James Dorsey

∷梁心璐 選注

Thirteen years ago I fell in love with a white ball of fur that wagged its tail at me from behind the bars of a city dog pound.1.wag:搖擺，擺動(dòng)；pound:（走失或無執(zhí)照家畜的）認(rèn)領(lǐng)欄，官設(shè)獸欄。I was about to quit a steady job to follow my dream of becoming a travel writer,a potentially disastrous2.disastrous:災(zāi)難性的。idea about to be compounded by adding another mouth to feed—not to mention an animal that would need care during my long absences.I never gave it a second thought.

She had me at the first wag.

Layla quickly made the connection between seeing my bags spread across the bed and my leaving on a trip.She was adept3.adept:熟練的，擅長的。at conveying her displeasure with her body language.For my homecomings we soon established the ritual of my spreading the contents of my bags across the patio for her to roll in and revel in the exotic smells of faraway places mixed with my own travel stench.4.ritual:慣例，儀式；patio:天井，（西班牙式房屋的）露天庭院；revel:陶醉，沉迷；exotic:異國風(fēng)情的；stench:臭味。Her disappointment at my departures was more than compensated for by our reunions.5.compensate:補(bǔ)償；reunion:團(tuán)圓，重聚。

And when I sat to write my stories,she would station herself on the daybed next to my desk and we would have extended (often nonverbal) conversations about where I’d been and what I’d seen.6.station:v.到某處站（或坐），安置；daybed:（可作床用的）長沙發(fā)；nonverbal:非語言的。We communicated with each other as only animals and those who love them can.

你試想過帶著一只狗環(huán)游世界嗎？在作者邊旅行邊寫作的十幾年間，他的愛犬萊拉一直在精神上陪伴并支持著他。對(duì)他來說，萊拉既是寫作時(shí)的靈感來源，也是旅途中的精神伴侶。狗并不會(huì)說話，作者是如何從與萊拉的神交中得到啟示并提高寫作的呢？

I would read aloud to her what I’d written and she would cock her head or wag her tail in dissent or agreement.7.cock:v.立起，翹起；dissent:異議，不同意見。Sometimes she’d offer a“woof”for emphasis.If she turned away to concentrate on cleaning a paw,I knew I had to start over.

Of course she didn’t understand what I was writing.But this exercise with her was my means of self-editing.It was the way I strove to push a story to a higher level.Assigning a voice to Layla in this process turned a task into a joy.

She became my muse and my virtual partner in my travels.8.muse:（給作家、畫家等以靈感的）女神，靈感的源泉；virtual:實(shí)質(zhì)上的。

Watching her reactions to my work forced me to modulate my voice and pay attention to nuances.9.modulate:調(diào)節(jié)，調(diào)整；nuance:（意義、聲音、顏色、感情等方面的）細(xì)微差別。Not only was I bouncing ideas offher,I was also telling her the story as though she were a reader.This helped shape what I put on the page.Having such a ready and patient audience,and critiquing10.critique:批評(píng)，評(píng)論（文章）。my writing through her voice,made me a better writer.

Telling her my stories took me back to those places in my mind.It allowed me to relive my experiences and scour them for the details that could make the story soar,details that sometimes get lost in the larger telling but are,in themselves,tiny gems of experience.11.relive:重溫，回味；scour:四處搜索，細(xì)查；soar:升高，高飛；gem:寶物，精華。

Layla helped me dig12.dig:挖掘。for those gems the way she did for a bone.

In this way,we traveled vicariously13.vicariously:間接感受到地。together.We visited remote tribes in Africa,took a small boat up the Mekong River in Vietnam,rode camels across the Sahara in Mali,and kayaked among killer whales in Alaska.14.Mekong River:湄公河；Sahara:撒哈拉沙漠，位于非洲北部；Mali:馬里共和國，簡稱馬里，西非的一個(gè)內(nèi)陸國家；kayak:劃愛斯基摩劃子；killer whale:虎鯨；Alaska:（美國）阿拉斯加州。We circled the world—Layla mentally at my side—at least twice.

On two occasions Layla herself got to stand in the literary spotlight:She appeared in a cover story when she joined the entourage of a Hollywood canine actor.15.spotlight:聚光燈；entourage:（統(tǒng)稱）隨行人員；canine:犬的，犬科的。

Another time she“wrote”a guest dog column16.column:專欄。for a local city blog.In both cases,of course,they were my words,her“voice.”

Her dog toys were exotic knickknacks I’d brought home from abroad:a plastic float from a Japanese fishing net (she loved to chew on it),a stuffed toy tiger from Cambodia,17.knickknack:小玩意兒，小裝飾品；Cambodia:柬埔寨。a leather ball from northern China.Her collar was a hand-beaded item made by the Masai of Kenya.18.bead:把……串成珠；Masai:馬薩伊人，是東非現(xiàn)在依然活躍的一個(gè)游牧民族，主要活動(dòng)范圍在肯尼亞南部及坦桑尼亞北部；Kenya:肯尼亞，一東非國家。Layla was an international dog.

I have no words to describe the bond that connected me so closely to her,and I am sure that,by this point,some readers are scoffing19.scoff:嘲笑。at the possibility of such a connection.That’s fine.Others of you,dog people like me,will know it’s true and understand.

Ever since the first wolf joined early humans by a campfire there has been an undefinable link between human and dog.20.campfire:營火，篝火；undefinable:無法定義的，不確定性的。Some might say it’s an unequaled21.unequaled:不平等的，不對(duì)等的。bond.That’s what Layla and I shared.

Today I am a travel writer,and my heart is broken because my friend of so long is gone.Like many old friends,she and I shared much over the years,and I’m so grateful to her.Whatever success I’ve had as a travel writer I assign in large part to her being at my side for all those years,listening and simply loving.

It does not matter if she never understood a word I said or that she never left our home.She was my travel partner and always will be.