Introduce the story: Today we'll talk about practical jokes.
Step 1: Intensive reading.
Try to answer the question below while you’re reading:
Question: How did the policeman discover that the whole thing was a joke?
Vocabulary:
hoax n. 骗局，戏弄
deception n. 欺骗，骗局
self-respecting adj. 自重的
indulge v. 使沉迷
pneumatic adj. 气动的
drill n. 钻
silly adj. 无意义的，无聊的
advance adj. 预先的，事先获得的
archway n. 拱形门楼
remonstrate v. 规劝，告诫
ironically adv. 讽刺地
permission n. 许可
grant v. 同意，准予
Passage:
It has never been explained why university students seem to enjoy practical jokes
more than anyone else. Students specialize in a particular type of practical joke: the
hoax. Inviting the fire brigade to put out a nonexistent fire is a crude form of
deception which no self-respecting student would ever indulge in. Students often
create amusing situations which are funny to everyone except the victims.
谁也弄不清为什么大学生好像比任何人都更喜欢恶作剧。大学生擅长一种特殊的
恶作剧——戏弄人。请消防队来扑灭一场根本没有的大火是一种低级骗局，有自
尊心的大学生决不会去做。大学生们常常做的是制造一种可笑的局面，使大家笑
上一场，当然受害者是笑不出来的。
Notes:
1 It has never been explained why…, 在这个句子中真正的主语是以 why 引导的
主语从句。
2 specialize in, 专门从事。
3 inviting…fire，是动名词短语，此处作主语， put out 作“扑灭”、“熄灭”讲。
When a student recently saw two workmen using a pneumatic drill outside his
university, he immediately telephoned the police and informed them that two students
dressed up as workmen were tearing up the road with a pneumatic drill. As soon as he
had hung up, he went over to the workmen and told them that if a policeman ordered
them to go away, they were not to take him seriously. He added that a student had
dressed up as a policeman and was playing all sorts of silly jokes on people. Both the
police and the workmen were grateful to the student for this piece of advance
information.
最近有个学生看见两个工人在大学校门外用风钻干活，马上打电话报告警察，说
有两个学生装扮成工人，正在用风钻破坏路面。挂上电话后，他又马上来到工人
那儿，告诉他们若有个警察来让他们走开，不要把他当回事；还对工人说，有个
学生常装扮成警察无聊地同别人开玩笑。警察与工人都对那个学生事先通报情况
表示感谢。
The student hid in an archway nearby where he could watch and hear everything that
went on. Sure enough, a policeman arrived on the scene and politely asked the
workmen to go away. When he received a very rude reply from one of the workmen,
he threatened to remove them by force. The workmen told him to do as he pleased
and the policeman telephoned for help. Shortly afterwards, four more policemen
arrived and remonstrated with the workmen. As the men refused to stop working, the
police attempted to seize the pneumatic drill. The workmen struggled fiercely and one
of them lost his temper. He threatened to call the police. At this, the police pointed out
ironically that this would hardly be necessary as the men were already under arrest.
Pretending to speak seriously, one of the workmen asked if he might make a
telephone call before being taken to the station. Permission was granted and a
policeman accompanied him to a pay phone. Only when he saw that the man was
actually telephoning the police did he realize that they had all been the victims of a
hoax.
那学生躲在附近一拱形门廊里，在那儿可以看见、听到现场发生的一切。果然，
警察来了，有礼貌地请工人离开此地；但其中一个工人粗鲁地回了几句。于是警
察威胁要强行使他们离开。工人说，悉听尊便。警察去打电话叫人。一会儿工夫，
又来了 4 个警察，规劝工人离开。由于工人拒绝停下手中的活，警察想夺风钻。
两个工人奋力抗争，其中一个发了火，威胁说要去叫警察。警察听后讥讽地说，
这大可不必，因为他俩已被逮捕了。其中一个工人装模作样地问道，在被带往警
察局之前，是否可以打一个电话。警察同意了，陪他来到一个投币电话前。当他
看到那个工人真的是给警察打电话，才恍然大悟，原来他们都成了一场骗局的受
害者。
Notes:
4 dress up as, 装扮成。
5 they were not to take him seriously, （他们）不要把他当回事。take 此处作“对
待” 、“接受”讲，多指对人、对事物的态度和反应。
6 grateful to the student for this piece of advance information, 对这个学生事先通报
情况表示感谢。 be grateful to sb. for sth. , 对某人因某事表示感谢。
7 as he pleased, 是方式状语从句，后面省略了 to do, 可译作“随他的便”。
8 be under arrest, 被逮捕，拘禁。
9 Only when…did he realize that… 。在这句话中 ，only 加上状语从句放在句首，
因此主句的主谓语要用倒装的句式。
40.2【阅读理解】Who's who
Step 2: Comprehension questions.
1 Do university students seem to enjoy practical jokes more than anyone else? (Yes,
they do.)
2 What kind of practical joke do they specialize in? (The hoax)
3 One example of a hoax is inviting the fire brigade — to do what? (Put out a
nonexistent fire.)
4 Who did a student recently see outside his university? (Two workmen.)
5 What were they doing? (They were using a pneumatic drill)
6 Who did the student telephone? (The police.)
7 And what did he tell them? (He told them that two students dressed up as workmen
were tearing up the road with a pneumatic drill.)
8 What did the student tell the workmen? (He told them that if a policeman came and
told them to go away, they were not to take him seriously.)
9 Were the police and the workmen grateful for the advance information? (Yes, they
were.)
10 Where did the student hide? (In an archway nearby.)
11 A policeman arrived. What did he ask the workmen to do? (Go away.)
12 Did he receive a polite reply from the workmen? (No, he didn't.)
13 What did the policeman threaten to do? (Remove them by force.)
14 When the policeman telephoned for help, how many more policemen arrived?
(Four.)
15 Did the workmen still refuse to stop working? (Yes, they did.)
16 What did the police attempt to seize? (The pneumatic drill.)
17 Who did one of the workmen threaten to call? (The police.)
18 What did another workman ask if he might do? (He asked if he might make a
telephone call.)
19 Who accompanied him to a pay phone? (A policeman.)
40.3【拓展写作】Who's who
Step 3: Composition
Imagine that the policeman who accompanied the workman to the pay phone did not
realize that they had all been victims of a practical joke. In not more than 250 words,
describe what happened. Use the ideas given below. Do not write more than four
paragraphs.
Title: Arrest the police!
Introduction: Policeman and worker returned ---the other workman still quarrelling
with police ---resisting arrest.
Development: More police arrived ---workmen told them that the first lot of
policemen were students ---the second lot of police threatened to arrest the first lot ---
asked for identity cards ---the first lot said that the workmen were students ---workers
had to prove their identity.
Conclusion: Realized they were victims of a hoax.
Key to composition
A possible answer
Arrest the police!
The policeman who accompanied the workman to the pay phone still did not
realize that they had been the victims of a practical joke. When he and the worker
returned to the scene of the hoax right outside the university gates, the other workman
was still quarrelling with the police and resisting arrest.
Following the worker's call to the police station, it was not long before more
police arrived on the scene — and it is at this point that the story becomes very
complicated! The workmen told the police who had just arrived that the first lot of
policemen were actually students dressed up as policemen. The second lot of police
therefore threatened to arrest the first lot of police, but before they did so, they asked
for their identity cards. The first lot ignored this request and said that they really were
policemen, but that the workmen were students. The workers had to prove their
identity, too, they said.
None of them had to prove their identity by showing identity cards, because at
this point two or three of the policemen started laughing, and then the workmen
started laughing, and in the end they were all laughing. They finally realized that they
had all been victims of a hoax — and not one of them could remember what the
student had looked like. ‘After all,’ said one workman, ‘they all look the same to me.’
课外练习：
1 A good hoax is a joke which depends on .
(a) deceiving people into behaving in a way which amuses everyone but themselves
(b) doing something like calling the fire brigade to a nonexistent fire
(c) at least two parties being led to believe the other is fraudulent
(d) people disguising themselves to look like other people
2 When the policeman first arrived outside the university .
(a) the student hid in an archway to see what happened next
(b) he told the workmen if they disobeyed him he would call four policemen
(c) the workmen refused to take his request that they should move seriously
(d) he was polite to the workmen as he had expected them to be students
3 When did it become clear to the police that the workmen were not students?
(a) When one of the workmen angrily said he was going to call the police.
(b) Not until one of the workmen asked if he could telephone the police.
(c) When the policeman saw whom the workman was ringing from the pay phone.
(d) Only after they had arrested the workmen and taken them to the station.
4 - why students seem practical jokes than anyone else.
(a) entertained by more
(c) more to be entertained by
(b) to have been entertained more by
(d) to be more entertained by
5 - and told them that order them to go away they were not to take them
seriously.
(a) should the police
(b) the police might
(c) if the policeman did
(d) was a policeman to
6 -were grateful to the student for in advance.
(a) they had been informed this
(b) having informed them this
(c) being informed of this
(d) informing them of this
7 The workmen told him to do ...
(a) as it pleased him
(b) how he pleased
(c) as he pleased
(d) that pleased him
8 Only then that it had been a trick.
(a) he realized
(b) he understood
(c) did he realize
(d) he did realize
9 -a student had dressed up as a policeman and was amusing himself .
(a) by joking with people
(b) at other people's expense
(c) by making fun of people
(d) to other people's surprise
10 When he received a very from one of the workmen ...
(a) impolite retort
(b) harsh response
(c) rough report
(d) sharp return
11 Four more policemen arrived to protest the workmen's behaviour.
(a) with
(b) for
(c) to
(d) against
12 The police attempted to the pneumatic drill.
(a) get hold of
(b) keep hold of
(c) hold back
(d) hold on to
答案：1a 2c 3c 4d 5a 6d 7c 8c 9b 10a 11d 12a