英语悠选脱口秀 第109期:角落里的小丑雕像

 　　讲解

　　这周给大家讲几个美国江湖上广为流传的Urban legend-城市传奇。今天先来讲第一个----房间里的小丑雕像。

　　And the key word in this story is Clown

　　Clown C-L-O-W-N 小丑

　　A clown is a performer表演者 in a circus马戏团 who wears funny clothes and bright make-up, and does silly傻傻的 things in order to make people laugh.

　　Here is an example:

　　My mother promised me a birthday party with a clown.

　　我妈妈答应我给我办一个有小丑的生日派对。

　　话说，有一个美国中学女孩叫做Lucy. She is babysitting照看孩子 for a family. This family is very rich and has a very large house. One day, the parents are going out for dinner. And the father tells Lucy that she can watch TV in the room next to the baby’s room when the baby is sleeping.交代完后，这家的父母就出门了。

　　Lucy 很快就把宝宝哄睡着了。So she goes to the other room to watch TV. She tries watching TV, but she is disturbed（干扰） by a clown statue（雕像） in the corner of the room.她试着不去看房间角落的小丑雕像，但那个雕像在晚上看起来特别的恐怖。

　　So she called the father and asked, "Hi sir, the baby are in bed, but is it okay if I switch交换 rooms? This clown statue is really creeping¹ me out令人毛骨悚然."这位父亲非常严肃的回答说："Get the kids, go next door and call 911."Lucy asks, "What's going on?" The father responds, "Just go next door and once you call the police, call me back." 于是，Lucy到另一个房间抱上宝宝，给警察打了电话。When the police are on the way, she calls the father back and asks, "So, really, what's going on?"这位父亲说："We don't have a clown statue."我们家没有小丑雕像！

　　原来，他家其中一个孩子原来也曾抱怨过他睡觉时，老有一个小丑盯着他看。But 他和他老婆并没有当回事儿，以为孩子是做噩梦了呢。很快，the police arrive and catch the "clown," who turns out to be a dwarf².一个侏儒小丑！原来，the clown was a homeless person dressed as a clown.他趁主人不注意潜入到这家来，偷偷吃东西。As the house was so large, he was able to avoid detection³. He had been in the TV room right before the babysitter came in there. 当Lucy进入这个电视房的时候，他刚好在这里，因为没有时间躲避，就原地不动呆住了。

　　He just froze in place and pretended to be a statue.仔细想一下，还真是挺恐怖的。大晚上的一个小矮人小丑站的房间角落盯着你看。还是不要想了，太恐怖了。还好他并没有伤害任何人。怎么样，你觉得恐怖吗？下次还有更精彩的城市传奇哦，See you next time！

1 creeping   

n.& adj.爬行（的）v.蹑手蹑足地走( creep的现在分词 )；缓慢地行进；爬行；匍匐

参考例句：

• I heard my landlady creeping stealthily up to my door. 我听到我的女房东偷偷地来到我的门前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It is hard to prevent concrete from creeping. 很难防止水泥变形。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 dwarf   

n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小

参考例句：

• The dwarf's long arms were not proportional to his height.那侏儒的长臂与他的身高不成比例。
• The dwarf shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. 矮子耸耸肩膀，摇摇头。

3 detection   

n.察觉，发觉；侦查，探测

参考例句：

• He tried to escape detection by disguising himself as an old man.他企图乔装一老人逃过侦察者的耳目。
• The nose is a remarkable sensitive detection device.嗅觉是一种非常灵敏的控测器官。