The Disappearing1 Leash2消失的皮带

Jill Burns

It was a very hot summer night. My husband David and I still felt terrible，even outside the door where it was cooler.

那是一個非常炎热的夏夜。即使是在外面凉爽些的地方，我和丈夫大卫依然感觉很难受。

As we sat complaining3 about the hot day， David came up with a great idea.“Why dont we watch a movie？ Find a movie with snow and cold. That mightcool us off a bit.”

当我们坐在那里抱怨炎热的天气时，大卫想出了一个好主意。“我们为什么不看看电影呢？找一部有雪又冷的电影看，可能会让我们觉得凉快一点。”

After going through the bookcase， we picked out a movie and headedupstairs to watch. The story took place in Canada and had snow and huskies.When the movie went on， we found that the story didnt cool us off， but made usmiss our lovely， goofy4 huskies. We put them outside in their large kennel5 forthe rest of the night since our house did not have air conditioning6.

仔细在书架翻找了一会儿后，我们挑选出了一部电影，然后上楼去观看。故事发生在加拿大，那里有大雪和哈士奇。当电影持续播放时，我们发现这个故事并没有让我们凉快下来，反而让我们想念起又可爱又傻的哈士奇。由于我们的房子没有空调，我们把它们放在外面的大狗窝里过夜。

Like two crazy people， we stopped the movie， ran downstairs to get ourhuskiesleashes and headed out with them for a walk. The weather was so bad，but the dogs were still very excited. Theyd never gone on a walk in the darkbefore. And the night sounds of the forest excited them. They pulled us along fora long time. At last， the dogs wore us out7， and we found ourselves getting themhome around midnight.

就像两个疯子一样，我们暂停了电影，跑下楼拿起（拴着）哈士奇的皮带，然后带它们一起出去散步。天气很糟糕，但狗狗们仍然很兴奋。它们以前从来没有在黑夜中散步过。夜晚森林里的声音使它们兴奋不已。它们拉着我们走了很长一段时间。最后，狗把我们累坏了，我们发现自己在午夜时分才把它们带回家。

We took away their leashes and fed them cool water.Then， David and I went inside to finish our movie.

我们解开了它们的皮带，给它们喂了凉水。然后，大卫和我回到屋子里看完我们的电影。

The next morning， I found Eska still wearing her collar8 without the leash.Usually， the collar and leash fastened9 together， and I always took them down as onepiece. I took Eskas collar and thought nothing of the missing leash until it was timeto walk the dogs. David and I spent the next several hours looking for it everywhere，including the kennel， in case10 one of the dogs had buried11 it.

第二天早上，我发现埃斯卡仍然戴着项圈，没有系皮带。通常情况下，项圈和皮带都是系在一起的，我总是把它们作为一个整体取下来。我取下了埃斯卡的项圈，直到遛狗的时候才想起丢失的皮带。大卫和我接下来花了几个小时到处寻找它，包括狗窝，以防其中一只狗把它埋起来。

That day， our two sons hadreturned from their school trip andjoined us in looking for the leash.But Eskas leash had disappearedwithout a trace12.

那天，我们的两个儿子已经从学校旅行回来了，他们和我们一起寻找皮带。但埃斯卡的皮带消失得无影无踪。

Days later， my sons called meoutside. In the middle of the kennel sata mountain of dog poop13. Upon closercheck， I found the leash was in the dog poop.

几天后，我的儿子们在外面叫我出去。狗舍中央有一堆狗屎。凑近检查后，我发现那根皮带在这堆狗屎里。

Holding my nose， I got a stick14 to take the long leash away. I was quitesurprised to find it still in one piece. How did Eska look all right after swallowing15something that long？ It is still not known. Just in case， I called the vet16， who thoughtshed be okay since the whole leash had passed.

我捏着鼻子，拿了一根棍子把长长的皮带挑了出来。我很惊讶地发现它还完好无损。埃斯卡吞下这么长的东西后怎么看起来居然没事？目前还不清楚原因。以防万一，我给兽医打了个电话，兽医认为它会没事的，因为整条皮带都拉出来了。

Over the years， wed had a long list of things that our huskies ate—socks， hairties， toys， to name a few—but the leash made husky history. We felt lucky and manythanks for that， in the end， everything had come out okay.

这些年来，我们有一长串名单记录哈士奇吃过的东西，例如袜子、发带、玩具等等，但皮带却创造了哈士奇的历史。我们感到很幸运而且非常感谢，最终一切都好。

Notes

1. disappear 消失；不见；失踪；丟失

2. leash 拴狗链；皮带

3. complain 诉说；病痛；抱怨

4. goofy 傻瓜的；愚笨的

5. kennel 狗屋

6. air conditioning 空调

7. wear out 使精疲力竭

8. collar 狗或猫的项圈

9. fasten 系牢；扣紧

10. in case 万一；假使；以防

11. bury 埋；埋葬；埋藏；隐藏

12. trace 痕迹；遗迹；踪迹

13. poop 屎；粪便

14. stick 枯枝；枝条；条状物；棍状物

15. swallow 吞下；咽下

16. vet 兽医