A woman went into a butcher shop one evening to buy some meat. A strange man followed her into the store and stood about while she was at the counter. Suddenly she screamed, and the man turned and ran out of the store, and right into the arms of a passing patrolman. On searching him he was found to be armed. Later he was identified as a notorious hold-up man.
“Mrs. James, if you hadn’t screamed I would certainly have been robbed,”declared the butcher gratefully. “But how did you know he was a bandit?”
“I didn’t know,” protested Mrs. Jones. “I screamed when you told me what the roast was going to cost me.”
针锋相对
马克·吐温应邀去参加宴会,进餐时,他对一位贵妇人说:“夫人,您太美了!”
没想到那位夫人说:“但是非常抱歉,我不能用同样的话语回答你。”
反应灵敏、语言犀利的马克·吐温笑着说:“没关系,你可以像我一样说假话。”
Tit for Tat
Once Mark Twain was invited to dinner. During the meal he said to a rich lady, “How beautiful you are, Madam!”
Unexpectedly the lady said, “But I’m very sorry, sir. I can’t answer you in the same words.”
Mark Twain, who had quick mind and a sharp tongue, said with a smile, “It doesn’t matter. You may tell a falsehood just as I did.”