【生词预览】

roaster供烤食的食物（土豆、鸡等），butcher肉贩，counter柜台

【笑话原文】

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.”

【中文译文】

三只我都买了

当一个女顾客说她要买一只整鸡的时候，卖肉的人没有告诉她这是最后一只。她问：“有没有比这只大一点的？”卖肉的说：“当然。”他把这只鸡拿到柜台后面看不见的地方，把鸡放在冰上滚得沙沙响，好像正在找一只合适的鸡。然后，他把同一只鸡拿给她看。她说：“这只好一点，还有没有肉多一些的？”他又拿这只鸡放在冰上滚，然后拿上来第三次给她看。她说：“太好了，三只我都买了！”

【词汇讲解】

1.request要求. I request her to go alone.我要求她自己一个人去。Visitors are requested not to touch the exhibits.参观者请勿触摸展品。request a loan from a bank请求银行贷款。request也可以作名词，有“要求／需求”的意思：meet a request to do sth.满足做某事的要求. Do they play requests on this radio show?电台在这挡广播中播放点播节目吗？

2.butcher肉贩。还可以指“屠夫／侩子手／凶手／笨蛋”等等。作动词可以指“屠宰／大肆屠杀／残害／糟蹋”等：Don’t butcher that song by singing off key.别唱走调而糟蹋了那首歌。

3.let on泄密／流露真情：He never let on that he was married.他从不透露自己已经结婚。Never let on to anybody.千万别对任何人说。还有“假装”的意思：She likes to let on that she is rich.她喜欢装模作样，让人以为她很有钱。

4.counter柜台。a lunch counter柜台式长餐桌。还可以指“筹码／硬币／本钱”等等。

5.roll滚动.The coin rolled under the table.硬币滚到桌子下面去了。Rally drivers sometimes have the misfortune to roll.拉力赛车手有时会遭遇翻车之灾。还有“滔滔不绝”的意思：Sharp retorts roll from the tongues of the people he characterizes.尖锐的反驳滔滔不绝地出自他所塑造的人物。

6.search寻找。The policemen are still searching for survivors of the plane crash.警察仍在搜寻飞机失事的幸存者。search into a matter深入调查一件事