Was this my life, now?
这就是我现在要面对的生活吗?
Every day I’d be slathered in vegetables, have stinky soaps rubbed into me, and be barred from entry into the main part of the house,
每天,他们都会用蔬菜在我的身上擦拭,用臭臭的香皂擦洗我的身体,还不让我进主屋,
even when Grandma was cooking?
即使是奶奶做饭的时候也不让我进了,为什么啊?
“You are so stupid, Bailey!” the boy scolded me while he scrubbed me out in the yard.
“你真蠢,贝利!”男孩一边在院子里给我擦洗,一边骂我。
“Don’t use the word ‘stupid’; it is such an ugly word,” Grandma said.
“不要用‘蠢’这个词,不好 ,”奶奶在一边说道。
“Tell him . . . tell him he’s a doodle; that’s what my mother always called me when I was a little girl and I did something wrong.”
“告诉他……告诉他,他是一个小笨蛋。当我还是个小女孩的时候,我做错了一件事,我妈妈就总会这样说我。”
The boy faced me sternly. “Bailey, you are a doodle dog. You are a doodle, doodle dog.”
那男孩严厉地看着我。“贝利,你是一只笨蛋狗。小呀小笨蛋。”
And then he laughed and Grandma laughed, but I was so miserable I could barely move my tail.
然后他笑了,奶奶也笑了,但是我很不开心,尾巴晃也晃不起来。
Fortunately, around about the time that the smells faded from my fur the family stopped behaving so strangely and allowed me to rejoin them.
好消息是,在我身上的气味消失得差不多的时候,大家的行为不再那么奇怪,我又可以和他们一起玩儿了。
The boy sometimes called me a doodle dog, but never angrily, more as an alternative to my name.
男孩有时叫我小笨蛋,但不是生气的语气,更像是把这个当成了我的别名。
“Want to go fishing, doodle dog?” he’d ask, and we’d shove out in the rowboat and pull tiny fish out of the water for a few hours.
“想去钓鱼吗,小笨蛋?”他会问,然后我们就会划着小船,从从水里弄小鱼,一玩就是几个小时的时间。
One day toward the very end of summer it was colder than usual and we were out in the boat,
夏末的一天,天气比往常更冷了,我们坐在小船上,
Ethan wearing a hood that was attached to his shirt at the neck.
伊森的脖子上穿着连接着衬衣的兜帽。
And suddenly he jumped up. “I’ve got a big one, Bailey, a big one!”
突然,他跳了起来。“钓到了一个大的,贝利,一个大的!”
I responded to his excitement, leaping to my feet and barking.
我对他的兴奋做出了反应,我边跳边叫。
He wrestled with his rod for more than a minute, grinning and laughing, and then I saw it, a fish the size of a cat, coming to the surface right next to our boat!
他与鱼竿搏斗了一分多钟,咧着嘴笑着,然后我看到一只猫那么大的鱼,就在我们的船旁边浮出水面来了!
Ethan and I both leaned forward to see it, the boat rocked, and then with a yell the boy fell overboard!
伊森和我都向前倾着身子去看,船晃了,然后伊森大叫一声从船上掉了下去!
I leaped to the side of the boat and stared down into the dark green water.
我跳上船边,凝望着深绿色的池水。
I could see the boy vanishing from sight, and the bubbles rising to the surface carried his scent to me, but he showed no signs of resurfacing.
我能看见伊森从我的视线中消失,浮上水面的气泡还有他的气味,但他没有再浮上来的迹象。
I didn’t hesitate; I dove right in after him,
我没有犹豫,立刻扑向他,
my eyes open as I pushed against the water and struggled to follow the trail of bubbles down into the cold darkness.
我睁大眼睛,扑腾着水,挣扎着顺着他留下气泡轨迹向下进入冰冷的黑暗中。