有一个相当老派的妇人,总是非常端庄高雅,特别在遣字造句的时候. 有一次, 她想和她丈夫在悉尼渡过一个星期的假期, 于是她写信给出租帐篷营地的人申请预约.

    她想知道这个帐篷营地是否设施完善, 但她却不知道该怎样开口来问有没有卫生设施. 她不能容忍她的信里出现”厕所”的字样.

    想了很久, 她想到了一个相当老派的用法”私人浴室.”, 但当她写下来的时候, 她还是觉得不妥当.于是她重新写了信,而把私人浴室以’B.C.’来简称.

   “不知帐篷营地是否有自备的B.C.” 她在信里写道.

   那么,那个帐蓬营地的主人却不是个老派的人,他可猜不出这个老妇人到底想说的是什么. 于是他把信拿给几个露营的人看, 他们看来看去, 这个B.C.也只能是代表浸信会的教堂. 于是他写了以下的回信.

尊敬的女士:

    我很抱歉没有及时回复您的信件, 但我现在可以很高兴地回答您, 在我们营地北面九里的地方有一个B.C., 一次大概可以容纳250人的聚会.

    我承认如果您需要经常过去的话, 路程有点远了, 但您一定会很高兴地了解到大批的露营者会过去那里, 而大多数人会在那里午餐, 在那里花上一天的时间. 他们通常早上很早过去, 一直呆到很晚才回来.

    我最后一次和我妻子一起过去是六年前了, 那时非常拥挤, 我们从始到终都只能站在那里. 您一定会高兴地知道现在他们供应一个特别的晚餐, 以赚取足够的钱来买椅子, 可以让所有人都舒适地坐在那里.

    我可以说因为不能经常过去那边而感到非常痛苦, 并非我自己不愿意过去, 只是我的大部分时间都是太忙了.

    当我们越来越老的时候, 看来是越来越需要一些努力才能过去了,特别是在寒冷的天气里. 如果您决定来我们营地露营, 我想第一次我可以带您过去那边, 和您坐在一起, 把其他的所有人都介绍给您.

    记得这是一个非常友善的团体.

Thanks to: Sheila Middleton Geelong Victoria Australia

A rather old fashioned lady, always quite delicate and elegant, especially in her language, was planning a weeks holiday in Sydney with her husband, so she wrote to a particular camping ground and asked for a reservation.

She wanted to make sure that the camping ground was fully equipped, but didn't know quite how to ask about the toilet facilities. She just couldn't bring herself to write the word "toilet" in her letter.

After much thought, she finally came up with the old fashioned term "Bathroom closet" but when she wrote it down, she still thought she was being too forward, so she started all over again, rewrote the letter, and referred to the bathroom closet as the B.C.

"Does the camping ground have it's own B.C." is what she wrote.

Well, the camping ground owner wasn't a bit old fashioned, and he just couldn't figure out what the old lady was talking about, so he showed the letter around a few of the campers and the only thing they could come up with was that B.C. stood for Baptist Church, so he wrote the following reply.

Dear Madam,

I regret very much the delay in answering your letter, but I now take the pleasure of informing you that a B.C. is located nine miles north of our camping ground, and is capable of seating 250 people at one time.

I admit that it is quite a distance away if you are in the habit of going regularly but no doubt you will be pleased to know that a great number of campers go there and many take their lunches along and make a day of it. They usually arrive nice and early and stay quite late.

The last time my wife and I went was six years ago, and it was so crowded we had to stand up the whole time we were there. It may interest you to know that there is a special supper planned there to raise money to buy more seats so that everyone will be able to sit in comfort.

I would like to say that it pains me very much not to be able to go more regularly, but it is surely no lack of desire on my part, just that I am so busy most of the time.

As we grow older, it seems to be more of an effort to go, especially in the cold weather. If you decide to come down to our camping ground perhaps I could go with you the first time you go, sit with you and introduce you to all the other folks.

Remember this is a very friendly community