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Its a joke 简直是个玩笑 Helen: 欢迎收听 BBC 地道英语节目， 我是 Helen, 可是我的搭档 Neil 看起来非常无奈。 Neil, what are you doing to that mobile phone? Neil: Argh, I cant get it to make a phone call. It does everything else: it takes photos, it connects to the internet, it even irons shirts but it wont make a call! Helen: Your mobile irons your shirts? Neil: No, not really, but honestly it does everything apart from the one thing I want it to domake a phone call. Its a joke! Helen: A joke? 一个玩笑。 But youre not laughing. It cant be a very funny joke.可是我看不到你脸上有任何笑容，这个玩笑肯定不好笑。 Neil: Well if you saysomething is a joke in English it can also mean that its not very good or not worthy of respect . Helen: 当我们说某件事情是一个玩笑时，实际是想表达这件事处理非常不当。请听以下几个例子。 The investigation into police corruption was a complete joke. Everyone knows the officers were taking money but they were let off. The weather forecast was a total joke. It said it would be warm and sunny but its freezing and raining. Helen: 就象我们刚才听到的，有人形容对警察贪污案件的调查就是一个 joke. 这并不是说这件事情很好笑，实际意思是没人在彻底调查，根本就不起作用。另外天气预报根本就不准，所以被形容为 a joke. | 
