Lesson 92 Asking for trouble 自找麻烦

叶凝云

原文

    It must have been about two in the morning when I returnedhome. I tried to wake up my wife by ringing the doorbell, butshe was fast asleep, so I got a ladder from the shed in the garden, put it against the wall, andbegan climbing towards the bedroom window. I was almost there when a sarcastic voice belowsaid, 'I don't think the windows need cleaning at this time of the night.' I looked down and nearlyfell off the ladder when I saw a policeman. I immediately regretted answering in the way I did, but Isaid, 'I enjoy cleaning windows at night.'
    'So do I,' answered the policeman in the same tone. 'Excuse my interrupting you. I hate tointerrupt a man when he's busy working, but would you mind coming with me to the station?'
    'Well, I'd prefer to stay here,' I said. 'You see. I've forgotten my key.'
    'Your what?' he called.
    'My key,' I shouted.
    Fortunately, the shouting woke up my wife who opened the window just as the policeman hadstarted to climb towards me.

New words and expressions 生词和短语

fast  adv. 熟（睡）
ladder  n. 梯子
shed  n. 棚子
sarcastic  adj. 讽刺的，讥笑的
tone  n. 语气，腔调

参考译文

    我回到家时，肯定已是凌晨两点左右了。我按响了门铃，试图唤醒我的妻子，但她睡得很熟。于是，我从花园的小棚里搬来了一个梯子，把它靠在墙边，开始向卧室的窗口爬去。快要爬到窗口时，下面一个人用讽刺的口吻说：“我看不必在夜里这个时候擦窗子吧。”我向下面看去。当我看清是一个警察时，差一点儿从梯子上掉下去。我回答了他的话，但马上又后悔不该那样说，我是这样说的：“我喜欢在夜里擦窗子。”
    “我也是的，”警察用同样的声调回答，“请原谅我打断了您。当一个人在忙着干活时，我是不愿意去打断他的，但请您跟我到警察局去一趟好吗？”
    “可我更愿意呆在这儿，”我说，“您瞧，我忘带钥匙了。”
    “什么？”他大声问。
    “钥匙！”我喊道。
    幸运得很，这喊声惊醒了我的妻子。就在警察开始向我爬上来时，她打开了窗子。