【生詞預覽】

violent猛烈的，thunderstorm雷暴，tuck給⋯蓋被子，tremor顫抖，sissy膽小鬼

【笑話原文】

A Big Sissy

One summer evening, during a violent thunderstorm, a mother was tucking her small boy into bed. She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice, “Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?”

The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. “I can’t dear, ” she said, “I have to sleep with Daddy.”

A long silence was broken at last by a scornful voice saying, “The big sissy. ”

【中文譯文】

老膽小鬼
一個夏天的夜晚，雷電交加，一位母親正在給她的兒子蓋被子。她正要關燈，兒子用顫抖的聲音問：“媽媽，晚上你會和我一起睡嗎？”

媽媽笑了笑，給了兒子一個安慰的擁抱。“不行，親愛的，”她說，“我得和你爸爸一起睡。”

長長的沉默被小男孩兒充滿鄙視的一句話打破了：“真是個老膽小鬼。”

【詞匯講解】
1. Violent 暴力的，猛烈的：a violent clash with the police 與警察的暴力沖突， violent television programmes 暴力電視節目

2. Thunderstorm 雷暴。thunder 是“雷”，storm是“風暴”，這個合成詞就是“雷暴”的意思。

3. Tuck給…蓋被子： tuck a baby into bed 給嬰兒蓋好被子使其安睡；把…夾入：He tucked the letter in a book so he wouldn’t lose it.他把那封信夾在一本書里，這樣就不會丟失了。

4. be about to將要，而用于否定句中則是“打定主意要”的意思：He was not about to waste any time.他決定不再浪費時間了。

5. tremor(恐懼、激動或興奮引起的)戰栗、激動、興奮：The story was so terrible that it sent tremors down my spine(脊柱)。這故事真可怕，使我渾身不寒而栗。

6. scornful輕視的。有“輕視的”之意的詞還有：contemptuous,dspiteous.