“賭就賭，”他的朋友欣然同意。
幾分鐘後，站在牆檐上的男人跳了下去，因而賭輸的那位交給他的朋友一張十元的鈔票。“我不能拿你的錢，”他的朋友承認道，“早在六點的新聞里，我就已見他跳下去了。”
“我也是，”另一位說，“可我想他不會再跳了！”
（6）julie was saying her bedtime prayers. "please god," she said, "make naples the capital of italy. make naples the capital of italy."
her mother interrupted and said. "julie, why do you want god to make naples the capital of italy?"
and julie replied, "because that's what i put in my geography exam!"
朱莉葉在做睡前禱告。“上帝，求求你，”她說，“讓那不勒斯成為義大利的首都吧。”
媽媽打斷她的話說：“朱莉葉，為什麼求上帝讓那不勒斯成為義大利的首都呢？”
朱莉葉回答道：“因為我在地理考卷上是這樣寫的。”
（7)nest and hair
my sister, a primary school teacher, was informed by one of her pupils that a bird had built its nest in the tree outside the classroom.
"what kind of bird?" my sister asked.
"i didn't see the bird, ma' am, only the nest," replied the child.
"then, can you give us a description of the nest?" my sister encouraged her .
"well, ma'am, it just resembles your hair. "
notes:
1 inform v.告訴 2 nest n.窩；巢 3 description n.描述 4 encourage v.鼓勵 5 resemble v. 相似；類似
鳥窩與頭髮
我姐姐是一位國小老師。一次一個學生告訴她說一隻鳥兒在教室外 的樹上壘了個窩。
“是什麼鳥呢？”我姐姐問她。
“我沒看到鳥兒，老師，只看到鳥窩。”那孩子回答說。
“那么，你能給我們描述一下這個鳥巢嗎？”我姐姐鼓勵她道。
“喔，老師，就像你的頭髮一樣。”
(8)i've just bitten my tongue
"are we poisonous?" the young snake asked his mother.
"yes, dear," she replied - "why do you ask?"
"cause i've just bitten my tongue! "
notes:
1 poisonous adj.有毒的
2 cause i've just bitten my tongue 因為我剛咬了自己的舌頭。 句中 cause 是 because 的縮略形式。
我剛咬破自己的舌頭
“我們有毒嗎？”一個年幼的蛇問它的母親。
“是的，親愛的，”她回答說，“你問這個乾什麼？”
“因為我剛剛咬破自己的舌頭。”
(9)a woman who fell
it was rush hour and i was dashing to a train in new york city's grand central terminal - as i neared the gate, a plump, middle-aged woman sprinted up from behind, lost her footing on the smooth marble floor and slid onto her back. her momentum carried her close to my shoes. before i could help her, however, she had scrambled up. gaining her composure, she winked at me and said, "do you always have beautiful women failing at your feet?"
摔倒的女人
上下班高峰期，我匆匆奔向紐約豪華中心站去趕一趟火車。接近門口，一位肥胖的中年婦女從後面衝過來，沒想到在平滑的大理石地面上失了腳，仰面滑倒了。她的慣性使她接近了我的腳。我正準備扶她，她卻自己爬了起來。她鎮定了一下，對我擠了一下眉，說道：“總是有漂亮女人拜倒在你腳下嗎？”