Brownie and Spotty were neighbor dogs who met every day to play together. Like pairs of dogs you can find in most any neighborhood, these two loved each other and played together so often that they had worn a path through the grass of the field between their respective houses.

    neighborhood n. 附近、臨近　respective adj. 各自的

    One evening, Brownie's family noticed that Brownie hadn' t returned home. They went looking for him with no success. Brownie didn't show up the next day, and, despite their efforts to find him, by the next week he was still missing.

    show up 露面　missing adj. 不見(jiàn)的

    Curiously, Spotty showed up at Brownie's house alone. Barking, whining and generally pestering Brownie's human family. Busy with their own lives, they just ignored the nervous little neighbor dog.

    whine v. 哀鳴　pester v. 糾纏

    Finally, one morning Spotty refused to take "no" for an answer. Ted, Brownie's owner, was steadily harassed by the furious, adamant little dog. Spotty followed Ted about, barking insistently, then darting toward a nearby empty lot and back, as if to say, "Follow me! It's urgent!"

    harassed adj. 厭煩的　furious adj. 狂怒的　adamant adj. 堅(jiān)定的、固執(zhí)的

    Eventually, Ted followed the frantic Spotty across the empty lot as Spotty paused to race back and bark encouragingly. The little dog led the man under a tree, past clumps of trees, to a desolate spot a half mile from the house. There Ted found his beloved Brownie alive, one of his hind legs crushed in a steel leghold trap. Horrified, Ted now wished he'd taken Spotty's earlier appeals seriously. Then Ted noticed something quite remarkable.

    frantic adj. 瘋狂的　desolate adj. 荒涼的　horrified adj. 驚駭?shù)?br />
    Spotty had done more than simply led Brownie's human owner to his trapped friend. In a circle around the injured dog, Ted found an array of dog food and table scraps which were later identified as the remains of every meal Spotty had been fed that week!

    array n. 排列　remains n. 殘余

    Spotty had been visiting Brownie regularly, in a single minded quest to keep his friend alive by sacrificing his own comfort. Spotty had evidently stayed with Brownie to protect him from predators, snuggling with him at night to keep him warm and nuzzling him to keep his spirits up.

    sacrifice v. 獻(xiàn)出　predator n. 食肉動(dòng)物　snuggle v. 偎依　nuzzle v. 用鼻愛(ài)撫

    Brownie's leg was treated by a veterinarian and he recovered. For many years thereafter, the two families watched the faithful friends frolicking and chasing each other down that well worn path between their houses.

    veterinarian n. 獸醫(yī)　recover v. 痊愈、恢復(fù)　frolic v. 嬉戲

    布朗尼和斯波蒂是鄰居，兩只每天相會(huì)一起玩的狗。像幾乎能在任何社區(qū)找到的成對(duì)的狗一樣，它們倆互相愛(ài)慕，常在一起玩耍嬉戲，兩家之間的草地上已經(jīng)踏出了一條小徑。

    一天傍晚，布朗尼的主人家發(fā)現(xiàn)它沒(méi)有回家，搜尋一番也沒(méi)找到。第二天，布朗尼依然沒(méi)露面。盡管人們還在努力尋找著，到了第二周，它還是不見(jiàn)蹤影。

    奇怪的是，斯波蒂獨(dú)自出現(xiàn)在布朗尼主人家，吠叫、哀嚎，還總是纏著家里的人，但他們忙于自己的生活，沒(méi)有在意鄰居家這只神經(jīng)質(zhì)的小狗。

    一天早上，斯波蒂終于拒絕接受“不”的回答。布朗尼的主人特德被這只暴怒的、不依不饒的小狗騷擾個(gè)不停。斯波蒂到處跟著特德，汪汪地叫個(gè)不停，然后竄到近處空地上，又竄回來(lái)，似乎在說(shuō)：“跟我來(lái)！情況緊急！”

    最后，特德跟著發(fā)瘋似的斯波蒂穿過(guò)空地，小狗停步奔回，用叫聲催促著。它領(lǐng)著特德從一棵樹(shù)下穿過(guò)，經(jīng)過(guò)樹(shù)叢，來(lái)到離房子半英里遠(yuǎn)的一處荒地。在那里，特德發(fā)現(xiàn)他心愛(ài)的布朗尼還活著，一條后腿被一個(gè)鋼制捕捉器夾著。特德大為震驚，后悔當(dāng)初沒(méi)有認(rèn)真對(duì)待斯波蒂的求助。隨后，一幅非凡的景象映入眼簾。

    斯波蒂不僅僅只是帶領(lǐng)布朗尼的主人來(lái)到它被困的朋友跟前。在受傷的布朗尼四周，特德發(fā)現(xiàn)有一圈狗食和餐桌上的殘羹剩飯——后來(lái)證實(shí)是那個(gè)星期每餐喂斯波蒂吃剩下的食物！

    斯波蒂一直定時(shí)來(lái)看望布朗尼，一心一意要讓它的朋友活下去，吃苦受累在所不惜。顯然，斯波蒂陪著布朗尼，保護(hù)它免遭其他捕食動(dòng)物的侵襲，夜間偎依著它為它驅(qū)寒，用鼻口拱它振作它的精神。

    獸醫(yī)治愈了布朗尼的傷腿。自那以后多年中，兩家鄰居不時(shí)會(huì)看到這一對(duì)忠實(shí)的朋友嬉戲玩耍，在兩幢住房間久踩成徑的草地上相互追逐。