IN a town in the south of France, twenty poor people were served with dinner, at a certain hour every day. A dog belonging to the place was always present at this meal, to watch for the scraps that were now and then thrown to him.

The guests, however, were poor and hungry, and of course not very liberal. So the poor dog hardly did more than smell the feast, of which he would have liked a share.

Now it happened that this dinner was served out to each one on his ringing a bell; but, as the person who served the dinner handed it through a small opening, he did not see who received it.

Well, one day the dog had waited till all the poor people were gone. Having himself got very little to eat, he reached up, took hold of the rope by his teeth, and rang the bell. A good dinner was at once handed out, and the dog ate it with great delight.

This was done by the dog for several days; but the rogue was at length found out. It was thought, however, so clever for a dog, that he was allowed to take his regular turn at the dinner every day. And thus he went on for a long time, ringing the bell, and taking his meal with the other beggars!

Questions

What is the dog in the picture doing? Why? What is that coming through the opening? For whom is it? How did the dog learn to do this? How long did he do it before he was found out! Why was he allowed to continue it? Where did this take place?

Pronunciation

pres'-ent hard'-ly sev'-er-al be-long'-ing reg'-u-lar

how-ev'-er o'-pen-ing al-lowed' hap'-pened hand'-ed

hun'-gry wait'-ed beg'-gars clev'-er din'-ner

Write

liberal delight clever

certain received several

belonging happened regular

在法國南部的一座小城，二十個窮人每天都在一個固定的地點吃飯。在這附近的一條狗總是在吃飯的時候出現，等著這些人不時扔給它些殘羹 剩飯。

然而，這些客人們又窮又餓，當然就不是非常大方。所以這條可憐的狗除了聞一聞飯香之外，幾乎分不到什么它想吃的東西。

每天鈴聲一響，就會有人把晚餐送上。但是因為送餐的人是從一個小窗口里把晚餐送出來的，所以他并不知道是誰拿走了這個晚餐。

有一天，這條狗只分到了一點兒吃的。于是，等到所有的窮人都走了之后，它舉起爪子，用牙咬住繩子，拉響了鈴鐺。一頓美味的晚餐馬上遞了出來，這條狗滿心歡喜地吃了個夠。

小狗連續好幾天都這么做，但是這個小淘氣最后還是被發現了。然而，人們覺得既然這條狗這么聰明，那么他理應每天得到一份固定的晚餐。于是小狗就繼續像其他的乞丐一樣搖鈴吃飯，持續了好長時間。