VOA标准英语2011--These are Dog Days at the US Post Office
时间：2018-12-16 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2011年(八月)
These are Dog Days at the US Post Office
Have you heard of mail dogs?
Not male dogs, as in the masculine half of the species. Dogs that actually carried letters and packages in the days of the Old American West. And pooches that tagged along with mail carriers so loyally that they became the stuff of legend.
A scruffy 1 mixed terrier named Owney, for instance. He just got his own U.S. Postal 2 Service stamp - one of the so-called "forever stamps" that will be good for first-class postage no matter how high rates go in the future.
Owney was a pal 3 of the clerks at the Albany, New York, post office in the late 1800s. He even spent the night there and would tag along when the clerks went to the railway station to pick up incoming mail pouches 4.
Before long, he was catching 5 rides in the mail-sorting cars aboard the trains and soon was touring the entire country by rail - a sort of canine 6 hobo, given a lifetime pass by the entire postal service. He even traveled the world on mail-carrying steamships 7.
After Owney's death, his body was preserved. In fact, it has recently been fixed 8 up a bit and is now the favorite attraction at the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C.
The late postal pal is displayed there along with several of the dog tags and other tokens given to him by his human buddies 9 over the years.
That's not just because mail clerks liked the little mutt. He was also a good-luck charm. Busy mail trains had their share of accidents. But never once did a train derail with Owney aboard.
So Owney remains 10 an enduring postal mascot 11.
So much so that, later this month, the Postal Service will launch an interactive 12 e-book about him and an app for handheld devices in which a three-dimensional Owney lookalike jumps and barks.
He doesn't sort the mail, though, so far as we know.
- Despite her scruffy clothes,there was an air of sophistication about her.尽管她衣衫褴褛，但神态老练世故。
- His scruffy appearance does not reflect his character.他邋遢的外表并不反映他的性格。
- A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
- Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。
- He is a pal of mine.他是我的一个朋友。
- Listen,pal,I don't want you talking to my sister any more.听着，小子，我不让你再和我妹妹说话了。
- Pouches are a peculiarity of marsupials. 腹袋是有袋动物的特色。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Under my eyes the pouches were heavy. 我眼睛下的眼袋很深。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
- Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。
- The fox is a canine animal.狐狸是犬科动物。
- Herbivorous animals have very small canine teeth,or none.食草动物的犬牙很小或者没有。
- Berths on steamships can be booked a long while in advance. 轮船上的床位可以提前多日预订。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- The sailing ships were superseded by the steamships. 帆船已被汽船所取代。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
- Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
- Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。
- We became great buddies. 我们成了非常好的朋友。 来自辞典例句
- The two of them have become great buddies. 他们俩成了要好的朋友。 来自辞典例句
- He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
- The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
- The football team's mascot is a goat.足球队的吉祥物是山羊。
- We had a panda as our mascot.我们把熊猫作为吉详物。
- The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
- This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。