我很小就很敬重各種動物，一直認為牠們是有感情、有智慧的生命。但是直到我看了PETA網站上的資料之後，才開始將我最要好的動物朋友與盤子上的豬排產生關聯。我無法想像這些動物在成為盤子上的肉之前，經過一段可怕駭人的殘忍對待。我花好幾個月的時間去試著忘記我所知道與看到的內容，最後我終於醒覺過來，並且從此不再吃肉。理由很簡單，就是動物不應該為了我的味覺享受而受痛苦與喪失生命。

　現在的我已成為完全的素食者一段時間了，並且從中獲得好多益處，即，不再被可怕的皮膚問題或嚴重的胃病所困擾，因為我已擁有一個很健康的身體。同時，我也很快且容易的達到我一直想要的減肥目的。

　成為完全的素食者之後，我的生命整個改變了，心也漸漸打開了。

Maggie Travis, Minnesota
Ever since I was a small child, I have had a great respect for animals, and I’ve always felt that they were loving and intelligent beings. It wasn’t until I stumbled across PETA’s Web site that I started to make the connection between my companion animal best friends and the pork chop on my plate. I couldn’t believe the horrifying and appalling cruelty [that] animals go through before they [arrive] at my table. After a few months of trying to forget what I knew and saw, I just woke up one day and cut out the meat. It was as simple as the fact that animals shouldn’t suffer and die for my taste buds!

Now that I’ve been vegan for some time, I’m reaping the benefits; I no longer am troubled by terrible skin problems or serious stomach illnesses, and I just have a healthier body! I’m also quickly and easily losing weight, which I very much need to lose.

Being vegan has completely changed my outlook on life, and it all started with opening up my mind a little.

(7)華盛頓州，Anne Hanna

　我在13歲那年去我祖父位於賓州東部的農場渡暑假之後，開始吃素的。

　在我抵達那裡的幾天之後，一隻母牛在生產一對小牛時不幸過逝了，牠們是一對公與母的小牛。我祖父以我以及也在哪裡渡假的表弟亞當的名字為牠們命名。我們養了牠們三個月，教牠們如何從桶子中喝水，幫牠們洗澡，並且與牠們玩耍。牠們是相當聰明的動物。我養的那隻小牛還會與我玩捉迷藏，我在草地上先跑的很快很遠，然後牠會追著我跑，然後在牠追上我時用牠的頭撞我。我每天花好幾個小時與牠在一起，牠因此成為我最要好的朋友。夏天結束之後，我必須回家上學，為此我哭了好幾天，因為我無法將那隻與我同名的小牛一起回去。

　直到下一個夏天，我才又去到祖父的農場。當我抵達哪裡的第一件事就是跑去倉庫找那已一年未見的小牛。結果在哪裡沒找到牠，於是我又跑到屋子裡，那時我祖父正在吃他的早餐。我問他我的小牛在哪裡呢，他沒有說話，用手指著電冰箱。

　我放聲大哭與尖叫，說他是兇手。稍晚當我已哭到沒有眼淚時，我終於明白了肉食工業是多麼恐怖的一個行業，而且第一次明白什麼叫做「吃肉等於兇手」的意思，就像歌手史密斯的歌曲裡所說的。從那時候起，我再也不吃肉了。

　那是13年前的事了。現在的我已經結婚，而且有兩個小孩，我們一家人都是完全的素食者。我的小孩很喜歡質問那些在雜貨店買肉的人，他們會說些像，「惡！你在買那種東西啊？你不知道那是死牛啊？」的話。其他時候，他們只會盯著買漢堡的人，離開之前，叫聲，「MOOO!!!」要張羅全家都是素食者並不容易，但我認為是值得的。我寧願與動物們稱兄道弟，也不願吃牠們的肉。我們全家人也因為吃素而更健康。

Anne Hanna, Washington
I became a vegetarian at the age of 13, after spending the summer with my grandma and grandpa at their beef farm in Eastern Pennsylvania.

A few days after my arrival there, a cow died giving birth to twin calves, one male and one female. My grandpa named them after me and my cousin Adam, who was also staying there for the summer. We raised those calves for three months, teaching them how to drink from a bucket, bathing them, and playing with them. They are such smart animals! My calf would play tag with me, I would run as fast as I could around the field, and she would run after me and butt me with her head when she caught me. I spent hours every day with her—she had become my best friend. When the summer ended, and I had to go back to my father’s house to start school, I cried for days because I couldn’t take my namesake with me.

I didn’t get to visit my grandparents’ farm again until the following summer. When I got there, first thing, I ran to the main barn to find my cow, whom I hadn’t seen in a year. Not being able to find her, I ran to the house, where my grandfather was sitting at the table, eating his lunch. I asked him where my cow was, and with a silent answer, he pointed to the fridge.

I began to scream and cry. I told him he was a murderer. Later that day, when my tears couldn’t come anymore, I realized what a horror the meat industry was and saw for the first time that, quite like the Smiths song, meat was murder. I haven’t eaten meat since then.

It’s been 13 years since that time. I’m now married and have two children, and we are all vegan. My children love heckling anyone they see at the grocery store buying meat. They’ll say things such as, “Ew! You’re buying that? Don’t you know that is DEAD COW?!” And other times, they’ll just look at people buying hamburger and go, “MOOO.” I get quite a bit of grief from people for raising my family vegetarian, but it is so worth it. I much prefer to hang out with my animal brethren than [to] eat them. And my family is all the healthier for it.

John Burton, California
I had been struggling for a long time with vegetarianism. Being a high-school football player, I bought into the stereotype of massive meat-munching. But even then, I kind of felt bad about eating animals because I loved my pets so much. Eventually, my diet caught up with me, making me, well … FAT. Two hundred and eighty pounds later, I decided to give up meat, telling my friends, “Oh, it’s only for weight loss.” I was scared to admit that I actually felt bad about eating animals. Lacking the courage of my convictions, I wavered back and forth for a few years—that is, until the day Petunia died.

Since we couldn’t have a dog in our apartment, my girlfriend and I got a rat. Petunia was the sweetest little thing I had ever seen. We became instant friends, and I loved that little girl like nothing I had loved before. As I read more about rats, I discovered that they need companionship. This was a wonderful excuse to get another rat, my beautiful Clara. Petunia and Clara became buddies, even if Petunia beat Clara up sometimes.

After a long and fun while, Petunia developed a respiratory problem. She hardly moved, just lying on top of Clara most of the day. Usually Clara was a really active rat, but she just let Petunia lie on her, like she knew something was wrong. In her last days, I let Petunia lie on my arm, just breathing slowly. One day, I came home from work and Petunia climbed up the cage to greet me. I thought she was improving. But a few minutes later, she started gagging and coughing. There was nothing I could do. I watched her die right there. Clara was so scared that I had to pull her out of the cage and hold her. It was one of the hardest things to do in my life to pick up my little friend, put her in a box, and bury her.

Seeing the way Clara was so gentle with Petunia during her last … week of life made me really think. But what really solidified it for me was the way that Clara acted after Petunia’s death. She was just limp, lifeless, depressed. I could tell that she was sad. It was so obvious that I immediately went out to buy her a new friend. It took a while, but eventually Clara got over it, with the help of her new friend, Peanut. From that day on, I knew deep in my heart that even the smallest animals have just as much emotion and feelings as we humans do. I have never touched a bit of animal meat since, and I am taking steps to become fully vegan.

I dedicate my choice for a compassionate lifestyle to the memory of my beloved Petunia and to all the animals and humans who face suffering each day. Every personal act of thoughtful love and empathy is another step toward a kinder world.

　從我有記憶開始，我與動物之間一直有一個很強而不破的關聯。我有過一段受虐的童年，在那個時候，我唯一覺得安全的是當我與動物在一起的時候。我單純的覺得愈靠近牠們，愈覺得安心；當時的我認為與動物做朋友比與人做朋友容易的多。

　在我國小五年級的時候，我下定決心不再吃肉。令人訝異的是，我的一位老師也是位素食者。一天放學後，她給了我一本關於工廠化農場的書，那本書讓我看到了這個世界暴力的一面，那是與孩子們在書本中所知道的牛與雞的故事絕然不同的，以致讓我在看後跑到教室外嘔吐。這是一個很困難的轉變，因為我家絕大多數的人認為這些動物是用來吃的。但，我無法面對每次我看到一隻牛、雞、魚、或豬時，人們在對牠們發出高興與驚訝聲之後，轉頭就吃漢堡或雞塊的事實。我無法了解人們如何能奪去一隻無辜的動物的生命，只為了自己想吃東西。我從那時候起吃素六年，但之後又放棄了。我忘卻了動物所受的苦，只為了將牠們當食物看待，而且我也厭倦了在每餐吃飯時被嘲笑或被找碴。

　過後一年，我再度決定成為一位完全的素食者。我發現我在過去四年當中做錯了決定，而且不會再犯同樣的錯誤。從那時候起，我說服了許多人吃完全的素食或一般的素食，我也參與派發宣傳單，或播放無數的錄影帶給大家看。我真的覺得人們需要不斷地注意到動物所經歷過的痛苦，因為在你盤子的上一大塊肉，曾經是一隻活生生的生命，牠們與我們曾分享過共同的事物。

Oaknim Lamagna, Kansas
Since I can remember, I have always had an extremely strong bond with animals. I had an abusive childhood, and the only time I can recall feeling safe was when I was around an animal. I simply feel closer to them, more comfortable; I can relate to animals much easier than I can to people.

When I was in fifth grade, I decided that I didn’t want to eat meat anymore. Surprisingly, I had a teacher that year who was a vegetarian. After school one day, she gave me a book about factory farms that opened my eyes to the horrors of a world so violent, so far from the idyllic farms children believe cows and chickens live on that I ran from the classroom to vomit. It was a difficult transition, [because] a lot of my family believes that “that’s what animals are for” (eating). But, I couldn’t stand the fact that every time I saw a cow, a chicken, a fish, or a pig, they were seen as nothing more than “animals,” that when they were babies, everyone oohed and ahhed but then went to eat a hamburger or a chicken nugget. I didn’t understand how you could take the life of an innocent animal just so you could put it in your mouth. I was vegetarian for about six years but then gave up. I forgot about the pain that animals endure just to wind up as food, and I was tired of being made fun of or nagged at during every meal.

Then, about a year ago, I decided to become vegan. I knew that I had been making the wrong choice for over four years and that I was never going to make that decision ever again. Since then, I’ve converted many people to a vegan or vegetarian diet, handed out leaflets, and shown countless videos. I really feel that people need to constantly be aware of what animals go through because, after so long, you really forget that the hunk of meat on your plate used to be alive, it used to enjoy the same things people do.

我父親在一個屠宰場工作，但直到我10歲或11歲時才知道他真正在做什麼。在一個夏天的日子，他讓我陪他一起在屠宰場工作一天，當時從我眼中所看的景象，至今依然無法忘掉。雖然我從未見過真正的宰殺情形，但動物哭號的聲音響徹整個空氣中，牠們的聲音至今久久未散。那天回家之後，我告訴我媽我再也不吃任何被殺的東西了。

三十年過去了，我從未後悔過我的決定，甚至我還說服了我母親以及其他朋友成為完全的素食者，因為地球上的每個生命都應該有免於死亡威脅的權力，自由且自在的生活著。

--- (完)

Jackie Wood, Illinois
My dad worked at a slaughterhouse, and I wasn’t aware until I was 10 or 11 what it was he actually did. He let me accompany him to work one day over the summer, and the sight that met my eyes I will never forget. Although I never saw the actual killing, the cries from the animals cut through the air and have haunted me ever since. That day I went home and told [my] mom I never wanted to eat anything that had been killed again.

It’s now been 30 years, and I’ve never regretted my decision and have even convinced my mom and several friends to go vegan. Every living creature on this planet deserves to live out their life fully and free from the threat of untimely death.