Lesson68 Who's the Offender?
Three young men were playing with a gun in a street in a quiet area of thetown after dark when one of them fired it by mistake without aiming it atanything． The bullet broke a window in an old lady's house．The young men made off at once when they saw the damage they had done， butthe old lady looked out of a window when she heard the explosion and sherecognized one of them as the son of a man and woman who lived not far fromher．The old lady complained to the police， and a detective went to the youngman's house and found the gun， so he took the young man and his friends tothe police station．There his chief officer questioned the young men to find out which of themowned the gun， but none of them was willing to admit because they did nothave a license for owning a gun．At last the chief officer decided to put an end to the conversation． Heturned to the detective and demanded to know whether he had got an officer'spermission to take the gun away from the young man who owned it． “No， sir，” he answered nervously， “I didn't get it．”
“In that case，” the officer declared angrily， “you were quite wrong totake it away from him． You'd better return it immediately or there'll betrouble!”This made the young men smile happily at each other， and as soonas the detective held the gun out and said “Here you are，” one of themput his hand out in order to get it back．That is how the officer finallydiscovered whom the gun belonged to．
offender 罪犯
aim 瞄准
bullet ? 子弹
explosion 爆炸，爆裂
chief ? 主要的，首席的
nervously ? 紧张地
declare ? 宣称
谁做的坏事？
天黑后，在安静的城镇街道上，三个年轻人在玩枪，这时，其中一个人没有瞄准，误发了一枪。子弹打碎了一个老太太房间的玻璃窗。
当年轻人看到他们打破了窗玻璃时，马上就逃跑了，但是老太太听到破裂声后就朝窗外看，她认出其中一个年轻人是住在不远处的一对夫妻的儿子。
老太太向警察投诉了，一个侦探到那年轻人家里，发现了枪，他将这个年轻人和他的朋友带到了警察局。
在那里，侦探的长官审问三个年轻人，希望找出是谁拥有这支枪，但是他们没有一个人愿意承认因为他们都没有拥有枪支的许可证。
最后，长官决定结束谈话。他转向侦探，追问他是否得到官方允许拿走那个拥有枪支的年轻人的枪。“没有，长官，”侦探紧张地回答，“我没有得到允许。”
“这样的话，”长官生气地说，“你拿走那个年轻人的枪是不对的。你最好立即把枪还给他，否则你将会有麻烦。”
年轻人们一听非常高兴地看着对方。当侦探刚把枪递过去说“给你”时，其中一个年轻人就伸出手想把枪拿回去。
这样，长官就最终发现了这支枪是属于谁的。 |