Weather forecast 天气预报

英语笑话

A film crew was on location deep in the desert. One day, an old Indian went up to the director and said, "Tomorrow will be rain." The next day it rained.

A week later, the Indian went up to the director and said, "Tomorrow will be storm." The next day there was a hailstorm.

This Indian is incredible ! said the director. He told his secretary to hire the Indian to predict the weather.

However, after several successful predictions , the old Indian didn't show up for two weeks. Finally the director sent for him. "I have to shoot a big scene tomorrow," said the director, "and I'm depending on you. What will the weather be like?"

The Indian shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know," he said. "The radio has broken."

中文翻译

一个电影摄制组在沙漠深处工作。一天，一个印度老人告诉导演说：“明天有雨。”第二天果然下雨了。

一周后，这个印度人又来告诉导演说，“明天有暴风雨。”果然，第二天下了冰雹。

“这印度人真神！”导演说。他让秘书雇佣这个印度人来预报天气。

可是，几次预报成功后，这位印度老人有两周都没露面了。最后导演派人去叫他。“我明天要拍一个很大的场景，”导演说，“我就靠你了。明天天气如何？”

印度人耸了耸肩，说：“我不知道，收音机坏了。”

词汇点睛

crew [kru?] n. 队，组

location [l???ke???n] n. 位置，场所；（电影的）外景拍摄地

desert [?dez?t] n. 沙漠，荒漠，荒原

director [d??rekt?(r)] n. 导演

hailstorm [?he?lst??m] n. 冰雹

incredible [?n?kred?bl] adj. 难以置信的，不可思议的

secretary [?sekr?tr?] n. 秘书，书记

predict [pr??d?kt] v. 预报，预告

prediction [pr??d?k??n] n. 预言，预报

show up 出现，露面

shoot [?u?t] n. 拍摄

scene [si?n] n. 片段，场面，场景

shrug [?r?g] v. 耸（肩）

语法分析

1. One day, an old Indian went up to the director and said, "Tomorrow will be rain." 一天，一个印度老人告诉导演说：“明天有雨。”

解析 　在本篇笑话中，要注意直接引语。讲述别人的原话，并把它放在引号里，这叫直接引语。直接引语用来直接引述别人的话语，一般说来具有以下五个特点：

①引用的话之前用“,”；

②引用的话结束后，需用“.”、“?”、“!”等标点符号；

③被引用的话是原话，不作任何改动；

④被引用的话放在引号内；

⑤引出直接引语的引述词常有say（说道），ask（问道），shout（喊道），cry（喊道），laugh（大笑道）等。例如：

He said, "I am going to see her this afternoon." 他说：“我今天下午要去看望她。”

You are wrong, Tom said. “你错了，”汤姆说。

口语实践

A　Have you listened to the weather forecast?

B　Yes, it is sunny today.

A　你听天气预报了吗？

B　听了，今天天气晴朗。

★forecast [?f??kɑ?st] n.&v. 预报，预测

A　Is it going to rain today?

B　I heard it might rain.

A　今天会下雨吗？

B　我听说今天可能下雨。

A　How's the weather tomorrow?

B　The weather forecast says it will rain tomorrow.

A　明天天气怎么样？

B　天气预报说明天有雨。

A　Nice day, isn't it?

B　Yes, it's incredible. We haven't had sunshine like this in months!

A　天气真好，不是吗？

B　是啊，好得出奇。我们已经几个月都没见到这样的阳光啦！

★sunshine [?s?n?a?n] n. 阳光

A　It is boiling today, isn't it?

B　Yes, it's very hot and stuffy.

A　今天的天气热得要命，是不是？

B　是的，今天天气很闷热。

★boiling [?b??l??] adj. 炎热的

★stuffy [?st?f?] adj. 通风不良的，闷人的

笑话文化解读

在英美国家，人们对于谈论天气有着特别的兴趣。在他们看来，初次见面或在彼此不是很了解的情况下，谈论天气是最稳妥的办法，所以他们常说“以谈论天气作为谈话开场白既管用，又不得罪人（Mentioning weather can be a useful and inoffensive way of starting a conversation.）”。

英美人谈论天气，除个别情况是实实在在地谈论天气情况外，其他绝大部分情况都不是为了天气而谈天气，而是为了引入新的话题。比如旅行的人们坐在车上，彼此互不认识，假若大家都默默地坐着，那未免太尴尬，让人难受。为了打破这种僵局（breaking the ice），人们就得没话找话说。说什么呢？在英美人看来，最方便也是最安全的办法，就是谈论天气。因为天气这一话题人人都可以发表见解，且不涉及他人私事（英美人视打听私事为大忌），也不至于失礼或引起误解。