A young man moved to his new house. He really liked this place. But there was a(n) 1 .
He found a dog was sitting on a wooden board (木板) and whining (呜咽) all the time. He thought the dog would stop soon. But this didn't happen. The young man couldn't 2 it anymore. He got out and wanted to 3 the sound. In front of a house he saw a man reading newspapers. The young man said, "Sir, your dog whines all the time."
"Yeah, I 4 ," replied that man.
"Please 5 what's the matter with him," the young man said. "Then you can help him."
"He is sitting on top of a nail (钉子) and it's 6 his stomach," the man said.
The young man was 7 to hear his answer. He asked, "If so, why doesn't he get up from the board?"
"It has been his rest place for a long time, but yesterday a nail stuck (插入) through the board. When the dog sat there, the nail pricked (戳) him. Maybe it was not hurting too much, or he would 8 himself," replied the man.
There are 9 nails in our lives which keep pricking us, like health problems and bad habits. We often do nothing 10 they don't hurt so much. Don't you think we are just as silly (愚蠢的) as the dog? Why not do something about the nail right away before it brings us trouble?
