【生词预览】

carburetor化油器，offensively冒犯地，definitely确实

【笑话原文】

In the Lake

My wife came home yesterday and said, “Honey, the car won’t start, but I know what the problem is.”

I asked her what it was, and she told me there was water in the carburetor. I thought for moment, then said, “You know, I don’t mean this offensively, but you even don’t know where the carburetor was.”

“No, there’s definitely water in the carburetor,” she insisted.

“Ok Honey, that’s fine, I’ll just take a look. Where is it?”

“In the lake.”

【中文译文】

在湖里

我的妻子回家跟我说：“亲爱的，车发动不了了，但是我知道出了什么问题。”

我问她是什么问题，她告诉我化油器里进水了。我想了一会儿说：“我这么说不是冒犯你，可是你连化油器在哪里都不知道。”

“不，化油器确确实实进水了。”她坚持说。

“好吧，亲爱的，没问题，我去瞧瞧吧。车在哪儿呢？”

“在湖里。”

【词汇讲解】

1. won’t start 发动不了。在英语中表示机械类东西坏了的简单句子还有: It doesn’t work./ It’s broken./ There’s something wrong with it.

2. moment一会儿。同义词还有：a little while, an instant, presently, soon

3. offensively冒犯地，是由形容词offensive变来的。Offensive remarks冲撞的话语，a sight too offensive to look at 不堪入目的景象，offensive weapons进攻性武器

4. definitely确切地。Say definitely what you have in mind.把你所想的确切地说出来。单独使用的时候表示肯定的回答：－“Is he coming?” “Definitely!”“他会来吗？”“当然会啊！”

5. insist坚持。作不及物动词时，insist on/upon sth.表示坚持某事；而作及物动词时后面可加从句表述具体内容。

6. take a look看一看。其实这里有一些省略，完整的应该是“I’ll just take a look at it.”省略了就避免了重复，使句子更简洁，不拖沓。