【生詞預覽】

inspector檢查員，cordially熱情地，windmill風車，compartment車廂，eyelid眼皮

【笑話原文】

German Visit

A man decided to visit his brother who was stationed in Germany. He assumed that most Germans would speak English，but found that many people spoke only their native tongue—including the ticket inspector on the train.

He looked at the man‘s ticket, then chatted cordially for a bit, making gestures like a windmill. The man simply nodded from time to time to show him that he was interested.

When the ticket inspector had gone, an American woman in the compartment leaned forward and asked if he spoke German.

“No,” he confessed.

“Then that explains,” she said, “why you didn’t bat an eyelid when he told you that you were on the wrong train.”

【中文譯文】

德國之旅

一個人決定去探望住在德國的弟弟。他以為大部分德國人會講英語。但最終發現很多人都只說德語——包括列車上的檢票員

他看了看男人的票，然后很熱情地和他聊了一下，手勢比劃得像風車一樣。男人一次次地只是點頭示意他對談話感興趣。

檢票員走了以后，車廂里的一個美國女人靠過來問男人講不講德語。

“不講，”他承認。

“難怪，”女人說，“他跟你說你上錯車的時候你眼睛都不眨一下。“

【詞匯講解】

1.station安置，駐扎:the British forces stationed in Germany駐德英軍；Hundreds of fishing boats are stationed there.數百條漁船停泊在那里。

2.native tongue母語。native：native silver天然銀，native land故土，native produce土特產品，native plants土生植物

3.inspector檢察員。sanitation inspector衛生檢查員；building inspector房屋驗收；quality control inspector質量管理檢查員

4. “making gestures like a windmill”在這里是伴隨狀語，前面講檢票員在和男人說話，這里的“手勢比劃得像風車呼呼轉一樣”就是形容檢票員談話的姿態。

5.compartment泛指分隔的空間。a storage compartment一個倉庫； a small compartment一個小而舒服的地方

6.bat an eyelid是個特別生動的說法。bat是“眨”的意思，eyelid是“眼皮”，連起來就是眨一下眼皮。男人連眼皮都沒有眨，說明他壓根就不懂檢票員說的話，沒有任何反應。