患难真情动物让我们感动

A Friend in Need

Brownie and Spotty were neighbor dogs who met every day to play together. Like pairs of dogs you can find in most any neighborhood, these two loved each other and played together so often that they had worn a path through the grass of the field between their respective houses.

neighborhood n. 附近、临近　respective adj. 各自的

One evening, Brownie's family noticed that Brownie hadn' t returned home. They went looking for him with no success. Brownie didn't show up the next day, and, despite their efforts to find him, by the next week he was still missing.

show up 露面　missing adj. 不见的

Curiously, Spotty showed up at Brownie's house alone. Barking, whining and generally pestering Brownie's human family. Busy with their own lives, they just ignored the nervous little neighbor dog.

whine v. 哀鸣　pester v. 纠缠

Finally, one morning Spotty refused to take "no" for an answer. Ted, Brownie's owner, was steadily harassed by the furious, adamant little dog. Spotty followed Ted about, barking insistently, then darting toward a nearby empty lot and back, as if to say, "Follow me! It's urgent!"

harassed adj. 厌烦的　furious adj. 狂怒的　adamant adj. 坚定的、固执的

Eventually, Ted followed the frantic Spotty across the empty lot as Spotty paused to race back and bark encouragingly. The little dog led the man under a tree, past clumps of trees, to a desolate spot a half mile from the house. There Ted found his beloved Brownie alive, one of his hind legs crushed in a steel leghold trap. Horrified, Ted now wished he'd taken Spotty's earlier appeals seriously. Then Ted noticed something quite remarkable.

frantic adj. 疯狂的　desolate adj. 荒凉的　horrified adj. 惊骇的

Spotty had done more than simply led Brownie's human owner to his trapped friend. In a circle around the injured dog, Ted found an array of dog food and table scraps which were later identified as the remains of every meal Spotty had been fed that week!

array n. 排列　remains n. 残余

Spotty had been visiting Brownie regularly, in a single minded quest to keep his friend alive by sacrificing his own comfort. Spotty had evidently stayed with Brownie to protect him from predators, snuggling with him at night to keep him warm and nuzzling him to keep his spirits up.

sacrifice v. 献出　predator n. 食肉动物　snuggle v. 偎依　nuzzle v. 用鼻爱抚

Brownie's leg was treated by a veterinarian and he recovered. For many years thereafter, the two families watched the faithful friends frolicking and chasing each other down that well worn path between their houses.

veterinarian n. 兽医　recover v. 痊愈、恢复　frolic v. 嬉戏

　　中文：


　　布朗尼和斯波蒂是邻居，两只每天相会一起玩的狗。像几乎能在任何社区找到的成对的狗一样，它们俩互相爱慕，常在一起玩耍嬉戏，两家之间的草地上已经踏出了一条小径。

　　一天傍晚，布朗尼的主人家发现它没有回家，搜寻一番也没找到。第二天，布朗尼依然没露面。尽管人们还在努力寻找着，到了第二周，它还是不见踪影。

　　奇怪的是，斯波蒂独自出现在布朗尼主人家，吠叫、哀嚎，还总是缠着家里的人，但他们忙于自己的生活，没有在意邻居家这只神经质的小狗。