the first time I saw Feifei she was chasing a motorcycle。

第一次見到菲菲的時(shí)候，她正在追一輛摩托車。

My China daily colleague、Greg fountain和was chasing her。and，his adult dog was looking on skeptical ly at the antics of the crazy the

我在《中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)》的同事格雷格方丁正在追她，他的大狗詫異地看著三個(gè)月大的小奶狗在歡騰。(莎士比亞，莎士比亞。)

Fei Fei and her litter mates had been left in a trash box on a sidewalk in the Sanlitun area of Beijing . some kind people rescued them，Then Greg and his

菲菲這樣的幼崽被扔在北京三里屯路邊的垃圾桶里。好心人救了他們，格雷格和他可愛的妻子瑪麗亞自愿在他們找到永久的家庭之前成為養(yǎng)父母。

電影《忠犬八公》

I took Feifei home that afternoon and sent a we chat message to my Chinese wife that I had a surprise waiting for her . she probably thought I meant gook fook

帶菲菲去的那天下午，我給中國(guó)兒媳送了一張微信，說(shuō)有驚喜。她想我可能準(zhǔn)備了豐盛的晚餐或花束。她沒(méi)有養(yǎng)過(guò)狗，有點(diǎn)害怕狗。

I ' m sure that she initially agreed that we could keep Feifei just because I had been badly missing having a dog . I had to go on a four-day repei Ip the firrymy wife would call frequently and say，" she's barking.what does she want？”now、a month later、I hear her whispering、“I love you、little girl?！?

我確信她開始同意留下菲菲，因?yàn)槲蚁腽B(yǎng)狗，想瘋了。菲菲搬家的第一周，我有一個(gè)報(bào)道任務(wù)，要出差四天。我妻子一開始總是抱怨。“她又在哭了！她到底想要什么！”一個(gè)月后，她溫柔地對(duì)菲菲說(shuō)。"我愛你，寶貝。"

I ' ve found that Chinese culture and American culture is usually not that different . in many aspects，I think Chinese culture is better I have to

中國(guó)文化和美國(guó)文化沒(méi)有那么大的差別。從很多方面來(lái)說(shuō)，我認(rèn)為中國(guó)文化更好。然而，必須說(shuō)的是，在養(yǎng)狗方面，美國(guó)人更勝一籌。看到中國(guó)小朋友看到10斤重的小狗嚇得往后躲，我很難受。在美國(guó)，孩子們會(huì)沖過(guò)去給她一個(gè)大大的擁抱。

On the other hand，this attitude is changing . I walk Feifei every morning in the great park by the yuan dynasty walls，where many people wa

lk dogs. Feifei craves her morning play-dates when she can romp with other dogs.

但是，這種狀態(tài)正在改變。我每天帶菲菲去元大都公園，好多人都在那兒遛狗。菲菲特別期待每天早上和小伙伴們一起瘋來(lái)瘋?cè)ァ?/p>

Growing up, my big collie named Lad was my best friend. I can’t imagine going through the difficult middle-school years without him.

牧羊犬Lad是我孩童時(shí)期最好的朋友。無(wú)法想象如果沒(méi)有它，我該怎么度過(guò)那艱難的中學(xué)時(shí)代。

A 2017 paper in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health concluded: “The review found evidence for a wide range of emotional health benefits from childhood pet ownership; particularly for self-esteem and loneliness.” It also concluded: “Studies also showed evidence of an association between pet ownership and educational and cognitive benefits; for example, in perspective-taking abilities and intellectual development.”

2017年《國(guó)際環(huán)境研究與公共衛(wèi)生雜志》一篇文章稱，“文獻(xiàn)表明童年有寵物陪伴對(duì)情感健康有諸多好處。特別是對(duì)自尊心的建立和孤獨(dú)感的消除?！边€稱，“研究表明，寵物對(duì)教育和認(rèn)知也有好處；例如，有助于主人換位思考能力的提升和智力的發(fā)展?！?/p>

Young children with dogs were found to learn language faster, read better, and have larger vocabularies. Adolescents with dogs are more emotionally stable and self-confident.

幼兒有狗狗的陪伴，學(xué)語(yǔ)言會(huì)更快，閱讀能力更強(qiáng)，詞匯量更大。而青少年有狗狗的陪伴，感情會(huì)更穩(wěn)定，人也更自信。

In other words, if you want your child to do well on the gaokao, and in life, get a dog.

換句話說(shuō)，如果想讓你的孩子贏在高考，那么趕快養(yǎng)只狗吧。

Dogs are not just for the kids. A report in the journal Psychology Todayconcluded that when a person petted a dog “blood pressure lowered, heart rate slowed, breathing became more regular and muscle tension relaxed--all of which are signs of reduced stress.”

養(yǎng)狗不僅對(duì)孩子有好處。《今日心理學(xué)》的一篇報(bào)告指出，“當(dāng)人撫摸狗狗時(shí)，血壓會(huì)降低，心率會(huì)減慢，呼吸變得更規(guī)則，肌肉也會(huì)放松下來(lái)——所有跡象都表明你處于放松狀態(tài)。”

The American Journal of Cardiologyfound that pet owners have a significantly higher survival rate after having a heart attack than people who don’t own pets. For older people, “the likelihood that the non-pet owners would end up being diagnosed as clinically depressed was four times higher than that found in the pet-owning people of the same age.” Elderly dog owners “required fewer medical services and were much more satisfied with their lives.”

《美國(guó)心臟病學(xué)雜志》發(fā)現(xiàn)，在得了心臟病后，養(yǎng)寵物的人比不養(yǎng)寵物的人存活率明顯高很多。對(duì)老年人來(lái)說(shuō)，“不養(yǎng)寵物的人被診斷為臨床抑郁癥的可能性是同齡養(yǎng)寵物人的四倍”，老年養(yǎng)狗的人需要的醫(yī)療服務(wù)更少，對(duì)自己的生活更滿意。

My wife says I smile a lot more since we got Feifei. The scientific evidence says she’s right about that.

我媳婦說(shuō)自從有了菲菲，我笑的都多了。科學(xué)證明她說(shuō)的對(duì)。

譯者：鄭瀟

About the author & broadcaster

David Blair writes for the international weekly editions of China Daily.

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