Unit 4 Good Excuse 单元 4 好借口

There was a middle-aged¹ man who bought a Mercedes convertible² 2000. 有个中年男子买了一辆奔驰2000敞篷车。

He took off down the road, flooring it up to 80 mph and enjoying the wind blowing through what little hair he had left on his head. 他开车上路，加速到时速80英里，享受着风儿吹过头上那头超短发的快感。

"This is great," he thought and floored it some more. “好舒服。”他边想边继续加速。

He looked in his rearview mirror and sees a State Patrol³ behind him. 这时，他从后照镜看到后面有个公路警察。

"I can get away from him with no problem," thought the man and flew down the road at over 100 mph. “要把他甩掉还不容易。这个人边想边加速”到100多英里急驰而去。

Then he thought, "What am I doing? I'm too old for this kind of thing," and pulled over to the side of the road and waited for the police officer. 接着他又想说：“我到底在干吗？这把年纪实在不适合做这种事。”于是把车停到路边等警察来。

The officer pulled in behind the Mercedes and walked up to the man. 警察把车停在这辆奔驰后面，走到这个人旁边。

"Sir, my shift⁴ ends in 30 minutes and today is Friday the 13th." "If you can give me a reason why you were speeding that I've never heard before, I'll let you go." “先生，我再过30 分钟就下班了，今天又是13号星期五。如果你可以给我一个我从没听过的超速理由，我就不为难你。”

The man looked back at the State Patrol and remarked, "Last week my wife ran off with a State Patrol officer, and I thought you were bringing her back!" 这个人看着公路警察说：“上礼拜我老婆和一名公路警察私奔了，我以为你要把她带回来还我呢！”

The State Patrol said, "Have a nice day!" 公路警察说：“祝你今天愉快！”