英語幽默小故事 The Judges Pistol
One day Mel Martin stopped by the chambers of a judge with whom he had lunch appointment. As his friend changed from robe jacket, Martin noticed a shiny black pistol bolstered to the judge's shoulder.
The judge was not a firearms enthusiast, so Martin asked him why he was carrying it. His friend said that because of recent threats he had borrowed the pistol from the repository of confiscated weapons. Holding it up, the judge said, "I chose this one because it's so mean-looking, yet it hardly weighs a thing. I hope I don't need it, because I don't even know how to load it."
"It's not hard," Martin said, examining it closely. "We can fill it at the water fountain on the way out."
Notes:
(1) chambers n.法官辦公室
(2) robe n.長袍
(3) shiny n.閃亮的
(4) holster v.裝在皮套裏
(5) repository n.倉庫
(6) confiscated adj.沒收的；充公的
(7) mean-looking adj.嚇人的
(8) load v.裝彈於（槍炮）
Exercises:
根據短文回答下列問題：
① Where did Martin stop by one day?
② Why was he there?
③ Why was the judge carrying a pistol?
④ Had the judge used a weapon before? 14ow do you know?
⑤ What did Martin think of the gun?
44.法官的手槍
一天，麥爾·馬丁來到一個法官辦公室。他跟法官約好了一起吃午餐。當法官換掉長袍時，馬丁發現法官肩上綁着一支閃光發亮的手槍。
法官並不是個武器狂熱者，因此馬丁問他爲什麼帶上它。他的這位朋友回答說因爲近來不斷有恐嚇發生，所以他從充公武器倉庫那裏借來一把手槍。法官把槍拿在手裏，說：“我選了這把槍是因爲它看起來很嚇人，卻一點也不重。我希望我並不需要它，因爲我還不知道怎麼裝子彈呢。”
“這並不難，”馬丁說，一邊仔細檢查那支槍，“我們可以在出口的自來水管處裝滿它。”
練習參考答案：
① He stopped by the chambers of a judge
② Because he had a lunch appointment with the judge.
③ Because of recent threats.
④ No, he hadn't. He didn't even know how to load the gun.
⑤ The gun was a toy, not a real one.
