Mr. Day was a teacher at a school in a big city in the north of England. He usually went to France or Germany for a few weeks during his summer holidays, and he spoke French and German quite well.
But one year Mr. Day said to one of his colleagues, "I'm going to have a holiday in Athens1. But I don't speak Greek, so I'll go to evening classes and have Greek lessons for a month before I go." He studied very hard for a month, and then his holidays began and he went to Greece.
When he came back a few weeks later, his colleague said to him, "Did you have any trouble with your Greek when you were in Athens, Dick?"
No, I didn't have any trouble with it. answered Mr. Day. "But the Greeks did!"
Notes:
1. Greek 希臘人,希臘語
2. Athens 雅典
戴先生是英格蘭北部一個(gè)大城市里的中學(xué)教師。暑假期間他通常到法國或德國去度幾周的假,他的法語和德語都講得相當(dāng)好。
然而有一年,戴先生對(duì)他的一位同事說:“我準(zhǔn)備上雅典去度假??墒俏也粫?huì)講希臘語,所以去雅典前我將先去夜校進(jìn)修一個(gè)月的希臘語課程?!彼苡霉Φ貙W(xué)了一個(gè)月后,他的假期也接著開始了,于是他就去了希臘。
幾周后,他回來了。他的同事問他說:“迪克,你在雅典時(shí),使用希臘語有沒有遇到困難?”
戴先生回答說:“沒有,我的希臘語用來得心應(yīng)手,倒是那些希臘人遇到了麻煩?!?
Useful link:
希臘語,廣泛用于希臘、阿爾巴尼亞、塞浦路斯等國以及土耳其包括小亞細(xì)亞一帶的某些地區(qū)。它是西方文明第一種偉大的語言,被許多人視為所有語言中最有效、最值得敬佩的交際工具。由于結(jié)構(gòu)清楚、概念透徹清晰,加上有多種表達(dá)方式,它既適合嚴(yán)謹(jǐn)?shù)乃枷爰业男枰?,又滿足有才華的詩人的要求。