“How？ ”I asked.“How c a n you forge t a thing
“这怎么做得到呢？ ”我反问
like tha t？”
道，“象这样的事，你怎么能把它忘掉呢？”
He looked at me for a moment ，then shook his head.
他 朝我看了一会儿，然后摇摇头。
“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.
“我想我的意思并不完全是这样，”他说，“这是一件你无法忘掉的事。而且，也确实是件不该忘掉的事。我的意思是，类似这样的事总会发生的。这些事看起来可能是很错误的，很不公平，但却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，生活并非完全如此。有时候生活是美好的。一个人不能老是为了不愉快的事而闷闷不乐，从而破坏了生活中的欢乐，这会使整个生活变糟了..你懂得我的意思吗？”
“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，可是这对我仍然不起作用，我还是照样感到麻木和空虚。
That went on for a week or more，I shouldthink，before something happened which broughtme back to life.
我记得这种情况持续了一个星期，或更长些，后来发生了一件事，重新焕发起我生命的活力。
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
那是吃晚饭的时候。爸爸打发我去喂“跳高能手”和马匹。我刚往回走，突然听到木屋里传来一阵喧闹。我听到妈妈提高了嗓门厉声喝道：“唷，你这偷嘴的小狗！”然后，随着一阵狂吠，从厨房门窜出了
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.
那只小花狗，嘴里衔着一大块玉米面包。它飞快地绕着屋子跑，尾巴夹得紧紧的。尽管它尖声怪叫，但仍死死地咬住从妈妈那里偷来的那块玉米面包。
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.
从 屋里传来了小阿里斯的声音。他踢打着，声嘶力竭地尖叫着，因为妈妈打了他的狗。除此之外，我还听到爸爸边笑边喊的声音。
At that moment，I began to feel better. Seeingthat little old pup，racing off for the bushes with hiscombread seemed to loosen something inside me.
就在那个时候，我开始感到心里好受了一些。看到那只可怜的小狗，衔着玉米面包往树丛中夺路而去的样子，我心中的什么东西似乎松动了。
I felt better all day. I went back and rode myhorse and enjoyed it. I rode a long way into thewoods，not going anywhere special，just riding andlooking and beginning to get the feel of having a realhorse of my own.
那天我的心情一直比较好。我往回走，骑在我的马上，感到很高兴。我朝树林里骑了一大段路，并不一定想到什么地方去，只是骑在马上，观赏着，渐渐地产生了一种真正有了一匹自己的马的那种感觉。
Then，at sundown，I was coming back to thecabin along Birdsong Creek. At the spring I heardsplashing and shouting. I looked ahead，and sure enoughit was Little Arliss. There he was，with noclothes on，Playing in our drinking water again. Andin the water with. him was that bread - stealingspotted pup.
后来，在太阳落山的时候，我沿着鸟鸣河朝木屋走去。在山泉边，我听到溅水声和叫喊声。我向前望去，一点儿也不错，是小阿里斯。他啊，赤条条地一丝不挂，又在我们的食用水里玩耍了。跟他一起在水里的是那只偷吃面包的小花狗。
I started to bellow，“Arlis s ！Ge t tha t na s ty oldpup out of our drinking - wa te r.”
我想大喝：“阿里斯，把那只讨厌的狗从我们的食用水里赶出来！”
Then I didn”t. I just started to laugh. I satthere and laughed till I cried. And all the time Iknew I should be thrashing them both black andblue for messing up our drinking water.
但是，我并没有喊出来，我只是放声笑了起来。我坐在那儿笑啊笑啊，直到眼泪夺眶而出。我心里明白，他们把我们的食用水弄脏了，我该把他们打个鼻青眼肿。
When at last I couldn”t laugh and cry anymore，I rode on and turned my horse into the field.
Tomorrow，I thought，I’ll take Arliss and that pupout for a squirrel hunt. The pup was still very tiny，but it seemed to me he was big enough to start doingall the things Old Yeller used to do.
最后，我停止了哭笑，骑上马往前走着，然后又调转马头向田野走去。明天，我想，我要带着阿里斯和小狗去捉松鼠。狗还小得很，但是，在我看来，它已经大得能开始做阿黄过去所做的一切了。