85 A Tribute to the Dog

名称：85 A Tribute to the Dog
内容简介：
晨读英语美文 文化百科
[00:05.58]The best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and become his enemy.
[00:12.92]His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful.
[00:19.81]Those who are nearest and dearest to us,
[00:23.09]those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name,
[00:27.14]may become traitors to their faith.
[00:30.20]The money that a man has he may lose.
[00:33.27]It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it most.
[00:37.86]A man’s reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action.
[00:43.77]The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us
[00:50.55]may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads.
[00:58.00]The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world,
[01:05.11]the one that never deserts him,
[01:07.95]the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog.
[01:13.31]A man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness.
[01:20.64]He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely,
[01:27.43]if only he may be near his master’s side.
[01:31.25]He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer;
[01:34.65]he will lick the wounds and sores that come from encounter with the roughness of the world.
[01:40.55]He will guard the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince.
[01:45.92]When all other friends desert, he remains.
[01:49.63]When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces,
[01:54.12]he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journeys through the heavens.
[02:00.03]If fortune drives the master forth, an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless,
[02:06.59]the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him,
[02:11.62]to guard him against danger, to fight against his enemies.
[02:15.68]And when the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in its embrace,
[02:21.58]and his body is laid away in the cold ground,
[02:25.19]no matter if all other friends pursue their way,
[02:29.02]there by the grave will the noble dog be found,
[02:32.85]his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness,
[02:39.20]faithful and true even in death.