英语小达人 128 Niece and Nephew

 　　Niece and Nephew

　　第7单元 外甥女和外甥

　　There was a woman who was pregnant¹ with twins, and shortly before they were due, she had an accident and went into a coma².

　　有名妇女怀了双胞胎，结果在小孩要出生前不久，因为发生意外而陷入昏迷。

　　She was a single woman so there was no children's father around to take care of her. While in the coma, her brother came to visit her.

　　她还是单身，所以小孩父亲没有在身边照顾她。陷入昏迷期间，弟弟有来探望她。

　　During one of his visits the woman went into labor³. She gave birth to her twins, and the only person around to name her children was her brother.

　　在探望期间，她刚好那时分娩，生下了一对双胞胎；当时她身边唯一一个可以替小孩取名的人就是她弟弟。

　　When the mother came out of her coma to find she had given birth and that her brother had named the twins, she became very worried, because he wasn't a very smart guy. She was sure he had named them something absurd⁴ or stupid.

　　这位妈妈从昏迷中苏醒过来，发现自己已经生了，而且弟弟还帮小孩取了名字。她很担心，因为弟弟不是很聪明，肯定帮小孩取了些可笑或愚蠢的名字。

　　When she saw her brother she asked him about the twins.

　　她一见到弟弟，便问他有关双胞胎的事。

　　He said, “The first one was a girl.” The mother said, “What did you name her!?”

　　弟弟说：“先生出来的是女孩。”这位妈妈说：“那你帮她取了什么名字？”

　　Her brother said, “Denise!”

　　弟弟说：“丹妮丝！”

　　The mother said, “Oh, wow, that's not bad! What about the second one? ”Her brother said, “The second one was a boy.”

　　这位妈妈说：“哦，不错啊，取得还真不赖！那第二个呢？”弟弟说：“后生出来的是男孩。”

　　The mother said, “Oh, and what did you name him?”

　　这位妈妈说：“哦，那你帮他取了什么名字？”

　　Her brother said, “Denephew.”

　　弟弟说：“丹乃夫。”

　　（注：这是英文的双关语，niece 和nephew 刚好是她弟弟的外甥女和外甥，前面加个de 就变成了名字。）

1 pregnant   

adj.怀孕的，怀胎的

参考例句：

• She is a pregnant woman.她是一名孕妇。
• She is pregnant with her first child.她怀了第一胎。

2 coma   

n.昏迷，昏迷状态

参考例句：

• The patient rallied from the coma.病人从昏迷中苏醒过来。
• She went into a coma after swallowing a whole bottle of sleeping pills.她吃了一整瓶安眠药后就昏迷过去了。

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 absurd   

adj.荒谬的，荒诞的，荒唐可笑的，不合理的

参考例句：

• It is ridiculously absurd to believe that the number 13 is unlucky.相信数字13是个不吉祥的数字是荒唐可笑的。
• It was absurd of you to do such a thing.你做那样的事是愚蠢的。