A woman found herself standing at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter greeted her and said,“These are the Gates to Heaven,my dear. But you must do one more thing before you can enter.”
The woman was very excited and asked of St. Peter what she must do.
“Spell a word,”St. Peter replied.
“What word?”she asked.
“Any word,”answered St. Peter.“It’s your choice.”
The woman promptly replied,“Then the word I will spell is love. L-O-V-E.”
St. Peter welcomed her in,and asked her if she would mind taking his place at the gates for a few minutes while he took a break. So the woman was left sitting in St. Peter’s chair when a man approached the gates,and she realized it was her husband.
“What happened?”she cried,“Why are you here?”
Her husband stared at her for a moment,then said,“I was so upset when I left your funeral,I got in an accident. Did I really make it to Heaven?”
“Not yet,”she replied,“You must spell a word first.”
“What word?”he asked.
The woman responded,“Honorificabilitudinitatibus.”
一女子站在天堂門口。圣·彼德迎接她道:“親愛的,這是通往天堂之門,但是,你必須再做一件事情才能進去。”
女子很興奮,問圣·彼德自己該做什么。
“拼寫一個單詞。”圣·彼德回答道。
“什么單詞?”她問。
“什么單詞都行,”圣·彼德說,“你自己選擇吧。”
女子不假思索道:“我要拼的單詞是love。 L—0—V—E。”
圣·彼德歡迎她進入天堂。他讓該女子幫他看一下門,因為他想休息一會兒。女子便坐上了圣·彼德的椅子。這時,一男子走到門口,她發(fā)現(xiàn)正是自己的丈夫。
“怎么回事?”她大叫道,“你怎么會在這兒?”
她丈夫瞪了她一會兒說:“參加完你的葬禮后我太悲傷了,結(jié)果發(fā)生了事故。我是不是已經(jīng)到天堂了?”
“還沒有,”她答道,“你必須得拼寫一個單詞。”
“什么單詞?”他問道。
女子答道:“Honorificabilitudinitatibus(不勝光榮)。”
(注:該詞出現(xiàn)在莎士比亞的劇本Love’s Labour’s Lost中。)