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Couldn't I always coax her to lie down, usually with a sigh, when I reached up for her while she stood above us?
当她站在我们上方，我伸出手去够她时，难道就不能哄她叹口气，然后躺下吗？
Often Mother would spend extra time licking Hungry while I seethed at the injustice.
母亲常常多花时间舔Hungry，而我对这种不公平感到愤怒。
By this time, Fast and Sister had both grown larger than I—my body was the same size, but my legs were shorter and stubbier.
这时，Fast和姐姐都比我大了——我的身体和他们一样大，但我的腿更短更粗。
Hungry was the runt of the litter, of course, and it bothered me that Fast and Sister always abandoned me to play with each other,
Hungry当然是窝里的小不点儿了，而且令我烦恼的是，Fast和姐姐总是抛弃我，他们两个一起去玩，
as if Hungry and I belonged together out of some sort of natural order in the pack.
好像Hungry和我天生就该在一起似的。
Since Fast and Sister were more interested in each other than the rest of the family,
既然Fast和姐姐对彼此比对家里其他人更感兴趣，
I punished them by depriving them of my company, going off by myself deep into the culvert.
我惩罚他们，不让他们和我在一起，自己一个人到涵洞深处去了。
I was sniffing at something deliciously dead and rotten one day when right in front of me a tiny animal exploded into the air—a frog!
有一天，我正嗅着一个美味的死臭的东西，突然一只小动物在我面前出现了——一只青蛙!
Delighted, I leaped forward, attempting to pounce on it with my paws, but the frog jumped again.
我高兴地跳上前去，想用爪子扑上去，但青蛙又跳了起来。
It was afraid, although all I wanted to do was play and probably wouldn't eat it.
它很害怕，虽然我只是想玩玩，可能不会吃它。
Fast and Sister sensed my excitement and came stampeding into the culvert, knocking me over as they skidded to a stop in the slimy water.
Fast和姐姐感觉到了我的兴奋，慌忙跑进涵洞，他们在泥泞的水里打滑停了下来，把我撞倒在地。
The frog hopped and Fast lunged at it, using my head as a springboard.
青蛙跳跃着，Fas以我的头为跳板，快速向它扑去。
I snarled at him, but he ignored me.
我对他咆哮，但他不理我。
Sister and Fast fell all over themselves to get at the frog,
姐姐和Fast拼命地扑向青蛙，
who managed to land in a pool of water and kick away in silent, rapid strokes.
她成功地落在了一个水池里，然后无声地、快速地跑开了。
Sister put her muzzle in the pond and snorted, sneezing water over Fast and me.
姐姐把她的鼻子放在池塘里，嗅着Fast和我上面的水。
Fast climbed on her back, the frog—my frog!— forgotten.
Fast爬上她的背，青蛙，我的青蛙!——被遗忘了。
Sadly, I turned away. It looked as though I lived in a family of dimwits.
我难过地转过身去。感觉我好像生活在一个傻瓜家庭里。
I was to think of that frog often in the days that followed, usually just as I drifted off to sleep.
在接下来的几天里，我常常会想起那只青蛙，通常是在我渐渐入睡的时候。
I found myself wondering how it would have tasted.
我发现自己在想它会是什么味道。
More and more frequently, Mother would growl softly when we approached,
当我们靠近时，妈妈会越来越频繁地低声咆哮，
and the day she clicked her teeth together in warning when we came at her in a greedy tumble I despaired that my siblings had ruined everything.
有一天，我们贪婪地扑向她，她咬牙切齿地发出警告，我绝望地发现我的兄弟姐妹们把一切都毁了。
Then Fast crawled to her, his belly low, and she lowered her snout to him.
然后Fast向她爬去，他的肚子低垂着，她把鼻子低垂到他面前。
He licked her mouth and she rewarded him by bringing up food, and we rushed forward to share.
他舔了舔她的嘴，她拿出食物来奖励他，我们冲上前分享。
Fast pushed us away, but we knew the trick, now,
Fast把我们推开了，但现在我们知道了其中的奥秘，
and when I sniffed and licked my mother's jaws she gave me a meal.
当我闻一闻，舔一舔妈妈的下巴时，她就会给我一顿饭。
