Tony why he was late to work and he told me some hard-luck story about having to take his mother's ageing pet poodle to the vet because it had swallowed a chicken bone.

我问托尼为什么上班迟到。他告诉我他碰到了倒霉事，他母亲那条宝贝的长卷毛狗因为咽下了一根鸡骨头，他只得送它去看兽医。

They live to think of themselves as tough-minded business men, yet they are push-overs for any hard luck story.

他们向来把自己想成硬心肠的商人，可是任何不幸的故事都会使他们受骗。

Who can resist a kid with a hard luck story?

谁能拒绝一个有着倒霉往事的小孩？