小故事

Courteous Retort
礼貌的反击
A learned scientist was attending a dinner, and as cigars were being indulged in one of the guests began to deride philosophy. He went on rudely to express the opinion that philosopher was but another way of spelling fool.
一位学识渊博的科学家出席了一个晚宴。当大家在饭后吸烟闲聊时，有位客人开始嘲笑哲学，并无礼地表示，他认为哲学家仅仅是傻瓜的代名词。
"What is your opinion, professor?" he asked smilingly. "Is there much distance between them?"
“你的看法呢，教授？”他笑着问道。“两者之间有很大距离吗”
The professor surveyed his boorish vis-a-vis keenly for a moment, then with a polite bow, responded, "Sometimes only the width of a table."
教授目光犀利地把那个坐在他饭桌对面的粗鄙汉子上下打量了一番，礼貌地欠了欠身，答道：“有时两者间的距离仅仅是一饭桌之隔。”

重点讲解

重点讲解：
1. indulge in
沉迷；放纵；
eg. Only rarely will she indulge in a glass of wine.
她只是偶尔才喝杯红酒，让自己享受一下。
eg. Don't always indulge in empty talk.
别总是纸上谈兵。
2. go on to do sth.
（做完某事后）进而，接着（做另一件事）；
eg. He would later go on to win the Nobel Prize for Physics.
他后来赢得了诺贝尔物理学奖。
eg. Go on to do the other exercise after you finish this one.
做完这个练习题后，接着做另一个练习题。
3. vis-a-vis
n. 面对面的人；
eg. We used to sit vis-a-vis in here.
我们以前在这儿面对面的坐着。
eg. At the banquet table, I had the good fortune to sit vis-a-vis an old school chum.
在宴会桌上，我恰巧坐在一位老同学的对面。