书城外语那些妙趣横生的故事
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第25章 Logical thinking

逻辑思维

She ate all my bait

The young boy protested vigorously when his mother asked him to take his little sister along fishing. “The last time she came,” he objected,“I didn't catch a single fish.”

“I'll talk to her,” his mother said,“and I promise this time she won't make any noise.”

“It wasn't the noise,Mom,” the boy replied. “She ate all my bait.”

她把所有的诱饵都吃了

妈妈提出让小男孩带着妹妹一起去钓鱼时,他坚决反对。“上次她跟着我,”他抗议道:“我连一条鱼都没能钓上。”

“我会告诉她,”妈妈说,“我保证这次她不会吵闹了。”

“妈妈,不是吵闹,”男孩回答,“是她把所有的诱饵都吃了。”

The result of a promise

Father:I promised to buy you a car if you passed your examination,and you have failed. What were you doing last term?

Son:I was learning to drive a car.

许诺的结果

父亲:我曾许诺说,如果你考试及格就给你买辆小汽车,可你却没通过考试。你上学期一直在干什么呀?

儿子:我在学开汽车。

logical thinking

The teacher told the class the story of a man who swam a river three times before breakfast.

Johnny laughed.

“Do you doubt that a good swimmer could do that?” asked the teacher.

“No,sir,” answered Johnny,“but I wonder why he did not swim it four times and get back to the side where his clothes were.”

逻辑思维

老师给同学们讲了一个小故事,说有一个人早饭前要在河里游泳,横渡三趟。

约翰尼笑了。

老师问:“你不相信游泳很好的人可以做到这个?”

约翰尼回答说:“不,我相信,但我不明白他为什么不游四次,好回到他放衣服的那边呢。”

Go barefoot

In secondary school,I was always self-conscious about my height.

Once I was asked out by a life-guard. I had never really stood next to him and didn't know how tall he was,so the night of the date I took out two pairs of shoes-one with heels,one flat. I arranged with my brother to answer the door,compare his height with my date's and run upstairs to let me know which shoes to wear.

When the doorbell rang I waited. Then my brother showed up and told me what I didn't want to hear:“Go barefoot.”

光着脚去约会

念中学的时候,我对自己的身高非常敏感。

一次,一位救生员约我出去。事实上,我从未和他并肩站过,因而不知道他到底有多高。因此约会那晚,我拿出两双鞋,一双高跟,一双平跟。我安排哥哥去开门,让他和救生员比比高度,再上楼告诉我应穿哪双鞋。

门铃响了,我在楼上等着。哥哥跑上楼告诉了我一个不幸的消息:“你可以光着脚去约会。”

Homework

Teacher:I'm able to read one of the essays you did for homework,but the other one is written very poorly.

Student:Yes,sir — my mother is a much better writer than my father.

家庭作业

老师:我只能读通你的一篇作文,可另一篇实在是糟透了。

学生:是的,先生——我妈妈的文采要比我爸爸的好多了。

单词&词组

vigorously ['vigErEsli] adv.精神旺盛地

bait [beit] n.饵,诱惑物

doubt [daut] n.怀疑,疑惑,疑问

self-conscious 自觉的;自知的

barefoot [5beEfJt] adj.赤脚的

知道不知道

appointment与date的区别

appointment是预约,名词,常见表达make an appointment,意思是与某人有预约。date是约会,date还可以做动词,表示和某人约会。