When the Ambassador or Escalopia returned home for lunch, his wife got a shock. He looked pale and his clothes were in a frightful state.
'What has happened?' she asked. 'How did your clothes get into such a mess?'
'A fire extinguisher, my dear,' answered the Ambassador drily. 'University students set the Embassy on fire this morning.'
'Good heavens!' exclaimed his wife. 'And where were you at the time?'
'I was in my office as usual,' answered the Ambassador. 'The fire broke out in the basement. I went down immediately, of course, and that fool, Horst, aimed a fire extinguisher at me. He thought I was on fire. I must definitely get that fellow posted.'
The Ambassador's wife went on asking questions, when she suddenly noticed a big hole in her husband's hat.
'And how can you explain that?' she asked.
'Oh, that,' said the Ambassador. 'Someone fired a shot through my office window. Accurate, don't you think? Fortunately, I wasn't wearing it at the time. If I had been, I would not have been able to get home for lunch.'
New words and expressions 生詞和短語(yǔ)
fantasy n. 幻想故事
ambassador n. 大使
Escalopia n. 艾斯卡羅比亞(虛構(gòu)的國(guó)名)
frightful adj. 可怕的,令人吃驚的
fire extinguisher 滅火器
drily adv. 冷淡地,枯燥無(wú)味地
embassy n. 大使館
heaven n. 天,天堂
basement n. 地下室
definitely adv. 肯定地
post v. 派任
shot n. 子彈
當(dāng)艾斯卡羅比亞國(guó)的大使回到家吃午飯時(shí),把他的夫人嚇了一跳。他面色蒼白,衣服也搞得不成樣子。
“發(fā)生了什么事?”她問(wèn),“你的衣服怎么搞得一塌糊涂?”
“滅火器弄的,親愛的,”大使冷冷地回答,“今天上午大學(xué)生們放火點(diǎn)著了大使館。”
“天啊!”他的夫人驚叫,“那你當(dāng)時(shí)在什么地方?”
“我和往常一樣,在辦公室里,”大使回答說(shuō)。“地下室突然著火,我當(dāng)然馬上下去了。但那個(gè)傻瓜霍斯特把滅火器對(duì)準(zhǔn)了我。他認(rèn)為是我著火了。我一定要把那個(gè)家伙打發(fā)走。”
大使夫人繼續(xù)提出問(wèn)題,她突然又發(fā)現(xiàn)丈夫的帽子上有個(gè)洞。
“那么你對(duì)那又作何解釋呢?”她問(wèn)。
“那個(gè)嘛,”大使說(shuō),“有人向我辦公室窗戶開了一槍。真夠準(zhǔn)的,是不是?幸虧我當(dāng)時(shí)沒(méi)戴帽子。如果真戴著它,我現(xiàn)在就不能回家來(lái)吃午飯了。”