During summer vacations, I would volunteer at the vet’s, so I’d seen a lot of dogs. Minnie was by far the funniest-looking dog I’d ever seen. Thin curly hair barely covered her sausage-shaped body. Her eyes always seemed surprised. And her tail looked like a rat’s tail.

She was brought to the vet to be put to sleep because her owners didn’t want her anymore. I thought Minnie was sweet, though. “No one should judge her by her looks,” I thought. So the vet gave her the necessary shots. Finally, I advertised Minnie in the local paper: “Funny-looking dog, well behaved, needs loving family.”

When a young man called, I warned him that Minnie was strange looking. The boy on the phone told me that his grandfather’s sixteen-year-old dog had just died. They wanted Minnie no matter what. I gave Minnie a good bath. Then we waited for them to arrive.

At last, an old car drove up in front of the vet’s. Two kids raced to the door. They held Minnie into their arms and rushed her out to their grandfather, who was waiting in the car. I hurried behind them to see his reaction to Minnie.

Inside the car, the grandfather cradled Minnie in his arms and touched her soft hair. She licked his face. Her rat-tail wagged around so quickly that it looked like it might fly off her body.

“She’s perfect!” the old man exclaimed.

I was thankful that Minnie had found the good home that she deserved.

That’s when I saw that the grandfather’s eyes were a milky white color—he was blind.

【日积月累】

vet n. 兽医

cradle v. 将某人(某物)(如同小孩)置于摇篮中

lick v. 舔

wag v. (狗尾巴等)摆动

exclaim v. 呼喊，惊叫，大声说

deserve vt. 应受，应得，值得

【参考译文】

“完美”的小狗

暑假里，我会去兽医诊所帮忙，所以我见过很多狗。Minnie是我当时见过长得最最滑稽的狗，她那薄薄的卷毛几乎都盖不住她那香肠状的身体，眼睛总是充满好奇，尾巴和耗子的尾巴很像。

她的主人不再要她了，便把她带到这个诊所，让她永久地“睡去”。但我觉得Minnie性格甜美。“不应该靠长相来评判她。”我想。于是，兽医给她打了必要的几针，最后我将Minnie刊登在当地的报纸上：“有一狗，长相滑稽，表现很好，寻找一个有爱心的家。”

有一个年轻人打电话过来，我提醒他Minnie长相奇怪。那男孩在电话里头告诉我，他的祖父有条狗，16岁了，刚刚死去，他们不在乎Minnie长得怎样。我给Minnie好好洗了个澡，等着他们的到来。

终于，有辆旧车停在了诊所前面，两个小孩跑到门边，他们把Minnie抱入怀中，然后冲向在车里等待的祖父。我紧随其后，想看看对Minnie的反应。

车里，祖父把Minnie揽入怀中，轻抚着她柔软的毛，Minnie舔着他的脸，耗子似的尾巴飞快地摇动着，如此之快，好似要脱离她的身体而去。

“她很完美!”老人大声地说道。

我很感激，Minnie找到了一个很好的家，这是她应得的。

就在那时候，我看见了老人的眼睛，乳白的颜色——他是盲人。

【人生启迪】

完美并不需要你方方面面都比别人优秀，只要你身上有闪光点，在这个世界上，对有些人来说，你就是完美的，你同样会得到属于你的那份幸福。