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Go Ahead, Shoot

Pirate Pete had been captured by a Spanish general and sentenced to death by his 50-man firing squad.[1]

Pete cringed, as he knew their reputation for being the worst firing squad in the Spanish military.[2] They were such bad shots that they would often all miss their targets and simply maim their victims, leaving them to bleed to death, as the general’s tradition was to only allow one shot per man to save on ammunition.[3] The thought of a slow painful death made Pete beg for mercy[4].

“Very well, I have some compassion[5]. You may choose where the men stand when they shoot you and I will add 50 extra men to the squad to ensure someone will at least hit you. Perhaps if they stand closer they will kill you quicker, if you’re lucky,” snickered[6] the general. “Oh, and just so you don’t get any funny ideas, they can’t stand more than 20 ft away, they must be facing you, and you must remain tied to the post in the middle of the yard. And to show I’m not totally heartless, if you aren’t dead by sundown I’ll release you so you can die peacefully outside the compound[7]. I must go now but will return tomorrow and see to it that you are buried in a nice spot, though with 100 men, I doubt there will be much left of you to bury.”

After giving his instructions the general left. Upon his return the next day, he found that Pete had been set free alive and well. “How could this be?” demanded the general. “It was where Pete had us stand,” explained the captain of the squad.

Where did Pete tell them to stand?

Answer:

Pete told them to form a circle around him. All the squad was facing in at Pete, ready to shoot, when they realized that everyone who missed would likely end up shooting another squad member. So no one dared to fire, knowing the risk. Thus at sundown he was released.

The Passwords

A man worked for a high-security institution, and one day he went in to work only to find that he could not log in to his computer terminal.[8] His password wouldn't work. Then he remembered that the passwords are reset every month for security purposes. So he went to his boss and they had this conversation:

Man: "Hey boss, my password is out of date."

Boss: "Yes, that's right. The password is different, but if you listen carefully you should be able to figure out[9] the new one: It has the same amount of letters as your old password, but only four of the letters are the same.”

Man: "Thanks boss."

With that, he went and correctly logged into his station.

What was the new password?

BONUS: What was his old password?

Answer:

The old one was : Out of date

The new one is: Different

He said: My password is “Out of date.” And the boss told him the new one when he said: “The password is different.”

Vocabulary

1. pirate: 海盜；capture: 抓住；sentence: 判決，宣判；firing squad: 執行死刑的行刑隊。

2. cringe: 畏縮；reputation: 名聲。

3. maim: 使殘廢，使受重傷；victim: 受害者；ammunition: 彈藥。

4. beg for mercy: 乞求憐憫。

5. compassion: 憐憫，同情。

6. snicker: 竊笑地說。

7. compound: 場地，文中指行刑場。

8. log in: 登陸；computer terminal: 計算機終端。

9. figure out: 想出，猜出。

（來源：英語學習雜志 編輯：丹妮）