英漢幽默故事選讀【79】
In the air
Matt and his wife lived in the country. Matt was very stingy and hated spending money. One day a fair came to the nearby town.
"Let's go to the fair, Matt," his wife said. "We haven't been anywhere for a long time."
Matt thought about this for a while. He knew he would have to spend money at the fair. At last he said, "All right, but I'm not going to spend much money. We'll look at things, but we won't buy anything. "
They went to the fair and looked at all the things to buy. There were many things Matt's wife wanted to buy, but he would not let her spend any money.
Then, in a nearby field, they saw a small airplane.
"Fun flights!" the notice said, " $ 10 for 10 minutes.
Matt had never been in an airplane and he wanted to go on a fun flight. However, he didn't want to have to pay for his wife, as well.
"I've only got $ 10, " he told the pilot. "Can my wife come with me for free?" The pilot wasn't selling many tickets, so he said, "I'll make a bargain with you. If your wife doesn't scream or shout, she can have a free flight."
Matt agreed, and got into the small airplane with his wife.
The pilot took off and made his airplane do all kinds of things. At one moment it was flying upside down.
When the plane landed, the pilot said, "0. K. your wife didn't make a sound. She can have her ride free."
"Thank you," Matt said. "It wasn't easy for her, you know, especially when she fell out."
Notes:
（1） stingy adj.吝嗇
（2） hate（doing）討厭（做）
（3） free adj.免費的
（4） make a bargain with sb 達成協議；做成交易
（5） upsidedown 倒轉地；倒置地
Exercises:
根據短文選擇正確答案：
① Why didn't Matt really want to go to the fair?
A. He didn't like fairs.
B. His wife didn't want to go.
C. He did not want to spend any money.
D. It was a long way to walk to the fair.
② What wouldn't Matt let his wife do?
A. go to the fair
B. buy anything
C. go on a fun flight
D. took at things at the fair
③ What did Matt want to do at the fair?
A. buy a few things
B. have a ride in an airplane
C. take his wife shopping
D. buy an airplane
④ Why didn't Matt's wife scream or shout in the airplane?
A. She had fallen out of it.
B. She did not go up in it.
C. She enjoyed the flight.
D. She wanted a free ride.
⑤ So from the passage we can know that_____ .
A. Matt was very generous
B. Matt was very kind to his wife
C. Matt's wife was very brave
D. Matt was very stingy
在空中
麥特和妻子住在鄉下。麥特很吝嗇，討厭花錢。一天附近的鎮子逢集。
“我們去趕集，麥特，”妻子說。“我們很久沒出去了。”
麥特想了一會兒。他知道在集市上一定得花錢。最后他說：“好吧，但我不打算花太多錢。我們只看不買。”
他們去集市，看看所有可買的東西。有很多東西麥特的妻子想買，但麥特不讓她買。
然后在附近的露天場地，他們看到一架小飛機。
“有趣的飛行。”海報上寫著，“10分鐘10美元。”
麥特從來沒有乘過飛機，所以他想乘一次小飛機。然而他不想付他妻子的票錢。
“我只帶了10美元，”他對飛機駕駛員說，“我妻子能免費和我一起乘飛機嗎？”駕駛員沒賣出多少票，所以他說：“我和你做個交易。如果你妻子不尖叫，也不叫出聲來，她就能免費飛行。”
麥特同意了，他和妻子一起登上了飛機。
飛機起飛了，駕駛員讓飛機做出各種各樣的動作。有一會兒飛機倒著飛行。
飛機著陸時，駕駛員說，“好吧，你妻子沒發出任何聲響。她就不用買飛機票了。”
“謝謝，”麥特說，“你知道，這對她不容易，特別當她剛才掉下去的時候。”
練習參考答案：
①C②B③B④A⑤D
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