高三英语培优·名著阅读之心灵鸡汤精选 Ballerina Dog 班级：_____学号：_____姓名：_____ 心灵鸡汤精选Ballerina Dog 话题归类 阅读难度 词数 人与动物 四星 1274 【文章梗概】四月的下午，在残疾小女孩痛失爱犬后，父母要送她一只新的小狗作为生日礼物。起初她极不愿意，后来在父母的坚持下，还是去了动物收容所。到了那后，小女孩被两只小狗吸引住了。工作人员建议她收养那只健壮的公狗，因为另外那只母狗患有残疾，护理她会麻烦许多。但是最后那只母狗靠着自己的毅力，蹒跚地走到了小女孩身边，打动了这个小女孩。小女孩最终还是领养了这只母狗。 One April afternoon a few days after my twenty-first birthday, my parents announced that they were ready to give me—their live-at-home, frazzled, college-student daughter—a belated birthday present. Wheelchair-bound since birth, I propelled myself from my bedroom into the living room where my parents anxiously waited. “Bring it on! Good things come to those who wait,” I joked, as I closed my eyes and extended my hands waiting to feel the weight of a beautifully wrapped gift. “Why are you holding out your hands ” my dad laughed. “Your gift isn’t coming in a box this year.” “Huh ” I opened my eyes to study the glee stamped on both of their usually calm faces. “I know! It must be that handicapped-accessible van I’ve been praying for!” “No, it’s not a van, but it’s almost as good,” my mom chuckled. Then she said more seriously, “Jackie, we know you were devastated when Buck passed last year. We all were. He was a great dog. But we think our house has been void of doggy joy long enough. It’s time to hear puppy noises again.” “So today, right now, in fact,” my dad broke in, “we’re going to a place where you’ll be able to select the puppy of your choice.” “But,” I stammered, but there was no time for protest as he scooped me out of my chair and into our car. My parents chatted to each other while I sat in the back, desperately trying to quell overwhelming waves of sadness. Sadness because not so long ago, this trip would have seemed incomprehensible—a betrayal. After all, it had been only seven months since Buck lay on my cold bathroom floor drawing his last breaths. Seven months since I slid from my chair onto the floor, gently caressing his gray-streaked black-and-white fur, as his spirit passed from this world to the next. Sobbing, I vowed to him and to myself that I would never get another dog . . . but now here I was, about to break that promise. Finally, my father turned to me and asked, “It’ll be nice to hear the pitter-patter of paws again, won’t it ” “Yeah,” I said flatly, trying to conjure up the excitement he’d expected. But I couldn’t. Tears began to roll down my cheeks. I wiped them away quickly as my father, unaware of my tenuous emotional state, continued. “When we get there, should we make a beeline to the shih tzu puppies I know they’re your favorites.” My favorite was Buck, I thought, not his breed. Buck, my constant companion, who climbed up on my lap and, like a salve, soothed my spastic, pa ... ...
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