阅读理解
Buck's first day in the frozen Northland was like a bad dream.
Every hour was filled with shock and surprise. Here was neither peace, nor
rest, nor a moment's safety—only continual noise and movement. At evey moment
life itself was in danger, because these dogs and men were not town dogs and
men. They knew only the law of club and tooth.
He had never seen dogs fight as these wolfish creatures
fought, and his first experience taught him an unforgettable lesson. Curly was
the victim(牺牲者). She tried to make friends with a
Husky, a dog only half as large as she was. There was no warning. The dog
jumped on Curly, his teeth closed together, then he jumped away, and Curly's
face was torn open from eye to mouth.
Wolves fight like this, biting and jumping away, but the
fight did not finish then. Thirty or forty more dogs ran up and made a circle
around the fight, watching silently. Curly tried to attack the dog who had
bitten her; he bit her a second time, and jumped away. When she attacked him
again, he knocked her backwards, and she fell on the ground. She never stood up
again, because this was what the other dogs were waiting for. They moved in,
and in a moment she was under a crowd of dogs.
So sudden was it, and so unexpected, that Buck was taken
aback. He saw Spitz run out his tongue in a way he had of laughing; and he saw
Francois, swinging an axe, spring into the mess of dogs. Three men with clubs
were helping him to scatter them. It did not take long. Two minutes later the
last of the dogs was chased away. But Curly lay dead in the snow, her body torn
almost to pieces. Curly's death often came back to Buck in his dreams. He
understood that once a dog was down on the ground, he was dead. He also
remembered Spitz laughing, and from that moment he hated him.
Before he had recovered from the shock caused by the death
of Curly, he received another surprise. Francois put a harness on him. Buck had
seen harnesses on horses, and now he was made to work like a horse, pulling
Francois on a sledge into the forest and returning with wood for the fire.
Though his dignity was deeply hurt by becoming a work animal, he was too wise
to rebel(反抗). It was all new and strange, but Buck
did his best. Buck learned easily and under the combined teaching of Francois
and his two mates, Dave and Spitz, two experienced sled dogs, he made
remarkable progress. Before they returned to camp he knew enough to stop at
"ho," to go ahead at "mush," to swing wide on the bends,
and to stay clear when the heavy came shot downhill.
"Those three are
very good dogs," Francois told Perrault. "That Buck pulls very well,
and he's learning quickly."
Perrault had important letters and official papers to take
to Dawson City, so that afternoon he bought two more dogs, two brothers called
Billee and Joe. Billee was very friendly, but Joe was the opposite. In the
evening Perrault bought one more dog, an old dog with one eye. His name was
Solleks, which means The Angry One. Like Dave, he made no friends; all he
wanted was to be alone.
That night Buck discovered another problem. Where was he
going to sleep? Francois and Perrault were in their tent, but when he went in,
they shouted angrily and threw things at him. Outside it was very cold and
windy. He lay down in the snow, but he was too cold to sleep.
He walked around the tents trying to find the other dogs.
But, to his surprise, they had disappeared.
He walked around Perrault's tent, very, very cold, wondering
what to do. Suddenly, the snow under his feet fell in, and he felt something
move. He jumped back, waiting for the attack, but heard only a friendly bark.
There, in a warm hole under the snow, was Billee.
So that was what you had to do. Buck chose a place, dug
himself a hole and in a minute he was warm and asleep. He slept well, although
his dreams were bad.
