古德明《征服英语》之英语军事故事，古德明，香港英语教育作家，他开了一个《征服英语专栏》，在专栏中专门用英语写了世界近代史上的军事小故事，用英语讲述历史中那些惊心动魄的战争。

「绅士」

Near the end of World WarⅡ, at dinner one evening in Belgium, General Montgomery asked his staff for their definition of a gentleman. He clearly thought they were not doing very well, and indeed they were not, so he said,"Well, we'll ask Winston when he comes out next week."On Winston Churchill's first night, they had not been sitting down long before Montgomery duly said,"I've been asking these fellows for a definition of a gentleman, and they aren't very good at it. What's yours?"Churchill thought for a moment and said,"I know one when I see one." and then added,"I suppose one might say: someone who is only rude intentionally.

"第二次世界大战将近结束。蒙哥马利将军有一天在比利时吃晚饭，问手下对「绅士」的定义。他显然觉得手下的答案不怎么高明，事实上也不高明，于是他说：「下星期温斯顿来访，可以问问他。」温斯顿．丘吉尔到访的第一晚，他们坐下不久，蒙哥马利就问：「我问过这些人对『绅士』的定义，他们不大懂得回答。你的答案是什么？」丘吉尔想了想，说：「谁是绅士，我看见就自然知道。」他随后加上一句：「也许你可以说，故意无礼之外不会无礼的人，就是绅士。」

【附注】 Come out是「到另一个国家等（探望某人）」，例如： He came out to visit us from Singapore（他从新加坡来探望我们）。

编辑:Liuxuepaper.Com