温馨夜读 PART1 05 A Friend In Need 患难真情（在线收听）

[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, whining and generally pestering 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]Ted, Brownie's owner, was steadily harassed by the furious, adamant little dog.

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

[01:14.30]then darting 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 frantic 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 clumps of trees, 

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

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

[01:42.45]one of his hind 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 remarkable.

[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 remains 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 predators,

[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.