Island of the Blue Dolphins（Ⅸ）

Scott O’Dell

自朗图后，卡拉娜又养了两只小鸟、一只海鸥、一只小海獭……她发现了这些动物的可爱之处，看它们在自己的“领地”玩耍，是一件非常有意思的事儿，就不觉得自己形单影只的日子难熬了。

The1)otter [ˈɒtə(r)] n.水獭ottergrew and its wound began to heal,but still it stayed in the pool,and now when I came it would be waitinɡ for me and would take the fish from my hand.The pool was not big and it could easily have gotten out and away into the sea,yet it stayed there and slept or waited for me to come with food.

The young otter now was the length of my arm and very2)glossy [ˈɡlɒsi] adj.光滑的；有光泽的glossy.It had a long nose that came to a point and many3)whisker [ˈwuːndɪd] n.须whiskerson each side and the largest eyes I have ever seen.They would watch me all the time I was at the pool,following me whatever I did,and when I said something,they would move around in a very funny way.In a way,too,that made pain come to my throat because they were4)gay [ɡeɪ] adj.愉快的gayand sad also.

For a long time I called it Otter as I had called Rontu,Dog.Then I decided to give the otter a name.The name was Mon-a-nee,which means Little Boy with Large Eyes.

这只海獭渐渐长大，伤口也开始愈合，但它还留在池子里面。现在每当我去，它总是在等着我，也肯从我手里叼鱼吃了。这个水池不大，它可以轻而易举地跳出去，游到海里去，可是它还待在那里，不是在那里睡觉，就是在等我给它带食物去。

小海獭现在长得有我胳膊那样长了，皮毛很光滑，它的鼻子又尖又长，鼻子两边有很多胡须，我从来没见过像它那样大的眼睛。我在池子旁边的时候，它一直目不转睛地望着我，不管我干什么，它的眼睛总跟着我转，当我说些什么话的时候，这对眼睛就骨碌碌打转，样子很滑稽。不过这也多少使我有点黯然神伤，原来它们也知道悲伤和欢乐。

很多时候我只叫它海獭，就像我过去把朗图叫作狗一样。后来我打定主意给海獭取个名字。这个名字就是“芒—阿—勒”，意思是大眼睛的小男孩。