Who's who 真假難辨

It has never been explained why university students seem to enjoy practical jokes more than anyone else. Students specialize in a particular type of practical joke: the hoax. Inviting the fire brigade to put out a non-existent fire is a crude form of deception which no self-respecting student would ever indulge in, Students often create amusing situations which are funny to everyone except the victims.

When a student recently saw two workmen using a pneumatic drill outside his university, he immediately telephoned the police and informed them that two students dressed up as workmen were tearing up the road with a pneumatic drill. As soon as he had hung up, he went over to the workmen and told them that if a policeman ordered them to go away, they were not to take him seriously. He added that a student had dressed up as a policeman and was playing all sorts of silly jokes on people. Both the police and the workmen were grateful to the student for this piece of advance information.

The student hid in an archway nearby where he could watch and hear everything that went on. Sure enough, a policeman arrived on the scene and politely asked the workmen to go away. When he received a very rude reply from one of the workmen, he threatened to remove them by force. The workmen told him to do as he pleased and the policeman telephoned for help. Shortly afterwards, four more policemen arrived and remonstrated with the workmen. As the men refused to stop working, the police attempted to seize the pneumatic drill. The workmen struggled fiercely and one of them lost his temper. He threatened to call the police. At this, the police pointed out ironically that this would hardly be necessary as the men were already under arrest. Pretending to speak seriously, one of the workmen asked if he might make a telephone call before being taken to the station. Permission was granted and a policeman accompanied him to a pay phone. Only when he saw that the man was actually telephoning the police did he realize that they had all been the victims of a hoax.

New words and expressions 生詞與短語

hoax

n. 騙局，戲弄

deception

n. 欺騙，騙局

self-respecting

adj. 自重的

indulge

v. 使沉迷

pneumatic

adj. 氣動的

drill

n. 鉆

silly

adj. 無意義的，無聊的

advance

adj. 預(yù)先的，事先獲得的

archway

n. 拱形門樓

remonstrate

v. 規(guī)勸，告誡

ironically

adv. 諷刺地

permission

n. 許可

grant

v. 同意，準予

本文參考譯文

誰也弄不清為什么大學(xué)生好像比任何人都更喜歡惡作劇。大學(xué)生擅長一種特殊的惡作劇——戲弄人。請消防隊來撲滅一場根本沒有的大火是一種低級騙局，有自尊心的大學(xué)生決不會去做。大學(xué)生們常常做的是制造一種可笑的局面，使大家笑上一場，當(dāng)然受害者是笑不出來的。

最近有個學(xué)生看見兩個工人在學(xué)校門外用風(fēng)鉆干活，馬上打電話報告警察，說有兩個學(xué)生裝扮成工人，正在用風(fēng)鉆破壞路面。掛上電話后，他又馬上來到工人那兒，告訴他們?nèi)粲袀�警察來讓他們走開，不要把他當(dāng)回事，還對工人說，有個學(xué)生常裝扮成警察無聊地同別人開玩笑。警察與工人都對那個學(xué)生事先通報情況表示感謝。

那個學(xué)生躲在附近一拱形的門廊里，在那兒可以看見、聽到現(xiàn)場發(fā)生的一切。果然，警察來了，不禮貌地請工人離開此地;但其中一個工人粗魯?shù)鼗亓藥拙�。于是警察威脅要強行使他們離開。工人說，悉聽尊便。警察去打電話叫人。一會兒工夫，又來了4個警察，規(guī)勸工人離開。由于工人拒絕停下手中的活，警察想奪風(fēng)鉆。兩個工人奮力抗爭，其中一個發(fā)了火，威脅說要去叫警察。警察聽后譏諷地說，這大可不必，因為他倆已被逮捕了。其中一個工人裝模作樣地問道，在被帶往警察局之前，是否可以打一個電話。警察同意了，陪他來到一個投幣地電話前，當(dāng)他看到那個工人真的是給警察掛電話，才恍然大悟，原來他們都成一場騙局的受害者。

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