44.The Judge's Pistol

　　One day Mel Martin stopped by the chambers¹ of a judge with whom he had lunch appointment. As his friend changed from robe jacket, Martin noticed a shiny black pistol bolstered² to the judge's shoulder.

　　The judge was not a firearms enthusiast³, so Martin asked him why he was carrying it. His friend said that because of recent threats he had borrowed the pistol from the repository of confiscated⁴ weapons. Holding it up, the judge said, "I chose this one because it's so mean-looking, yet it hardly weighs a thing. I hope I don't need it, because I don't even know how to load it."

　　"It's not hard," Martin said, examining it closely. "We can fill it at the water fountain on the way out."

Notes:

　　(1) chambers n.法官办公室

　　(2) robe n.长袍

　　(3) shiny n.闪亮的

　　(4) holster v.装在皮套里

　　(5) repository n.仓库

　　(6) confiscated adj.没收的；充公的

　　(7) mean-looking adj.吓人的

　　(8) load v.装弹于（枪炮）

Exercises:

根据短文回答下列问题：

　　① Where did Martin stop by one day?

　　② Why was he there?

　　③ Why was the judge carrying a pistol?

　　④ Had the judge used a weapon before? 14ow do you know?

　　⑤ What did Martin think of the gun?

44.法官的手枪

　　一天，麦尔·马丁来到一个法官办公室。他跟法官约好了一起吃午餐。当法官换掉长袍时，马丁发现法官肩上绑着一支闪光发亮的手枪。

　　法官并不是个武器狂热者，因此马丁问他为什么带上它。他的这位朋友回答说因为近来不断有恐吓发生，所以他从充公武器仓库那里借来一把手枪。法官把枪拿在手里，说：“我选了这把枪是因为它看起来很吓人，却一点也不重。我希望我并不需要它，因为我还不知道怎么装子弹呢。”

　　“这并不难，”马丁说，一边仔细检查那支枪，“我们可以在出口的自来水管处装满它。”

练习参考答案：

　　① He stopped by the chambers of a judge

　　② Because he had a lunch appointment with the judge.

　　③ Because of recent threats.

　　④ No, he hadn't. He didn't even know how to load the gun.

　　⑤ The gun was a toy, not a real one.

1 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

2 bolstered   

v.支持( bolster的过去式和过去分词 )；支撑；给予必要的支持；援助

参考例句：

• He bolstered his plea with new evidence. 他举出新的证据来支持他的抗辩。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The data must be bolstered by inferences and indirect estimates of varying degrees of reliability. 这些资料必须借助于推理及可靠程度不同的间接估计。 来自辞典例句

3 enthusiast   

n.热心人，热衷者

参考例句：

• He is an enthusiast about politics.他是个热衷于政治的人。
• He was an enthusiast and loved to evoke enthusiasm in others.他是一个激情昂扬的人，也热中于唤起他人心中的激情。

4 confiscated   

没收，充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Their land was confiscated after the war. 他们的土地在战后被没收。
• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。