Peter joined the army when he was eighteen, and for several months he was taught how to be a good soldier. He did quite well in everything except shooting.
One day he and his friends were practicing their shooting, and all of them were doing quite well except Peter. After he had shot at the target nine times and had not hit it once, the officer who was trying to teach the young soldiers to shoot said, "You're quite hopeless, Peter! Don't waste your last bullet! Go behind that wall and shoot yourself with it!"
Peter felt ashamed1. He went behind the wall, and a few seconds later the officer and the other young soldiers heard the sound of a shot.
Heavens! the officer said. "Has that silly2 man really shot himself?"
He ran behind the wall anxiously3, but Peter was all right. "I'm sorry, sir," he said, "but I missed again."
Notes:
1. ashamed 羞愧的
2. silly 愚蠢
3. anxiously 焦急地
彼得十八歲那年參了軍,需要接受幾個月的訓練,以成為一名好士兵。彼得在其他方面都做得很好,但是射擊不行。
一天,他和伙伴們練習射擊,除了彼得,其他人都沒有問題。他射了九次,一次也沒有命中目標。這時,教新兵射擊的教官說:“彼得,你看來是沒希望了,不要連最后一發(fā)子彈都浪費掉!到那堵墻后面去,用它對著自己開一槍吧?!?
彼得感到非常慚愧。他走到那堵墻后面,幾分鐘后,教官和新兵們聽到一聲槍響。
“上帝??!”教官叫起來,“難道那個笨蛋真的朝自己開槍了?”
他急忙跑到那堵墻后面,發(fā)現彼得安然無恙。“對不起,長官?!彼f,“我還是沒打中!”
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在美國當兵就如參加聯(lián)邦工作一樣,也領工資(雖然不高),此外可以免費上大學。程序是:找當地征兵官或在網上交談,然后約定時間參加考試,內容包括一般科技常識、詞匯知識、推算能力、文字理解、數字操作、電碼速度、數學及技術理解、電子信息等等;考試通過后,再體檢、宣誓、簽合同,并選擇兵種工作。