读者文摘:我在寒冷冬日救了一条狗（在线收听）

UPS driver Ryan Arens was making his rounds near a pond in Bozeman, Montana, when he heard an unearthly sound.

联合包裹的司机瑞恩·阿伦斯在蒙大拿州波兹曼的一个池塘附近送货时，听到了一个奇怪的声音。

“Like a cry for help,” he told thedodo.com, a website for animal lovers.

他对动物爱好者网站thedodo.com说：“那声音就像在呼救。”

It was December 2018, and about 15 feet from the frozen banks was the source of that cry—

那是2018年12月的一天，哭叫声是从距冰封的河岸15英尺的地方传来的。

a half-submerged brown-and-white wirehaired hound, struggling to cling to a thin layer of ice.

一只半浸在水里的棕白色猎犬，挣扎着抓住一层薄薄的冰面。

How she got there no one knows, but an elderly man was already on the scene, determined to save her.

没人知道她是怎么到那里的，但是一位老者已经过去，决定要救她。

He’d entered the pond in a rowboat and was hacking away at the ice with a rock to create a path to the dog.

他是乘小船进入池塘的，正在用一块石头凿开冰面，为狗开辟一条路。

It was slow going, and Arens, 44, thought he stood a better chance.

老者速度很慢，44岁的阿伦斯觉得自己有更大的机会。

“Animals are my weakness,” he told the Great Falls Tribune,

他告诉《大瀑布论坛报》，“动物们是我的弱点。”

explaining why he stripped down to his boxers and socks, even though the temperature was in the 30s, and commandeered the rowboat.

所以，即使当时气温只有零下30多摄氏度，他还是脱下衣服，只穿平角裤和袜子，征用了小船。

His heart thumping, Arens slid closer to the dog and used the other man’s rock to smash away at the ice.

阿伦斯的心怦怦直跳，他滑行到狗身边，用另一个人的石头砸开冰面。

He gave one strong heave too many and slipped off the boat, crashing into 16 feet of frigid water.

他用力一甩，就滑下了船，撞进了16英尺深的冰冷的水中。

He resurfaced in time to see the dog going under.

他重新浮出水面时，正好看见狗沉了下去。

Using nervous energy to keep warm, he swam about five feet toward her, grabbed hold of her collar, and pulled her to the ice.

阿伦斯用紧张的能量取暖，向她游了大约五英尺，抓住她的项圈，把她拉到冰上。

He then boosted the dog into the boat and slid it back to the shore,

然后他把狗抬到船上，把船滑回岸边，

where anxious bystanders carried the dog to the home of the rowboat owner, a retired veterinarian.

焦急的旁观者把狗带到船主的家里，他是一名退休的兽医。

Once in the house himself, Arens jumped into a warm shower with the dog until they both defrosted.

一进屋，阿伦斯就和狗一起洗了个热水澡，直到解了冻。

A few more minutes in the pond, the vet told Arens, and she would have likely suffered cardiac arrest.

兽医告诉阿伦斯，在池塘里再待几分钟，她可能就会心脏骤停。

The next day, Arens was back working the same neighborhood when the dog’s owner came over to thank him for saving Sadie.

第二天，阿伦斯又回到原来的社区工作，这时狗的主人过来感谢他救了赛迪。

“Would you like to meet her?” he asked. He opened the door to his pickup, and Sadie bolted out.

“你想见见她吗？””他问道。他打开他的小货车的门，赛迪冲了出来。

She made a beeline for Arens, leaping on him and bathing him in wet kisses.

她径直向阿伦斯跑去，跳到他身上，用湿吻把他吻得浑身湿透。

That special delivery, says Arens, “was the highlight of my UPS career.”

阿伦斯说，那次特别的快递“是我在UPS工作的高光时刻。”