己也需要一个家。我蹲下来感谢它的爱心和怜悯,告诉它,我是多么感激它走进了我的生活。
记忆填空
1. They were only about four weeks old, and had gray-striped bodies and large, frightened eyes. Their mother was in sight. I put them into a box and them inside.
2. So I still and I sat. And I heard a voice in my telling me what to do. I called our veterinarian and made an to bring the kittens in and get their eyes checked.
3. Jake walked over and sniffed each of the . Then he sat down in the of them and looked up at me. The kittens swarmed over him, happy to find a big, body of fur to curl up next to.
佳句翻译
1. 我将它们放进一只箱子,并拿到屋里。
译
2. 我试图用温和的话语安抚杰克,使它平静下来。
译
3. 没有流口水,也没有喘息声,它看起来没有一点不安与急躁。
译
短语应用
1. ... and I need to relocate them right away.
right away:立刻;马上
造__________________
2. I knew I’d run out of options, so with tears in my eyes ...
run out of:用完
造__________________
史努比回家
The Puppy Express
佚名 / Anonymous
The Topps stood on the shoulder of the road and watched as their truck’s engine shuddered and died. Nancy and Joe, their two children, Jodi, twelve, and Matthew, fifteen, and their elderly dog, Snoopy, were 1500 miles from home, stranded on a highway in Wyoming, with the old truck clearly beyond even Joe’s gift for repairs. The little dog, peering around the circle of faces with cataract dimmed eyes, seemed to reflect their anxiety.
The Topps were on the road because five months before, a nephew had told Joe there was work to be had in the Napa Valley and he and Nancy decided to gamble. Breaking up their home in Fort Wayne, Indiana, they packed up the kids and Snoopy and set out for California. But once there, the warehousing job Joe hoped for didn’t materialize, Nancy and the kids were very homesick, and their funds melted away. Now it was January and, the gamble lost, they were on their way back to Fort Wayne.
The truck had taken them as far as Rock Springs, Wyoming, but now there was nothing to do but sell it to a junk dealer for twenty-five dollars and hitch a ride to the bus station. Two pieces of bad news greeted them at the station. Four tickets to Fort Wayne came to much more money than they had, and dogs were not allowed on the bus.
“But we’ve got to take Snoopy with us.” Nancy pleaded with the ticket-seller, tears welling in her eyes.
Joe drew her away from the window. It was no use getting upset about Snoopy, he told her, until they figured how to get themselves on the bus. With no choice but to ask for help, they called Travelers’ Aid, and with kind efficiency, the local representative arranged for a motel room for them for the night. There, with their boxes and bags piled around them, they put in a call to relatives back home, who promised to get together money for the fare and wirer it the next day.
“But what about Snoopy?” Matthew said as soon as his parents got off the phone.
“We can’t go without Snoopy,”Jodi stated flatly. At seventeen, Snoopy had a bit of a heart condition and some kidney problems, and the family worried about her.
Joe picked up the little dog. “Snoopy,” he said, tugging her floppy ears in the way she liked. “I think you’re going to have to hitchhike.”
“Don’t tease, Joe,” said Nancy shortly.
“I’m not teasing, honey,” he assured her, tucking Snoopy into the crook of his arm. “I’m going to try to find an eastbound trucker to take the old girl back for US.”
At the local truck stop, Joe sat Snoopy on a stool beside him while he fell into conversation with drivers who stopped to pet her. “Gee, I’d like to help you out,” one after another said. “She’s awful cute and I wouldn’t mind the company, but I’m not going through Fort Wayne this trip.” The only driver who could have taken her picked Snoopy up and looked at her closely. “Naw,” the man growled, “with an old dog like her, there’d be too many pit stops. I got to make time.” Still hopeful, Joe tacked up a sign and gave the motel’s phone number.
“Somebody will call before bus time tomorrow,” he predicted to the kids when he and Snoopy got back to the motel.
“But suppose nobody does?” Jodi said.
Joe answered, “Sweetie, we’ve got to be on that bus. The Travelers’ Aid can only pay for us to stay here one night.”