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 pearls¹ and diamonds inrich people's houses，and that there each thing is richer than the previous one．“I assure² 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 faculty³ 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？

1 pearls   

n.珍珠( pearl的名词复数 )；珍品；人造珍珠；珠状物

参考例句：

• 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

2 assure   

vt.使确信；向…保证，使有保证

参考例句：

• 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。

3 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。