One day Mel Martin stopped by the chambers of a judge with whom he had lunch appointment. As his friend changed from robe jacket, Martin noticed a shiny black pistol bolstered to the judge's shoulder.

The judge was not a firearms enthusiast, so Martin asked him why he was carrying it. His friend said that because of recent threats he had borrowed the pistol from the repository of confiscated weapons. Holding it up, the judge said, "I chose this one because it's so mean-looking, yet it hardly weighs a thing. I hope I don't need it, because I don't even know how to load it."

"It's not hard," Martin said, examining it closely. "We can fill it at the water fountain on the way out."

Notes:

(1) chambers n.法官办公室

(2) robe n.长袍

(3) shiny n.闪亮的

(4) holster v.装在皮套里

(5) repository n.仓库

(6) confiscated adj.没收的；充公的

(7) mean-looking adj.吓人的

(8) load v.装弹于（枪炮）

Exercises:

根据短文回答下列问题：

① Where did Martin stop by one day?

② Why was he there?

③ Why was the judge carrying a pistol?

④ Had the judge used a weapon before? 14ow do you know?

⑤ What did Martin think of the gun?

44.法官的手枪

一天，麦尔·马丁来到一个法官办公室。他跟法官约好了一起吃午餐。当法官换掉长袍时，马丁发现法官肩上绑着一支闪光发亮的手枪。

法官并不是个武器狂热者，因此马丁问他为什么带上它。他的这位朋友回答说因为近来不断有恐吓发生，所以他从充公武器仓库那里借来一把手枪。法官把枪拿在手里，说：“我选了这把枪是因为它看起来很吓人，却一点也不重。我希望我并不需要它，因为我还不知道怎么装子弹呢。”

“这并不难，”马丁说，一边仔细检查那支枪，“我们可以在出口的自来水管处装满它。”

练习参考答案：

① He stopped by the chambers of a judge

② Because he had a lunch appointment with the judge.

③ Because of recent threats.

④ No, he hadn't. He didn't even know how to load the gun.

⑤ The gun was a toy, not a real one.