【生詞預覽】

watering hole夜總會，shot烈酒，ritual習慣

【笑話原文】

An Alcohol Tester

I stopped at my favorite watering hole after a hard day’s work to relax. I noticed a man next to me order a shot and a beer. The man drank the shot, chased it with the beer and then looked into his shirt pocket. This continued several times before my curiosity got the best of me.

I leaned over to the guy and said, “Excuse me, I couldn’t help but notice your little ritual. Why in the world do you look into your shirt pocket every time you drink your shot and beer?”

The man replied, “There’s a picture of my wife in there, and when she starts looking good, I’m heading home! ”

【中文譯文】

酒精測試儀

忙了一天，我在我最喜歡的夜總會里輕松一下。我注意到旁邊的男子要了一瓶烈酒和一瓶啤酒。他喝了一口烈酒，緊接著又喝了一口啤酒，然后往他的襯衣口袋里看了一下。他這樣反復好幾次以后，我實在忍不住，湊到他面前問他：“不好意思打擾一下。我實在忍不住注意你的習慣。你究竟為什么每次喝一口烈酒，緊接著喝一口啤酒，然后又往襯衣口袋里看一下？”那個男子回答說：“那里有我老婆的一張照片。當她開始變得好看的時候，我就該回家了。”

【詞匯講解】

1.watering hole 夜總會。這是比較口語化的表達，夜總會也可以說是night club. watering hole 也可以指水坑、海濱勝地或者像夜總會這樣的公眾聚談場所，比如 a watering hole for artists 藝術家聚會場所

2.shot烈酒。down one’s glass in one shot把杯中酒一飲而盡。shot還可以指“一針見血的評語”：That remark was a shot at me.那話是針對我說的。也可以指影片、照片：There’s a shot of us all together.我們有一張大家在一起的合影。

3.curiosity好奇心。Out of curiosity, he walked into the house.出于好奇，他走進了那所房子。還可以指“奇物、古玩”：That old chair is quite a curiosity.那張舊椅子是稀奇之物。“奇特性”：The curiosity of the room was that it had no windows.這個房間的奇特之處就在于它沒有窗戶。

4. get the best of 得勝。在文中的意思就是“在我的好奇心得勝前，旁邊男人的古怪行為一直在繼續”，換言之，“古怪的行為讓我充滿了好奇心”。 The facts he cited helped him to get the best of the argument.他所列舉的事實幫他在辯論中取勝了。Heart disease can get the best of us.心臟病可能會壓倒我們。

5.ritual習慣。make a ritual of one’s household duties把家務作為自己每天的例行公事。也可以用來表示比較正式的程序、禮儀等等：the ritual of the law法律程序；Our society has many rituals of greeting, farewell, and celebration.我們的社會有許多關于招呼、告別和慶祝的程式。

6.head使朝著特定方向行進。也有“位于…頂部”的意思：She will head the cast.她將擔任主角。His address headed the letter.他的地址在信的上端。