The Disappearing1 Leash2消失的皮帶

Jill Burns

It was a very hot summer night. My husband David and I still felt terrible，even outside the door where it was cooler.

那是一個(gè)非常炎熱的夏夜。即使是在外面涼爽些的地方，我和丈夫大衛(wèi)依然感覺很難受。

As we sat complaining3 about the hot day， David came up with a great idea.“Why dont we watch a movie？ Find a movie with snow and cold. That mightcool us off a bit.”

當(dāng)我們坐在那里抱怨炎熱的天氣時(shí)，大衛(wèi)想出了一個(gè)好主意?！拔覀?yōu)槭裁床豢纯措娪澳兀空乙徊坑醒┯掷涞碾娪翱?，可能?huì)讓我們覺得涼快一點(diǎn)?！?/p>

After going through the bookcase， we picked out a movie and headedupstairs to watch. The story took place in Canada and had snow and huskies.When the movie went on， we found that the story didnt cool us off， but made usmiss our lovely， goofy4 huskies. We put them outside in their large kennel5 forthe rest of the night since our house did not have air conditioning6.

仔細(xì)在書架翻找了一會(huì)兒后，我們挑選出了一部電影，然后上樓去觀看。故事發(fā)生在加拿大，那里有大雪和哈士奇。當(dāng)電影持續(xù)播放時(shí)，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)這個(gè)故事并沒有讓我們涼快下來，反而讓我們想念起又可愛又傻的哈士奇。由于我們的房子沒有空調(diào)，我們把它們放在外面的大狗窩里過夜。

Like two crazy people， we stopped the movie， ran downstairs to get ourhuskiesleashes and headed out with them for a walk. The weather was so bad，but the dogs were still very excited. Theyd never gone on a walk in the darkbefore. And the night sounds of the forest excited them. They pulled us along fora long time. At last， the dogs wore us out7， and we found ourselves getting themhome around midnight.

就像兩個(gè)瘋子一樣，我們暫停了電影，跑下樓拿起（拴著）哈士奇的皮帶，然后帶它們一起出去散步。天氣很糟糕，但狗狗們?nèi)匀缓芘d奮。它們以前從來沒有在黑夜中散步過。夜晚森林里的聲音使它們興奮不已。它們拉著我們走了很長(zhǎng)一段時(shí)間。最后，狗把我們累壞了，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)自己在午夜時(shí)分才把它們帶回家。

We took away their leashes and fed them cool water.Then， David and I went inside to finish our movie.

我們解開了它們的皮帶，給它們喂了涼水。然后，大衛(wèi)和我回到屋子里看完我們的電影。

The next morning， I found Eska still wearing her collar8 without the leash.Usually， the collar and leash fastened9 together， and I always took them down as onepiece. I took Eskas collar and thought nothing of the missing leash until it was timeto walk the dogs. David and I spent the next several hours looking for it everywhere，including the kennel， in case10 one of the dogs had buried11 it.

第二天早上，我發(fā)現(xiàn)埃斯卡仍然戴著項(xiàng)圈，沒有系皮帶。通常情況下，項(xiàng)圈和皮帶都是系在一起的，我總是把它們作為一個(gè)整體取下來。我取下了埃斯卡的項(xiàng)圈，直到遛狗的時(shí)候才想起丟失的皮帶。大衛(wèi)和我接下來花了幾個(gè)小時(shí)到處尋找它，包括狗窩，以防其中一只狗把它埋起來。

That day， our two sons hadreturned from their school trip andjoined us in looking for the leash.But Eskas leash had disappearedwithout a trace12.

那天，我們的兩個(gè)兒子已經(jīng)從學(xué)校旅行回來了，他們和我們一起尋找皮帶。但埃斯卡的皮帶消失得無影無蹤。

Days later， my sons called meoutside. In the middle of the kennel sata mountain of dog poop13. Upon closercheck， I found the leash was in the dog poop.

幾天后，我的兒子們?cè)谕饷娼形页鋈ァ９飞嶂醒胗幸欢压肥?。湊近檢查后，我發(fā)現(xiàn)那根皮帶在這堆狗屎里。

Holding my nose， I got a stick14 to take the long leash away. I was quitesurprised to find it still in one piece. How did Eska look all right after swallowing15something that long？ It is still not known. Just in case， I called the vet16， who thoughtshed be okay since the whole leash had passed.

我捏著鼻子，拿了一根棍子把長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的皮帶挑了出來。我很驚訝地發(fā)現(xiàn)它還完好無損。埃斯卡吞下這么長(zhǎng)的東西后怎么看起來居然沒事？目前還不清楚原因。以防萬一，我給獸醫(yī)打了個(gè)電話，獸醫(yī)認(rèn)為它會(huì)沒事的，因?yàn)檎麠l皮帶都拉出來了。

Over the years， wed had a long list of things that our huskies ate—socks， hairties， toys， to name a few—but the leash made husky history. We felt lucky and manythanks for that， in the end， everything had come out okay.

這些年來，我們有一長(zhǎng)串名單記錄哈士奇吃過的東西，例如襪子、發(fā)帶、玩具等等，但皮帶卻創(chuàng)造了哈士奇的歷史。我們感到很幸運(yùn)而且非常感謝，最終一切都好。

Notes

1. disappear 消失；不見；失蹤；丟失

2. leash 拴狗鏈；皮帶

3. complain 訴說；病痛；抱怨

4. goofy 傻瓜的；愚笨的

5. kennel 狗屋

6. air conditioning 空調(diào)

7. wear out 使精疲力竭

8. collar 狗或貓的項(xiàng)圈

9. fasten 系牢；扣緊

10. in case 萬一；假使；以防

11. bury 埋；埋葬；埋藏；隱藏

12. trace 痕跡；遺跡；蹤跡

13. poop 屎；糞便

14. stick 枯枝；枝條；條狀物；棍狀物

15. swallow 吞下；咽下

16. vet 獸醫(yī)