VOA常速英语:These are Dog Days at the US Post Office

短语讲解：

1. Have you heard of mail dogs?

hear of得悉, 听说
例句：I heard of his death last week.
我上周听说他死了。

2. And pooches that tagged along with mail carriers so loyally that they became the stuff of legend.

tag along尾随
例句：She gives these ghastly parties and her poor husband has to tag along.
她老是举行这些讨厌的晚会，她可怜巴巴的丈夫只好服服帖帖地陪着。

3. A scruffy mixed terrier named Owney, for instance.

for instance例如
例句：You cannot rely on her; for instance, she arrived an hour late for an important meeting yesterday.
她这人靠不住, 例如昨天一个重要会议, 她迟到了一个小时。

4. He just got his own U.S. Postal Service stamp - one of the so-called “forever stamps” that will be good for first-class postage no matter how high rates go in the future.

be good for对…有好处
例句：The Olympics will be good for business.
奥运会的召开对促进商业发展有好处。
no matter不管, 不论
例句：Don't open the door, no matter who calls!
不管谁叫门, 都不要开!
in the future今后, 将来
例句：He does not care in the least what will happen in the future.
他对以后发生什么事一点也不在乎。

5. He even spent the night there and would tag along when the clerks went to the railway station to pick up incoming mail pouches.

pick up停下来把…带走；中途把…带走
例句：Will you please pick up my parcel at the post office as you pass by?
请你路过邮局时把我的包裹带回来好吗?

6. Before long, he was catching rides in the mail-sorting cars aboard the trains and soon was touring the entire country by rail - a sort of canine hobo, given a lifetime pass by the entire postal service.

before long (时间)不久之后, 在短时间内
例句：I hope to see you again before long.
我希望不久能再见到你。

7. In fact, it has recently been fixed up a bit and is now the favorite attraction at the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C.

fix up修理, 修补
例句：The old machine was fixed up and put to work again.
那台旧机器修好了, 又开始转动了。

8. So much so that, later this month, the Postal Service will launch an interactive e-book about him and an app for handheld devices in which a three-dimensional Owney lookalike jumps and barks.

so much so that到这种程度以致
例句：He was clever so much so that he can solve it in a few minutes.
他聪明到可以在几分钟内解决它的地步。

9. He doesn’t sort the mail, though, so far as we know.

so far as就…之限度，在…范围内
例句：So far as I know , he is trustworthy.
据我所知，他是值得信任的。