The priest in a small Irish village was very fond of the chickens he kept in the hen house out the back of the parish rectory. He had a cock rooster and about ten hens.

在一個(gè)小小的愛爾蘭村莊中，牧師非常地喜愛雞舍中的小雞。雞舍位于教區(qū)后面，里面有一只公雞，十只母雞。

One Saturday night the cock rooster was missing and the priest suspected that it was because cock fights were being held in the village. So he decided to do something about it at church the next morning.

然而，公雞在一個(gè)星期六的晚上不見了，牧師懷疑可能是因?yàn)榇謇锱e辦了斗雞比賽。他謀劃在第二天早晨去教堂做些事情。

At Mass, he asked the congregation, "Has anybody got a cock?" All the men stood up.

當(dāng)著大家的面，他問道：“誰有一只公雞嗎？”所有的男人都站了起來。

"No, No," he said, "that wasn't what I meant. Has anybody seen a cock?" All the women stood up.

“不是的，”他說，“我不是那個(gè)意思，有誰見到過一只公雞嗎？”所有的女人都站了起來。

"No, No," he said, "that wasn't what I meant. Has anybody seen a cock that doesn't belong to them?" Half the women stood up.

“不是的！”他說，“我不是那個(gè)意思。有誰見過一只不屬于自己的公雞嗎？”半數(shù)的女人站了起來。

"No, No," he said, "that wasn't what I meant. Has anybody seen my cock?" All the altar boys stood up.

“不是的?！彼f，“我也不是那個(gè)意思。有誰見過我的公雞嗎？”所有的侍者男孩都站了起來。