英語幽默小故事 A Prospective Horse Buyer

　　Then there was the preacher who decided to sell his horse. A prospective buyer was impressed with the animal, but the preacher said, " I must warn you-he only responds to 'church talk'. Go is 'Praise the Lord', and stop is 'Hallelujah"'.

　　"I've worked with horses all my life," said the buyer, "and I've never heard of anything like this." Mounting the horse, he said skeptically, " Praise the Lord." The horse began to trot. He repeated "Praise the Lord" and the horse broke into a gallop. Suddenly the buyer saw a cliff dead ahead. Frantic, he yelled "Hallelujah", and they came to a stop a foot from the edge.

　　Wiping the sweat from his brow, the buyer said, "Praise the Lord!"

Notes:

　　(1) prospective adj.預期的；可能的

　　(2) preacher n.傳教者

　　(3) impress v.給予強烈影響；留下深刻印象

　　(4) respond v.有反應

　　(5) Praise the Lord感謝上帝

　　(6) Hallelujah哈里路亞（讚美上帝之語）

　　(7) skeptically adv.懷疑地

　　(8) trot v.小跑

　　(9) gallop n.疾馳；飛奔

　　(10) dead adv.完全地；絕對地

　　(11) dead ahead正前方

Exercises:

根據短文判斷下列句子正（T）、（F）：

　　① The preacher decided to sell his horse to buy another.

　　② The buyer liked the horse at his first glance.

　　③ The buyer didn't believe what the preacher had said.

　　④) Suddenly the buyer saw a deep river ahead.

　　⑤ The buyer shouldn't have said "Praise the Lord" when they came to a stop at the edge of the cliff.

57.欲買馬之人

　　傳教士決定賣掉他的馬。一位欲買馬之人看中了這匹馬，但傳教士說：“我必須警告你----他只懂‘教堂語言’。走是‘感謝上帝’，停是‘哈里路亞’。”

　　“我一生都在同馬打交道，”買馬之人說，“這樣的事我還是頭一次聽到。”他跨上馬，將信將疑地說：“感謝上帝。”馬開始小跑。他重複說“感謝上帝”，馬開始飛奔起來。突然買馬者看到前面是一個懸崖。他嚇壞了，匆忙喊道：“哈里路亞。”他們在離懸崖只有一英尺的地方停了下來。

　　買馬之人擦了擦額頭上的汗珠，說道：“感謝上帝！”

練習參考答案：

①F②T③T④F⑤T