Jim met two friends on the street. “Come to my apartment for a meal,”

he said. “You can see the whole city from my bedroom window.”

  His two friends agreed and they went back with Jim to the apartment building
where he lived on the fortieth floor.
  When they arrived, however, the elevator was out of order.

  “I’m sorry,” Jim said, “we’ll have to walk.”

  “But there’re forty floors!” his friends said.

  “We’ll talk as we climb,” Jim said. “You can tell me the new jokes you’ve

heard and when we get to my apartment I’ll tell you a story.” 

  His friends agreed and they started to climb the forty flights of stairs.
  At last they reached the top floor and were standing
outside the door of Jim’s apartment.
“Now tell us a good story,” his friends said.

  Jim looked at them sadly and said, “Once upon a time there was a man

who met two friends. He invited them to his apartment on the fortieth floor.

The elevator wasn’t working and they had to climb forty flights of stairs.

When they reached the fortieth floor, he put his hand in his pocket for the key to the door
of his apartment. It wasn’t there. Then he remembered where it was. It was in his car.”

          伤心的故事
  吉姆在街上遇见两个朋友。“到我的公寓去吃饭吧，”他说，“从我卧
室的窗口可以俯瞰整座城市。”
  两个朋友同意了，便和吉姆一起去他家。吉姆住在公寓的第四十层，也
就是顶层。
  可当他们到那儿时，电梯却坏了。

  “不好意思，”吉姆说，“我们得步行上楼了。”

  “可有四十层啊！”朋友说。

  “咱们可以边说话边爬楼梯嘛，” 吉姆说，“你们可以给我讲些最近听
到的笑话，咱们到楼上时，我再给你们讲个故事。”
  朋友们同意了，他们便开始爬四十层楼梯。
  最后，他们到了顶层，站在吉姆家门外。

  “现在轮到你给我们讲有趣的故事了，”朋友说。
  吉姆伤心地看了他们一眼，说：“从前，有个人遇见了两个朋友，便邀
请他们去第四十层的公寓吃饭。可电梯却坏了，因此他们不得不爬四十层的
楼梯。当到达第四十层时，他把手伸进口袋，想掏钥匙开门，可他突然记
起，他不小心把钥匙忘在车上了。”