My Best Friend Arnold　我的小豬摯友——阿諾德

My Best Friend Arnold　我的小豬摯友——阿諾德

◎ Brock Gibson

I recently lost my best friend Arnold in an automobile accident while moving my family to our new home in Arizona. Arnold was an 8-month-old pot belly who taught me so much about love, devotion and companionship. I am devastated by his loss, but thank God daily for blessing me with the joy of having Arnold for his short life.

前不久，在我搬到亞利桑那州新家的途中，我的摯友阿諾德遭遇車(chē)禍而喪生。它是一只8個(gè)月大的寵物豬，是它教會(huì)了我怎樣去愛(ài)，怎樣奉獻(xiàn)，怎樣維系感情。對(duì)于它的離開(kāi)，我悲痛欲絕，但還是感謝上帝讓我與阿諾德度過(guò)了一段快樂(lè)的時(shí)光。

Anyone contemplating a pot belly as a pet should know that if you are a true pet lover and devote yourself to them, a pot belly will make the most wonderful friend. You will be assured of endless hours of fascination and entertainment as you both grow together in understanding the human/pot belly relationship. Words cannot describe this relationship and it can only be fully understood by experiencing it.

凡是考慮想養(yǎng)寵物豬的人都應(yīng)該知道，只要你真心疼它，全身心地伺候它，小豬就會(huì)成為你最棒的朋友。在這個(gè)與小豬一起成長(zhǎng)的過(guò)程中，了解到人類(lèi)與寵物豬之間的關(guān)系時(shí)，你一定會(huì)非常著迷，會(huì)從中發(fā)現(xiàn)無(wú)窮的樂(lè)趣。言語(yǔ)是無(wú)法描繪這種關(guān)系的，只有親身經(jīng)歷才能體會(huì)。

Arnold didn’t know he was a pig—he thought he was just another member of our family—modeling his behavior through observing me, my wife, my two daughters and our beagles. He was convinced he was loved by all; and he was, even when he was ornery trying to just get our attention. He learned his name, how to sit and how to use the litter box all in the first week we had him (at 7 weeks old!).

阿諾德并不知道自己是一只豬，它把自己當(dāng)做我們家的一員，觀察和模仿我、我太太、我兩個(gè)女兒還有我家小獵犬的一舉一動(dòng)。它深信我們所有人都愛(ài)它，事實(shí)也的確是這樣。甚至當(dāng)它很淘氣，想吸引我們的注意時(shí)，我們?nèi)匀缓軔?ài)它。它在來(lái)到我們家的第一個(gè)星期（7周大的時(shí)候）就已經(jīng)知道了自己的名字，學(xué)會(huì)了怎么坐，還有怎么用那個(gè)小盒子。

He loved to sleep on your lap as you sat on the couch watching TV. He didn’t care if he grew to weigh 45Lbs., he still expected you to hoist him onto your lap at precisely 8:00 pm every evening where he would fall fast asleep within seconds after snuggling his wet nose between your neck and shoulder. If you didn’t respond to his initial “honks” letting you know it was his nap time, he would bump your legs with his nose until you picked him up. With his weight as it was, you couldn’t hold him all evening as he preferred, so you had to slide him off onto the couch next to you where he would sleep for hours with all four legs and his nose sticking straight up in the air. He would snore as long as he could feel you next to him but would immediately wake up if you tried to leave the couch. We had hours of fun balancing objects liked a salt shaker on his flat nose while he slept soundly.

當(dāng)你坐在沙發(fā)上看電視的時(shí)候，它喜歡睡在你的大腿上。它也不管自己已經(jīng)長(zhǎng)到45磅重，就是要你每天晚上八點(diǎn)準(zhǔn)時(shí)把它抬到你大腿上來(lái)，它濕乎乎的鼻子依偎在你的脖子和肩膀之間，眨眼工夫就酣睡起來(lái)了。開(kāi)始的時(shí)候它會(huì)“鼾鼾”地提醒你到點(diǎn)休息了，而如果你沒(méi)反應(yīng)，它就會(huì)用鼻子撞你的腳，直到你把它抱起為止。以它的重量，若要讓它如愿，整晚抱著它，那你是根本受不了的，所以得把它順勢(shì)滑到旁邊的沙發(fā)上，讓它四腳朝天地呼呼睡上幾個(gè)小時(shí)。只要它感覺(jué)到你就在它身邊，它會(huì)盡情地打它的呼嚕睡它的覺(jué)；但是一旦你想要起身離開(kāi)，它就會(huì)馬上醒過(guò)來(lái)。它沉睡的時(shí)候，我會(huì)在它那扁平的鼻子上擺放像鹽瓶那樣的小玩意兒，試圖讓它們保持平衡不倒，這樣一玩就是幾個(gè)小時(shí)。

Arnold helped me in all my chores around our five acres in the country. Just being there at my feet, interested in what I was doing made even the most mundane tasks enjoyable. When he was out roaming and foraging and you would call out his name, he would come running at top speed, honking the whole way until he got close to you where he would dodge you, zigzagging around with a few victory roles turning in circles before settling down and calmly walking up to you with his tail wagging as if to say (winking) “hah, got-cha.”

在我們鄉(xiāng)下那五英畝見(jiàn)方的土地上，我做什么家務(wù)雜事阿諾德都會(huì)與我相伴。它只是在我腳邊，對(duì)我做的事興致勃勃，這就足以讓最索然無(wú)味的雜務(wù)變得有趣起來(lái)。它在外面溜達(dá)覓食的時(shí)候，只要喊它的名字，它就會(huì)以最快的速度朝你奔來(lái)，“鼾鼾”地一路叫著，跑到離你不遠(yuǎn)的地方，它又會(huì)跟你玩起捉迷藏，左躲右閃，繞著圈，一副凱旋的模樣，然后才靜下來(lái)慢慢走到你面前，搖搖尾巴，好像眨著眼對(duì)你說(shuō)：“哈，總算找到你啦！”

He even helped me build a kit aircraft and a customized trailer to haul it around in. I was planning on taking him flying with me some day. He loved to play with my sockets and rolled them around on the shop floor. Just as I would struggle and get frustrated with some difficult task, Arnold would show up underneath the trailer, with his wet nose in my ear and honking—seeming to say, “take a break and laugh with me for a while, that should make it all better.” And it did, every time. God’s marvelous creations minister to us in the most special ways if we can just stop for a few moments and observe them. God used Arnold to teach us this very important lesson in life which we will never forget.

它還幫我一起組裝了一架小型飛機(jī)和一輛運(yùn)載飛機(jī)的特制拖車(chē)。我打算哪天把它帶上跟我一起飛翔藍(lán)天。它很喜歡玩兒那些插座零件，在工場(chǎng)里把它們推來(lái)推去。每當(dāng)我為一些高難度的工作傷透腦筋，灰心喪氣的時(shí)候，阿諾德就會(huì)從拖車(chē)的下面鉆出來(lái)，濕乎乎的鼻子伸到我的耳邊，“鼾鼾”地似乎在說(shuō)“休息一會(huì)兒，跟我笑一會(huì)兒，然后什么事都好辦啦！”果真有效，而且每次都行。只要我們能停一停，仔細(xì)看看，就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)上帝絕妙的創(chuàng)造物總在以最特別的方式照顧我們。上帝派阿諾德來(lái)給我們上了這人生的重要一課，我們畢生難忘。

My wife and two daughters began to say that Arnold and I were so close that he had become the son that I never had in our family. It seemed that we could no longer have any kind of conversation in our family or with our friends without Arnold being a main topic. The neighborhood kids would make appointments to come visit Arnold and couldn’t wait to come over and play with him.

我太太和兩個(gè)女兒都說(shuō)阿諾德跟我親密得像父子一樣，恰好我們家一直缺一個(gè)兒子。家里聊天或者和朋友聊天，好像都離不開(kāi)阿諾德這個(gè)主題。鄰居的小孩會(huì)預(yù)約來(lái)我們家，迫不及待要和阿諾德玩。

Arnold went most everywhere with us—Pet’s Mart, Wal-Mart, birthday parties, Christmas vacation to Grandma’s. He loved riding in the car/shopping basket and was a big hit everywhere he went. Arnold had become such an important part of our life that when we found out that our family would have to move to another state, we insisted that the contract on our new house be contingent on the homeowners’ association approval of Arnold in writing before we would agree to purchasing in our prestigious neighborhood.

我們?nèi)ツ睦铮⒅Z德幾乎都跟我們?cè)谝黄稹獙櫸镉闷烦?、沃爾瑪超市、生日派?duì)，圣誕假期它還和我們一起到奶奶家去。它喜歡坐在手推車(chē)或者購(gòu)物籃里，所到之處都大受歡迎。阿諾德已經(jīng)在我們的生活中占據(jù)了一個(gè)重要的位置，所以當(dāng)我們要搬到另一個(gè)州并且買(mǎi)房子時(shí)，我們都堅(jiān)持要在合同里附上街坊鄰居的聯(lián)合書(shū)面允諾，同意讓阿諾德在該區(qū)生活，這樣我們才會(huì)考慮在那些區(qū)里買(mǎi)房子。

On the day we left our old home town, we had a going away lunch with our friends from church. Everyone there just had to go out to the truck where Arnold and all our other pet were and say goodbye. Arnold trusted me to take care of him and get him to his new home. Tragically, along the way, the wind blast from a semi knocked our trailers out of control and pushed our truck off a 40’ bridge. We lost a big part of our family that day when our pets Arnold, Sweeti and Leanna were killed. I feel terrible for not being able to protect Arnold the way he trusted me to. However, I will be forever grateful for the fond memories of him which I will cherish forever.

離開(kāi)老家的那天，我們和教堂的朋友一起吃了離別午餐。在場(chǎng)的每個(gè)人都走到貨柜車(chē)旁，同里面的阿諾德和我們的其他寵物告別。阿諾德相信了我會(huì)很好地照顧它，把它帶到新家。不幸的是，在路上一輛半拖車(chē)呼嘯而過(guò)，強(qiáng)烈的側(cè)風(fēng)氣流使我們的拖車(chē)失控，貨柜繼而被拋到40英尺的橋下。那天我們家損失慘重，我們的寵物阿諾德、甜甜和蓮娜都離開(kāi)了我們。阿諾德如此信任我，我卻沒(méi)法保護(hù)它，我真的很難受。不過(guò)，我將永遠(yuǎn)珍藏和它一起的深情片段，感激它帶來(lái)的這段美好回憶。

Thank you for reading this and allowing me to share some of Arnold’s life with you. If you decide that a pot belly is the right choice for you both, I pray that you will be rewarded in the same way my family was with Arnold.

謝謝你們閱讀這篇文章，讓我和你們分享阿諾德的生活點(diǎn)滴。如果你也決定要養(yǎng)只小豬做寵物，在此祝愿你也有很多的收獲，就像我們從阿諾德那兒得到的一樣。

超多雙語(yǔ)閱讀，盡在聽(tīng)力課堂