【英文原文1】

 

An Experiment in love

 

The dog discovered them――four newborn kittens abandoned in tall grass beside the road．When I returned from my walk carrying the tiny creatures in the palm of my hand，my partner，Mike，said firmly，“No more animals．”Mike had already been saddled with my dog and three cats，and he wasn’t used to a houseful of pets．

 

“I won’t keep them，”I promised．“Just till they’re old enough to be on their own．”Mike looked dubious．“Word of honor，”I assured him，never dreaming how much I‘d come to regret the easily uttered words．

 

I made a warm nest for the babies by rip ping up an old blue blanket and lining a wicker basket with it．Then I set out for the general store in the village to get advice about feeding them．“You can’t raise kittens that young，”the storekeeper told me．But he sold me a set of toy nursing bottles and I went home to try．I warmed milk，and after we all got the hang of it，the infants drank avidly．

 

Two hours later they woke and set up an insistent chorus of soft little screams to be fed again．And every two hours after that．Four times in the night，I crawled out of bed to warm their milk，and in the morning I congratulated myself that they were looking just a little bit stronger，a little bit bigger．

 

Mike，reporting on their progress to his co－workers，came home one evening with word that his secretary had offered to adopt Peaches，my favorite because of her lovely soft coloring．Now that she soon would be leaving，I found myself picking up Peaches less often．Idly I wondered if no longer being treated as special would affect her personality．Then the thought turned itself around．Suppose I were to give one of the other kittens extra amounts of mothering？Suppose I held and cuddled and talked to him more？Would he grow up to be any different than his siblings？I thought it might be an interesting experiment．

 

I continued to love all the kittens，but I chose the most unpromising of the kittens as my subject．This was the little black one Mike had named Bat Cat because he was so homely，with his dull fur，squashed porcine face and little folded flaps of skin for ears．The runt of the litter，Bat Cat was always on the bottom o f the kitten heap，the last to be picked up，the last to be fed，and so the one who got the least attention．I gave the tiny creature a new name――Boston――and I repeated it over and over while I held him for his bottle．He would drink until，blissfully full，he fell asleep．Then I tucked him into my sweater so that he slept against my beating heart while I worked at my desk．When he woke，I snuffled his small body with my warm breath and talked to him before putting him back in the basket to play with his siblings．

 

The effect on the kitten was immediate．His newly opened eyes，vague and unfocused like his siblings，became alert，and he studied my face with interest．Quickly he learned his name and，when I spoke it，he clambered over the folds of the blue blanket as fast as his unsteady little legs could carry him to come to me．Now when he was in the sleeping heap of kittens，he no longer passively accepted the bottom spot；sweetly but determinedly he wriggled out from under and nested himself on top．Was it that，sensing himself valued，Boston began to value himself？