幽默笑话精粹34：主席

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

　　一位鹦鹉爱好者碰巧在伦敦宠物店看到一只颜色鲜艳的鹦鹉，于是就开口问它的价钱。

　　"Five thousand pounds,” the shop owner replied.

　　“五千英镑”，店主回答说。

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

　　“五千英镑?”那个男人问，“为什么这么贵?”

　　"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."

　　“因为这只鸟能流利的说意大利语、西班牙语和法语，德语也学得差不多了，并且马上就开始学习英语，”店主回答说，“等到欧盟统一，它将是一笔不小的财富。”

　　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场”，那个鹦鹉爱好者说，“那个笼子里的灰色的鹦鹉多少钱?”

　　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.”

　　店主告诉他那个灰色的要一万五千英镑。因为那只鸟会说阿拉伯语、汉语和韩语，而且正在学习日语。这些都是二十一世纪的语言。

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

　　“我可活不到那会儿，管不了二十一世纪的事”，那个失望的鹦鹉爱好者回答说。

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

　　“高处站在角落里的那只棕色的鹦鹉多少钱?”

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

　　“棕色的?”店主说，“两万五千英镑。”

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

　　“两万五千英镑?”他高呼道，“它怎么值那么多钱?”

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

　　“我们也不知道，”宠物店老板回答，“只是因为刚才的那两只都管它叫主席。”