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，和我住在一座可爱小城的老年公民公寓里。可可是只10岁的卷毛狗，而我是个69岁的女人，所以我们俩都够格当老年公民。
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，我就暗暗发誓，退休时要找条巧克力色的卷毛狗与我共度美好的晚年。从一开始，可可就表现得特别乖，任何事情我只说一遍就行。经过三天的训练，可可就养成了家庭卫生的习惯，而且从没有干过淘气的事。它特别爱整洁——从盒子里拿出玩具玩过之后，总是再放回原处。我一直被人指责过分爱整洁，可我有时也不知道，那狗是在模仿我呢，还是它生来也是如此。
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.
可可是一个极好的伴侣。当我把球丢出去后，它就用嘴叼起来还给我。我们有时候玩一种我小时候玩的游戏——可这我从来没和狗玩过。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，就这样继续着。可可做很多有趣的动作让我发笑。它见我笑，就高兴地继续做那个动作。我十分喜欢有它这样的伴儿。
But almost two years ago, Cocoa did something that defies comprehension. Was it a miracle or a coincidence? It is certainly a mystery.
但是大约两年前，可可做了件无法理解的事。这是奇迹，还是巧合？至今还是个谜。
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，可可的行为开始反常。我坐在地板上逗它玩，它开始用爪子挠，还不断地闻我胸部右侧。以前它从来没有做过类似的举动。我告诉它：“不要这样。”通常说一遍“不”就足够了，可是那天不行。它停了一下，然后突然从屋子的另一端朝我奔来，把全身18磅的重量压在我胸部右侧。可可猛撞了我，疼得我哇哇直叫。它的冲击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，我感到有个肿块。我去看了医生，进行了X光透视和各种检查、化验。他们告诉我说，我得了癌症。
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.
癌症开始时，不知什么原因，出现一层钙壁。然后肿块或癌就附着在那层钙壁上。可可跳在我身上时，冲击力把肿块从钙壁上分离下来，这才使我注意到了肿块。在这之前，我无法看见也感觉不到这一切，所以也就无从知道肿块的存在。
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术，癌细胞还没有扩散到身体其他部位。医生告诉我，如果再有半年还没发现癌症的话，就为时过晚了。
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!
可可意识到它做的事情了吗？我永远也得不到答案。我所知道的是，我很高兴当时我许愿要和这只杰出的巧克力色卷毛狗共度晚年——因为可可不仅与我分享它的生命，而且确实做到让我能健康地活着，与它分享我的生命！
