安老師中英文寫作翻譯教室

3. FINAL EXAM FAILURE

期末考失敗

Last semester I took macroeconomics and didn't have a clue what I was doing (as cited on the final exam). There were 80 multiple choice questions. For some reason I decided to play the game of probability and choose the letter "A" for everything. In that game, the only thing probable was that I failed.

上學期我選修了微經濟學，但跟本對我在學什麼沒有一點頭緒(期末考就反映出來了)。共有80道複選題。不知道為什麼，我決定玩一玩或然率遊戲，於是每一題都選答“A”。這個遊戲的唯一可能就是考試失敗。

The following day, the professor asked to see me after class. "Is everything okay?" "Sure," I said, "why? "Well, here's your test," he said and handed me a piece of paper that was covered with red ink. "Can you explain why you chose an 'A' for everything?"

隔天，教授下課後問我“都還好吧?”我說”當然，為什麼你這樣問?””嘔！這是你的考卷，”他一面說一面遞給我一張紅筆改過的紙。“能不能請你解釋一下為什麼你每題都選‘A’?”

Knowing that there was nothing I could do at this point, I said, "Well, I've always wanted to be an 'A' student."

我知道這時候說什麼都是白說，我說“嘔！因為我一直都想當一個全‘A’的學生。”

[這篇笑話的第一句“Last semester”表明這是上學期的是，所以全篇的動詞都用過去式，安老師已經把所有過去式動詞標示出來。同學要練習使用簡單過去式描述過去發生的事，不要想得太複雜。其中“was covered”是被動式，也要注意被動式的用法。在引用說話時用的時制，則要依當時說話的狀況而定。]