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美国一女孩每天骑骡子去上学(图)
http://www.sina.com.cn 2005/03/18 16:39  国际在线

  Saje Beard's half-hour commute to class is the envy of her four classmates at a one-room schoolhouse just south of here.

  Most mornings, the third-grader makes the trek on Ruth the mule.

  "She's called many things, but Ruth is what we call her in public," Saje said of the 4-year-old gray mule. "Actually, that's my dad's joke. She's really nice and gentle. And she sure is smart."

  Saje, 9, is an old hand at maneuvering mules. She's been doing it since she was in first grade.

  "I feel more safe with her riding a mule than having her ride in a car or on a bus," said her father, Marty Beard.

  At the Manning School, about 15 miles south of the North Dakota capital, Saje "parks" Ruth by tying her with a bowline to a tree near swing sets and monkey bars. Ruth then gets some leather hobbles attached to her front legs, a routine Saje began after her other mule, Shirley, got loose and ran home from school last year.

  Saje's classmates, who are in kindergarten through fourth grade, help take off Ruth's saddle and tack. It's stored in the school's cloakroom, next to basketballs and other playground equipment.

  The five children then run to the school's flagpole to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and sing the national anthem. The mule, named Ruth, prances and kicks up dirt as the children sing.

  "It's cool," Lucas Irving, 10, said of his classmate and her mode of transportation. "She's cool."

  Saje gets up at sunup to prepare for school. She brushes Ruth and feeds her grain, then hoists an old saddle that weighs nearly as much as she does over the chubby mule.

  Saje has corn and sweet peas stuffed in saddlebags for Ruth's lunch, and for treats during the school's three recesses. Her homework and a tuna fish sandwich are in her backpack, tied to the mule.

  Mules are known for protecting themselves and their riders. Marty Beard said the mule would likely attack anyone who hassled Saje along the route.

  The trip home always is a little faster: Ruth knows she'll have some grain waiting, so she picks up the pace without prodding, Saje said.

  Kris Beard, Saje's mother, said even some of their rural neighbors find her daughter's mule commute unusual.

  "It's not strange for us, but for other people it is quite different," she said.

  "We're very fortunate to live here."

美国一女孩每天骑骡子去上学(图)

  美国的一个小学生每天要花半个小时去上学,而她的交通工具是一头骡子,让班里的同学们羡慕不已。

  据美联社3月16日报道,这个女学生名叫赛吉·布尔德,今年9岁,在位于北达科他州首府俾斯麦以南15英里的一所公立小学读三年级。她从一年级开始每天骑骡子上学,如今已经是驾驭骡子的老手儿了。

  布尔德现在的坐骑名叫鲁思,是一头4岁大的骡子。布尔德说:“它真的很好,温柔而且聪明。”每天早上起床以后,布尔德就要自己为上学做准备。她为鲁思刷毛、喂食,然后把几乎和她一样重的旧马鞍放到鲁思背上。她还会在鞍囊里装上玉米和豌豆,作为鲁思的午餐和课间休息时的慰劳。

  通常,布尔德到学校以后就把鲁思拴在秋千旁边的一棵树上,她的同学会帮忙把鞍子和饲料拿到学校的衣帽间里,然后布尔德用一副皮足枷绑在鲁思的两个前腿上,以防它自己跑掉。去年,布尔德骑的另一头名叫雪莉的骡子就曾在绳子松了以后自己跑回家去。从那以后,给骡子上足枷就成了布尔德必做的功课。

  布尔德的父亲马蒂说:“她骑骡子去上学比开车或者坐公共汽车让我觉得更放心。”他说,骡子是一种善于保护自己和骑手的动物,在路上只要有人和布尔德争论,鲁思就很可能会攻击他(她)。布尔德的妈妈克里丝说,邻居对于她女儿能驾驭骡子觉得很吃惊。她说:“这对于我们很平常,但对于别人来说就是很稀奇了。”

  每当孩子们在校园里唱歌的时候,骡子鲁思还会腾跃和刨土。布尔德的同学欧文说:“它很酷!布尔德也很酷!”

  布尔德说,鲁思回家总会比上学的路上跑得更快,因为它知道家里有玉米在等着它。(文/孙亚萍)




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