There was once a violinist. He said he was not afraid of dangerous animals. He said in a proud (骄傲) way, "Even a bear would be as quiet as the friendliest cat when hearing my music." But he had never played, and no one believed him.

A chance (机会) to show his words arrived just when a circus (马戏团) came to the town. The musician came to the ringmaster (领班) and told what he could do. 

"Wow, that's interesting." The ringmaster said. "We just have three new lions and they haven't worked with the lion tamer (驯兽师) yet. Let's see what you can do with them." The violinist agreed and the whole town crowded the hall to see what would happen.

The violinist was standing quietly in the center of the ring with a smile. Then the ringmaster opened the door of the cage (笼子) and a huge lion jumped out angrily, shouting and showing his teeth. Everyone was too nervous to breathe.

Still with the smile, the violinist began to play. The beautiful music rose, then the lion sat down and began to enjoy the music. Everyone lost themselves in the music. The lion did, too. For the second lion, ____.

Then it's the third lion's turn to appear and everyone there was waiting for the lion to be quiet just like the other two. But the lion ran up to the man and attacked (袭击) him.

All the people were surprised. The other two lions asked angrily, "What have you done? We were enjoying the music!" The third lion put his paw (爪子) to its ear and said, "Sorry, I can't hear you. I have been deaf for 5 years."