有一位姓魏的先生想报名参加一个活动。
工作人员问："请问您怎么称呼？"
魏先生说："我姓魏"。
工作人员又问："'魏'什么？"
魏先生纳闷地说："我怎么知道为什么？我爷爷我爸爸都姓这个，我是跟他们姓的！"

A man surnamed Wei would like to sign up for an activity.
One of the working staff asked him, "How can I address you, please?"
Mr. Wei replied, "I am surnamed Wei."
The staff asked him again, "'Wei'who?"(In Chinese, it sounds the same with the word "为什么wèishénme, which means why in English.)
Mr. Wei felt puzzled and said, "How could I know? My grandfather and my father are all surnamed Wei, and I am surnamed after them!"

词语注释 Note

魏：(wèi) n.  a Chinese surname
报名：(bàomíng) v.  enter one
参加：(cānjiā) v.  participate
活动：(huódòng) n.  activity
工作人员：(gōngzuò rényuán) n.  staff
称呼：(chēnghū) v.  call; address
纳闷：(nàmèn) v.  feel puzzled

语言点Language Point

询问别人的姓名
在中国，如果要询问别人的名字，有几种不同的方法，最常见的是："你叫什么名字？"或者"你叫什么？"
如果想更礼貌，你可以像文章中的工作人员那样问："请问您怎么称呼？"
如果你只想知道他/她的姓，你可以问："请问您贵姓？"，这里的"贵"是表达你对他/她的尊敬。

Asking One's Name
In China, there are several ways to ask someone's name. The most common way is "你叫什么名字(nǐ jiào shénme míngzi)" or "你叫什么(nǐ jiào shénme)".
To be more polite, you can do as the working staff in the story by asking, "请问您怎么称呼(qǐngwèn nín zěnme chēnghu)?"
If you just want to know his/her surname, you can ask, "请问您贵姓(qǐngwèn nín guìxìng )?" By using the word "贵(guì)" here, you show your respect for him/her.

• working [´wə:kiŋ]   a.工人的；劳动的   (初中英语单词)
• grandfather [´grænd,fɑ:ðə]   n.(外)祖父；祖先   (初中英语单词)
• polite [pə´lait]   a.有礼貌的；温和的   (初中英语单词)
• participate [pɑ:´tisipeit]   v.参与；分享；带有   (英语四级单词)
• surname [´sə:neim]   n.姓氏   (英语六级单词)