谁会无论何时都在你孤单时陪伴你？是你的家人还是你最好的朋友？都不是，答案是你的宠物。在大部分西方国家宠物像家人一样，一些人甚至像对待自己的孩子一样对待他们的宠物。
Who can accompany you whenever you are alone? Is Your family member or your best friend? Neither of them, the answer is your pet. Pet is a family member in most western countries and some people even treat their pets as their children.

在中国养宠物的人也很多，这些宠物中以猫、狗等居多。由于越来越多的人们开始养宠物，随之关于宠物的商业也越来越火，宠物医院、宠物超市、宠物美容店、宠物学校等在我们的生活中越来越常见。书店中随处可见各类关于宠物的书籍，互联网上也有各种不同的宠物论坛和宠物网站，甚至还有宠物婚介。
It is a tendency that more and more Chinese families raise pets, mainly dogs and cats. Therefore, the demand for a wide variety of pet services is increasing. Hospitals, supermarkets, beauty salons, and schools for pets then emerge in cities. Pet books can be easily found in bookstores. Pet forums and related websites for pet lovers, and even pet on-line dating agencies have been created.

现在，中国人养宠物的情况比较复杂：但是在很多大城市，很多养宠物的人家把宠物当成自己的家庭成员；在中国的农村和偏远地区，这些“宠物”尤其是狗还在按照传统的方式饲养，在更大程度上还是被看作动物一样饲养，人们喂它们的是吃剩的饭菜，作用是看门或抓老鼠。
However, in China, pets have been bred for very different purposes. Most pet owners in big cities raise pets as companions and treat them as part of the family. In contrast, pets in the rural areas, especially dogs, are seen and treated as watchdogs and fed only leftovers.

也许是思考一下怎么对待我们的宠物的时候了，宠物是我们的家人吗？
Maybe it’s time to think about how to treat our pets, is the pet a family member?

Key words:
养宠物yǎnɡchǒnɡwù: raise pets
医院yīyuàn: hospital
超市chāoshì: supermarket
美容院měirónɡyuàn: beauty salon
论坛lùntán: forum
看门狗kānménɡǒu: watchdog

原文链接