【生词预览】

summon召唤，obedient顺从的，talk back顶嘴

【笑话原文】

Who Should Be Given the Present

A father of five children came home with a toy, summoned his children and asked which one of them should be given the present, "Who is the most obedient, never talks back to Mother and does everything he or she is told?" He inquired.

There was silence, and then a chorus of voices: "You play with it, Daddy!"

【中文译文】

谁该得到礼物

一位有五个孩子的父亲带着一件玩具回到家里，把孩子们召集起来问这件礼物该给谁。“谁最听话，从不和妈妈顶嘴，让干什么就干什么？”他问道。
大家都不吭声。过了一会儿，孩子们异口同声地说：“爸爸，您玩吧。”

【词汇讲解】

1.summon召唤。The general summoned all his officers.将军把所有的军官召集在一起。“传讯（出庭），传唤”He was summoned as a witness by the court.他被法庭传唤作证。“鼓起（勇气），振作（精神）”summon the nerve to do sth. 鼓起勇气做某事

2.obedient顺从的。 She is an obedient woman.她是位温顺的女人。We're absolutely obedient to the superior.我们绝对服从上级。

3. talk back顶嘴。Don't talk back to your mother like that!不许和妈妈那样顶嘴。

4. inquire询问。还有“调查”的意思，常与“into”搭配使用：The police inquired into her background.警方审查了她的历史。

5.chorus异口同声地说。 The papers all chorused the praises of the President.各报都异口同声地对总统表示赞扬。 也可以作名词，是“合唱, 合唱队, 歌咏队”的意思：Never before have I heard this song sung in chorus.我从来没有听过这首歌的合唱。

6.play with一起玩。也可以指“玩弄”： It is wrong for a man to play with a woman's affections.男人玩弄女人的感情是错误的。
(不太认真地)考虑：She has often played with the idea of going abroad.
她经常有出国的念头。