A business man was interviewing applicants for the position of divisional manager. He devised a simple test to select the most suitable person for the job. He asked each applicant the question,
"What is two and two?"
The first interviewee was a journalist. His answer was "Twenty-two."
The second applicant was an engineer. He pulled out a slide rule and showed the answer to be between 3.999 and 4.001.
The next person was a lawyer. He stated that in the case of Jenkins v Commr of Stamp Duties, two and two was proven to be four.
The last applicant was an accountant. The business man asked him, "How much is two and two?" The accountant got up from his chair, went over to the door and closed it then came back and sat down. He leaned across the desk and said in a low voice....
Reluctant bather: "You're sure there are no sharks along this beach?"
Lifeguard: Highly unlikely. They don't get along with the alligators."
【Words & Phrases】 Shark:サメ reluctant:しぶしぶの、気の進まない bather:泳ぐ人 Lifeguard:ライフガード(海水浴場などの救助員) unlikely:ありそうもない、起こりそうもない、想像もできない get along with:~と仲良くする、~と良い関係にある、~と相性があう alligator:アメリカワニ
……【日本語訳】………………………………………………
■サメ
恐れるスイマー:このビーチに絶対サメはいないですか?
ライフ・ガード:いないでしょうね。サメはワニと相性が合わないっすから
■ Virility Problems
A woman suffers from a painful headache and tries a new doctor. He tells her to rub her temples and repeat "I have no headache, I have no headache, I have no..." and amazingly enough, the headache disappears after 5 min.
She then thinks, that the doctor might be able to heal her husband who suffers from virility problems. The man visits the doctor and when he comes home, he just said that he needed 5 min for himself in the bedroom. Afterwards, he had no problems at all...
This goes on perfectly for quite some time until the wife gets curious and listens on the bedroom door.
She hears the man repeat: "This is not my wife, This is not my wife,..this is no..."
…………………………………………………………………… ■ Learning from History
A father noticed that his son was spending way too much time playing computer games.
In an effort to motivate the boy into focusing more attention on his schoolwork, the father said to his son, "When Abe Lincoln was your age, he was studying books by the light of the fireplace."
The son replied, "When Lincoln was your age, he was The President of The United States."
【Words & Phrases】 spend time ~ing:~に時間を費やす in an effort to:~しようと努力して motivate:動機を与える focus on~:~に集中する
It was Grandpa's 100th birthday and everybody who gathered for the occasion complimented him on how youthful and athletic he looked.
"Do you want to know my secret?" he chuckled.
"My wife and I were married 80 years ago, and on our wedding night, we made each other a promise. Whenever we had a fight, the one who was proved wrong would go outside and take a walk."
"Well," he continued, "I have been walking out in the open air day after day for some 80 years now."
One farmer was bragging to another about the size of his farm. “I can get into my truck and drive all day and still not reach the boundary of my farm,” he said.
The other farmer nodded knowingly and replied, “I know what you mean. I had a truck like that once.”
Friends Tom, Dick and Harry die in a car accident and they go to heaven, where the welcoming angel gives them an orientation.
The angel asks the friends “When you are lying in your casket and your friends and family are mourning you, what would you like to hear them say about you?”
Tom says, “I would like them to say that I was a great doctor who helped save many lives and a good husband and father to my wife and children.”
Dick says, “I would like to hear that I was a caring and loving husband and a wonderful teacher who made a difference in my students’ lives”
Harry says, “I would like to hear them say…Look! He’s moving!”
A man was walking in the street when he heard a voice. "Stop! Stand still! If you take one more step, a brick will fall down on your head and kill you."
The man stopped and a big brick fell right in front of him. The man was astonished.
He went on, and after a while he was going to cross the road. Once again the voice shouted: "Stop! Stand still! If you take one more step a car will run over you and you will die."
The man did as he was instructed, just as a car came careening around the corner, barely missing him.
"Where are you?" the man asked. "Who are you?"
"I am your guardian angel," the voice answered.
"Oh yeah?" the man asked. "And where the hell were you when I got married?"
【Words & Phrases】 Stand still!:動かないで! fall down:落ちる astonished:驚いて careen:すごいスピードで進む
Fresh out of business school, a young man answered a want ad for an accountant.
Now he was being interviewed by a very nervous man who ran a small business that he had started himself.
"I need someone with an accounting degree," the man said. "But mainly, I'm looking for someone to do my worrying for me."
"Excuse me?" the accountant said.
"I worry about a lot of things," the man said. "But I don't want to have to worry about money. Your job will be to take all the money worries off my back."
"I see," the accountant said. "And how much does the job pay?"
"I'll start you at eighty thousand."
"Eighty thousand dollars!" the accountant exclaimed. "How can such a small business afford a sum like that?"
A woman visited a famous fortune-teller and asked to know her fortune.
The fortune-teller lay out her Tarot cards and after studying them for a few moments, turned to the woman and pronounced, “There is no easy way to say this so I'll come straight to the point. You will soon be a widow. Your husband will die a violent and horrible death in the next six months.”
Shocked, the woman took a few deep breaths to steady herself and hesitated before asking the Tarot reader her next question. Looking the fortune-teller in the eye, she steadied her voice and asked, “Will I get away with it?”
A highly successful lawyer was parking his new Mercedes. As he got out, a truck passed too close and tore off the driver’s side door.
Furious, the lawyer immediately called the police on his cell phone, and minutes later, an officer arrived.
Before the officer had a chance to say anything, the lawyer started ranting and raving. His Mercedes was badly damaged and no amount of repair could restore it to its original state.
As the lawyer finally finished his tirade, the officer shook his head in disbelief. “I cannot believe how materialistic you lawyers are,” he said in disgust. “You worry about your possessions so much that you don’t notice anything else.
“What are you talking about?” asked the lawyer.
“Look at your left arm,” the cop said. “It’s missing from the elbow down. It must have been torn off when the truck hit you.”
A man was sitting alone in his office one night when a genie popped up out of his ashtray and said, "And what will your third wish be?"
The man looked at the genie and said, "Huh? How can I be getting a third wish when I haven't had a first or second wish yet?"
"You have had two wishes already," the genie said, "but your second wish was for me to put everything back the way it was before you made your first wish. Thus, you remember nothing, because everything is the way it was before you made any wishes. You now have one wish left."
"Okay," said the man, "I don't believe this, but what the heck. I wish I could live with Lucy forever."
"Funny," said the genie as it granted his wish "That was your first wish, too!" and disappeared forever.
【Words & Phrases】 wish:望み genie:魔神 pop out of:~から飛び出る ashtray:灰皿 thus:このように what the heck:なんてこった grant:叶えてやる
"This morning I felt that today was going to be my lucky day.
I got up at seven, had seven dollars in my pocket, there were seven of us at lunch and there were seven horses in the seven o'clock race - so I backed the seventh."