英語幽默小故事 16. Mothers Feet

　　To prevent our dog, Lacy, from pestering visitors to our house, my mother often massaged her as she lounged beneath the kitchen table, her favorite resting spot. One day a contractor came over to talk about a home-improvement project. As he and my mother sat across the table discussing the renovations, my mother slipped off her shoes and mindlessly soothed Lacy with her feet. My mother had been talking for about a half-hour when to her great embarrassment she heard Lacy bark outside the front door.

Notes:

　　(1) prevent （from）v.避免；阻止

　　(2) pester v.使苦惱；困擾

　　(3) massage v.按摩；揉捏

　　(4) lounge v.懶洋洋地坐着或站着

　　(5) contractor n.承包商

　　(6) improvement n.改進；改善

　　(7) renovation n.修復；修理

　　(8) slip off滑脫；掉

　　(9) mindlessly adv.不注意地

　　(10) soothe v.撫慰；使鎮靜

　　(11) embarrassment n.侷促；不安

Exercises:

根據短文回答問題：

　　① What kind of a dog was Lacy?

　　② What did the mother often do to make visitors feel at home?

　　③ Who came one day? What for?

　　④ How long had the mother been talking when she felt greatly embarrassed?

　　⑤ Why did she feel embarrassed?

16.母親的腳

　　爲避免我們的狗，萊希，糾纏來訪的客人，我母親常在愛犬喜歡呆的地方，即餐桌下面，摩暱它。一天，一個建築商來談居室裝潢工程。在這人和我母親坐在餐桌邊談居室的修茸時，我母親滑脫了她的鞋子，開始不經意地用腳摩蹭起萊希來。談話進行了半個小時的時候，我母親突然感到很不好意思起來，因爲這時她聽到了萊希在前門外的犬吠聲。

練習參考答案：

　　① She is a dog that likes to pester visitors.

　　② She massaged her.

　　③ A contractor came for home-improvement project.

　　④ About a half-hour.

　　⑤ Because she was massaging not the dog but the contractor' s foot.