A young mother believed that it was very wrong to waste any food when there were so many hungry people in the world. One evening, she was giving her small daughterher tea before putting her to bed. First she gave her a slice of fresh brown bread and butter, but the child said that she did not want it like that. She asked for some jam on her bread as well.Her mother looked at her for a few seconds and then said, When I was a small girl like you, Lucy, I was always given either bread and butter, or bread and jam, but never bread with butter and jam.Lucy looked at her mother for a few moments with pity in her eyes and then said to her kindly, Aren't you pleased that you've come to live with us now?
A father said to his sons: "Tomorrow your mother is going to bake a pie. Who is going to eat it?"
The oldest son replied: "Father, Ill eat it all!"
The father then said: "Tomorrow Im going to butcher a pig. Who is going to eat it?"
The same son answered: "Father,Ill eat it all!"
The father added: "Tomorrow, we are going to plough the field. Who is going to plough?"
The oldest son answered again: "Its always me, always me. Now its someone elses turn to volunteer!"
总是我
一位父亲对他的儿子们说:“你们的妈妈明天要烙一张馅饼,谁要吃呢?”
大儿子说:“爸爸,我要把它都吃了。”
父亲接着说:“明天我要杀一口猪,谁要吃呢?”
又是大儿子说:“爸爸,我要把它都吃了。”
父亲又说:“明天我们要耕地,谁想耕地呢?”
大儿子再次回答道:“总是我,总是我,这次还是让其他人来做吧。”
Good news: Two boys went out climbing trees.好消息:两名男童出去爬树。
Bad news: wone of them fell out.坏消息:其中有一人摔下来了。
Good news: There was a hammockbeneathhim.好消息:他下面有一个吊床。
Bad news: There was a rakebeside the hammock.坏消息:吊床旁边有一个耙子。
Good news: He missed the rake.好消息:他和耙子擦肩而过。
Bad news: He missed the hammock too !坏消息:他也和吊床擦肩而过!
The squad(班,小队) were having "visual training". One smart recruit(新兵,招募) was asked by the officer to count how many men composed a digging party in a distant field. The party was so faraway(遥远的,恍惚的) that the men appeared as mere dots, but unhesitatingly(迅速地) the recruit replied:
"Sixteen men and a sergeant(中士,军士) , sir."
"Right, but how do you know there's a sergeant there?"
It had been many years since my last eye exam,and my wife was pestering me to make an appointment. The more she nagged , the more I procrastinated. Finally,she made an appointment for me.
The day before I was to see the doctor,I was in an affectionate mood. After kissing and hugging her, I told her she really looked. good to me.,
在我去见医生的前一天,我的.情绪特别好。我对妻于又是亲又是抱,还说她是我眼里最漂亮的女人.
"That does it,”she said.“I'm canceling your appointment."
她说:“这回眼睛没问题了,那我现在就去把号退了。”
After my husband,John,and I moved to Michigan from Nebraska,our new friends,proud of their beautiful tree一lined roads,teased us about the Mid-west's dull,flat,treeless land. When my parents,Nebraska farmers,visited us,I asked them about their trip.
What a boring drive,"my father replied."Once you get to Michigan, there's nothing to see but trees."
我父亲抱怨着:“枯澡,乏味,一进入密西根,除了树什么都没有。”
The little girl was sitting in her grandfather's lap as he read her a story. From time to time, she would take her eyes’ off the book and reach up to touch his wrinkled cheek. By and by she was alternately stroking her own cheek, then his again.
The plum tree sacrifices itself for the peach tree-Sacrifice oneself for another person
This idiom comes from a old folk song. the last two stanzas go like this:
One family has five brothers, all serving to a minister as attendants. Every five days, they go back home for a reunion, decorating their horses and garments with shining gold. They vie with each other for ostentation and extravagance, attracting crowds of onlookers along the road.
Now there is a peach tree by a well, and a plum tree next to it. When worms come to gnaw at the root of the peach tree, the plum tree invites them to gnaw at its own root. Finally, the plum dies, ossified.
Even trees know how to sacrifice for other trees, why can't brothers do the same?
During the Warring States Period (475-221BC), there was a man called Yue Yangzi in State Yue. One day he saw a piece of gold on the road and picked it up. He took it home and gave it to his wife. But his wife was not happy. The virtuous woman said, "I hear that a man of morality doesn't drink a thief's water and a man of probity refuses to accept alms. What do you think of the action of picking up another's lost valuable and possessing it for one's own?"
Yue Yangzi, feeling ashamed, sent the gold back to where he found it.
the next year, Yue Yangzi felt that he should go out and visit scholars to enrich his knowledge. So he set off.
A year later, he came back home suddenly.
"Why have you returned?" asked his wife in surprise, "You've only spent one year studying with scholars."
"I come back because I missed you very much."
Without saying anything, his wife took a pair of scissors and went to the loom at which she had worked. Pointing at the half done brocade, she proclaimed : "This brocade is woven from the finest silk. I wove one strand after another to produce the brocade. Now if I cut it, all my previous work will be wasted. It's the same with your studies. You can acquire knowledge only through diligence. Now, you've stopped halfway. Isn't it the same as cutting the brocade on the loom?"
Yue Yangzi was moved by what she said. He again left home to visit scholars. Several years later he became a learned man.
During the Warring States Period (475-221BC), the King of the State of Qi was very fond of listening to yu ensembles. He often got together 300 yu players to form a grand music. The king treated his musician very well. A man named Nanguo heard about that and he managed to become a member of the band, even though he wan not good at playing the instrument at all. Whenever the band played for the king, Nanguo just stood in the line and pretended to play. Nobody realized he was making no sound at all. As a result, he enjoyed his treatment just as the other musician did. When the king died, his son became the new ruler who also liked the music played on the yu. However, he preferred solos so that he ordered the musicians to play the yu one by one. Therefore, Nanguo had to run out of the palace.
the idiom "Be there just to make up the number" is used to mock someone who passes for a specialist. You can also hear people saying it about themselves to show their modesty.