英文幽默笑话：借公牛一用

 Once upon a time, there lived a rich man, but he didn't know any words. 

　　One day, one of his friends wanted to borrow an ox from him, so he wrote a note and asked his servant to take it to this rich man. 

　　After the servant gave the note to the rich man, he pretended¹ to be reading it and after a while, he said, OK, I know. Go and tell your master, I'll go myself shortly². 

　　从前，有个人很富有，但他不识字。 一天，他的一位朋友想向他借一头公牛，便写了个条，让仆人送到富人那里。 

　　仆人把条子给了富人。富人便假装看了一会儿，然后说道：好啦，我知道了。回去告诉你的主人，我马上自己过去。

1 pretended   

adj.假装的；徒有外表的；传说的；号称的v.假装( pretend的过去式和过去分词 )；伪装；（尤指儿童）（在游戏中）装扮；自诩

参考例句：

• He pretended that resigning was part of his long-term career strategy. 他假装辞职是他长远事业规划的一部分。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He politely pretended not to have heard this remark. 他有礼貌地假装没有听到这句话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 shortly   

adv.立即，不久；简略地，简言之

参考例句：

• You go along with him. I'll come shortly.你陪陪他，我马上就来。
• He answered my questions rather shortly.他相当简慢地回答我的问题。