WORTHY OF A MEDAL.

 SEVERAL years ago there were two seals in the “Zoo” garden at Amsterdam which were so fond of their keeper that they could recognize his voice a long way off, and would go to meet him.

 

These seals also became attached to an old gentleman and his little granddaughter, who often went to see them in company with a little woolly dog, and who always took the seals something nice to eat. These animals were kept in a large pond, and they would come out of the water on seeing their friends and sit down with them to have a good time on the sand.

 

The small dog was very lively on these occasions, and he and the seals would frolic together as though they belonged to the same family, and shared the fruit and cakes from the little girl’s basket.

 

One day, however, just in the midst of their fun, the dog fell into the pond, and, after struggling for a moment in the water, he sank. The seals uttered a cry of dismay as he disappeared, and then, flopping¹ to the pond, they plunged² in. In an instant the larger one had seized the half-drowned dog, and, carrying him very tenderly in his mouth, placed the dripping animal at his mistress’s feet.

1 flopping   

n.贬调v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的现在分词 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅

参考例句：

• The fish are still flopping about. 鱼还在扑腾。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• What do you mean by flopping yourself down and praying agin me?' 咚一声跪下地来咒我，你这是什么意思” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

2 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。