幽默笑話精粹34：主席

　　A parrot fancier that happened into a London pet shop noticed a particularly colorful bird and asked its price.

　　一位鸚鵡愛好者碰巧在倫敦寵物店看到一只顏色鮮艷的鸚鵡，于是就開口問它的價錢。

　　"Five thousand pounds,” the shop owner replied.

　　“五千英鎊”，店主回答說。

　　"Five thousand pounds?" the man asked. "Why so much?"

　　“五千英鎊?”那個男人問，“為什么這么貴?”

　　"Well，this bird speaks fluent Italian，Spanish and French, is brushing up on his German and starting to study English,” came the reply. "With the European Community's unification，he' 11 be a great asset."

　　“因為這只鳥能流利的說意大利語、西班牙語和法語，德語也學得差不多了，并且馬上就開始學習英語，”店主回答說，“等到歐盟統(tǒng)一，它將是一筆不小的財富。”

　　I don’t care about the Common Market ,”the parrot fancier said. "What about that gray one in that other cage?"

　　“我可不在乎什么共同市場”，那個鸚鵡愛好者說，“那個籠子里的灰色的鸚鵡多少錢?”

　　The gray one was 15，000 pounds，he was told，because the bird spoke Arabic，Chinese, and Korean and was learning Japanese-“the languages of the 21st century.”

　　店主告訴他那個灰色的要一萬五千英鎊。因為那只鳥會說阿拉伯語、漢語和韓語，而且正在學習日語。這些都是二十一世紀的語言。

　　“I’ m too old to worry about the 21stcentuy,” the frustrated parrot lover replied.

　　“我可活不到那會兒，管不了二十一世紀的事”，那個失望的鸚鵡愛好者回答說。

　　"What about that mangy brown one up on that perch in the corner?"

　　“高處站在角落里的那只棕色的鸚鵡多少錢?”

　　"The brown one，”said the shopkeeper, "was 25 , 000 pounds.”

　　“棕色的?”店主說，“兩萬五千英鎊。”

　　"Twenty-five thousand pounds!” ex-claimed the customer. "What does he do to worth that?"

　　“兩萬五千英鎊?”他高呼道，“它怎么值那么多錢?”

　　"We’re not sure,”the pet-shop owner replied. "But the other two call him chairman.

　　“我們也不知道，”寵物店老板回答，“只是因為剛才的那兩只都管它叫主席。”