1997年高考英语全国卷 - 阅读理解C

Allan goes everywhere with Birgitta Anderson, a 54-year-old secretary. He moves around her office at work and goes shopping with her. “Most people don’t seem to mind Allan,” says Birgitta, who thinks he is wonderful. “He’s my fourth child,” she says. She may think of him and treat him that way, buying his food, paying his health bills and his taxes, but in fact Allan is a dog.
艾伦和54岁的秘书比吉塔·安德森形影不离。他在她的办公室里四处走动，陪她去购物。“大多数人似乎并不介意艾伦，”比吉塔说，她认为艾伦很棒，“他是我的第四个孩子”。她可能会这样想他，这样对待他，给他买食物，给他付医疗费和税，但实际上艾伦是一只狗。

Birgitta and Allan live in Sweden, a country where everyone is expected to lead an orderly life according to rules laid down by the government, which also provides a high level of care for its people. This level of care costs money.
比吉塔和艾伦生活在瑞典，在这个国家，每个人都应该按照政府制定的规则过上有秩序的生活，政府也会高度关心它的人民，这种级别的关心需要花钱。

People in Sweden pay taxes on everything, so aren’t surprised to find that owning a dog means yet more taxes. Some people are paying as much as 500 Swedish kronor in taxes a year for the right to keep their dog, money that is spent by the government on dog hospitals and sometimes medical treatment for a dog that falls ill. However, most such treatment is expensive, so owners often decide to pay health and even life insurance for their dog.
瑞典人所有东西都要纳税，所以不要惊讶养狗意味着更多的税。一些人每年要为养狗的权利支付多达500瑞典克朗的税款，政府将这笔钱用于狗医院，有时还用于治疗生病的狗。然而，大多数这样的治疗是昂贵的，所以主人往往决定为他们的狗购买健康保险，甚至生命保险。

In Sweden dog owners must pay for any damage their dog does. A Swedish Kennel Club official explains what this means: if your dog runs out on the road and gets hit by a passing car you, as the owner, have to pay for any damage done to the car, even if your dog has been killed in the accident.
在瑞典，养狗人必须赔偿因他们的狗所造成的一切损失。瑞典养犬俱乐部的一位官员这样解释：如果你的狗跑到了马路上，被路过的汽车撞倒，而你作为主人，必须赔偿汽车造成的一切损失，即使你的狗在事故中丧生。