【生詞預覽】

roaster供烤食的食物（土豆、雞等），butcher肉販，counter柜臺

【笑話原文】

I’ll Take All Three

When a woman requested a whole roaster at the market, the butcher didn’t let on that the bird was the last one.

“Do you have one a little larger? ”she asked.

“Of course,”said the butcher. He took the roaster behind the counter, away from view, and made a lot of noise rolling it around the ice as if he were searching for just the right chicken. He then showed the same bird to her.

“Better,”she said. “Do you have one with a little more meat on it?”

He took the chicken, rolled it in the ice and offered it up a third time.

“Great,”the woman said. “I’ll take all three.”

【中文譯文】

三只我都買了

當一個女顧客說她要買一只整雞的時候，賣肉的人沒有告訴她這是最后一只。她問：“有沒有比這只大一點的？”賣肉的說：“當然。”他把這只雞拿到柜臺后面看不見的地方，把雞放在冰上滾得沙沙響，好像正在找一只合適的雞。然后，他把同一只雞拿給她看。她說：“這只好一點，還有沒有肉多一些的？”他又拿這只雞放在冰上滾，然后拿上來第三次給她看。她說：“太好了，三只我都買了！”

【詞匯講解】

1.request要求. I request her to go alone.我要求她自己一個人去。Visitors are requested not to touch the exhibits.參觀者請勿觸摸展品。request a loan from a bank請求銀行貸款。request也可以作名詞，有“要求／需求”的意思：meet a request to do sth.滿足做某事的要求. Do they play requests on this radio show?電臺在這擋廣播中播放點播節目嗎？

2.butcher肉販。還可以指“屠夫／儈子手／兇手／笨蛋”等等。作動詞可以指“屠宰／大肆屠殺／殘害／糟蹋”等：Don’t butcher that song by singing off key.別唱走調而糟蹋了那首歌。

3.let on泄密／流露真情：He never let on that he was married.他從不透露自己已經結婚。Never let on to anybody.千萬別對任何人說。還有“假裝”的意思：She likes to let on that she is rich.她喜歡裝模作樣，讓人以為她很有錢。

4.counter柜臺。a lunch counter柜臺式長餐桌。還可以指“籌碼／硬幣／本錢”等等。

5.roll滾動.The coin rolled under the table.硬幣滾到桌子下面去了。Rally drivers sometimes have the misfortune to roll.拉力賽車手有時會遭遇翻車之災。還有“滔滔不絕”的意思：Sharp retorts roll from the tongues of the people he characterizes.尖銳的反駁滔滔不絕地出自他所塑造的人物。

6.search尋找。The policemen are still searching for survivors of the plane crash.警察仍在搜尋飛機失事的幸存者。search into a matter深入調查一件事