(单词翻译:单击)
The first time I tottered out into the sunlight, Sister and Fast accompanied me, and naturally Fast shoved his way to the front.
第一次，我摇摇晃晃地走到阳光下，姐姐和Fast陪着我，自然而然地，就冲到前面去了。
Of the four of us, only Fast had a splash of white on his face, and as he trotted jauntily forward this patch of fur flashed in the daylight.
我们四个人中，只有Fast的脸上有一块白色的斑点，当他轻快地向前小跑时，这块毛皮在阳光下闪闪发光。
I'm special, Fast's dazzling, starshaped spot seemed to be declaring to the world.
Fast那耀眼的星状斑点似乎在向世界宣告着：我很特别。
The rest of him was as mottled and unremarkably brown and black as I was.
他身上其余的部分也和我一样斑驳，是普通的褐色和黑色。
Hungry was several shades lighter and Sister shared Mother's stubby nose and flattened forehead,
Hungry更轻了，姐姐和妈妈一样，鼻子粗短，前额扁平，
but we all looked more or less the same, despite Fast's prancing.
但我们看起来都差不多，尽管Fast比较活跃。
Our tree was perched on a creek bank, and I was delighted when Fast tumbled head over heels down the bank,
我们的树矗立在小溪岸边，当Fast头朝下快速地滚下河岸时，我很高兴，
though Sister and I plummeted with no more grace when we tried to make the same descent.
虽然姐姐和我在尝试同样的下降时，一点都不优雅，而是径直下落。
Slippery rocks and a tiny trickle of water offered wonderful odors,
光滑的岩石和涓涓细流散发出奇妙的气味，
and we followed the wet trail of the creek into a moist, cool cave—a culvert with metal sides.
我们顺着湿漉漉的小溪，走进了一个潮湿凉爽的洞穴——一个有金属边的涵洞。
I knew instinctively that this was a good place to hide from danger,
我本能地知道这是个躲避危险的好地方，
but Mother was unimpressed with our find and hauled us unceremoniously back to the Den
但母亲对我们的发现不以为然，毫不客气地把我们拉回巢穴
when it turned out our legs weren't powerful enough to enable us to scale back up the bank.
结果却发现，我们的腿还没有强壮到能自己爬上河岸。
We had learned the lesson that we couldn't return to the nest on our own when we went down the bank,
我们得到的教训是，当我们走下河岸时，就不能独自返回巢穴，
so as soon as Mother left the nest we did it again.
所以妈妈一离开窝，我们又这么做了。
This time Hungry joined us, though once he was in the culvert he sprawled in the cool mud and fell asleep.
这一次，Hungry加入了我们，虽然他一进涵洞，就四肢伸开躺在冰冷的泥浆里睡着了。
Exploring seemed like the right thing to do—we needed to find other things to eat.
探索似乎是一件正确的事情——我们需要找到其他的食物。
Mother, getting impatient with us, was standing up when we weren't even finished feeding, which I could only blame on the other dogs.
我们还没吃完，妈妈就对我们不耐烦了，她站了起来，我只能怪其他的狗。
If Hungry weren't so relentless, if Fast weren't so bossy, if Sister didn't wiggle so much,
如果Hungry不是那么无情，如果Fast不是那么专横，如果姐姐不是那么摇摆不定，
I knew Mother would hold still and allow us to fill our bellies.
我知道妈妈会不动，让我们填饱肚子。
