The Pig
A pig once made its way into the courtyard of a lordly mansion，where he sauntered at its will around the stables and the kitchen，wallowed in filth，and bathed in slops．Then he returned home from his visit looking every bit of a pig．“Well，Kavronya，what have you seen？”said the swineherd to the pig．“They do say that there is nothing but pearls 1 and diamonds inrich people's houses，and that there each thing is richer than the previous one．“I assure 2 you they talk nonsense，”grunted Kavronya．“I saw no riches at all—nothing but dirt and offal；and yet you may suppose I didn't spare my snout，for I dug up the whole backyard．”
God forbid that I should hurt any one by my comparison；but how can one help calling those critics Kavronyas who，in whatever they have to discuss，have the faculty 3 of seeing only that which is bad？
Exercises：
回答下列问题：
① Where did the pig make its way？
② What did the swineherd think of rich people's houses？
③ What can we learn from this？
- a necklace of rubies intertwined with pearls 缠着珍珠的红宝石项链
- a string of pearls 一挂珍珠
- The only ladder to assure success is to work hard.确保成功的惟一途径是刻苦努力。
- I assure you that she can be trusted to do the job.我担保她能做好这项工作。