【学习老美们的电话留言】
中庭并不常用电话答录机(Answering Machine),但在北美家庭，几乎家家都用。
外来电话拨入时，若该电话号码的主人不在，就会让拨入者听到一段留言，这叫
Answer。绝大多数的Answer都是千篇一律的：说明主人不在，请拨入者留下简短信息及
姓名电话号码等。
以下几则特别的 Answer 体现了美国佬的幽默，你能体会出其幽默所在吗?
1) My wife and I can"t come to the phone right now, but if you"ll leave your
name and number, we"ll get back to you as soon as we"re finished.
2) Hi. This is John. If you are the phone company, I already sent the money.
If you are my parents, please send money. If you are my financial aid
institution, you didn"t lend me enough money. If you are my friends, you owe
me money. If you are a female, don"t worry, I have plenty of money.
3) Hi, I"m not home right now but my answering machine is, so you can talk
to it instead. Wait for the beep(beep：主人的Answer讲完以后，Answer Machine
会发出一声beep, 这时候来电话者就可以开始留言了。).
4) Hi! John"s answering machine is broken. This is his refrigerator. Please
speak very slowly, and I"ll stick your message to myself with one of these
magnets(磁铁).
注：通常情况下，来电话者面对录音讲话都不太自然，所以语言往往很急促，三句两句
话就完了。这可苦坏了接听留言的主人，听多少遍都听不清留言者到底是谁，讲了些什
么。对于母语非英文的人，这种感觉会更深。所以，以下这两段幽默干脆就首先告诉电
话拨入者，我的Answer Machine不好使，你且慢慢来。