阅读理解 Recently my wife and I, along with a travel companion, were in the tiny town of Battambang in central Cambodia．We hired a guide to take us up the river to our next destination at Siem Reap．This was to be a six-hour trip followed by crossing Lake Sap, the largest lake in central Asia．Battambang is an extremely poor area, and our mode of transportation was a very small, old boat which was not much larger than three of us．With six bags tied to the front part of the boat, four travelers, and the boatman, I figured we were overloaded by at least a ton．We frequently had seen four or five people on a single motorbike, so no one but us was concerned about our weight．We had been on the water only a few minutes when our pilot made for shore and jumped from our boat to another．Our guide said not to worry．He added, “We need to pick up live chickens for their legs．” My wife and I exchanged glances．We are pretty open-minded, especially when traveling in a third-world country．It was obvious there was little room in our tiny vessel for chickens．If we had to take them along, we were willing to hold them on our legs－there was no place else to put them．After all, our guide had said we needed them for their legs．We continued to make many jokes about live chickens drawing us to shore if the boat turned over and we were about eating them if we were left on a wild island．Meanwhile our guide just gave us a puzzled look．Finally my wife turned to him and asked, “How many chickens are we taking?” At first he seemed totally surprised, and then a large smile spread over his face．He bent over and began to laugh uncontrollably．My wife turned to me and said, “I’m glad he finds the thought of us holding chickens on our legs for six hours so funny．”When he finished laughing, he looked at us and pronounced every word clearly and loudly, “No live chickens!I said, ‘We need life jackets for the lake!’” It took a moment for this to sink in, and then we all had a good laugh．In fact, for the next six hours he kept asking us if our “chickens” fit all right and then laughed wildly． “Americans, so funny!” he kept saying． |
