Fun with English 英文萬花筒

Hotshot Eddie's Adventure with Idioms

（一） Eddie's Lucky Day

Hotshot Eddie was on his way to school. As usual, he was taking his time and thinking about his future life as an international superstar. And as usual, he was not paying attention to where he was going.

Walking through the school gates, Eddie bumped into "Gorgeous" Georgia Green, the prettiest girl on campus. In an instant, he was on cloud nine. "It's my lucky day!" he thought.

"I've been dying to talk to her for weeks."

Gorgeous Georgia did not look pleased, but Eddie was not a guy to pass up a good opportunity. He was also not a guy to beat around the bush. "Hey, Gorgeous," he said, helping her pick up her books that he had accidentally knocked to the ground. "Want to have lunch with me today?"

"No, thanks," replied Georgia. "Since you seem to be as clumsy as an ox, I'm afraid you might stab me with a fork or something." With that, she stood up and walked away quickly.

Story

（二） The Bundle of Sticks

A farmer had several sons who always argued with each other. The farmer tried many times to get the boys to cooperate, but they would not. One day the farmer decided to teach them a lesson. He put a bundle of sticks in front of the brothers. "I want each of you to try and break this." One by one, the brothers tried to break the bundle, and each failed. Then, the father untied the bundle and gave them the sticks to break one by one. The brothers broke them easily. "Learn from this example," he father said. "Together you are as strong as the bundle. Divided, you are as weak as the sticks."

-based on a story from "Aesop's Fables"

MORAL: In unity there is strength.

Landmark Laughter Corner

（三） In the Eye of the Tiger

One day, while on vacation, a man was captured by a crazy robber. The robber put the man in a net and hung him from a tree with a rope. The rope went over a branch and was tied to a stake in the ground. The robber put a burning candle under the rope near the stake. When the candle burned through the rope, the man would fall from the tree. It just so happened that a tiger showed up and waited under the tree. The man was very scared and thought about what to do.

Q: What do you think the man did to save himself from being eaten?

A: He sang the "Happy Birthday" song to the tiger, and the tiger blew out the candle.

（一）埃迪走運了？

吹牛大埃迪正在去學校的路上。和平常一樣，他慢悠悠地走著，想著未來身為國際巨星的日子。也和平常一樣，他沒留意自己在往哪兒走。走過學校門口時，埃迪碰到了全校最美的女孩—"漂亮女孩"喬治婭·格林。霎那間埃迪簡直飛上了云霄。"今天我可真走運！"他想，"幾個星期來我一直很想跟她聊一聊。"

漂亮女孩喬治婭看起來有點不高興，但埃迪不會是個坐失良機的人。他也不是說話拐彎抹角的人。"嘿，漂亮女孩，"他邊說邊幫她撿起被他不小心碰掉在地上的書，"今天想和我一起吃午飯嗎？""不，謝了，"喬治婭答道，"你看起來笨手笨腳的像頭牛，我怕你可能拿叉子或別的什么會戳到我。"說完她站起來迅速地離開了。

（二）團結力量大

有個農夫有幾個兒子，他們彼此總是爭論不休。農夫試了好多次讓孩子們合作，但他們總是不愿意。一天農夫決定教訓兒子們一頓。他在兒子面前放了一捆筷子。"我要你們每個人都試著去折斷這捆筷子"。這幾兄弟一個接一個地去折這捆筷子，但都失敗了。接著父親解開那捆筷子，讓他們一支一支地去折斷。兄弟們很容易就把筷子全折斷了。"要從這個例子中吸取教訓，"父親說，"如果你們團結一致，就會像這捆筷子一樣堅固。分開了，你們就像一根根筷子一樣脆弱"。

─根據《伊索寓言》故事改編

寓意：團結力量大。

（三）虎視眈眈

一天，一個人在度假時被一名瘋狂的強盜抓了起來。那強盜用網把他罩住，然后用繩子把他吊在樹上。繩子繞過樹枝綁在地面的木樁上。強盜在木樁附近的繩子下面放了根點燃的蠟燭。當蠟燭燒斷繩子時，這個人就會從樹上掉下來。這時一只老虎正好出現了，虎視眈眈地在樹下等著。這個人嚇壞了，想著怎樣才能逃生。

問題：你認為這個人用了什么方法才能虎口脫險？

答案：他對著老虎唱"生日快樂歌"，唱完老虎就把蠟燭吹滅了。