典范英语6-11

The Boss Dog of Blossom Street

By Rita Ray

1

Snap was a small black and brown dog. He was the boss dog of Blossom Street.

One Saturday morning he walked up and down Blossom Street as usual.

He sniffed all the doorsteps and lampposts. He wagged his tail at all the children

who saved scraps

（面包屑）

for him. He poked his head into baby Kelly’s pram (

婴儿

车

). Kelly laughed and touched Snap’s wet nose.

Then Snap made sure that the dogs and cats on the street were in their places.

Dogs had to stay in their own back yards and cats had to sit on the back yard walls.

That’s if they dared to come out at all. Snap trotted back to his own door. Everything

seemed fine on Blossom Street. But everything was not fine.

Snap’s owners, Ada and Harry, were at home. This

was odd. They always went

to work on Saturday mornings. There were boxes everywhere. Harry was taking a bed

apart. Ada was putting cups into a box.

‘Hello, Snap,’ she said, as he came in. snap sniffed the boxes. ‘You’d better have

your Doggy Chunks befor

e the van comes.’ ‘What van?’ Snap thought. He soon found

out. A big van came to the front of the house. Two men helped Harry and Ada to put

all their things in the van.

‘I can’t move away!’ thought Snap. ‘Who’s going to look after Blossom Street?

Who

will

play

with

the

children

and

keep

the

other

dogs

off

the

street?

Who

will

make sure the cats stay on the back yard walls?’

‘Come on, Snap,’ called Harry. ‘Say goodbye to Blossom Street.’ He picked Snap

up and put him in the front of the van. The children on Blossom Street came out to

wave as the van set off. Kelly’s mum gave Snap a bit of cake.

As he looked out of the van window Snap thought, ‘If I move away, how can I

do my job? I’m the boss dog of Blossom Street, but I can’t stay behind. I can’t lea

ve

Ada and Harry. Dogs stay with their owners. Not like some cats I know. They’ll go

anywhere for a warm fire.’

2

The van had to go slowly all the way to the new house. There was a big orange

bus in front of it. Snap watched the bus and it gave him an idea. By the time he got to

the new house he had a plan.

The plan could help him to be boss dog of Blossom Street, even if he didn’t live

there any more.

Snap felt a bit happier when he jumped out of the van. He went to sniff every

corner of his new home. The next day was Sunday and Ada and Harry had to unpack

things. The new house had a garden at the back instead of a yard.

‘The

dogs

round

here

stay

in

their

own

gardens,’

Ada

told

Snap.

‘There’s

no

strutting about being boss dog. I’ll take you for a walk later.’ Snap went to see what

was at the end of the garden and he heard a yapping sound. Something was trying to

get through the fence. It was a little Yorkie dog with a red ribbon tied in a bow on top

of its head. Snap couldn’t believe it. ‘Ugh!’ he thought. ‘What a wimp! That’s not a

real dog! They wouldn’t have a dog like that on Blossom Street.’

He didn’t even bother to bark at the little dog. He heard its owner call, ‘Foofoo,

Foofoo

pie!

Come

to

Mummy.’

‘Yuk!’

thought

Snap.

‘Let

me

get

back

to

Bl

ossom

Street.’

On Monday morning Harry and Ada went to work. ‘I’ve left a key next door,’

said Ada to Snap. ‘Foofoo’s owner will let you out in the garden, and we’ll be home at

five o’clock.’

‘Will you stop talking to that dog as if he understands?’ s

aid Harry.

‘What do you mean? Of course he understands, don’t you, Snap?’ said Ada.

Later, Foofoo’s owner unlocked the door into the garden. ‘Good,’ thought Snap.

He ran into the garden and started to dig a hole. ‘Bad doggie,’ called Foofoo’s owner.

‘Don’t teach my little Foofoo bad tricks.’

Snap

tried

to

talk

to

the

dog

on

the

other

side.

He

was

a

large

bulldog

with

droopy eyes. ‘This looks better,’ thought Snap. He barked in a friendly way. But the

big dog said nothing at all. ‘I can’t stand this much longer,’ thought Snap. ‘I must try

to get back to Blossom Street.’

That

night

he

fell

asleep

thinking

of

his

plan

for

keeping

his

eye

on

Blossom