书城外语英文爱藏:我在回忆里等你
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第11章 若别离,莫相忘 (10)

3. One black cat, with greater than the others, approached the , grabbed it and .

佳句翻译

1. 这是我曾经听到过的最触动人心的一则有关狗狗的故事。

2. 无论是烈日炎炎还是大雨倾盆,它始终在那片海滩上等着。

3. 有一只黑猫显然比其他猫有勇气靠近那条鱼。

短语应用

1. One day the dog became so concerned when the Englishman disappeared into the water that he dove in after him.

dive in:头朝下跳入水中;开始猛吃;热切地加入

造__________________

2. ... the dog would never leave the beach for fear he would miss his master’s return.

for fear:唯恐;害怕

造__________________

陪你离去

Soul to Soul

佚名 / Anonymous

I worked at the Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital as a counselor in the Changes Program. We help people deal with the experience of losing a pet, whether through illness, accident or euthanasia.

One time, I had a client named Bonnie, a woman in her mid-fifties. Bonnie had driven an hour and a half to see if the doctors at the hospital could do anything to help her fourteen-year-old black standard poodle, Cassandra,affectionately called Cassie. The dog had been lethargic for a week or so and seemed to be confused at times.

She had been told earlier that morning by neurologist Dr. Jane Bush that Cassie had a brain tumor that could take Cassie’s life at any time.

Bonnie was devastated to learn that her companion animal was so ill. That was when Bonnie was introduced to me. The Changes Program often helps people while they wrestled with the difficult decision of whether to euthanize a pet or let nature take its course.

Bonnie had graying, light-brown wavy hair that she pulled back into a large barrette. She had sparkling light blue eyes that immediately drew my attention, and there was a calmness about her that told me she was a person who thought things through, a woman who did not make hasty decisions.

For twenty years, Bonnie had been married to a man who mistreated her. Bonnie had tried many, many times to leave him, but she just couldn’t do it. Finally, when she turned forty-five years old, she found the courage to walk away. She and Cassie, who was four years old at the time, moved to Laramie, Wyoming, to heal the old hurts and begin a new life. Cassie loved her and needed her, and for Bonnie, the feeling was mutual. There were many rough times ahead, but Bonnie and Cassie got through them together.

Six years later, Bonnie met Hank, a man who loved her in a way that she had never been loved. They were married one year later. Their marriage was ripe with discussion, affection, simple routines and happiness. Bonnie was living the life for which she had always hoped.

One morning, Hank was preparing to leave for work at his tree-trimming service. As always, he and Bonnie embraced one another in the doorway of their home and acknowledged out loud how blessed they were to have each other.

Bonnie worked at home that day rather than going into her office, where she held a position as an office assistant. Late in the afternoon, her phone rang. When she picked it up, she heard the voice of the team leader who headed the search-and—rescue service for which Bonnie was a volunteer. Bonnie was often one of the first volunteers called when someone was in trouble.

That day, Margie told her a man had been electrocuted on a power line just two blocks from Bonnie’s house. Bonnie dropped everything, flew out of her house and jumped into her truck.

When Bonnie arrived at the house, she saw an image that would be engraved in her mind for the rest of her life. Her beloved Hank hung lifelessly from the branches of a tall cottonwood tree.

All of the training that Bonnie had received about safely helping someone who has been electrocuted left her. She wasn’t concerned about her own safety. She had to do everything she could to save Hank. She just had to get him down. She grabbed the ladder stowed in her truck, threw it up against the house and began climbing. Bonnie crawled onto the top of the roof and pulled Hank’s body out of the tree toward her. Miraculously, even though she touched his body, which was touching the power line, she was not electrocuted herself. She pulled Hank onto the brown shingles of the roof and cradled his head in the crook of her arm. She wailed as she looked at his ashen face. His eyes stared out into the bright blue Wyoming sky. He was dead gone. He could not be brought back to life. She knew to the core of her being that the life they shared was over.

In the four years that followed Hank’s death, Bonnie tried to put her life back together. She was up-and-down, but mostly down. She lived with the frustration of not having said good-bye, of not having the opportunity to said all of the things she wanted to say, of not being able to comfort him, soothe him, help him leave his life and move into the next. She wasn’t prepared for this kind of ending. It was not the way she wanted her best friend, her lover, her partner to die.

When Bonnie finished talking, we both sat in silence for a while. Finally said, “Would you like Cassie’s death to be different from Hank’s? I’m talking now, Bonnie, about euthanasia. With euthanasia, you won’t have to worry about coming home from work and finding Cassie dead, and you can ensure that she won’t die in pain. If we help Cassie die by euthanasia, you can be with her, hold her, talk to her and comfort her. You can peacefully send her on to the next life. The choice is up to you.”

Bonnie’s eyes opened wide. Her shoulders relaxed and her face softened in relief.

“I just need control this time,” she said. “I want this death to be different from Hank’s—for my girl.”

The decision was made to euthanize Cassie that afternoon. I left the two of them alone, and Bonnie and Cassie spent the next few hours lying outside under the maple tree.