The Golden Years　美好的晚年

The Golden Years　美好的晚年

◎ Yvonne A. Martell

My best friend, Cocoa, and I live in a senior-citizen apartment complex in a lovely small town. Cocoa is a ten-year-old poodle and I am a sixty-nine-year-old lady, so you can see we both qualify as senior citizens.

我最好的朋友,可可，和我住在一座可愛(ài)小城的老年公民公寓里?？煽墒侵?0歲的卷毛狗，而我是個(gè)69歲的女人，所以我們倆都?jí)蚋癞?dāng)老年公民。

Years ago, I promised myself that when I retired I would get a chocolate poodle to share my golden years. From the very first, Cocoa has always been exceptionally well-behaved. I never have to tell him anything more than once. He was housebroken in three days and has never done anything naughty. He is extremely neat—when taking his toys from his box to play, he always puts them back when he is finished. I have been accused of being obsessively neat, and sometimes I wonder if he mimics me or if he was born that way, too.

多年前，我就暗暗發(fā)誓，退休時(shí)要找條巧克力色的卷毛狗與我共度美好的晚年。從一開(kāi)始，可可就表現(xiàn)得特別乖，任何事情我只說(shuō)一遍就行。經(jīng)過(guò)三天的訓(xùn)練，可可就養(yǎng)成了家庭衛(wèi)生的習(xí)慣，而且從沒(méi)有干過(guò)淘氣的事。它特別愛(ài)整潔——從盒子里拿出玩具玩過(guò)之后，總是再放回原處。我一直被人指責(zé)過(guò)分愛(ài)整潔，可我有時(shí)也不知道，那狗是在模仿我呢，還是它生來(lái)也是如此。

He is a wonderful companion. When I throw a ball for him, he picks it up in his mouth and throws it back to me. We sometimes play a game I played as a child—but never with a dog. He puts his paw on my hand, I cover it with my other hand, he puts his paw on top, and I slide my hand out from underneath the pile and lay it on top, and so on. He does many amusing things that make me laugh, and when that happens, he is so delighted he just keeps it up. I enjoy his company immensely.

可可是一個(gè)極好的伴侶。當(dāng)我把球丟出去后，它就用嘴叼起來(lái)還給我。我們有時(shí)候玩一種我小時(shí)候玩的游戲——可這我從來(lái)沒(méi)和狗玩過(guò)。它把爪子放在我的一只手上，我用另一只手放在它爪子上，它把爪子放在上面，我再抽出最下面的手，放在最上面，就這樣繼續(xù)著?？煽勺龊芏嘤腥さ膭?dòng)作讓我發(fā)笑。它見(jiàn)我笑，就高興地繼續(xù)做那個(gè)動(dòng)作。我十分喜歡有它這樣的伴兒。

But almost two years ago, Cocoa did something that defies comprehension. Was it a miracle or a coincidence? It is certainly a mystery.

但是大約兩年前，可可做了件無(wú)法理解的事。這是奇跡，還是巧合？至今還是個(gè)謎。

One afternoon, Cocoa started acting strangely. I was sitting on the floor playing with him, when he started pawing and sniffing at the right side of my chest. He had never done anything like this ever before, and I told him, “No.” With Cocoa, one “no” is usually sufficient, but not that day. He stopped briefly, and then suddenly ran toward me from the other side of the room, throwing his entire weigh—eighteen pounds—at the right side of my chest. He crashed into me and I yelped in pain. It hurt more than I thought it should have.

一天下午，可可的行為開(kāi)始反常。我坐在地板上逗它玩，它開(kāi)始用爪子撓，還不斷地聞我胸部右側(cè)。以前它從來(lái)沒(méi)有做過(guò)類似的舉動(dòng)。我告訴它：“不要這樣?！蓖ǔＵf(shuō)一遍“不”就足夠了，可是那天不行。它停了一下，然后突然從屋子的另一端朝我奔來(lái)，把全身18磅的重量壓在我胸部右側(cè)?？煽擅妥擦宋?，疼得我哇哇直叫。它的沖擊比我想象中的痛得多。

Soon after this, I felt a lump. I went to my doctors, and after X rays, tests and lab work were done, they told me I had cancer.

此后不久，我感到有個(gè)腫塊。我去看了醫(yī)生，進(jìn)行了X光透視和各種檢查、化驗(yàn)。他們告訴我說(shuō)，我得了癌癥。

When cancer starts, for an unknown reason, a wall of calcium builds. Then the lump or cancer attaches itself to this wall. When Cocoa jumped on me, the force of the impact broke the lump away from the calcium wall. This made it possible for me to notice the lump. Before that, I couldn’t see it or feel it, so there was no way for me to know it was there.

癌癥開(kāi)始時(shí)，不知什么原因，出現(xiàn)一層鈣壁。然后腫塊或癌就附著在那層鈣壁上?？煽商谖疑砩蠒r(shí)，沖擊力把腫塊從鈣壁上分離下來(lái)，這才使我注意到了腫塊。在這之前，我無(wú)法看見(jiàn)也感覺(jué)不到這一切，所以也就無(wú)從知道腫塊的存在。

I had a complete mastectomy and the cancer has not spread to any other part of my body. The doctors told me if the cancer had gone undetected even six more months, it would have been too late.

我做了完整的乳房切除手術(shù)，癌細(xì)胞還沒(méi)有擴(kuò)散到身體其他部位。醫(yī)生告訴我，如果再有半年還沒(méi)發(fā)現(xiàn)癌癥的話，就為時(shí)過(guò)晚了。

Was Cocoa aware of just what he was doing? I’ll never really know. What I do know is that I’m glad I made a promise to spend my golden years with this wonderful chocolate brown poodle—for Cocoa not only shares his life with me; he has made sure that I will be around to share my life with him!

可可意識(shí)到它做的事情了嗎？我永遠(yuǎn)也得不到答案。我所知道的是，我很高興當(dāng)時(shí)我許愿要和這只杰出的巧克力色卷毛狗共度晚年——因?yàn)榭煽刹粌H與我分享它的生命，而且確實(shí)做到讓我能健康地活著，與它分享我的生命！

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