Then there was the preacher who decided to sell his horse. A prospective buyer was impressed with the animal, but the preacher said, " I must warn you-he only responds to 'church talk'. Go is 'Praise the Lord', and stop is 'Hallelujah"'.

"I've worked with horses all my life," said the buyer, "and I've never heard of anything like this." Mounting the horse, he said skeptically, " Praise the Lord." The horse began to trot. He repeated "Praise the Lord" and the horse broke into a gallop. Suddenly the buyer saw a cliff dead ahead. Frantic, he yelled "Hallelujah", and they came to a stop a foot from the edge.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, the buyer said, "Praise the Lord!"

Notes:

(1) prospective adj.预期的；可能的

(2) preacher n.传教者

(3) impress v.给予强烈影响；留下深刻印象

(4) respond v.有反应

(5) Praise the Lord感谢上帝

(6) Hallelujah哈里路亚（赞美上帝之语）

(7) skeptically adv.怀疑地

(8) trot v.小跑

(9) gallop n.疾驰；飞奔

(10) dead adv.完全地；绝对地

(11) dead ahead正前方

Exercises:

根据短文判断下列句子正（T）、（F）：

① The preacher decided to sell his horse to buy another.

② The buyer liked the horse at his first glance.

③ The buyer didn't believe what the preacher had said.

④) Suddenly the buyer saw a deep river ahead.

⑤ The buyer shouldn't have said "Praise the Lord" when they came to a stop at the edge of the cliff.

57.欲买马之人

传教士决定卖掉他的马。一位欲买马之人看中了这匹马，但传教士说：“我必须警告你----他只懂‘教堂语言’。走是‘感谢上帝’，停是‘哈里路亚’。”

“我一生都在同马打交道，”买马之人说，“这样的事我还是头一次听到。”他跨上马，将信将疑地说：“感谢上帝。”马开始小跑。他重复说“感谢上帝”，马开始飞奔起来。突然买马者看到前面是一个悬崖。他吓坏了，匆忙喊道：“哈里路亚。”他们在离悬崖只有一英尺的地方停了下来。

买马之人擦了擦额头上的汗珠，说道：“感谢上帝！”

练习参考答案：

①F②T③T④F⑤T