Mrs. Gray was thirty, and so sweet and so lovely, you cannot imagine it. And Sadie was ten, and just like her mother, just a darling slender slender adj.苗条的, 微薄的, 微弱的 little copy of her, with auburn tails down her back, and short frocks. And the baby was a year old, and plumpplump adj.圆胖的, 丰满的, 鼓起的 vt.突然放下, 使丰满,使鼓起 vi.变丰满, 鼓起 adv.使发胖(或鼓起)的东西,鼓鳃物,沉重(或突然)坠落, 沉重地, 突然地, 坦白地 n.扑通声 and dimpled, and fond of me, and never could get enough of hauling on my tail, and hugging me, and laughing out its innocent happiness, and Mr. Gray was thirtyeight, and tall and slender and handsome, a little bald in front, alert, quick in his movements, businesslike, prompt, decided, unsentimental, and with that kind of trimchiseled face that just seems to glint and sparkle sparkle v.发火花, (使)闪耀, (香槟酒等)发泡, 用眼神表达, 发光闪烁 n.火花, 闪光, 光彩, 活力, 发泡 with frosty intellectuality! He was a renowned scientist. I do not know what the word means, but my mother would know how to use it and get effects. She would know how to depress depress vt.使沮丧, 使消沉, 压下, 压低, 使不活泼,使萧条 v.压下 a ratterrier with it and make a lapdog look sorry he came. But that is not the best one, the best one was Laboratory. My mother could organize a Trust on that one that would skin the taxcollars off the whole herd. The laboratory was not a book, or a picture, or a place to wash your hands in, as the college presidents dog said—no, that is the lavatory. The laboratory is quite different, and is filled with jars, and bottles, and electrics, and wires, and strange machines. And every week other scientists came there and sat in the place, and used the machines, and discussed, and made what they called experiments and discoveries. And often I came, too, and stood around and listened, and tried to learn, for the sake of my mother, and in loving memory of her, although it was a pain to me, as realizing what she was losing out of her life and I gaining nothing at all. for try as I might, I was never able to make anything out of it at all.
格莱太太有30岁,她非常漂亮、非常可爱,那样子你简直想像不出,莎第10岁,正像她妈妈一样,简直是照她的模样做出来的一份苗条可爱的仿制品,背上垂着褐色的辫子,身上穿着短短的上衣。娃娃才一周岁,长得胖胖的,脸上有酒窝,他很喜欢我,老爱拉我的尾巴,抱我,并且还哈哈大笑地表示他那天真烂漫的快乐,简直没有个够。格莱先生38岁,高个子,细长身材,长得很漂亮,头前面有点秃,人很机警,动作灵活,一本正经,办事迅速果断,不感情用事,他那副收拾得整整齐齐的脸简直就像是闪耀着冷冰冰的智慧的光!他是一位有名的科学家。我不知道科学家是什么意思,可是我母亲一定知道这个名词怎么用法,知道怎么去卖弄它,叫别人佩服。她会知道怎么去拿它叫一只捉耗子的小狗听了垂头丧气,把一只哈巴狗吓得后悔它不该来。可是这个名词还不是最好的,最好的名词是实验室。要有一个实验室肯把所有的狗脖子上拴着缴税牌的颈圈都取下来,我母亲就可以组织一个托拉斯来办这么一个实验室。实验室并不是一本书,也不是一张图画,也不是洗手的地方——大学校长的狗说是这么回事,可是不对,那叫做盥洗室。实验室是大有区别的,那里面搁满了罐子、瓶子、电器、五金丝和稀奇古怪的机器,每个星期都有别的科学家到那儿来,坐在那地方,用那些机器,大家还讨论,还做他们所谓什么试验和发现,我也常常到那儿来,站在旁边听,很想学点东西,为了我母亲,为了好好地纪念她,虽然这对我是件痛苦的事,因为我体会到她一辈子耗费了多少精神,而我可一点也学不到什么。无论我怎么努力,我听来听去,根本就一点也听不出所以然来。
Other times I lay on the floor in the mistresss workroom and slept, she gently using me for a footstool, knowing it pleased me, for it was a caress; other times I spent an hour in the nursery nursery n.托儿所, and got well tousled and made happy. Other times I watched by the crib there, when the baby was asleep and the nurse out for a few minutes on the babys affairs. Other times I romped romp n.蹦跳游戏, 顽皮的人 vi.顽皮嬉戏 and raced through the grounds and the garden with Sadie till we were tired out, then slumbered on the grass in the shade of a tree while she read her book. Other times I went visiting among the neighbor dogs—for there were some most pleasant ones not far away, and one very handsome and courteous and graceful one, a curlyhaired Irish setter by the name of Robin Adair, who was a Presbyterian like me, and belonged to the Scotch minister.
平时我躺在女主人工作室的地板上睡觉,她温柔地把我用来当作一条垫脚凳,知道这是使我高兴的,因为这也是一种抚爱;有时候我在育儿室里待上个把钟头,让孩子们把我的头发弄得乱蓬蓬的,使我很快活,有时候娃娃睡着了,保姆为了娃娃的事情出去几分钟,我就在娃娃的小床旁边看守一会,有时候我在空地上和花园里跟莎第乱跳乱跑一阵一直玩到我们都筋疲力尽,然后我就在树阴底下的草地上舒舒服服地睡觉,同时她在那儿看书;有时候我到邻居的狗那儿去拜访拜访他们——因为有几只非常好玩的狗离我们不远,其中有一只很漂亮、很客气、很文雅的狗,他是一只卷毛的“爱尔兰种”猎狗,名字叫做罗宾·阿代尔,他也和我一样,是个“长老会教友”,他的主人是个当牧师的苏格兰人。
The servants in our house were all kind to me and were fond of me, and so, as you see, mine was a pleasant life. There could not be a happier dog that I was, nor a gratefuler one. I will say this for myself, for it is only the truth: I tried in all ways to do well and right, and honor my mothers memory and her teachings, and earn the happiness that had come to me, as best I could.
我们那个人家的仆人都对我很和气,而且很喜欢我,所以,你也看得出,我的生活是很愉快的。天下再不会有比我更快活、更知道感恩图报的狗了。我要给自己说这种话,因为这不过是说的事实:我极力循规蹈矩,多做正经事,不辜负我母亲的慈爱和教训,尽量换取我所得到的快乐。
By and by came my little puppy puppy n.(常指未满一岁的)小狗, 小动物, 自负的青年, and then my cup was full, my happiness was perfect. It was the dearest little waddling thing, and so smooth and soft and velvety velvety adj.像天鹅绒的, 柔软的, and had such cunning cunning adj.狡猾的, 巧妙的, <;美>;漂亮的, 可爱的n.狡猾, 诡诈 little awkward paws, and such affectionate eyes, and such a sweet and innocent face, and it made me so proud to see how the children and their mother adored it, and fondled it, and exclaimed over every little wonderful thing it did. It did seem to me that life was just too lovely to...
不久我就生了小狗娃,这下子我的幸福可到了极点,我的快乐简直是齐天了。它是走起路来一摇一摆的一个最可爱的小家伙,身上的毛长得又光滑、又柔软,就像天鹅绒似的,小脚爪长得非常特别、非常好玩,眼睛显得非常有感情,小脸儿天真活泼,非常可爱;我看见孩子们和他们的母亲把它爱得要命,拿它当个活宝贝,无论它做出一种什么绝妙的小动作,他们都要大声欢呼,这真使我非常得意。我好像觉得生活实在是太痛快了,一天到晚老是……