待售的小狗

PUPPIES FOR SALE

A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the puppies and set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the eyes of a little boy.

“Mister,” he said, “I want to buy one of your puppies.”

“Well,” said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck, “these puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money.”

The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer. “I’ve got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?”

“Sure,” said the farmer.

And with that he let out a whistle, “Here, Dolly!” he called.

Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur. The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight.

As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something else stirring inside the doghouse. Slowly another little ball appeared; this one noticeably smaller. Down the ramp it slid. Then in a somewhat awkward manner the little pup began hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up....

“I want that one,” the little boy said, pointing to the runt.

The farmer knelt down at the boy’s side and said, “Son, you don’t want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would.”

With that the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down, and began rolling up one leg of his trousers. In doing so he revealed a steel brace running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially made shoe. Looking back up at the farmer, he said, “You see, sir, I don’t run too well myself, and he will need someone who understands.”

The world is full of people who need someone who understands.

【日積月累】

tug n. 用力拉

overalls n.工作服

ramp n. 斜坡

stir v. 微動

hobble v. 蹣跚,跛行

runt n. 發育不全的矮小動物, 矮子

【參考譯文】

一個農民要賣掉一些小狗，于是他畫了一個招牌為自己的小狗們做廣告，并把這塊招牌釘在院子邊緣的一個柱子上。當他把最后一個釘子釘進柱子后，他感覺到有什么在扯他的外衣。他低下頭，看到的是一個小男孩。

“先生，”他說，“我想買一只小狗。”

“好啊，”這個農民一邊擦掉脖子后面的汗，一邊說道，“這些小狗的出身很好，值很多錢的。”

男孩低下了頭，片刻之后，他把手伸進自己的口袋里，掏出了一把零錢。他把這些零錢遞給農民，說：“我有39美分，可不可以讓我看上那些小狗一眼？”

“沒問題。”農民回答道。

說完，農民吹了一聲口哨，喊道：“多利，到這兒來！”

然后多利帶著一群小毛球跑出了狗舍，跑下了斜坡。小男孩把臉貼在鎖著鐵鏈的柵欄上，眼睛里閃動著快樂。

在狗群往柵欄跑的過程中，小男孩注意到狗舍里面還有什么東西在挪動著。接著，另一個明顯小很多的毛球慢慢出來了。它滑下斜坡，然后一瘸一拐地朝其他的小狗們走去，努力想要趕上狗群。

“我想要那只小狗。”小男孩指著最小的那只狗說。

農民在男孩身邊跪下來，說：“孩子，你不會想要那只小狗的，因為它不可能像其他小狗一樣陪你一起跑著玩。”

聽到這些話，小男孩從柵欄上抽回身來，彎下腰來開始往上卷自己的一只褲腿。從卷起的褲腿下，可以看到他的腿上穿著特制的鞋，兩邊都用金屬架固定著。他看著農民說：“你看，先生，我自己也不能很好地跑，而且它需要人去理解它。”

這個世界到處都是需要理解的人。

【人生啟迪】

這個世界到處都是需要理解的人。的確，很多人都感到孤獨，因為大家都覺得沒有人能夠理解自己。不是說知音難求嗎？其實，只要我們肯花點心思多關注周圍的世界，多換位思考一下，這個世界也并不是那么難以理解的。