【生词预览】

cemetery墓地 , shortcut近路 ,tremble颤抖，hammer锤子 , chisel凿子

【笑话原文】

The Cemetery Shortcut

Two men were walking home after a Halloween party and decided to take a shortcut through the cemetery just for laughs.

Right in the middle of the cemetery they were startled by a tap-tap-tapping noise coming from the misty shadows.

Trembling with fear, they found an old man with a hammer and chisel, chipping away at one of the headstones.

"Holy cow, Mister," one of them said after catching his breath, "You scared us half to death -- we thought you were a ghost! What are you doing working here so late at night?"

"Those fools!" the old man grumbled. "They misspelled my name!"

【中文译文】

为抄近路走墓地

万圣节派对过后，两男人图个乐呵，打算抄近路穿过墓地回家。

走到墓地中央时，他们被从迷雾中传来的“答、答、答”声惊吓到了。

正当两人害怕得浑身颤抖时，他们看到是个老头拿着铁锤和凿子，在一块墓石上凿着什么。

“哇塞，先生，”其中一人喘了口气说，“你把我们吓得半死啊，我们还以为遇上鬼了呢！那么晚了你在这里做什么？”

“那帮白痴！”老头抱怨道，“他们把我名字拼错啦！”

【词汇讲解】

1.shortcut近路，捷径。There are no shortcuts to learning.做学问是无捷径可走的。

2. Just for laughs 这个俗语在不同情况下，它的意思略有不同。

其一，它可以解释为：做某件事纯属为了高兴，例如：

Come on and get your jacket -- let's go out and have a couple of beers just for laughs.
来吧，穿上你的外套，我们到外面去喝两杯啤酒高兴高兴。

另外，just for laughs 有时也可以指做愚蠢的事或有害的事，例如：

Just for laughs they tossed Mary in the swimming pool with all her clothes on. Then they found out she didn't know how to swim.
就是为了开玩笑，他们把玛丽连衣服带鞋的整个扔进了游泳池，结果他们发现，玛丽根本不会游泳。

3.startle使惊吓／惊吓。The horse startled easily.这匹马很容易受惊。

4.misty有雾的／朦胧不清的。a misty outline朦胧不清的轮廓；a misty recollection of the event对那件事的模糊记忆；a misty notion模糊的概念

5.chip在…上凿（或削、碰）。The vase was chipped when it fell.花瓶倒下时碰出了瑕疵。

6.grumble抱怨／埋怨。Consumers grumbled their endless complaints.消费者无休止地抱怨。