It was lambing1 season. The neighbors' phone call brought my dad and me rushing to their barn to help with a difficult delivery. We found a lamb whose mother had died while giving birth. The orphan was weak， cold， still shrouded2 with the placenta3， and walking impossibly on tall and wobbly4 legs. I bundled him up5 in my coat and put him in the pickup truck for the short ride back to our small family farm in rural Idaho.

　　We drove through our barnyard， passing cows， pigs， chickens， dogs and cats， but Dad headed straight for the house. I didn't know it yet， but that lamb was destined to become more than an ordinary sheep， just as I was destined to be more than an ordinary seven-year-old boy――I was about to become a mommy！

　　Cradling6 the lamb in my arms， I brought him into the kitchen. While Mom and I wiped the lamb down with dry towels， Dad stoked7 the furnace8 with coal so that the newborn would have warming heat to drive away the cold. As I petted his curly little head， the tiny creature tried sucking on my fingers. He was hungry！ We slipped a nipple9 over a pop bottle full of warm milk and stuck it into his mouth. He latched on10， and instantly his jaws pumped like a machine， sending the nourishing milk to his stomach.

　　As soon as he started eating， his tail started wagging furiously11. Then suddenly his eyes popped open for the first time， and he looked me right in the eye. He gave me that miraculous moment-of-birth look that every mother knows. The look that says， unmistakably，" Hello Mommy！ I'm yours， you're mine， ain't life fine！"

　　A young boy with tousled12 blond hair and thick black glasses doesn't look much like a sheep. But this little lamb didn't care in the least. The important thing was that he had a mom――me！

　　I named him Henry and， just like the nursery rhyme13， everywhere that Marty went， the lamb was sure to go. The instant bond we shared that first day turned into the same deep kind of connection that develops between mother and child. We were always together. I'd feed， exercise and bathe Henry. I'd scold him sternly14 when he got out in the road. Imagine the amazement and delight of my classmates when I had a couple of dogs and a sheep run to meet me at the school bus！ Every day after school， Henry and I played games together until we both fell asleep， side by side， in the tall cool grass of the pasture15.

　　As I grew up， Henry grew older. Never once， however， did he forget that I was his mom. Even as a full-grown ram16， he nuzzled17 me fondly， rubbing his big woolly18 head against my leg whenever he saw me. Functioning as a four-legged lawn mower19 and wool-covered dog at the Becker farm， Henry had a happy， healthy， full life for the rest of his days.

　　People sometimes ask me why I became a veterinarian20. The answer is： Henry. At seven years old， my love for animals was still just a spark. But it ignited21 into a flame at that magical moment when I became a mother to a hungry little lamb.

　　那是母羊產仔的季節。鄰居打電話說有只羊難產，我跟爸爸便匆忙趕往他們家谷倉。待我們趕到時，羊媽媽已在生產時死掉了，剩下這只孤零零的小羊羔又冷又弱，還裹著胎盤，靠那細長孱弱的四肢簡直無法走動。我用上衣裹起它，放在小卡車里，我們走捷徑駛回我們在愛達荷州鄉下的小農場。

　　我們開過場院，撇下牛、豬、雞、狗和貓，爸爸照直朝我們的房子開去。我當時還不知道，命運安排那小羊羔要成為一只不尋常的羊；而我也不只是個尋常的7歲孩童――我注定要當它的媽媽！

　　我抱著小羊走進廚房。我和媽媽用干毛巾擦拭著它，爸爸往爐子里添煤，讓爐火給新生的小東西驅寒。我輕輕拍它一頭卷毛的小腦袋時，小家伙竟試著嘬我的手指。它餓極了！我們趕忙在裝滿溫牛奶的汽水瓶上塞上奶嘴，送進它嘴里。它一口咬往，叭嗒著嘴吸吮起來，滋養的奶汁流進了體內。

　　它一開始吃奶，尾巴就使勁地晃動。突然間它第一次睜開了眼睛，盯著我看。每個媽媽都知道生命誕生那一刻奇跡般的目光。沒錯，那目光是"你好，媽媽！我是你的，你屬于我，生活真美好，不是嗎？"

　　一個長著亂蓬蓬的亞麻色頭發、帶著黑框深度眼鏡的小男孩不會像只綿羊，可是那小羊羔一點也不在乎。重要的是它有了個媽媽――那就是我！

　　我管它叫亨利。就像兒歌唱的那樣，馬蒂走到哪兒，羊羔就跟到哪兒。見面第一天我們之間形成的親密關系就像母子那般。我們倆總是形影不離。我喂它吃飯，帶它活動，給它洗澡。它要是跑到路上去，我就嚴厲地斥責它。當我的同學們看見幾只狗和一頭羊跑到校車處迎接我，你們可以想像他們的驚訝和喜悅！每天放學以后，我和亨利都一起戲耍，直玩到我們倆累得并排躺在牧場上陰涼茂盛的草地里睡著為止。

　　我長大了，亨利也越來越老了，可他從未忘記我是它媽媽。即使已經是頭大公羊，只要一見到我，它還是親熱地用鼻子拱我，用它那毛茸茸的大腦袋蹭我的腿。亨利在我們家農場上既是只四條腿的刈草機，又是個長著羊毛的看家狗。亨利的余生過得幸福、健康和充實。

　　有時人們問我為什么當上了獸醫。我的回答是：因為亨利。7歲時，我對動物的愛還只是個火花，但在我成為一只饑餓的小羊羔的媽媽那一魔術般的時刻，那火花霎時燃成一團火焰。

　　注釋：

　　1.lamb vt.產（羊羔）

　　2.shroud vt.覆蓋，遮蔽，裹著

　　3.placenta n.胎盤

　　4.wobbly adj.搖晃的，搖擺的

　　5.bundle up用…捆扎（或包）起來

　　6.cradle vt.（放在搖籃里般地）抱

　　7.stoke vt.添加燃料撥旺（爐火）

　　8.furnace n.火爐

　　9.nipple n.乳頭，橡皮奶頭

　　10.latch on纏住不放

　　11.furiously adv.強烈地，使勁地

　　12.tousle vt.弄亂，使蓬亂

　　13.nursery rhyme兒歌，童謠

　　14.sternly adv.嚴厲地

　　15.pasture n.牧草地

　　16.ram n.公羊

　　17.nuzzle vt.（用鼻、口等）挨擦

　　18.woolly adj.羊毛覆蓋的

　　19.mower n.割草機

　　20.veterinarian n.獸醫

　　21.ignite vi.著火，燃燒

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