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Rudyard Kipling used to tell his daughter stories like "How did the camel get his hump?" The stories end with a poem as a summary. This one tells us why many people prefer dogs to cats.

The cat that walked by himself

by Rudyard Kipling

Pussy can sit by the fire and sing,
Pussy can climb a tree,
Or play with a silly old cork and string
To 'muse herself, not me.
But I like Binkie my dog, because
He knows how to behave;
So, Binkie's the same as the First Friend was,
And I am the Man in the Cave!

Pussy will play man-Friday till
It's time to wet her paw
And make her walk on the window-sill
(For the footprint Crusoe saw);
Then she fluffles her tail and mews,
And scratches and won't attend.
But Binkie will play whatever I choose,
And he is my true First Friend!

Pussy will rub my knees with her head
Pretending she loves me hard;
But the very minute I go to my bed
Pussy runs out in the yard,
And there she stays till the morning-light;
So I know it is only pretend;
But Binkie, he snores at my feet all night,
And he is my Firstest Friend!

【小編點(diǎn)評(píng)】怎么樣，是不是被詩(shī)里的貓咪和狗狗萌到了呢？貓咪Pussy總是自顧自地玩耍，還會(huì)假裝討好主人，主人可不上當(dāng)，他知道Pussy只是為了她自己高興！相比之下，小狗Binkie就乖順多了，他總是知道該怎么做，總是聽(tīng)主人的話，在主人睡著時(shí)整夜守在旁邊……Rudyard Kipling說(shuō)他更喜歡Binkie，你的意見(jiàn)呢？

Rudyard Kipling（1865~1936，中文譯名：拉迪亞德·吉卜林）是英國(guó)小說(shuō)家、詩(shī)人，出生于印度孟買。他早年的詩(shī)集《機(jī)關(guān)打油詩(shī)》、短篇小說(shuō)集《山的故事》《三個(gè)士兵》等風(fēng)格清新自然，生動(dòng)展現(xiàn)了印度的風(fēng)土人情，曾使當(dāng)時(shí)英國(guó)讀者耳目一新。后來(lái)的動(dòng)物故事《叢林之書(shū)》、長(zhǎng)篇小說(shuō)《基姆》更給他贏來(lái)世界聲譽(yù)。馬克·吐溫曾盛贊吉卜林的作品：“我了解吉卜林的書(shū)……它們對(duì)于我從來(lái)不會(huì)變得蒼白，它們保持著繽紛的色彩；它們永遠(yuǎn)是新鮮的。”由于“觀察的能力、新穎的想象、雄渾的思想和杰出的敘事才能”，他于1907年獲得諾貝爾文學(xué)獎(jiǎng)，成為英國(guó)第一位獲此獎(jiǎng)的作家。

The cat that walked by himself 本是英國(guó)一個(gè)童話故事的名字（故事內(nèi)容可參考聽(tīng)寫(xiě)酷文章：http://app.hujiang.com/listen/30552/），Man in the Cave也來(lái)自這個(gè)故事。而man-Friday、Crusoe則出自《魯濱孫漂流記》。