九乡新闻网背上长脂肪粒怎么办:开心外语几则
来源：百度文库 编辑：九乡新闻网 时间：2024/05/02 23:53:18
Is Santa for real?
This is the translation I did for the story I posted yesterday in my journal. Frankly, I am not totally satisfied with it, but given the limited time, I have to settle for it. This is Christmas day and I wish my readers would not mind my posting it here also (besides in the forum of DICT.CN). As I said I do not really know who the author is, but I am quite certain that the author would love to share her story with everybody on Christmas. There may be minor deviations from the original story, but I think the spirit of the theme remains intact.
Little Max was seven. He came from a very poor family. His father, Max Senior was a blue-collar worker, with meager wages barely enough to feed the family, let alone buy Christmas present for Little Max. This year, two days before Christmas, Max surprised father with a question, "Papa, is there really a Santa Claus?" Papa Max didn't see it coming and gave an obscure answer, "I'm not really sure myself." But Little Max continued, "I wish Santa would bring me a gift on Christmas."
Papa Max was distraught with guilt for having been unable to even afford a small gift for his son. He promised himself that he would save some money to buy Little Max a cake as present this year.
On Christmas Eve, Papa Max told his son to hang a small sack (in place of the traditional stocking), by the louvre facing the public hallway; the louvre being a standard feature of the low rent public housing. Papa Max then excused himself and left home. He planned to climb up the louvre and put the cake in the sack as a surprise to Little Max. Just when he grabbed hold of the railings of the louvre ready to climb up, his next door neighbor, Grannie Deuce, saw everything. She came up to him and asked about his strange action. Papa Max could but tell her the plan. Grannie Deuce found the idea wonderful and subsequently begged Papa Max to deliver a gift to his grandson in the same fashion. The generous Papa Max agreed to help her. In the course of the event, the neighbors in the building knew about this. They all thought the idea splendid and requested the help of Papa Max. Being a helpful person, the good Papa Max did what he could for every request asked of him. Several hours and many tiring tasks of distributing gifts through the louvre windows later, Papa Max could finally hurry home to deliver the present to his own beloved son. When he arrived, to his astonishment, he saw Little Max sitting at the door. With the biggest and brightest smile ever shown on his face, Little Max said to his father,"Papa, I now know for certain that there is really a Santa Claus." With pride and confidence, Little Max proclaimed,
"My papa is Santa."=====================================
Instant French（开心英语21）
Muse took up French a year ago. In the beginning, Jove did not think she was serious, and thought that she would drop it within three months. Jove was happy that he was wrong.Jove : Hey, I picked up some French in my school days, too.
Muse : You know French?
Jove : Not much, but enough to get by. At least, I know that Batman in French is Batman.
Muse : Yeah, yeah, Michael Jordan in French is still Michael Jordan. That doesn't count.
Jove : Since we are into sport, basketball is le (the vowel is pronounced similar to the [e] in [the]) basketball and the slam dunk is le slam dunk. Naturally baseball is le baseball.
Muse : Oh, come on, these are all American games. I don't blame the French for importing the names as well as the sports. You won't survive a day in Paris with your so called French.
Jove : I can survive alright. I once took a brunch there, and I ordered 'le brunch' all by myself. I bought something also. I asked for it in French.
Muse : And just exactly what did you order for le brunch and what did you buy?
Jove : Le Big Mac et ([ay]) le hot-dog. I bought also le T-shirt et le Game Boy.
Muse : Grief, is there no end to this nonsense?
Jove : Of course, not just that, I can order Chinese food in French; Le dimsum et les ([lay]) baozi.
Muse : Don't you know any real French?
Jove : Of course. I watch 'la television en France' le week-end. (This time Jove pronounced the French words as they were pronounced in French. The French pronounce all borrowed words essentially the same as they are pronounced in English.)
Muse : A lot of crap in French is still a lot of crap. ================================== Compliment and complement（开心英语129）
Josh : This is the best steak I've ever had.
Jove : There's the chef.
Josh : I must go over to him and express my compliment to him.
Jove : We can order our dessert now.
Waiter : Pardon me, sir, your dessert.
Jove : We didn't order any, yet.
Waiter : It's on the house. Please enjoy. The chef made them for you.
Josh : Very nice. It's a very good complement to the dinner. ======================================