The Eyes of Tex　特克斯的眼睛

The Eyes of Tex　特克斯的眼睛

◎ Honzie L Rodgers

Eric Seal thought the scrawny puppy at his feet was perhaps five weeks old. Some time during the night, the little mixed-breed female had been dumped at the Seals’ front gate. “Before you ask,” he told Jeffrey, his wife, “the answer is an absolute no. We are not going to keep it. We don’t need another dog. When and if we do, we’ll get a purebred.” As though she hadn’t heard him, his wife sweetly asked, “What kind do you think it is?” Eric shook his head. “It’s hard to tell. From her color markings and the way she holds her ears in a half lop, I’d say she’s part German shepherd.” “We can’t just turn her away,” Jeffrey pleaded. “I’ll feed her and get her cleaned up. Then we’ll find a home for her.”

埃里克·西爾想，趴在他腳邊的這只骨瘦如柴的小狗可能有5周大。這只雜種母狗被人丟在西爾夫婦的門口。“你不用問，”埃里克對(duì)他妻子杰弗里說，“答案是絕對(duì)‘不行’。我們不能養(yǎng)它。我們不需要再養(yǎng)一條狗。如果真要養(yǎng)的話，就養(yǎng)一只純種的。”杰弗里似乎沒聽到他說什么，輕聲細(xì)語(yǔ)地問道：“你認(rèn)為這狗是什么品種？”埃里克搖搖頭，“不大好說。從它的斑點(diǎn)顏色和半耷拉著的耳朵來看，我覺得是雜種德國(guó)牧羊狗。”“我們不能趕它走，”杰弗里央求道，“我來喂它，把它清洗干凈，然后再給它找個(gè)家。”

Standing between them, the puppy seemed to sense that her fate was being decided. Her tail wagged tentatively as she looked from one to the other. Eric noticed that although her ribs showed through a dull coat, her eyes were bright and animated. Finally, he shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, if you want to fool with her, go ahead. But let’s get one thing straight: We don’t need a Heinz-57 mongrel.” The puppy nestled comfortably in Jeffrey’s arms as they walked toward the house. “One other thing,” Eric continued. “Let’s wait a few days to put her in the pen with Tex. We don’t want Tex exposed to anything. He has all the troubles he can handle.”

小狗站在他們兩人中間，似乎感覺到自己的命運(yùn)正處于抉擇之際。它看看這個(gè)，又看看那個(gè)，尾巴試探性地?fù)u晃著。埃里克發(fā)現(xiàn)，盡管它毫無光澤的皮毛下瘦骨伶仃，但是它的眼睛卻異常明亮有神。最后，他聳聳肩膀，說道：“好吧，如果你想擺弄它，就隨你便吧。但是有一件事情咱們要說清楚：我們不需要海因茨57雜種狗。”他們朝屋子走去，小狗舒服地躺在杰弗里的胳膊中間。“還有一件事情，”埃里克繼續(xù)說道：“我們等些天再把它放到特克斯的窩里。我們不要給特克斯添任何麻煩，它的麻煩已經(jīng)夠多了。

Tex, the six-year-old cattle dog the Seals had raised from a puppy, was unusually amiable for a blue-heeler, a breed established by ranchers in Australia. So, although he already shared his doghouse with a yellow cat, soon Tex happily moved over and made room for the new puppy the Seals called Heinz.

特克斯，這條6歲大的牧羊狗，是西爾夫婦從剛出生時(shí)一直養(yǎng)大的，它是澳大利亞牧場(chǎng)主培育的狗種，特別和藹可親。盡管它已經(jīng)和一只黃貓共用它的狗窩，但它還是高興地讓出些地方，給這只被西爾夫婦叫做海因茨的新來的小狗。

Not long before Heinz showed up, the Seals had noticed that Tex appeared to be losing his eyesight. Their veterinarian said he thought the dog had cataracts that might be surgically removed. But when they brought Tex to a specialist in Dallas, he determined that the dog’s poor eyesight was only partially due to cataracts. He made an appointment for Tex at the local college’s veterinary laboratory. Doctors there determined that Tex was already blind. They explained that no medical or surgical procedure could have halted or delayed Tex’s progressive loss of vision.

海因茨出現(xiàn)之前不久，西爾夫婦就已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)特克斯的視力有所下降。獸醫(yī)認(rèn)為特克斯有白內(nèi)障，也許可以通過手術(shù)治愈。但是，當(dāng)他們把特克斯帶到專家達(dá)拉斯那兒檢查時(shí)，專家認(rèn)為，白內(nèi)障只是造成視力衰弱的部分原因。專家為特克斯在當(dāng)?shù)卮髮W(xué)的獸醫(yī)學(xué)實(shí)驗(yàn)室預(yù)約了門診。醫(yī)生們斷定特克斯已經(jīng)失明了，并解釋說，任何醫(yī)藥或手術(shù)措施都無法終止或延緩它的視力衰弱。

As they talked on their way home, the Seals realized that over the last few months, they had watched Tex cope with his blindness. Now they understood why Tex sometimes missed a gate opening or bumped his nose on the chain link fence. And why he usually stayed on the gravel walkways traveling to and from the house. If he wandered off, he quartered back and forth until he was on the gravel again.

在回家的路上，西爾夫婦想起來在這過去的幾個(gè)月里，他們實(shí)際上見到過特克斯是怎樣生活在失明狀態(tài)中的，現(xiàn)在他們終于明白了，為什么特克斯有時(shí)候會(huì)撞上正在開著的門，或把鼻子撞在鐵絲圍欄上，為什么它出門和回家總是沿著石子路走；一旦走偏，它就前后摸索著直至再回到石子路上。

While the couple had been preoccupied with Tex’s troubles, Heinz had grown plump and frisky, and her dark brown-and-black coat glowed with health.

西爾夫婦一直忙著特克斯失明的事，不知不覺，海因茨已長(zhǎng)得肥肥胖胖，活蹦亂跳的，深棕黑色的毛呈現(xiàn)出健康的光澤。

It was soon obvious that the little German shepherd crossbreed would be a large dog—too large to continue sharing a doghouse with Tex and the yellow cat. One weekend, the Seals built another doghouse next to the one the dogs had shared.

很快就能感覺到，這只德國(guó)雜種牧羊犬將會(huì)長(zhǎng)成一只大狗——大到無法再繼續(xù)與特克斯和那只黃貓共享一個(gè)狗窩。于是在一個(gè)周末，西爾夫婦在原來那個(gè)狗窩旁邊新建了另一個(gè)窩。

It was then they recognized that what they had assumed was puppy playfulness—Heinz’s pushing and tugging at Tex while romping with him—actually had a purpose. Without any training or coaching, Heinz had become Tex’s “seeing eye” dog.

也就是這個(gè)時(shí)候，他們才明白，原先認(rèn)為海因茨跟特克斯玩的時(shí)候又推又拽，只是小狗愛玩鬧，實(shí)際上是有目的的。海因茨沒有受過任何訓(xùn)練和培訓(xùn)，卻成了特克斯的導(dǎo)盲犬。

Each evening when the dogs settled in for the night, Heinz gently took Tex’s nose in her mouth and led him into his house. In the morning, she got him up and guided him out of the house again. When the two dogs approached a gate, Heinz used her shoulder to guide Tex through. When they ran along the fence surrounding their pen, Heinz placed herself between Tex and the wire.

每天晚上當(dāng)兩只狗準(zhǔn)備就寢的時(shí)候，海因茨就用它的嘴輕輕咬住特克斯的鼻子，領(lǐng)著它進(jìn)屋。早上再叫它起床，把它帶出屋子。當(dāng)它們來到門前的時(shí)候，海因茨會(huì)用肩膀引著特克斯。當(dāng)它們圍著圍欄跑的時(shí)候，海因茨就跑在特克斯和圍欄之間。

“On sunny days, Tex sleeps stretched out on the driveway asphalt,” says Jeffrey. “If a car approaches, Heinz will nudge him awake and guide him out of danger. Any number of times we’ve seen Heinz push Tex aside to get him out of the horses’ way. What we didn’t understand at first was how the two could run side by side, dashing full speed across the pasture. Then one day, the dogs accompanied me while I exercised my horse, and I heard Heinz ‘talking’, she was making a series of soft grunts to keep Tex on course beside her.”

“陽(yáng)光普照的日子，特克斯全身伸展開來，睡在柏油車道上，”杰弗里說道，“如果有車靠近，海因茨就把它捅醒，引導(dǎo)它脫離危險(xiǎn)。很多次，我們看見海因茨把特克斯從馬腿邊推開。剛開始我們不明白為什么它們倆能在牧場(chǎng)上并排奔跑。后來有一天，我遛馬的時(shí)候，兩只狗跟著我。我聽見海因茨在‘說話’，它不斷地發(fā)出輕輕的咕嚕聲，讓特克斯一直跟在它旁邊。”

The Seals were awed. Without any training, the young dog had devised whatever means were necessary to help, guide and protect her blind companion. It was clear that Heinz shared more than her eyes with Tex; she shared her heart.

西爾夫婦的敬畏感油然而生。沒有經(jīng)過任何訓(xùn)練，小狗竟想出各種必要的方法來幫助、指引和保護(hù)它失明的同伴。顯然，海因茨與特克斯分享的不僅僅是眼睛，還有它的心。

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