你相信吗，在美国白宫，居然住着一帮终日无所事事、游手好闲的家伙？

　　Pets have long kept our

　　Presidents company. From

　　George Washington's1 horse to Bill Clinton's dog and cat, these unelected White House residents have been among the most popular members of America's First Families.

　　In addition to his love for animals, President Abraham Lincoln, our 16th President, was known for his giving spirit. He allowed his sons, Tad and Willie, to keep as many pets as they wished. The result was a menagerie2 that included rabbits, turkeys, horses, and even two goats, Nanny and Nanko. In fact, Nanny and Nanko even rode with President Lincoln in the Presidential carriage. One special animal in the Lincoln White House was Jack the turkey. Jack originally was on the Lincolns' dinner menu, but Tad became fond of the bird and pleaded with his father to spare Jack's life3. President Lincoln relented, and Jack became part of the Presidential household.4 On Election Day5 1864, while the Civil War raged close to Washington, D.C., a special booth was placed on the White House grounds so that soldiers serving nearby could vote.6 President Lincoln, his private secretary Noah Brooks, and Tad were watching from an upstairs window when they saw Jack strut7 out among the voters. "Why is your turkey at the polls? Does he vote?" Lincoln asked his son. "No," Tad answered, "he's not of age yet."

　　Benjamin Harrison, our 23rd President, gave his grandchildren numerous pets. Among them was a goat named His Whiskers, who frequently pulled the children around the White House lawn in a cart. One day, while the President was waiting for his carriage at the front of the White House, His Whiskers darted through the White House gates, pulling the children behind him in the cart. President Harrison ran down Pennsylvania Avenue holding on to his top hat and waving his cane,8 but the goat kept running, only stopping after numerous Washington, D.C. residents had seen the Commander in Chief9 chasing the runaway goat cart!

　　Our 26th President, Theodore Roosevelt, began his Presidency in 1901, along with six children and more animals than the White House had ever seen. The Roosevelt children's family of pets included a small bear named Jonathan Edwards; a lizard named Bill; a guinea pig named Admiral Dewey, Maude the pig; Josiah the badger; Eli Yale the blue macaw; Baron Spreckle the hen; a one-legged rooster; a hyena; a barn owl; Peter the rabbit; and Algonquin the pony and so on.10 President Roosevelt loved the pets as much as his children did. Algonquin was so beloved that when the President's son Archie was sick in bed, his brothers Kermit and Quentin brought the pony up to his room in the elevator. But Algonquin was so captivated by his own reflection in the elevator mirror that it was hard to get him out!

　　Quentin once stopped in a pet store and bought four snakes. He then went to show them to his father in the Oval Office11, where the President was holding an important meeting. Senators and party officials smiled tolerantly when the boy barged12 in and hugged his father. But when Quentin dropped the snakes on the table, the officials scrambled for safety. The snakes were eventually captured and promptly sent back to the pet shop. Alice, Quentin's sister, also had a pet garter snake13 that she named Emily Spinach ("because it was as green as spinach14 and as thin as my Aunt Emily").

　　The Roosevelts were dog lovers as well. Among their many canines was Pete, a bull terrier who sank his teeth into so many legs that he had to be exiled to the Roosevelt home in Long Island!15 Alice had a small black Pekingese16 named Manchu, which she received from the last empress of China during a trip to the Far East17. Alice once claimed to have seen Manchu dancing on its hind legs in the moonlight on the White House lawn.

　　President Franklin Delano Roosevelt takes time during his busy day to visit with a young friend and Fala. One of the most famous Presidential pets was Franklin Delano Roosevelt's constant companion, Fala. Fala, a Scottish terrier18, was given to President Roosevelt by his cousin, Margaret Suckley, who thought that the pup19 would ease some of the President's stress during the difficult days of World War II. Fala's full name was Murray of Fala Hill after a famous Roosevelt ancestor. Fala almost never left the President's side. In fact, when Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt signed the Atlantic Charter in 1941 on the U.S.S. Augusta in the mid-Atlantic,20 Fala was right there with the two world leaders. And at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C., a statue of Fala sits next to that of his favorite companion, the President.

　　No discussion of America's First Pets would be complete without mentioning those of John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his family. President Kennedy brought to the White House a collection of animals that continued to expand while he was in office. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy designed a special play area for the children by the West Wing, complete with living quarters for their dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, and ponies.21 The most famous of these was Caroline Kennedy's pony, Macaroni, given to her by then Vice President Lyndon Johnson. Macaroni received many letters from children all over the world and proudly pulled the two Kennedy children in a sleigh around the South Lawn22 when the ground was covered with snow. -

　　1.文中出现的总统依次为：乔治·华盛顿、比尔·克林顿、亚伯拉罕·林肯、本杰明·哈里森、西奥多·罗斯福、富兰克林·罗斯福和约翰·F·肯尼迪。

　　2. menagerie/mi#n*d32ri/：动物园，各色齐备的一群。

　　3. spare one's life：饶某人一命。

　　4.林肯总统大发慈悲，这样杰克就成了总统家的一分子。

　　5. Election Day：<美>选举日。美国法律规定，每逢公历闰年的11月的第一个星期一后的星期二举行大选，选举总统和副总统，任期4年；每逢逢双的年份选举众议员，任期2年，并改选1/3的参议员，任期6年。此处指1864年11月美国总统大选，林肯第二次当选。

　　6.时值华盛顿特区附近内战正酣，白宫外的场地上搭起了一个特别投票站，以供在附近服役的士兵投票用。rage：(战争等)激烈进行。

　　7. strut：趾高气扬地走，昂首阔步。

　　8.哈里森总统沿着宾夕法尼亚大道一路追下去，一手扶着头上的高顶黑色大礼帽，一手挥舞着手杖。(白宫位于华盛顿特区宾夕法尼亚大道1600号。)

　　9. Commander in Chief：总司令。美国总统同时也是最高行政长官和三军总司令。

　　10. lizard:蜥蜴；guinea pig：豚鼠；badger：獾；macaw：金刚鹦鹉；baron：男爵，世袭的第五级的贵族爵位；rooster：公鸡；hyena：土狼,鬣狗；barn owl:仓；pony：小马。

　　11. Oval Office：(美国白宫的)椭圆形办公室，即总统办公室。

　　12. barge：(鲁莽而笨拙地)猛撞，闯。

　　13. garter snake：束带蛇，北美无毒条纹小蛇；garter：吊袜带。

　　14. spinach/#spinid3/：菠菜。

　　15.在他们的许多只狗中有一只叫皮特的短毛犬，由于咬伤了很多人的腿，最终不得不被流放到了罗斯福在长岛的家。canine:犬；bull terrier：嚣，叭喇(一种短毛犬，由喇叭狗与杂交而成)；

　　Long Island：长岛，位于纽约州东南部。

　　16. Pekingese：狮子狗，哈巴狗(古代在中国培育的一种玩赏狗)。

　　17. Far East：远东，西方国家对亚洲最东部地区的称呼。

　　18. scottish terrier：[动]苏格兰狗。

　　19. pup：小狗。

　　20. Atlantic Charter：《大西洋宪章》，亦称《罗斯福丘吉尔联合宣言》，系美国总统罗斯福和英国首相丘吉尔于1941年8月14日发表的联合宣言，内容包括解决战后国际问题的八项原则；U.S.S. Augusta：美国军舰"奥古斯塔"号。

　　21. West Wing：美国白宫的西翼，是美国总统及其幕僚工作的地方；complete with：包括，连同；quarters：住处，营舍。

　　22. South Lawn：白宫南草坪，因白宫坐南朝北，因此南草坪就成为白宫后院，也是国宾来访时举行正式欢迎仪式的地方。