The McAlister family lives in a small house in a valley on the west coast of Canada. There were few neighbors near their house. They had lots of land that lead out to the mountains.
麥阿里斯特一家人住在加拿大西海岸一個山谷里的小屋里。他們家附近鄰居很少，很多通到山里的土地都是他們的。

The McAlister’s had several encounters with raccoons, squirrels, goats and other mountain animals that would come searching for food. They once had a bear in their back yard looking through the garbage. One summer day, Mrs. McAlister was at home with the two children. Mr. McAlister was at work.
麥阿里斯特家遇到過幾次正在覓食的浣熊、松鼠、山羊和其他山里的動物。有一次，他們還在后院遇到一只在垃圾堆里覓食的熊。某個夏日，阿里斯特太太和兩個小孩待在家里，阿里斯特先生則去上班。

The two children were playing in the backyard. As Mrs. McAlister was finishing up, she heard her oldest daughter scream. She looked up and saw a cougar perched on the fence ready to pounce on the youngest child. Mrs. McAlister ran outside to save her children. At first, she screamed and waved at the giant cat trying to scare it. But the cat hissed at the woman and came closer.
兩個小孩在后院本來玩得好好的，結果阿里斯特太太吃完東西時，卻聽到大女兒的尖叫聲。她抬頭一看，看到一只美洲獅停在籬笆上準備撲向她最小的小孩，于是阿里斯特太太趕緊跑出去救她小孩。一開始，她一邊尖叫一邊向那只大貓揮手想要把它嚇住，可是那只貓對她嘶嘶叫著越靠越近。

Then Mrs. McAlister grabbed a shovel in the yard and swung it at the cougar. Finally, the cougar ran off and Mrs. McAlister held her children and was thankful they were safe.
于是阿里斯特太太抓起后院的一把鐵鍬對著美洲獅揮來揮去。最后美洲獅跑開了，阿里斯特太太抱著她的孩子，很欣慰他們都平安無事。