看笑話學(xué)英語(yǔ)：今年冬天冷不冷？

　　whether the winter will be cold
　　Indians ask their new chief whether the winter will be cold or mild. Since the young chief never learned the ways of hisancestors, he tells them to collect firewood, then he goes off and calls the National Weather Service.

　　"Will the winter be bad?" he asks.

　　"Looks like it," is the answer.

　　So the chief tells his people to gather more firewood. A week later, he calls again.

　　"Are you positive the winter will be very cold?"

　　"Absolutely."

　　The chief tells his people to gather even more firewood, then calls the Weather Service again: "Are you sure?"

　　"I'm telling you, it's going to be the coldest winter on record."

　　"How do you know?"

　　"Because the Indians are gathering firewood like crazy!"

　　印地安人問(wèn)他們的新酋長(zhǎng)，這個(gè)冬天是冷還是溫暖。這位年輕的酋長(zhǎng)從沒(méi)學(xué)過(guò)祖先那些本領(lǐng)，他只好吩咐他們?nèi)炷静瘢缓笞约鹤叩揭贿吶ソo國(guó)家氣象局打電話。

　　“今年冬天會(huì)不會(huì)很冷?”他問(wèn)。

　　“看上去是這樣的。”他得到這樣的回答。

　　于是酋長(zhǎng)要求大家收集更多的木柴。一個(gè)星期后，他又打電話給國(guó)家氣象局。

　　“你確信今年冬天會(huì)很冷?”

　　“毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)。”

　　酋長(zhǎng)隨即要求族人撿更多的木柴，然后再次給國(guó)家氣象局打電話：“你肯定嗎?”

　　“我告訴你，那將是有史以來(lái)最寒冷的冬天。”

　　“你怎么知道?”

　　“因?yàn)橛〉诎踩苏l(fā)瘋似地?fù)炷静?”

　　【注釋】

　　1. 文中有句"Are you positive the winter will be very cold?"，這里的positive意思是“肯定的，確定的”，Are you positive就相當(dāng)于Are you sure或者Are you certain，你確定嗎。可以回答"I'm positive.", "Absolutely.", "Definitely."等等。

　　2. on record的意思是記錄在案的，有記載的，所以文中這句"it's going to be the coldest winter on record"意思就是“那將是有紀(jì)錄以來(lái)最寒冷的冬天。”我們?cè)賹W(xué)兩個(gè)關(guān)于record的詞組：set/create/establish a record 創(chuàng)造記錄;hold/keep a record 保持記錄。