世界趣问：一只没人愿意领养的狗

下面是小编整理的世界趣问：一只没人愿意领养的狗，欢迎大家阅读!

The Wrong Dog

一只没人愿意领养的狗

The woman walked up and down Main Street carrying a beautiful 5-month-old black Labrador mix in her arms. The dog was resting on the woman’s shoulder like a baby, gazing helplessly at the pedestrians, cars and shop windows. I was sitting at an outdoor table at the local coffee house with my husband, Alex, and we watched the comical, but endearing, scenario with curiosity.

On her third pass by our table the woman asked, “Can she say hello?” The woman, we soon found, was acting as a “foster mother” for a local rescue organization, and had the puppy out to desensitize her to street noise.

一名女子在缅街(Main Street)来来回回地走着，怀里抱着一只五个月大的漂亮的黑色拉布拉多混血狗。这只狗像婴儿一样把头靠在女子的肩上，无助地盯着行人、车辆和店铺的橱窗。我和丈夫亚历克斯(Alex)坐在咖啡馆的户外桌子旁，好奇地注视着这滑稽有爱的一幕。

在第三次经过我们的桌子时，这名女子问道，“让它和你们打个招呼好吗?”我们很快得知，这名女子是当地一家救援机构的“寄养妈妈”，带这只小狗出来是为了让它对马路上的噪音脱敏

We were animal lovers — pet people with three cats and a dog at home along with our two children — so yes, of course, we obliged. The puppy — her name was Nina — immediately curled at my feet, under the protection of my long summer skirt. Alex and I asked, Is she good with other dogs? With cats? With children? She was, the woman said.

We lived in the country, our house butting up against a 30-acre preserve. Many of our neighbors and friends had similar homes brimming with kids and pets. Our pets were always adopted, and were loving and trustworthy companions. I grew up with several cats, and as a college student I worked at the Bennington County Humane Society, in Vermont. Our Rhodesian Ridgeback, Gemma, adored other dogs, and enjoyed a special relationship with our cat Addie, a docile tortoiseshell. They often slept next to each other, and Addie would stand on hind legs to kiss Gemma’s muzzle.

我们都很喜欢动物——家里有三只猫和一条狗陪伴着我们的两个孩子——所以，我们当然答应了这个请求。这只名叫妮娜(Nina)的小狗立刻蜷在我的脚边，把我的夏装长裙当成了保护伞。亚历克斯和我问，它和其他狗狗合得来吗?和猫合得来吗?和小孩子呢?这名女子说，合得来。

我们住在乡下，我们的家毗邻一个30英亩(约合12公顷)的保护区。许多邻居和朋友的家庭和我们相似，都有许多孩子和宠物。我们的宠物都是领养的，是温顺可爱、值得信赖的伙伴。我童年时，家里就养了好几只猫，大学时，我曾在佛蒙特州的本宁顿县慈善协会(Bennington County Humane Society)打工。我们的罗德西亚背脊犬杰玛(Gemma)对其他的狗狗很好，与我们温顺的三色猫阿迪(Addie)有着很特殊的感情。他们常常睡在彼此身边，有时，阿迪会用后腿站立，亲吻杰玛的脸。

Before adopting Nina, we spoke at length to her foster mother, and also to the woman who ran the small-scale rescue operation.

Our children met Nina, walking her on a leash and playing with her, and she seemed sweet and smart, though shy. She was intensely fearful of loud noises, but with love and training she appeared poised to blossom into a lovely family dog.

在领养妮娜之前，我们和它的寄养妈妈，以及经营着这家小型救援机构的女士进行了详细的交谈。

我们的孩子见到了妮娜，用链子牵着它遛弯，跟它玩耍，它似乎很温顺聪明，但有些害羞。它特别害怕巨大的声响，但经过照料和训练，它似乎很快就能成为一只可爱的家犬了。

But things became complicated when we brought Nina home. She panicked in her new environment, tearing up the stairs to our bedroom. Like an alpha-male guard dog, she leaped onto the middle of the bed and growled with bared teeth. Clearly, she was terrified.

As she growled at me from my bed, I thought, This is bad. I felt a rush of regret and a terrible intuition that this dog was something different than she first seemed. But by bedtime we had calmed her down and she snuggled in bed next to us. A call in the morning to the rescue group assured us that Nina just needed time to adjust to her new home.

但当我们把妮娜带回家之后，情况却变得复杂起来。它面对新环境烦躁不安，飞一样跑上楼梯，进到了我们的卧室。就像一只凶悍的护卫狗一样，它跳到了床中央，咆哮着露出牙齿。显然，它十分惊恐。

当它在我的床上冲我咆哮时，我想，这太糟糕了。我感到一阵后悔，并且有一种可怕的直觉：这条狗和它最初给人的印象并不相同。但到了睡觉的时候，我们让它平静了下来，它依偎在我们身旁睡着了。第二天早上，我们给这家救援机构打了个电话，对方说服了我们，妮娜只是需要时间来适应它的新家。