Appendix      附录Interesting English

1.    I W onder Why…

     We wonder why we use “o” in “o’clock” whentelling time?

     Answer: “Clock ” is a shorter way to say “ofthe clock,” which was once the phrase used to express time.—as in “three of the clock.” The shortened version cameinto use in the early 1700s.

2.   Have a date

When the young waitress in the café in Tom’sbuilding started waving hello every day, Tom was flattered for  she was at least 15 years younger than he. Oneday she waved and beckoned to Tom again. When Tom strolled over, she asked, “Areyou single?””Why, yes,” Tom replied, smiling at her broadly.

“So is my mum,” she said, “Would you like tomeet her?”

3.   The English Words He Knows

At a court the judge is interrogating amugger but gets into difficulty.because the mugger is a foreigner who does notspeak English.

“Don’t you speak English at all?” the judge asks.

“Only a few words,” replies the mugger.

“What words do you know?”

“Your purse or your life!”

4.    The History Is Repeating Itself

     Afather was talking about his son to the teacher:”Would you please tell me aboutmy son’s history study? When I was a schoolboy I didn’t like this subject atall and always failed in the examination.”

     The teacher replied,”The history is repeatingitself.”

5.   Animals With Four Legs

     Teacher: Betty, name two animals that havefour legs!

    Betty: 2 hens.

6.    Putting Earth

     One day Bill and his father were plantingtrees in their garden. The father dug a hole in the ground and Bill asked, “Dad,where shall we put the earth  from thishole?”

     “That;s simple,” said his father. “Justdig another hole and put the earth in.”

7.    Are They Clever?

     Aman dreamed that he was given nine pieces of money and he said., “It’s not enough.Give me ten.”

     Then he awoke from his sleep,and of course he found that he had got nothing. He quickly closed

His eyes and said “I’m sorry. I’ll takenine.”

8.   Early Riser?

Mary: What time do you get up every morningin summer?

Mike: When the first ray of the sun comesinto my window.

Mary:Oh, that’s quite early.

Mike:You think so? But my window faces west.

9.   Shaving

 Henry:How many times a day do you shave ?

    Jim:Oh, forty or fifty times.

Henry:Say, are youcrazy?

Jim:No, I’m a barber.

10.  Hard to Say

   This is the first day Sam goes to school.When he comes home, Mother asks him, “How many pupils did you find in yourclassroom, Sam?”

   “It’s hard to say,”. “”Sam says, “There areforty-five when the teacher is in, and there is no one when the teacher is out.”

11.    Autumn Thoughts To Sand And Sky                          

Dry vine, old tree,crows at dusk,  Low bridge, streamrunning, cottage,  Ancient road, westwind, lean nag,    The sun westering.  And one with broken heart at the sky’s edge.

12   LittleTom liked to ask questions. One day, he asked his father one more question. Hisfather didn’t know the answer. “Don’t ask me so many questions,” he said. “Youhave asked nearly a hundred questions today. I didn’t ask my father as manyquestions when I was a boy.

“Well, Daddy,perhaps you would know more answers to my questions if you had asked more.” saidTom.

13.    My baby’sa year old. He’s been walking ever since he was eight months old.

  Really? He must be getting awfully tired bynow.

14.    Why areyou knitting three socks?

My son wrote me that he’s grown a foot sincehe’s been in the army.

15.    UsingHead

Dad: My son, I wonder why you wag your headwhile reading?

Son: Our teacher says one should use hishead diligently while he is reading.

16.     The Queen Mother of the West refers to a mythologicalfigure， usually described as a beautiful immortalwho dwells at Jasper Lake  in the KunlunMountains and in whose huge palace grow the magical peach trees which bear thefruits of immortality once every three thousand years.

17.     The Xi’an Incident occurred in Xi’an onDecember 12, 1936 when Generals Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng took Chiang Kaishek hostage and demanded that he cease the civil war and unite with theCommunist Party in a national war against Japanese aggression.

18.     The Zunyi Meeting is the historic meeting inZunyi, Guizhou Province, in January, 1935, which put an end to rhe dominationof the Left opportunist line in the Party Central Committee and establishedChairman Mao’s leadership in the whole party.

19.     The Autumn Harvest Uprising was an armeduprising led by Mao Zedong in 1927 in the Hunan-Jiangxi border region, whichmade the Chinese Communist Party’s independent building of a revolutionaryarmy.

20.     The red bean grows in southern lands. Withspring its slender tendrils twine. Gather for me some more, I pray, of fondremembrance it is the sign.

21.     Son: Papa, would you be glad if I saved youa dollar?

Father: Certainly, son.

Son: Well, I saved  it for you, all right! You said if I broughta good report from my teacher this week, you would give me a dollar, and I didn’tbring it!

22.     Student: Teacher, would you punish anyonefor something he didn’t do?

Teacher: Certainly not.

Student: Good! Because I didn’t do my homework!

23.     My clock has gone wrong and chimes threetimes at one o’clock, four times at two o’clock and so on. It is also half anhour fast. What is the correct time when the clock has just chimed eight?(key:5:30)

24.     Tom is twice as old as Mary, but he is twoyears younger than Jim. What is Mary’s age if Jim will be twenty years old intwo years’ time? (key eight years old)

25.     A man is alone on an island with no food andno water, yet he doesn’t fear for his life. Why? (a traffic island)