On the other side was a slow-moving female, all alone, with a hanging belly and distended teats.
笼子的另一边是一只行动缓慢的母狗,孤零零的,肚子下垂,乳头胀大。
She was white with black spots, and her coat was very short.
她白色的皮毛上有一些黑色的斑点,衣服很短。
She didn’t walk around much and seemed pretty uninterested in us.
她很少走动,对我们似乎也没什么兴趣。
About a foot of space separated the two kennels, so all we could do was smell the little puppies next to us,
两个狗窝之间大约有一英尺的距离,所以我们最多只能闻一闻我们旁边的那些小狗,
though they looked like they’d be fun to play with.
尽管它们看起来是很有趣的玩伴。
Straight ahead was a long strip of lawn that beckoned with sweet odors of moist earth and rich, green grass,
正前方是一长条草坪,散发着湿润泥土和茂盛绿草的芳香,
but we were prevented from going out there by the locked door to the cage.
但是我们被锁着的笼子门挡住了,没法去那草坪看看。
A wooden fence encircled both the grassy area and the dog cages.
一道木栅栏围绕着那片草坪和这些狗笼。
The man wasn’t anything like Bobby or Carlos.
那个人一点也不像鲍比和卡洛斯。
When he ventured into the kennel area to feed the dogs, he didn’t speak much to any of us,
他每次都会小心翼翼地来狗窝喂狗,但他不怎么跟我们说话,
radiating a bland indifference so at odds with the kindness of the men tending the dogs in the Yard.
他表现出一种寡淡的冷漠,与院子里照料我们的人所散发出的善良气息完全不同。
When the puppies in the kennel next to us rushed over to greet him,
当我们旁边狗窝里的小狗冲过来迎接他时,
he pushed them away from the dinner bowl with a grunt, letting the mother have access to her food.
他会嘟囔着什么并把它们从饭碗旁推开,让狗妈妈可以吃到东西。
We were less coordinated in our attack and usually didn’t manage to tumble our way to the cage door before he’d already moved on
我们攻击的协调性较差,而且通常在那个人离开前,我们都没法爬到笼子门口
and our mother let us know we were not to share her meal.
妈妈跟我们说,我们不能和她一起吃饭。
Sometimes the man would be talking when he moved from cage to cage, but not to us.
有时,那个人从一个笼子移动到另一个笼子时会说话,但不是对我们说的。
He spoke softly, focused on a piece of paper in his hands.
他说话的声音很轻,会认真看着手里的一张纸。
“Yorkshire terriers, week or so,” he said one time, looking in at the dogs in the cage to our right.
“约克夏梗犬,一周左右了,”有一次他看着我们右边笼子里的狗说。
He stopped in front of our pen and peered inside.
他在我们的笼子前停下,往里面看。
“Golden retrievers, probably three weeks yet, and got a Dalmatian ready to pop any day.”
“金毛犬,大概三周了,还有一只达尔马提亚犬随时可能会来。”
I decided my time in the Yard had prepared me to dominate the puppies in my family, and was irritated they didn’t feel the same way.
我以为院子度过里的时光已经让我做好让家里的兄弟姐妹听我话的准备了,但让我生气的是,我的兄弟姐妹们并不这样认为。