當(dāng)你開車在野外卻意外地發(fā)現(xiàn)沒有汽油了，除了向他人伸出援手別無選擇。在這種得救的時(shí)刻，或許每個(gè)人都會(huì)說一句“感謝上帝”，哪怕裝汽油的容器竟然是個(gè)便盆（bedpand）。呵呵~一起微笑著來聽聽這篇幽默風(fēng)趣的小短文吧，這個(gè)故事告訴我們，妻子的話有時(shí)候還是得聽。
Hints：Pat Pending | Miss North Dakota |U.S. Marine Corps
My pickup was resting right at the end of Pat Pending 's driveway. Pat is our neighbourhood inventor. He has quite a lot of patents. Pat's wife is named Pat, too. Some years back, she was runner-up in the Miss North Dakota contest. She would have won, but her tractor broke down during the talent competition. I walked up the drive and knocked on the door of Pat's shop. I knew he'd be in there inventing something, he always is. Pat came to the door. He greeted me and then he had to show me his latest invention, a lawn mower engine that runs on toenail clippings. Then he had to give me a look at an alarm clock that uses an electric cattle prod to get people out of bed and then apologizes. The U.S. Marine Corps is interested in it if he can remove the apology part. Pat has a lot of great inventions. I finally got around to asking him for some gas and he told me to help myself. I told him that I was sorry to bother him, but not as sorry as I would be if my wife found our that I had run out of gas.
我的皮卡就停在通往帕特·彭丁家店地車道盡頭。帕特是我們家附近的發(fā)明家，他擁有很多專利。帕特的太太，名字也叫帕特。幾年前，她奪過美國(guó)北達(dá)科他州小姐亞軍。她本來可以?shī)Z冠的，但在才能競(jìng)賽中，她的拖拉機(jī)出毛病了。 我沿著車道前行，敲了敲帕特的店門。我知道他肯定在里面弄什么小發(fā)明，他總是那樣。帕特應(yīng)門而來，招呼我進(jìn)去，還想我展示了他的最新發(fā)明——一臺(tái)靠腳趾甲屑運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)的割草機(jī)。接著還給我看了一個(gè)用電棒趕人起床緊接著道歉的鬧鐘。如果把“道歉”這部分去掉，美國(guó)海軍陸戰(zhàn)隊(duì)會(huì)對(duì)此感興趣。帕特有很多偉大的發(fā)明。我好不容易才找到機(jī)會(huì)開口問他要些汽油。他讓我自便。我跟他說，很抱歉打擾了他。但如果讓太太發(fā)現(xiàn)我半路沒汽油了，那就更讓人后悔了。