英语趣味故事（10）

Nicole

The Man and His Monkey

耍猴的人

　

　　A small crowd had gathered round the entrance to the park. His curiosity aroused, Robert crossed the road to see what was happening. He found that the centre of attraction was an old man with a performing monkey. The monkey's tricks ,he soon discovered, were in no way remarkable. So after throwing a few pennies in the dirty hat which the man had placed on the pavement, Robert began to move off, along with other members of the crowd.

　　

      At this point the man suddenly let out a loud cry. Everyone turned to see what had happened. The man was bending over his monkey, which now lay quite still on the pavement. He picked up the apparently lifeless body and, holding it close to him, began to weep. A young man stepped forward from the crowd and, taking some money from his pocket, dropped it into the hat. Robert and several other people did likewise, until the pennies in the hat were covered with silver coins. Meanwhile, the man continued to hold the dead monkey in his arms and seemed to take no notice of what was going on about him.

　　A few months later, Robert came across the old man again in another part of the city. The man had amonkey,bought no doubt with the money which the crowd had given him. It did not, however, seem any better at its tricks than the previous one. Robert was pleased to see that the old man was still able to earn a living, though on this occasion, having partly paid for the monkey out of his own pocket, he did not feel inclined to throw any money into the hat.

　　But the performance was not yet over! Once again the old man let out a loud cry. Once again the monkey lay still on the pavement. The man picked up the “dead”monkey and, clutching it in his arms, began to weep. The same young man stepped forward and threw some money into the hat. Again the crowd followed suit except for Robert. Smiling to himself, he went on his way, amazed at the man's audacity.