音频下载[点击右键另存为][00:01.38]Passage 6. A Tribute to the Dog

[00:06.08]The best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and become his enemy.

[00:13.42]His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful.

[00:20.31]Those who are nearest and dearest to us,

[00:23.59]those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name,

[00:27.64]may become traitors to their faith.

[00:30.70]The money that a man has he may lose.

[00:33.77]It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it most.

[00:38.36]A man’s reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action.

[00:44.27]The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us

[00:51.05]may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads.

[00:58.50]The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world,

[01:05.61]the one that never deserts him, www.engbus.cn

[01:08.45]the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog.

[01:13.81]A man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness.

[01:21.14]He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely,

[01:27.93]if only he may be near his master’s side.

[01:31.75]He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer;

[01:35.15]he will lick the wounds and sores that come from encounter with the roughness of the world.

[01:41.05]He will guard the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince.

[01:46.42]When all other friends desert, he remains.

[01:50.13]When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces,

[01:54.62]he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journeys through the heavens.

[02:00.53]If fortune drives the master forth, an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless,

[02:07.09]the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him,

[02:12.12]to guard him against danger, to fight against his enemies.

[02:16.18]And when the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in its embrace,

[02:22.08]and his body is laid away in the cold ground,

[02:25.69]no matter if all other friends pursue their way,

[02:29.52]there by the grave will the noble dog be found,

[02:33.35]his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness,

[02:39.70]faithful and true even in death.