【生詞預覽】

cemetery墓地 , shortcut近路 ,tremble顫抖，hammer錘子 , chisel鑿子

【笑話原文】

The Cemetery Shortcut

Two men were walking home after a Halloween party and decided to take a shortcut through the cemetery just for laughs.

Right in the middle of the cemetery they were startled by a tap-tap-tapping noise coming from the misty shadows.

Trembling with fear, they found an old man with a hammer and chisel, chipping away at one of the headstones.

"Holy cow, Mister," one of them said after catching his breath, "You scared us half to death -- we thought you were a ghost! What are you doing working here so late at night?"

"Those fools!" the old man grumbled. "They misspelled my name!"

【中文譯文】

為抄近路走墓地

萬圣節派對過后，兩男人圖個樂呵，打算抄近路穿過墓地回家。

走到墓地中央時，他們被從迷霧中傳來的“答、答、答”聲驚嚇到了。

正當兩人害怕得渾身顫抖時，他們看到是個老頭拿著鐵錘和鑿子，在一塊墓石上鑿著什么。

“哇塞，先生，”其中一人喘了口氣說，“你把我們嚇得半死啊，我們還以為遇上鬼了呢！那么晚了你在這里做什么？”

“那幫白癡！”老頭抱怨道，“他們把我名字拼錯啦！”

【詞匯講解】

1.shortcut近路，捷徑。There are no shortcuts to learning.做學問是無捷徑可走的。

2. Just for laughs 這個俗語在不同情況下，它的意思略有不同。

其一，它可以解釋為：做某件事純屬為了高興，例如：

Come on and get your jacket -- let's go out and have a couple of beers just for laughs.
來吧，穿上你的外套，我們到外面去喝兩杯啤酒高興高興。

另外，just for laughs 有時也可以指做愚蠢的事或有害的事，例如：

Just for laughs they tossed Mary in the swimming pool with all her clothes on. Then they found out she didn't know how to swim.
就是為了開玩笑，他們把瑪麗連衣服帶鞋的整個扔進了游泳池，結果他們發現，瑪麗根本不會游泳。

3.startle使驚嚇／驚嚇。The horse startled easily.這匹馬很容易受驚。

4.misty有霧的／朦朧不清的。a misty outline朦朧不清的輪廓；a misty recollection of the event對那件事的模糊記憶；a misty notion模糊的概念

5.chip在…上鑿（或削、碰）。The vase was chipped when it fell.花瓶倒下時碰出了瑕疵。

6.grumble抱怨／埋怨。Consumers grumbled their endless complaints.消費者無休止地抱怨。