傻狗溫迪克（一）

◎By Kate Dicamillo

從小生長在南方小鎮的女孩歐寶和不茍言笑的父親一同搬到了寒冷的北方。一個偶然的機會，歐寶從超市領回了一只闖了禍的流浪狗，取名溫迪克。這只狗雖然又丑又臟，但它有一個神奇的本領就是會對人咧嘴笑。

“Come on, Winn-Dixie,”I said to the dog. I started walking and he followed along behind me as I went out of the produce department and down the1)cereal2)aisle and past all the3)cashiers and out the door.

Once we were safe outside, I checked him over real careful and he didn't look that good. He was big, but skinny; you could see his4)ribs. And there were bald5)patches all over him, places where he didn’t have any fur at all. Mostly, he looked like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in the rain.

1) cereal [?s??ri?l] n.麥片

2) aisle [a?l] n.走廊；過道

3) cashier [k?????] n.收銀臺

4) rib [r?b] n.肋骨

5) patch [?p?t?] n.斑點

“You’re a mess,” I told him. “I bet you don't belong to anybody.” He smiled at me. He did that thing again, where he pulled back his lips and showed me his teeth. He smiled so big that it made him sneeze. It was like he was saying, “I know I’m a mess. Isn't it funny?”

It’s hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.

“走吧！溫迪克。”我對著狗說。它跟著我走過蔬菜區，穿過賣希瑞爾玉米片的過道，又經過所有的收銀臺，走出了大門。

等我們穩穩當當地站在超市外，我又仔細打量起這只狗，它好像并沒有剛才那么可愛。它雖然很大，可是很瘦，瘦得連肋骨都看得到。身上還長著瘌痢。大致說來，它看起來就像一塊淋了雨的咖啡色地毯。

“你很邋遢。”我跟它講，“我猜你一定是只流浪狗。”它總是齜牙咧嘴地沖著我笑，笑到都要打噴嚏了，那個樣子好像在說：“我知道我很邋遢，可是我很好玩，不是嗎？”

要知道，要想不愛上一只有幽默感的狗是很難的。

詞組加油站

check over 檢查

belong to 屬于

pull back 拉回

fall in love with 愛上