The squad were having“visual training”.One smart recruit was asked by the officer to count how many men composed a digging party in a distant field.The party was so faraway that the men appeared as mere dots,but unhesitatingly the recruit replied:

“Sixteen men and a sergeant,sir.”

“Right,but how do you know there's a sergeant there?”

“He's not doing any digging,sir.”

【注释】

squad/skwɒd/n.（军队的）班；小组

recruit/rɪ΄kruːt/n.新兵；新成员

unhesitatingly/ʌn΄hezɪteɪtɪŋlɪ/adv.毫不犹豫地

sergeant/΄sɑːdʒənt/n.陆军（或空军）中士；巡佐

【译文】

那时，班里正在进行“视觉训练”。一个聪明伶俐的新兵被班长叫出来数远处旷野上采掘队的人数。采掘队在很远的地方，那些人看起来只是一些小点儿。但是这个新兵毫不犹豫地回答：

“十六个兵外加一个中士，长官。”

“正确，可是你怎么知道那儿有一个中士？”

“他不干活，长官。”