The school inspector was sent out into the country to check on thhe standard of education in the bush school.



学校的监察员被派往农村检查乡村学校的教学质量。



His first question to the class, "Who knocked down the Walls of Jericho?" was met with an embarrassing and fidgety silence.



他向学生提出的第一个问题是："谁推倒了耶利哥城墙？"，可得到的却是一阵令人尴尬的沉默和不安。



"Can't you tell me?" he said, pointing to young Murphy.



"你能不能告诉我呀？"他指着小墨菲问道。



"It wasn't me, honest sir," was the only response.



"那不是我干的，真的，先生，"他一口否认。



Disappointed at the low standard of the class, the inspector went to the headmaster. "I asked a young lad in your school who knocked down the Walls of Jericho and he said it wasn't him."



监察员对学生们这样低的水平感到失望。于是他找到了校长："我问你学校的一个小男孩，'谁推倒了耶利哥城墙'，他说那不是他干的。"



"The little scallywag," said the headmaster. "I'll bet it was him all the time."



"这个小无赖，"校长骂道，"我敢说这肯定是他干的。"



Staggered at this response the inspector sought out the president of the Parents and Teachers' Association to report the sad state of affairs.



监察员对这样的回答大为吃惊，便又去找教师--家长联系协会汇报这可悲的现状。



"Well," said the president," young Murphy comes from an honest family and you can take it from me that if he says he didn't knock them down, then he is bloody-well telling the truth."



"哦，是这样的，"主席解释说，"小墨菲来自诚实的家庭，你可以绝对相信我，既然他说了他没有推倒城墙，那他的确是讲了真话。"



Finally, in despair the inspector reported the matter to the Department of Education and a week later received the following reply:



最后，陷入绝望的监察员将此事汇报给了教育部，一周后他收到了回信，答复如下：



"Dear Sir. With regard to your letter regarding the Walls of Jericho, we are obliged to inform you that this matter does not come within our jurisdiction. We suggest you contact the Board of Works."



亲爱的先生，鉴于您在信中提到的有关耶利哥城墙的事，我们有责任提醒您，这件事不属于我们的管辖范围。我们建议您与工程委员会联系一下。"


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