【幽默故事】

Mrs. Pepperwinkle was devastated when her cat Mary expired. She wanted to give it a proper funeral, but both the Catholic and Protestant churches in her neighbourhood refused to bury a cat.
In desperation, the woman turned to the synagogue and asked the rabbi if he would say a few words at the cat's funeral.
"Mrs. Pepperwinkle," the rabbi said, "for one thing, we do not believe in burying animals. For another, you're not even Jewish."
"I intend to donate a half million dollars in Mary's name to any house of worship which will accept her," the woman interrupted.
"On the other hand, I do believe the cat is Jewish..." the rabbi said.

【语言注解】

大家可以边听录音，边学习：

The cat's funeral.mp30:00来自新概念英语的教与学1、devastate：本义表示“摧毁；压垮”，在这里引申为“使极度悲伤” 。
2、expire：本义表示“终止；期满”，在这里引申为“断气；死亡” 。
3、a proper funeral：正式的葬礼。
4、Catholic：天主教（徒）的
5、Protestant：新教（徒）的
6、church：教堂
7、neighbourhood：邻里；附近
8、refuse：拒绝
9、bury：埋葬
10、desperation：绝望
11、synagogue：犹太教；犹太教会堂
12、rabbi：拉比（意为“先生”、“夫子”系犹太人对师长和有学识者的尊称）；犹太教教士
13、for one thing：一方面
14、for another：另一方面
15、intend：打算
16、donate：捐赠
17、million：百万
【英语搞笑故事：上帝也会看在钱的份上破个例！】18、in one's name：以某人的名义
19、worship：做礼拜；祭拜
20、interrupt：打断
21、on the other hand：另一方面；然而