时间:2018-12-01 作者:英语课 分类:自考英语综合一上册 课文+单词


英语课

  [00:00.00]Text

[00:02.69]The Joker(II)

[00:06.24]the stories went on even while the coffin 1 was being lowered into the grave 2.

[00:13.01]People held handkerchiefs to their eyes,

[00:17.76]but their tears were tears of laughter,not sadness.

[00:23.69]Afterwards,there was a funeral breakfast,not sadness.

[00:30.04]It was attended by twelve of Henry's closest friends.

[00:35.79]Henry Ground had asked his brother,Colin,to read out his will.

[00:42.24]Henry had been in debt all his life,hadn't he?

[00:47.20]What could he possibly have to leave in a will?

[00:52.27]Colin cleared his throat,"Ahem!If you are ready,ladies and gentlemen."

[00:59.72]Everyone settled down and waitedc silently.

[01:04.47]Colin opened that will,and began to read it out in a singsong voice.

[01:11.13]I,Henry Ground,being of sound mind...

[01:17.48]last will and testament 3...do hereby bequeath..."

[01:25.05]The legal phrases came out slowly one after another,

[01:31.01]and the audience grew impatient 4 to get to the important part.

[01:36.57]It came soon enough.When Colin announced that Henry Ground,though knownas a good-for-nothing

[01:45.53]had invested 5 his money very wisely,

[01:50.39]and was in fact worth at least three-quarters of a million,everyone gasped 6.

[01:58.33]But who was going to get it?Eyes narrowed and throats went dry.

[02:05.99]"You are all such dear friends of mine,

[02:11.13]"Colin went on reading out Henry Ground's words in a flat tone,which,

[02:17.98]if they weren't so interested,would have sent everyone to sleep,"

[02:24.14]that I cannot decide which of you to leave my money to."

[02:29.60]Colin paused.In the silence,you could have heard a pin drop.He went on,

[02:38.43]"So,dear friends,I have set you a little competition.

[02:45.51]Each of you in turn must tell the funniest joke he or she can think of,

[02:52.77]and the one who gets the most laughter will get all my money.

[02:59.25]Colin will be the judge of the best joke."

[03:03.20]"So,ladies and gentlemen,"said Colin,putting the will down on the table,"

[03:10.28]it's up to you now.

[03:13.52]Who will go first?May I suggest that you go in alphabetical 7 order of surnames 8

[03:20.78]The first person stood up and told a very funny joke about an Englishman 9

[03:28.04]who fell in love with his umbrella.

[03:32.01]When he finished,he was in tears of laughter,

[03:37.65]for he always laughed at his own jokes.

[03:42.09]The rest of the group remained dead silent.

[03:47.42]You could tell from their faces and their eyes that they found the joke funny,

[03:53.90]but not one of them was going to laugh,and give him the chance to win the competition

[04:02.36]The second told a story about a three-legged pig,

[04:07.54]which was so good that,some years later,a film company made a cartoon of it

[04:14.90]When she sat down,the others buried their faces in their handkerchiefs,

[04:21.75]coughed,pretended to sneeze,

[04:26.19]dropped pencils under the table--anything to cover up their laughter.

[04:33.92]And so it went on,joke after joke,the sort of jokes that make your sides ache

[04:44.19]And nobody dared to laugh.

[04:48.76]Well,by the time the last joke had been told,

[04:53.12]every one of the twelve was sitting perfectly 10 still,

[04:59.00]desperately holding in the laughter which was bursting to get out.

[05:05.06]Silence.Painful silence.

[05:10.91]Suddenly,Colin sneezed.A perfectly ordinary sneeze.

[05:17.47]Then he took out a large red handkerchief and blew his nose.Bbbrrrrrrrppp.

[05:25.41]That was enough.

[05:28.75]In no time,everyone was doubled up,tears streaming from their eyes,

[05:36.30]their shoulders rising and falling as wave after wave of laughter swept the crowd

[05:46.04]Of course,they were not just laughing at the sneeze,nor even at the twelve jokes

[05:54.51]No,they were laughing at themselves as they realized that Henry Ground

[06:02.16]had led them into his last,and the funniest,practical joke,

[06:09.42]setting their need to laugh against their desire for money.

[06:15.98]When,at long last,the laughter died down,Colin cleared his throat once more.


  [06:24.63]"I have been practising that sneeze for a week or more."he said.

[06:30.87]"Henry's idea,of course,"he added,unnecessarily;

[06:36.75]all twelve guests realized they had been set up beautifully.

[06:41.79]"My friends,"the last paragraph of the will began,

[06:47.14]"forgive me,but I couldn't resist playing one last little joke on you.

[06:55.01]It's good to know that your love of laughter finally overcame your love of money

[07:03.16]Colin paused,letting the meaning of the words sink in.

[07:09.43]Then he read out the final part of the late Henry Ground's last will and testament

[07:17.89]"My friends,thank you for letting me have the last laugh.

[07:24.55]As for the money:because I love you all,

[07:29.80]my fortune will be divided equally among you.

[07:34.66]Enjoy your share,and think of me whenever you hear laughter."

[07:40.93]The group fell shilent.For the first time that day,

[07:47.28]there was a feeling of sadness in the air.



1 coffin
n.棺材,灵柩
  • When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
  • The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。
2 grave
n.墓穴,坟墓,雕刻工,抑音;adj.庄重的,严肃的,重大的,低沉的;vt.雕刻
  • Marriage is the grave of love.婚姻是爱情的坟墓。
  • This is a very grave matter indeed.这问题的确非常严重。
3 testament
n.遗嘱;证明
  • This is his last will and testament.这是他的遗愿和遗嘱。
  • It is a testament to the power of political mythology.这说明,编造政治神话可以产生多大的威力。
4 impatient
adj.不耐烦的,急躁的;热切的,急切的
  • He was so impatient that I could hardly hold him back.他是那样急躁,我简直拉不住他。
  • With an impatient gesture he thrust the food away from him.他不耐烦地把吃的东西猛地推开。
5 invested
v.投资,花费( invest的过去式和过去分词 );授予;(把资金)投入;投入(时间、精力等)
  • The money will be invested in managed funds. 这笔钱将投资于管理基金。
  • He invested his lawyer with complete power to act for him. 他让律师全权代办。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 gasped
v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 );喘息;倒抽气;很想要
  • She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
  • People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
7 alphabetical
adj.字母(表)的,依字母顺序的
  • Please arrange these books in alphabetical order.请把这些书按字母顺序整理一下。
  • There is no need to maintain a strict alphabetical sequence.不必保持严格的字顺。
8 surnames
n.姓( surname的名词复数 )
  • Everybody called each other by their surnames. 大家相互之间都以姓氏相称。 来自辞典例句
  • The author index has entries arranged in alphabetical order of author's surnames. 著者索引中有按著者姓氏字母顺序排列的著录。 来自辞典例句
9 Englishman
n.(pl.Englishmen)英国人;英国男人
  • I was astonished that he was not an Englishman.我很惊讶,他竟不是英国人。
  • She stared thoughtfully at the Englishman across the table.她若有所思地盯着桌子对面的那个英国人。
10 perfectly
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地
  • The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
  • Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。
学英语单词
acetylthiocholine
adult stem cell
Annonay
Anoectochilus yungianus
auditory image
baileyana
ballets russes de monte carlo
be slaughtered
below bridge
bride-chamber
brownify
bulb eraser or degausser
but net
carbaborane
circullar morred net
comprehensive physical examination
condensation value
consecutive sequency computer
continuity of behavior
core end plate
coupled wave
Culross
defibrates
demand staging
determinantal
diffuser lip
dimenformon
Dipsocoromorpha
disk library
dispensational
Douglas protractor
electron doublet
elenctic
entertainment center
eocnomic statistics
erratic element
ethnopharmaceutical
exceptation
experimental media
extravolution
fragrans
galeoocorys echinophorella suzumai
galianoes
general-purpose flip-flop
hagiophobia
iglu
importer's entry of goods
in curia
indicated hydrogen
ion back-scattering spectroscopy (ibs)
Johor Lama
Kamskoye Vdkh.
kinnekinic
kithnos (kythnos)
Konotop
kyongsangs
lapidofacies
liquor up
loop algorithm
Mactra
maintenance pack
make-up water dealkalization
Malantouen
mental job
mentigerous
MIS structure
mixer leverman
molecular linkage
moment arm
nationally-recognised
NEUT (neutralizing)
Nieuw-Vennep
no-gos
nonspecific afferent system
not so
ormsbee
parasitic otitis
pig-nose turtles
postpartum examination
prismognathus davidis cheni
psychopathia chirurgicalis
punctiform colonies
radiohydrology
raised point
redus
soccage
sound change
span-wise lift distribution
statement line
supranationality
suskind
tea card
ten-o'clock
to turn down
under frequency operation
under the leadership of
uninsured
uphill work
valvular vegetation
white-heart
Zborov
zircon flour