【读点笑话学英语】吾欲与狗试比高

A man went to visit a friend and was amazed to find him playing chess with his dog.

某人去朋友家拜访，发现朋友竟然在跟自家的狗下象棋，大为错愕。

He watched the game in astonishment for a while.

他旁观了一会儿，当时就震惊了。

"I can hardly believe my eyes!" he exclaimed. "That's the smartest dog I've ever seen."

“我简直不敢相信！”他大叫，“我从没见过那么聪明的狗！”

"Nah， he's not so smart，" the friend replied. "I've beaten him three games out of five."

“哪里聪明了，”朋友回答，“五局中我赢了三局呢！”

分享一段网上的有才翻译：(其中加入了译者自己的想象)

我的一个哥们儿去他表哥家串门，一进门就见他表哥正在跟其爱犬下棋，不禁有点吃惊，便立在一旁默默观战，越看越觉得不可思议。那狗神闲气定，一副大师派头，而且还频出奇招，令他表哥难以应对。

这哥们儿不禁叫了起来：“饿滴神啊！你的这条狗真的太聪明了啊！”

“聪明个屁！”他表哥不屑一顾，“五局我都赢了三局了！”

NOTES:

1. in astonishment 惊讶地

我们来看这样一句话：His mouth dropped to the floor in astonishment. 这就是我们所说的“惊讶得嘴都掉地上了”。

另外，to one's astonishment 表示“使某人惊讶的是……”：

To my astonishment， the man lifted the rock effortlessly. 使我吃惊的是，那汉子毫不费劲地把石块举了起来。

用 astonishment 表示惊讶还能怎么说呢？再来举两个例子吧：

He was overcome with astonishment. 他惊呆了。

I am all astonishment. 我真感到惊奇。

最后，我们经常会说“惊得说不出话来”，这个又该怎么说呢？以下两种说法都可以：

He was struck dumb with astonishment. 他惊讶得目瞪口呆。

Astonishment held me dumb. 我惊愕得说不出话来。

2. I can hardly/barely believe my eyes! = I can't believe my eyes! = I can't believe what I saw! 我简直不敢相信自己的眼睛！

同样，I can't believe my ears! 就表示“我不敢相信自己所听到的，难以置信”，例：

The cat is babysitting the kids? I can't believe my ears! 猫在照料小孩？真是难以置信！

3. three games out of five 五局中的三局

out of 可以表示“部分”，又如：

This is but one instance out of many. 那不过是众多例子中的一个。

nine times out of ten 则是一个习语，表示“十之八九，几乎总是”，例：

He talks about you nine times out of ten when we have a chitchat. 每次我们闲聊他几乎都谈及你。