楊舟

Shelby， who plays Bella in the recent Sony Pictures release A Dogs Way Home， has all the traits of a celebrity pooch1： bright， golden eyes， expressive eyebrows， and a big， brown nose. However， the pit bull mix did not always seem destined2 to be a movie star. About two years ago， Shelby was a stray3 puppy who lived on the streets and spent her days digging through trash for food scraps4.

謝爾比在最近索尼影業(yè)發(fā)行的電影《一條狗的回家路》中飾演貝拉，她擁有明星犬的所有特征：明亮的金色眼睛，表情豐富的眉毛，還有一個(gè)棕色的大鼻子。然而，混血比特犬似乎并不總能成為電影明星。大約在兩年前，謝爾比還是一只流浪狗，她住在街上，整天在垃圾堆里尋找食物殘?jiān)?/p>

Shelbys trash-to-riches saga began in April 2017， when Megan Buhler， an animal control officer， noticed the then-puppy inside a trash dump in Cheatham County， Tennessee. Buhler gently coaxed5 the scared pooch out from the landfill and took her to the Cheatham County Animal Shelter.

謝爾比“咸魚(yú)翻身”的故事始于2017年4月，當(dāng)時(shí)動(dòng)物管理官員梅根·布勒注意到了田納西州奇塔姆縣的一個(gè)垃圾場(chǎng)里的這只小狗。布勒溫柔地哄著這只嚇壞了的小狗離開(kāi)垃圾填埋場(chǎng)，并把她帶到了奇塔姆縣動(dòng)物收容所。

To find the adorable6 puppy a permanent home， the shelter staff， who nicknamed her Baby Girl， posted her picture on their website. As luck would have it， just 2000 miles away in Hollywood， the makers of A Dogs Way Home， were in search of a dog just like Baby Girl. The movie， adapted from the book by W. Bruce Cameron， aims to raise awareness of the plight7 of shelter dogs， specifically pit bulls. Hence， both Cameron and his wife Cathryn Michon， who co-wrote the movie script， were adamant8 about casting a rescue dog in the starring role.

為了給這只可愛(ài)的小狗找到一個(gè)永久的家，給她起名為“小女孩”的收容所工作人員把她的照片貼到了他們的網(wǎng)站上。幸運(yùn)的是，就在2000英里外的好萊塢，電影《一條狗的回家路》的制片商，正在尋找一只像“小女孩”這樣的狗。這部電影改編自W·布魯斯·卡梅倫的書(shū)，目的在于增強(qiáng)人們對(duì)收容所的狗，尤其是比特犬的困境的意識(shí)。因此，卡梅倫和他的妻子凱瑟琳·米瓊，共同撰寫(xiě)了這部電影劇本，堅(jiān)持要求以一只救援犬作為主角。

To find the perfect Bella， Debbie Pearl， whose company prepares shelter dogs for films， asked freelance9 dog trainer Teresa Ann Miller to conduct a nationwide search. When Miller saw Baby Girls photo on the shelters website， she was instantly interested. “It was a really good picture， and she was flat-out smiling，” Miller told The Washington Post. “I mean， it was beautiful.” To see if Baby Girls personality matched her good looks， Miller， Cameron， and Michon made their way to the Cheatham County Animal Shelter. To the dog trainers sheer delight， Baby Girl passed the personality， temperament， and command response tests with flying colors.

黛比·珀?duì)柕墓緸樵撾娪疤峁┕?，為了找到完美的“貝拉”，黛比·珀?duì)栆笞杂陕殬I(yè)訓(xùn)狗師特雷莎·安·米勒進(jìn)行全國(guó)范圍的搜索。當(dāng)米勒在收容所的網(wǎng)站上看到“小女孩”的照片時(shí)，她立刻產(chǎn)生了興趣。 “這真是一幅很好的照片，她笑容滿面?！泵桌諏?duì)《華盛頓郵報(bào)》說(shuō)：“我的意思是，照片很漂亮。”為了看看“小女孩”的性格是否與她的美貌相匹配，米勒、卡梅倫和米瓊?cè)チ似嫠房h的動(dòng)物收容所。讓馴狗師欣喜若狂的是，“小女孩”成功地通過(guò)了個(gè)性、氣質(zhì)和指令響應(yīng)測(cè)試。

It took Miller just three short months to train Baby Girl， who she renamed Shelby， and transform her into a Hollywood actor. After the film production ended， Shelby found a permanent home with Pearl in Huntington Beach， California. The two-and-a-half-year-old pooch is now gainfully “employed” as a therapy10 dog and spends her days visiting hospitals， schools， and so on. According to Pearl， Shelby is just as gifted a therapy dog as she is an actress. The proud owner gushes， “She just has this insight of what she needs to do when she needs to do it. Not all dogs have that.”

米勒只花了短短三個(gè)月的時(shí)間訓(xùn)練“小女孩”，給她改名為“謝爾比”，并把她變成了一個(gè)好萊塢演員。電影制作結(jié)束后，謝爾比在加利福尼亞州亨廷頓海灘找到了與珀?duì)栐谝黄鸬拈L(zhǎng)期住所。這只兩歲半的小狗現(xiàn)在被“雇傭”為治療犬，每天走訪醫(yī)院、學(xué)校等地。根據(jù)珀?duì)柕恼f(shuō)法，謝爾有做演員的天賦，也有治療犬的天賦。這位自豪的主人滔滔不絕地說(shuō)：“她對(duì)自己需要做的事情有獨(dú)特的洞察力。不是所有的狗都有這種洞察力?！?/p>

Hopefully， Shelbys story will inspire more people to adopt dogs and other pets from rescue shelters. As Bella says in the film， “We all face things that are hard. The only thing that gets us through it is the special people in our lives.”

希望謝爾比的故事能激勵(lì)更多的人從動(dòng)物救助所收養(yǎng)狗和其他寵物。正如貝拉在電影中所說(shuō)的，“我們都會(huì)面對(duì)困難的事情。唯一能讓我們度過(guò)難關(guān)的是我們生活中的特殊的人?！?/p>

Notes

1. celebrity pooch明星狗

2. destined? adj. 注定的;命定的

3. stray? adj. 迷路的;離群的 n. 流浪者

4. scrap? n. 碎片;殘余物

5. coax? vt. 哄;哄誘

6. adorable? ?adj. 可愛(ài)的

7. plight? n. 困境;境況

8. adamant? adj. 固執(zhí)的;堅(jiān)定不移的

9. freelance? n. 自由作家;自由記者

10. therapy? n. 治療，療法

▲Discussion議一議：

1. What do you think of the stray dogs and cats who lived on the streets？ 你對(duì)街道上的流浪貓和流浪狗有什么樣的看法？

2. Please list three pros and three cons of obtaining a pet from an animal shelter. 請(qǐng)列出從動(dòng)物收容所收留寵物的三個(gè)好處和三個(gè)缺點(diǎn)。

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