“How？ ”I asked.“How c a n you forge t a thing
“這怎麼做得到呢？ ”我反問
like tha t？”
道，“象這樣的事，你怎麼能把它忘掉呢？”
He looked at me for a moment ，then shook his head.
他 朝我看了一會兒，然後搖搖頭。
“I s uppos e I don”t me a n quite th a t，”he said.
“It’s not a thing you c a n forge t. It’s no t a thing youre a lly ou ght to forge t. Wha t I me a n is.things like tha tha pp e n. The y ma y s e em ve ry wrong a nd un fa ir，buttha t’s how life is p a rt of the time.
“我想我的意思並不完全是這樣，”他說，“這是一件你無法忘掉的事。而且，也確實是件不該忘掉的事。我的意思是，類似這樣的事總會發生的。這些事看起來可能是很錯誤的，很不公平，但卻是生活中不可避免的。
“But tha t isn”t the only wa y life is.Pa rt of thetime it’s ve ry good. And a ma n ca n”t s poil a ll thegood pa rt by worrying a ll the time a bout the ba d pa rt.
Tha t ma ke s it a ll ba d....D’you s e e wha t I me a n？”
“可是，生活並非完全如此。有時候生活是美好的。一個人不能老是為了不愉快的事而悶悶不樂，從而破壞了生活中的歡樂，這會使整個生活變糟了..你懂得我的意思嗎？”
“Ye s s ir，”I said. And I did. Only it still didn’tdo me any good. I still felt just as dead and empty.
“我懂了，先生，”我答道。我懂是懂了，可是這對我仍然不起作用，我還是照樣感到麻木和空虛。
That went on for a week or more，I shouldthink，before something happened which broughtme back to life.
我記得這種情況持續了一個星期，或更長些，後來發生了一件事，重新煥發起我生命的活力。
It was at dinner - time. Papa had sent me outto feed Jumper and the horses. I”d just startedback when I heard a lot of noise in the cabin. Iheard Mama’s voice lifted high and sharp.“Wh y，you thie ving pup ！”she cried out. Then I heard aloud yelp，and out of the kitchen door came the
那是吃晚飯的時候。爸爸打發我去喂“跳高能手”和馬匹。我剛往回走，突然聽到木屋裏傳來一陣喧鬧。我聽到媽媽提高了嗓門厲聲喝道：“唷，你這偷嘴的小狗！”然後，隨著一陣狂吠，從廚房門竄出了
spotted pup with a big lump of combread in hismouth. He raced round the house，running with histail tight down. He was yelling blue murder，but itdidn’t stop him hanging on to that piece of cornbreadhe’d stolen from Mama.
那隻小花狗，嘴裏銜著一大塊玉米麵包。它飛快地繞著屋子跑，尾巴夾得緊緊的。盡管它尖聲怪叫，但仍死死地咬住從媽媽那裏偷來的那塊玉米麵包。
Inside the cabin. I heard Little Arliss. He wasfighting and screaming his head off at Mama for hittinghis dog. And on top of it all，I could hear Papashouting with laughter.