温馨夜读 PART1 05 A Friend In Need 患难真情

 

[ti:]

[ar:]

[al:]

[by:]

[00:00.56]A Friend In Need 患难真情

[00:08.32]Brownie and Spotty were neighbor dogs who met every day to play together.

[00:15.00]Like pairs of dogs you can find in any neighborhood, 

[00:18.24]these two loved each other and played together so often

[00:22.11]that they had worn a path through the grass of the field between their respective houses.

[00:27.69]One evening, Brownie's family noticed that Brownie hadn't returned home.

[00:32.83]They went looking for him with no success.

[00:35.89]Brownie didn't show up the next day,  

[00:38.15]and, despite their efforts to find him, by the next week he was still missing.

[00:43.77]Curiously, Spotty showed up at Brownie's house alone.

[00:47.71]Barking, whining¹ and generally pestering² Brownie's human family.

[00:52.63]Busy with their own lives, they just ignored the nervous little neighbor dog.

[00:58.21]Finally, one morning Spotty refused to take“no”for an answer.

[01:03.79]Ted³, Brownie's owner, was steadily⁴ harassed⁵ by the furious, adamant⁶ little dog.

[01:10.69]Spotty followed Ted about, barking insistently⁷,

[01:14.30]then darting⁸ toward a nearby empty lot and back, 

[01:18.13]as if to say,“Follow me! It's urgent!”

[01:21.08]Eventually, Ted followed the frantic⁹ Spotty across the empty lot 

[01:26.77]as Spotty paused to race back and bark encouragingly.

[01:30.86]The little dog led the man under a tree, past clumps¹⁰ of trees, 

[01:35.78]to a desolate¹¹ spot a half mile from the house.

[01:38.70]There Ted found his beloved Brownie alive, 

[01:42.45]one of his hind¹² legs crushed in a steel leghold trap.

[01:46.79]Horrified, Ted now wished he'd taken Spotty's earlier appeals seriously.

[01:53.14]Then Ted noticed something quite remarkable¹³.

[01:56.86]Spotty had done more than simply led Brownie's human owner to his trapped friend.

[02:02.87]In a circle around the injured dog,

[02:05.50]Ted found an array of dog food and table scraps 

[02:09.46]which were later identified as the remains¹⁴ of every meal Spotty had been fed that week!

[02:15.89]Spotty had been visiting Brownie regularly, 

[02:18.99]in a single minded quest to keep his friend alive by sacrificing his own comfort.

[02:25.08]Spotty had evidently stayed with Brownie to protect him from predators¹⁵,

[02:30.33]snuggling with him at night to keep him warm and nuzzling him to keep his spirits up.

[02:36.35]Brownie recovered. For many years thereafter,

[02:39.75]the two families watched the faithful friends frolicking and chasing each other 

[02:44.59]down that well worn path between their houses.

[02:47.51]No matter what occurs, 

[02:49.68]we should be loyal to our friends and help them out of trouble.

[02:52.98]Only in this way can we make true friends and be true friends to others.

1 whining   

n. 抱怨，牢骚 v. 哭诉，发牢骚

参考例句：

• That's the way with you whining, puny, pitiful players. 你们这种又爱哭、又软弱、又可怜的赌棍就是这样。
• The dog sat outside the door whining (to be let in). 那条狗坐在门外狺狺叫着（要进来）。

2 pestering   

使烦恼，纠缠( pester的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He's always pestering me to help him with his homework. 他总是泡蘑菇要我帮他做作业。
• I'm telling you once and for all, if you don't stop pestering me you'll be sorry. 我这是最后一次警告你。如果你不停止纠缠我，你将来会后悔的。

3 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

4 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

5 harassed   

adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He has complained of being harassed by the police. 他投诉受到警方侵扰。
• harassed mothers with their children 带着孩子的疲惫不堪的母亲们

6 adamant   

adj.坚硬的，固执的

参考例句：

• We are adamant on the building of a well-off society.在建设小康社会这一点上，我们是坚定不移的。
• Veronica was quite adamant that they should stay on.维罗妮卡坚信他们必须继续留下去。

7 insistently   

ad.坚持地

参考例句：

• Still Rhett did not look at her. His eyes were bent insistently on Melanie's white face. 瑞德还是看也不看她，他的眼睛死死地盯着媚兰苍白的脸。
• These are the questions which we should think and explore insistently. 怎样实现这一主体性等问题仍要求我们不断思考、探索。

8 darting   

v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔

参考例句：

• Swallows were darting through the clouds. 燕子穿云急飞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Swallows were darting through the air. 燕子在空中掠过。 来自辞典例句

9 frantic   

adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的

参考例句：

• I've had a frantic rush to get my work done.我急急忙忙地赶完工作。
• He made frantic dash for the departing train.他发疯似地冲向正开出的火车。

10 clumps   

n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声

参考例句：

• These plants quickly form dense clumps. 这些植物很快形成了浓密的树丛。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bulbs were over. All that remained of them were clumps of brown leaves. 这些鳞茎死了，剩下的只是一丛丛的黃叶子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 desolate   

adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂

参考例句：

• The city was burned into a desolate waste.那座城市被烧成一片废墟。
• We all felt absolutely desolate when she left.她走后，我们都觉得万分孤寂。

12 hind   

adj.后面的，后部的

参考例句：

• The animal is able to stand up on its hind limbs.这种动物能够用后肢站立。
• Don't hind her in her studies.不要在学业上扯她后腿。

13 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

14 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

15 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》