(单词翻译:单击)
If you are in a western country, you often see people walking their dogs.
如果你在西方国家，可以经常看到人们遛狗。
It is still true that the dog is the most useful animal in the world.
现在仍然是这样，狗是世界上最有用的动物。
However, the reason why one keeps a dog has changed.
然而，人们养狗的原因变了。
Once upon a time, a man met a dog and wanted to help him in the fight against other animals, and the dog listened to him and did what he told him to do.
从前，有个人遇见了一只狗，想让狗帮助他跟其它动物搏斗，狗听了他的话，做了这个人让他做的事。
Later people used dogs for hunting other animals, and dogs did not eat what they got until their masters agreed.
后来，人们用狗来捕猎其它动物，只有主人同意，狗才能吃到自己捕到的东西。
Dogs were also used for driving sheep and guarding chickens.
人们也用狗驱赶绵羊和看管鸡。
But now people in towns and cities do not need dogs to fight other animals any more.
但是现在城镇和城市中的人们不再需要狗来和其它动物搏斗了。
Of course they keep them to frighten thieves, but the most important reason for keeping dogs is that they feel lonely in the city.
人们养狗是为了吓唬小偷，但在城市中养狗最重要的原因是人们感到孤独。
For a child, a dog is his best friend when he has no friends to play with.
一个小孩如果没有朋友一起玩耍，狗就是他最好的朋友。
For a young wife, a dog is her child when she does not have her own.
一个年轻的妻子没有自己的孩子时，狗就是她的孩子。
For old people, a dog is also a child when their real children have grown up and left.
老人他们的孩子长大离开时，狗就是他们的孩子。
Now people do not have to use a dog, but they keep it as a friend, just like a member of the family.
现在人们不用养狗了，但他们把狗当作朋友养着，就像家人一样。
