【生詞預覽】

pastor牧師，plead for乞求，coffer資金,congregation會眾

【笑話原文】

Good News and Bad News

The pastor of my church hates to plead for money. But when the coffers were running low, he had no choice. “There’s good news and there’s bad news,” he told the congregation. “The good news is that we have more than enough money for all the current and future needs of the parish. The bad news is, it’s still in your pockets.”

【中文譯文】

好消息和壞消息

我們教會的牧師羞于開口要錢。但是，到了捉襟見肘的時候他就非開口不可了。他告訴會眾說：“我有一個好消息，也有一個壞消息。好消息是我們的錢超過我們教區目前的和將來的需要。壞消息是這些錢還在你們的口袋里。”

【詞匯講解】

1.plead for乞求。 She went down on her knees, pleading for mercy.
她雙膝跪下, 乞求諒解。也可以指“在法庭上為…辯護”：Mr. Jones will plead for you in this case.在此案中, 瓊斯先生將為你辯護。

2.coffer資金。 There’s nothing left in the government’s coffers.國庫已空無一物了

3.congregation (教堂里的)會眾：The congregation knelt to pray.會眾跪下來祈禱。

4.current 現在的, 現行的。They suggested measures to overcome current difficulties.他們提出了克服目前困難的措施。“通用的” ：This word is no longer in current use.這個字已經不再通用了。

5.parish教區。也可以指“郡以下的地方行政區／知識領域, 職權范圍, 工作區域”。