New Concept English III - 40 (1/18/10)

Lesson 40 Who's who 真假难辨

Listen to the tape then answer the question below.


How did the policeman discover that the whole thing was a joke?

It has never been explained why university students seem to enjoy practical jokes more than everyone else. Students specialize in a particular type of practical joke: the hoax. Inviting the fire brigade to put out a nonexistent 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 taking 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 unpolitely 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.
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我是蜗牛读书

所有跟帖： 

• 读的很稳，更清楚了，very good！ -lilac09- ♀ (72 bytes) () 01/18/2010 postreply 08:11:25

• Thanks a lot for the listening! -eyeyey- ♀ (92 bytes) () 01/18/2010 postreply 15:23:54

• eyeyey节日好，新的一周快乐。 -紫君- ♀ (146 bytes) () 01/18/2010 postreply 08:14:08

• 谢谢问候，紫君 -eyeyey- ♀ (158 bytes) () 01/18/2010 postreply 15:30:02

• 回复：谢谢问候，紫君 -紫君- ♀ (10852 bytes) () 01/18/2010 postreply 15:42:11

• I appreciate it，紫君 -eyeyey- ♀ (84 bytes) () 01/19/2010 postreply 17:59:00

• the voice is too low to hear, but it is a master piece of readin -我边走边问- ♀ (0 bytes) () 01/18/2010 postreply 10:35:28

• 谢谢边边! -eyeyey- ♀ (117 bytes) () 01/18/2010 postreply 15:33:25

• 你还蜗牛？？？？ -小千...千与千寻- ♀ (50 bytes) () 01/18/2010 postreply 14:20:11

• 回复：你还蜗牛？？？？ -eyeyey- ♀ (125 bytes) () 01/18/2010 postreply 15:37:21

• Say Hello to eyeyey! Nice reading~~ -天泽园- ♀ (0 bytes) () 01/18/2010 postreply 17:58:42

• Thanks Tian -eyeyey- ♀ (0 bytes) () 01/19/2010 postreply 17:59:35

• 再加油吧！我在你后面，以你为榜样！ -blueswan- ♀ (0 bytes) () 01/18/2010 postreply 21:52:45

• Thanks Swan -eyeyey- ♀ (0 bytes) () 01/19/2010 postreply 18:00:34