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The boy lived in a small room full of wonderful toys, while Mom and Dad shared a room with no toys whatsoever.
小男孩住在一个小房间里，里面摆满了精美的玩具，而爸爸妈妈却住在一个没有任何玩具的房间里。
One room had a basin of water I could only drink from if I climbed into it,
一个房间里有一盆水，我只有爬进去才能喝，
and also had no toys unless you counted the white paper that I could pull from the wall in a continuous sheet.
而且这个房间里也没有玩具，除非把墙上能用嘴扯下来的白纸也算作玩家。
The rooms for sleeping were at the top of some steps that were impossible for me to climb despite my full-sized dog legs.
睡觉的房间在一些台阶的上面。即便我把腿伸直，也爬不上去。
The food was all kept hidden in one part of the house.
食物都藏在房子的某一个地方。
Every time I decided I needed to squat and relieve myself,
每次我决定蹲下来大小便时，
everyone in the house went crazy, scooping me up and racing out the door with me, setting me in the grass and watching me
房子里的每个人就都像疯了一样他们会把我抱起来，带着我一起跑出门去，把我放在草地上，然后就盯着我看
until I’d recovered from the trauma of it all enough to continue with my business,
但我一般都需要一点时间来从这一番创痛中回过神儿来，然后才能重新开始撒尿，
which earned me so much praise I wondered if this was my main function in the family.
在草地上撒尿为我赢得了很多赞扬，我有点好奇这是不是我在家里的主要职责。
Their praise was inconsistent, though, because there were some papers they’d set out for me to rip up
不过，他们对我的赞扬有点让我摸不这头脑，因为他们准备一些纸来让我弄碎
and if I squatted on them I was called a good dog, too, but with relief, not joy.
如果我蹲坐在纸上，他们也会夸我“乖孩子”，不过是带着松了一口气的情绪，而不是开心的情绪。
And, as I mentioned, sometimes when we were all in the house together they became upset with me for doing exactly the same thing.
但就像我前面提到的那样：有时当我们一起在房子里的时候，我做了同样的时候，但他们却很不开心。
“No!” Mom or Ethan would shout when I wet the floor.
“不要！”当我弄湿地板时，妈妈或伊森会大叫。
“Good boy!” they’d sing when I peed in the grass.
“好孩子！“当我在草地上撒尿时，他们会开心地夸我。
“Okay, that’s good,” they’d say when I urinated on the papers.
当我在纸上撒尿时，他们会说：“可以，棒。”
I could not understand what in the world was wrong with them.
我不明白他们究竟是怎么回事。
Dad mostly ignored me, though I sensed he liked it when I got up in the morning to keep him company while he ate.
爸爸大部分时候都不怎么管我，不过我能感觉到他很喜欢早上吃饭的时候有我陪在他身边。
He regarded me with mild affection—nothing like the berserk adoration flooding out of Ethan,
他对我是一种淡如水的感情——跟伊森那种狂热的喜欢完全不同，
though I could feel that was how much Dad and Mom loved the boy.
虽然我能感觉到爸爸妈妈是很多爱这个男孩的。
Occasionally Dad would sit at the table in the evenings with the boy
晚上，爸爸偶尔会和男孩一起坐在桌边
and they would talk quietly, concentrating, while sharp, pungent fumes filled the air.
他们会聚精会神地轻声交谈，这时候空气中都会弥漫着刺鼻烟味。
Dad would let me lie on his feet, since the boy’s feet were too far off the ground for me to reach.
爸爸会让我躺在他的脚上，因为男孩的脚离地太远，我够不着。
