1、The Call of the Wild by Jack London1 To the northBuck did not read the newspapers He did not know that trouble was coming for every big dog in California Men had found gold in the Yukon， and these men wanted big， strong dogs to work in the cold and snow of the northBuck lived in Mr Millers big house
2、 in the sunny Santa Clara valley There were large gardens and fields of fruit trees around the house， and a river nearby In a big place like this，of course， there were many dogs There were house dogs and farm dogs， but they were not importantBuck was chief dog；he was born here， and this was his plac
3、e He was four years old and weighed sixty kilos He went swimming with Mr Millers sons，and walking with his daughters He carried the grandchildren on his back， and he sat at Mr Millers feet in front of the fire in winterBut this was 1897， and Buck did not know that men and dogs were hurrying to north
4、-west Canada to look for goldAnd he did not know that Manuel， one of Mr Millers gardeners， needed money for his large family One day，when Mr Miller was out， Manuel and Buck left the garden togetherIt was just an evening walk， Buck thoughtNo one saw them go， and only one man saw them arrive at the ra
5、ilway stationThis man talked to Manuel， and gave him some money Then he tied a piece of rope around Bucks neckBuck growled， and was surprised when the rope was pulled hard around his neckHe jumped at the manThe man caught him and suddenly Buck was on his back with his tongue out of his mouth For a f
6、ew moments he was unable to move， and it was easy for the two men to put him into the trainWhen Buck woke up， the train was still moving The man was sitting and watching him， but Buck was too quick for him and he bit the mans hand hardThen the rope was pulled again and Buck had to let goThat evening
7、， the man took Buck to the back room of a bar in San Francisco The barman looked at the mans hand and trousers covered in bloodHow much are they paying you for this？he askedI only get fifty dollarsAnd the man who stole himhow much did he get？ asked the barmanA hundred He wouldnt take lessThat makes
8、a hundred and fifty Its a good price for a dog like him Here， help me to get him into thisThey took off Bucks rope and pushed him into a wooden box He spent the night in the box in the back room of the bar His neck still ached with pain from the rope， and he could not understand what it all meant Wh
9、at did they want with him， these strange men？ And where was Mr Miller？The next day Buck was carried in the box to the railway station and put on a trainto the northFor two days and nights the train travelled north， and for two days and nights Buck neither ate nor drank Men on the train laughed at hi
10、m and pushed sticks at him through the holes in the box For two days and nights Buck got angrier and hungrier and thirsti-er His eyes grew red and he bit anything that movedIn Seattle four men took Buck to a small， highwalled back garden， where a fat man in an old red coat was waiting Buck was now v
11、ery angry indeed and hejumped and bit at the sides of his box The fat man smiled and went to get an axe and a clubAre you going to take him out now？ asked one of the men Of course， answered the fat man， and he began to break the box with his axeImmediately the four other men climbed up onto the wall
12、 to watch from a safe placeAs the fat man hit the box with his axe， Buck jumped at the sides， growling and biting， pulling with his teeth at the pieces of broken wood After a few minutes there was a hole big enough for Buck to get out Now， come here， red eyes， said the fat man， dropping his axe and
13、taking the club in his right handBuck jumped at the man， sixty kilos of anger， his mouth wide open ready to bite the mans neck Just before his teeth touched the skin， the man hit him with the club Buck fell to the ground It was the first time anyone had hit him with a club and he did not understand
14、He stood up， and jumped again Again the club hit him and he crashed to the groundTen times he jumped at the man， and ten times the club hit him Slowly he got to his feet， now only just able to standThere was blood on his nose and mouth and ears Then the fat man walked up and hit him again， very hard
15、， on the noseThe pain was terrible Again， Buck jumped at the man and again he was hit to the groundA last time he jumped， and this time， when the man knocked him down， Buck did not moveHe knows how to teach a dog a lesson， said one of the men on the wall Then the four men jumped down and went back t
16、o the stationHis name is Buck，said the fat man to himself， reading the letter that had come with the boxWell， Buck， my by，he said in a friendly voice，weve argued a little， and I think the best thing to do now is to stop Be a good dog and well be friends But if youre a bad dog， Ill have to use my clu
17、b againUnderstand？As he spoke， he touched Buck s head， and although Buck was angry inside， he did not move When the man brought him water and meat， Buck drank and then ate the meat， piece by piece， from the mans handBuck was beaten（he knew that） but he was not broken He had learnt that a man with a
18、club was stronger than himEvery day he saw more dogs arrive， and each dog was beaten by the fat man Buck understood that a man with a club must be obeyed， although he did not have to be a friendMen came to see the fat man and to look at the dogs Some-times they paid money and left with one or more o
19、f the dogsOne day a short， dark man came and looked at BuckThats a good dog！ he criedHow much do you want for him？Three hundred dollars Its a good price， Perrault，said the fat manPerrault smiled and agreed that it was a good price He knew dogs， and he knew that Buck was an excellent dogOne in ten th
20、ousand， Perrault said to himselfBuck saw money put into the fat man s hand， and he was not surprised when he and another dog called Curly were taken away by Perrault He took them to a ship， and later that day Buck and Curly stood and watched the coast get further and further awayThey had seen the wa
21、rm south for the last timePerrault took Buck and Curly down to the bottom of the ship There they met another man， Francois Perrault was a FrenchCanadian ， but Francois was halfIndian，tall and dark Buck learnt quickly that Perrault and Francois were fair men， calm and honest And they knew everything
22、about dogsThere were two other dogs on the shipOne was a big dog called Spitz， as white as snow He was friendly to Buck at first， always smiling He was smiling when he tried to steal Buck s food at the first meal Francois was quick and hit Spitz before Buck had time to move Buck decided that this wa
23、s fair， and began to like Francois a littleDave， the other dog， was not friendly He wanted to be alone all the time He ate and slept and was interested in nothingOne day was very like another， but Buck noticed that the weather was getting colder One morning， the ships engines stopped， and there was
24、a feeling of excitement in the shipFrancois leashed the dogs and took them outside At the first step Bucks feet went into something soft and white He jumped back in surprise The soft， white thing was also falling through the air， and it fell onto him He tried to smell it， and then caught some on his
25、 tongue It bit like fire， and then dis appeared He tried again and the same thing happened People were watching him and laughing， and Buck felt ashamed，although he did not know why It was his first snow2 The law of club and toothBucks first day at Dyea Beach was terrible Every hour there was some ne
26、w， frightening surprise There was no peace， no restonly continual noise and movement And every minute there was danger， because these dogs and men were not town dogs and men They knew only the law of club and toothBuck had never seen dogs fight like these dogs； they were like wolves In a few minutes
27、 he learnt this from watching Curly She tried to make friends with a dog， a big one， although not as big as she was There was no warning The dog jumped on Curly， his teeth closed together， then he jumped away，and Curlys face was torn open from eye to mouthWolves fight like this，biting and jumping aw
28、ay，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 Sh
29、e 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 dogsIt was all very sudden Buck saw Spitz run out from the crowd with his tongue out of his mouth， laughing Then he saw Francois with an axe， and two or three other m
30、en with clubs jump in among the dogs Two minutes later the last of the dogs was chased away But Curly lay dead in the snow，her body torn almost to piecesCurlys death often came backto Buck in his dreams He understood that once a dog was down on the ground， he was dead He also remembered Spitz laughi
31、ng， and from that moment he hated himThen Buck had 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 Buck worked with Spitz and DaveThe two othe
32、r dogs had worked in a harness before， and Buck learnt by watching them He also learnt to stop and turn when Francois shoutedThose three are very good dogs，Francois told PerraultThat Buck pulls very well， and hes learning quicklyPerrault had important letters and official papers to take to Dawson Ci
33、ty， so that afternoon he bought two more dogs， two brothers called Billee and JoeBillee 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 Sol-leks， which means The Angry One Like Dave， he made no friends； all he wanted was t
34、o be aloneThat 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 himOutside it was very cold and windy He lay down in the snow， but he was too cold to sleepHe walked around the ten
35、ts trying to find the other dogsBut， to his surprise， they had disappeared He walked around Perraults tent，very， very cold， wondering what to do Sud-denly， the snow under his feet fell in， and he felt something move He jumped back， waiting for the attack， but heard on-ly a friendly bark There， in a
36、warm hole under the snow，was BilleeSo 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 badWhen he woke up， at first he did not know where he wasIt had snowed in the night and the snow now lay thick and h
37、eavy above him Suddenly he was afraidthe fear of a wild animal when it is caught and cannot escape Growling， he threw himself at the snow， and a moment later， he had jumped upwards into the daylight He saw the tents and remembered everything， from the time he had gone for a walk with Manuel to the m
38、oment he had dug the hole the night before What did I say？ shouted Francois to Perrault， when he saw Buck come up out of the snowThat Buck learns quicklyPerrault smiled slowly He was carrying important papers，and he needed good dogs He was very pleased to have BuckThey bought three more dogs that mo
39、rning， and a quarter of an hour later all nine dogs were in harness and on their way up the Dyea Canyon Buck was not sorry to be moving， and although it was hard work， he almost enjoyed it He was also surprised to see that Dave and Solleks no longer looked bored and miserablePulling in a harness was
40、 their job， and they were happy to do itDave was sledgedog， the dog nearest to the sledgeIn front of him was Buck， then came Sol-leks In front of them were the six other dogs， with Spitz as leader at the front Francois had put Buck between Dave and Solleks because they could teach him the workBuck l
41、earnt well，and they were good teachers When Buck pulled the wrong way， Dave always bit his leg， but only lightly Once， when they stopped， Buck got tied up in his harness， and it took ten minutes to get started againBoth Dave and Solleks gave him a good beating for that mistake Buck understood， and w
42、as more careful after thatIt was a hard days journey， up the Dyea Canyon and into the mountains They camped that night at Lake BennettHere there were thousands of gold minersThey were building boats to sail up the lake when the ice melted in the springBuck made his hole in the snow and slept well， b
43、ut was woken up very early and harnessed to the sledge The first day they had travelled on snow that had been hardened by many sledges and they covered sixty kilometres But the next day， and for days afterwards， they were on new snow The work was harder and they went slowly Usually， Perrault went in
44、 front，on snowshoes， flattening the snow a little for the dogsFrancois stayed by the sledge Sometimes the two men changed places， but there were many small lakes and rivers，and Perrault understood ice better He always knew when the ice across a river was very thinDay after day Buck pulled in his har
45、nessThey started in the morning before it was light， and they stopped in the evening after dark， ate a piece of fish， and went to sleep in their holes under the snow Buck was always hungry Francoisgave him 750 grams of dried fish a day， and it was never enough The other dogs were given only 500 gram
46、s； they were smaller and could stay dive on less foodBuck learnt to eat quickly； if he was too slow， the other dogs stole his food He saw Pike， one of the new dogs， steal some meat from the sledge when Perrault wasnt lookingThe next day Buck stole some and got away unseen Perrault was very angry， bu
47、t he thought another dog， Dub， had taken it and so punished him instead of BuckBuck was learning how to live in the north In the south he had never stolen， but there he had never been so hungry He stole cleverly and secretly， remembering the beatings from the man with the clubBuck was learning the l
48、aw of club and toothHe learnt to eat any foodanything that he could get his teeth into He learnt to break the ice on water holes with his feet when he wanted to drink He was stronger， harder， and could see and smell better than ever before In a way，he was remembering back to the days when wild dogs travelled in packs through the forest， killing for meat as they wentIt was easy for him to learn to fight like a wolf， because it was in his blood In the evenings， when he pointed his nose at the moon and howled long and loud， he was remembering the dogs and wolves that had come before him3 The wi
