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。