街头兽医

山西 李改英

经济大萧条让许多不幸的人露宿街头，这些人唯一的精神寄托就是身边的宠物。这些宠物面临各种健康问题，动物收容所的兽医斯图尔特自掏腰包为它们进行治疗，他的善举不仅解了别人的燃眉之急，也让他自己获得了极大的满足感！

题材体裁人与社会记叙文372★★★文章词数难度建议用时6分钟

Kwane Stewart stepped outside a Modesto,California, convenience store with his morning coffee and spotted a homeless man sitting with his back against the building. It was 2011, and the Great Recession(萧条)had caused many unfortunate people to be onto the streets. A small dog sat in the homeless man's lap. Stewart, a veterinarian at an animal shelter, approached the man and offered to bring flea (跳蚤) medication for the dog whose skin showed signs of an allergic reaction to fleas, a gift the man readily accepted.

“I remember returning a week and a half later, and the man said his dog was finally sleeping again because it no longer stayed up scratching and chewing,”Stewart told The Modesto Bee.

Stewart was hooked. “When you give back something to society, there is something you get in return that feels much larger. I knew I wanted to keep doing it,” he told medium.com.

Today, Stewart, 50, has his own practice in town, yet he still finds time for street pets. He's helped roughly 400 animals since 2011, mostly dogs and a few cats.

There's a crying need for his kind of help.About 25 percent of Modesto's homeless population own a pet, but there are few health-care options available to them. To fill that void (空白),Stewart can often be found wandering in many places where he thinks the homeless might camp out. He carries his medical bag, which Stewart pays for out of his own pocket.

He knows there are some people who question whether the homeless should even have pets. “I think that more than anybody, they need a pet,” Stewart told The Modesto Bee. “They love their pets probably more than the average person. Because the owner is the pet's home.Their animals are their reason for getting up in the morning,” Stewart said.

One of those people is Joe, who has landed on rough times. He said his breed was his life.“Every morning, I wake up; her tail is wagging.I don't feel that lonely. To have somebody like Dr Stewart come out here to take care of my dog just because it's the right thing to do, that's huge,” he said in a video that Stewart posted on the GoFundMe page.

Reading Check

1. How did Stewart help the homeless man's dog?

A. By scratching its hair off.

B. By offering to buy food for it.

C. By providing it with medical care.

D. By bringing it to an animal shelter.

2. What's the homeless man's attitude to Stewart?

A. Doubtful.

B. Grateful.

C. Indifferent.

D. Disappointed.

3. Why is there an urgent need for a street vet's job?

A. A quarter of the local homeless have pets.

B. The local government can't afford to treat pets.

C. Modesto's most homeless population own pets.

D. 25 percent of the health-care options aren't available.

4. Why should the homeless have pets according to Stewart?

A. They depend on pets to wake them up.

B. They can care for their pets on the street.

C. They love their pets more than most people.

D. They need pets' company to feel motivated.

Language Study

Ⅰ. Difficult sentences in the text

1. Stewart, a veterinarian at an animal shelter, approached the man and offered to bring flea medication for the dog whose skin showed signs of an allergic reaction to fleas, a gift the man readily accepted. 斯图尔特是一家动物收容所的兽医，他走近这名男子，主动为这只皮肤上有跳蚤过敏反应的狗带些治跳蚤的药，这名男子欣然接受了这份礼物。

【点石成金】句中的a veterinarian是同位语，whose引导定语从句，先行词为the dog，whose在定语从句中作定语，a gift后省略掉了引导定语从句的关系代词that/which。

2. To fill that void, Stewart can often be found wandering in many places where he thinks the homeless might camp out. 为了填补这一空白，斯图尔特经常在他认为许多无家可归者可能露宿的地方徘徊。

【点石成金】句中的to fill 作目的状语，where引导定语从句，先行词为many places，在定语从句中作状语。

Ⅱ. Theme-centered chunks

offer to do sth 主动做某事

stay up 熬夜

be hooked 着迷

in return 作为回报

camp out 露营

out of one's own pocket 自掏腰包

land on rough times 陷入困境

take care of 照顾