听播客学英语 276 恶作剧

 　　A boy and his friends find a coin. They make a small hole in it. They then tie a piece of cotton thread through the hole, and take the coin and the thread to the park near their home. They put the coin down on a path where someone walking by will see it, and hide themselves in the bushes nearby. Someone – an old gentleman perhaps – walks by. He sees the coin on the ground and bends down to pick it up. The boys pull the thread and the coin jumps away out of reach. With any luck the old gentleman falls over. The boys run off, laughing.

　　My father-in-law says that he did this (and lots of other naughty things!) when he was young. The word MISCHIEF¹ means something which we do for fun and which annoys, teases² or makes fun of someone. The boys in my story were UP TO MISCHIEF. “You little monkeys – up to mischief again”, the old man might have shouted at them as they ran off. Or he might have said things that I could not possibly repeat on a family podcast like this one. The adjective which comes from mischief is MISCHIEVOUS³. The boys in my story were MISCHIEVOUS. And we can also use MISCHIEVOUS to describe the things that they did – a mischievous game, perhaps, or a mischievous thing to do.

　　A joke for you. A priest⁴ is walking down the street. He sees a small boy stretching to reach the doorbell on a house. But the doorbell is high up, and the boy is only small, and he cannot stretch far enough. So the priest crosses the road and rings the doorbell for the boy. He looks down and says, “Well, my son, what happens now?”

　　“We run, father”.

1 mischief   

n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹

参考例句：

• Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
• He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。

2 teases   

v.取笑，戏弄( tease的第三人称单数 )；梳理（羊毛等）

参考例句：

• My boyfriend's brother is really out of it; he always teases us. 我男友的弟弟很无聊；他总是捉弄我们。 来自辞典例句
• The little boy teases for ice-cream. 小男孩不住地吵着要买冰淇淋。 来自辞典例句

3 mischievous   

adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的

参考例句：

• He is a mischievous but lovable boy.他是一个淘气但可爱的小孩。
• A mischievous cur must be tied short.恶狗必须拴得短。

4 priest   

n.神父，牧师，司铎，司祭，领导者，神甫；vt.使成为神职人员

参考例句：

• He confessed to a priest that he had sinned.他向神父忏悔他犯了罪。
• The priest visited all the old people in the parish.牧师探望了教区里的所有老人。