Our Pet Hedgehog Timothy　我们的宠物刺猬蒂莫西

Timothy was our pet hedgehog.I bought him in Leadenhall Market,brought him home,and put him into the back-garden,which is walled in.There,to that extent,he had his liberty,and many,and many a time did I watch him from my study window walking about in the twilight among the grass,searching for worms and other insects.And very useful was he to the plants by so doing.When the dry weather came food got more scarce;then Timothy was fed with bread and milk from the back-kitchen window,which is on a level with the stone.Soon he came to know that when he was hungry there was the supply;and often he would come and scratch at the glass or at the backdoor for his supper,and after getting it,walk off to the garden beds to make himself useful.Few people know of the great use of a hedgehog in a garden,or they would be more generally kept.Our Timothy,poor fellow,however,in spite of all his good qualities,came to a bad end.A strange dog coming one day,saw him walking about in search of his accustomed food,and pounced on him and bit him;still I had hopes of his recovery,but in a few days he died,and all of us were sorry.

蒂莫西是我在利登霍尔市场上买的宠物刺猬。我把它带回家，放在后花园里。花园四周都是墙，它可以在墙内自由活动。暮色朦胧中，透过书房的窗户，我无数次看着它在草地上徘徊穿梭找虫子吃，这对植物很有好处。随着旱季来临，虫子越来越稀少，于是，我们就把面包和牛奶放在后厨房的窗台上，因为花园里的石头刚好和窗台一样高。很快，它就知道要是饿了的话，那个地方会有吃的。所以，吃晚餐的时候，它会赶过来，挠挠玻璃或者后门；吃完之后，就回到花圃里继续做贡献。很少有人知道刺猬在花园里还能这么有用，否则的话，养刺猬会更普遍。可是，我们可怜的蒂莫西，那么乖的小家伙，结局却很惨。有一天，不知谁家的狗进来，看见它在那里找食吃，就扑过来，咬了它一口。当时，我还抱着一丝希望，盼着它能康复。可是，几天之后，它死了。我们大家都很难过。