VOA常速英语2007年-Dog Lover Ken Foster Shares Stories of Canine F

By Mike O'Sullivan
Los Angeles
09 November 2007

The author Ken¹ Foster has shared stories of people and their canine² companions in a popular book called "Dogs I Have Met." VOA's Mike O'Sullivan spoke³ with the writer about the things dog lovers have learned from their animals.

The writer Mark Twain said that the more he knew about people, the better he liked his dog. Ken Foster, who owns three dogs, probably would not go that far, but he agrees dogs have something to teach their owners. He says they are spontaneous; they live in the moment, and, he says, dog owners come to appreciate those qualities.

"A lot of people see their dogs as complex beings, and also see their dogs as something that has led them to look at the world in a different way, just as it did with me," he said.

In an earlier book called "Dogs Who Found Me," Foster recounted getting a dog from an animal shelter. Then he found more of them in the street -- or, they found him -- and took them home.

He says dogs have enriched his life, and helped him in difficult times. They got him through the trauma⁴ of the terror attacks in New York when he lived there in 2001. And his dogs were with him in New Orleans when the region was devastated⁵ by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He says his dogs helped him cope with the death of two close friends, and deal with a heart condition that nearly killed him.

After he wrote his first book, Foster heard from other dog owners who told their own stories of canine loyalty⁶ and love. He decided⁷ to include some in his recent book, and tell more about his own pets. "In this new book, I have more stories about my experience in New Orleans after the hurricane with my own dogs, as well letters that people sent me in response to the last book from all over the country and all over the world, including soldiers who had to leave their dogs behind in order to serve," he said.

He says he received a moving letter from a woman in the U.S. military who was stationed in Kuwait, and had left her dog behind in the United States. "And on the morning she was due to come home, she got an email saying the dog had been hit by a car and killed. So she knew she wasn't going to come home to the dog she thought was waiting for her," he said.

He says the woman decided to open a shelter for the dogs of those in the military who were in the same situation.

The soldier's dog was a Pit Bull, as is one of Foster's. His second is a mixed Pit Bull and Great Dane, and the third is a Rottweiler. He says such big energetic dogs have gotten a bad reputation through sometimes-fatal attacks on their owners or neighbors. He says the sinister⁸ reputation is undeserved, especially for pit bulls.

"If you look in history, they used to be the all-American dog. They were used in posters during World War I. They represented everything that was good about our country. President Roosevelt had a Pit Bull in the White House. And then something happened."

He says people started to use the dogs for fighting, but he says the problem is with the owners, not with the dogs. Foster says Pit Bulls can be kind-hearted, and he recounts the story of one that raised a suckling pig as its puppy.

Foster loves dogs regardless of their breed, and, he says, dogs return the love that they get from their owners. Sometimes, he adds, they make demands because of a difficult personality or physical ailments⁹. But he says even those dogs can change people's lives.

He tells of one dog with the blood disease hemophilia, requiring expensive veterinary treatments. The owner bore the cost and the dog became a therapy pet for hospital patients, including some children who had hemophilia, just like the dog.

1 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

2 canine   

adj.犬的，犬科的

参考例句：

• 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。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

5 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

6 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 sinister   

adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的

参考例句：

• There is something sinister at the back of that series of crimes.在这一系列罪行背后有险恶的阴谋。
• Their proposals are all worthless and designed out of sinister motives.他们的建议不仅一钱不值，而且包藏祸心。

9 ailments   

疾病（尤指慢性病），不适( ailment的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His ailments include a mild heart attack and arthritis. 他患有轻度心脏病和关节炎。
• He hospitalizes patients for minor ailments. 他把只有小病的患者也送进医院。