whether the winter will be cold

Indians ask their new chief whether the winter will be cold or mild. Since the young chief never learned the ways of hisancestors, he tells them to collect firewood, then he goes off and calls the National Weather Service.

"Will the winter be bad?" he asks.

"Looks like it," is the answer.

So the chief tells his people to gather more firewood. A week later, he calls again.

"Are you positive the winter will be very cold?"

"Absolutely."

The chief tells his people to gather even more firewood, then calls the Weather Service again: "Are you sure?"

"I'm telling you, it's going to be the coldest winter on record."

"How do you know?"

"Because the Indians are gathering firewood like crazy!"

印地安人问他们的新酋长，这个冬天是冷还是温暖。这位年轻的酋长从没学过祖先那些本领，他只好吩咐他们去捡木柴，然后自己走到一边去给国家气象局打电话。

“今年冬天会不会很冷?”他问。

“看上去是这样的。”他得到这样的回答。

于是酋长要求大家收集更多的木柴。一个星期后，他又打电话给国家气象局。

“你确信今年冬天会很冷?”

“毫无疑问。”

酋长随即要求族人捡更多的木柴，然后再次给国家气象局打电话：“你肯定吗?”

“我告诉你，那将是有史以来最寒冷的冬天。”

“你怎么知道?”

“因为印第安人正发疯似地捡木柴!”

【注释】

1. 文中有句"Are you positive the winter will be very cold?"，这里的positive意思是“肯定的，确定的”，Are you positive就相当于Are you sure或者Are you certain，你确定吗。可以回答"I'm positive.", "Absolutely.", "Definitely."等等。

2. on record的意思是记录在案的，有记载的，所以文中这句"it's going to be the coldest winter on record"意思就是“那将是有纪录以来最寒冷的冬天。”我们再学两个关于record的词组：set/create/establish a record 创造记录;hold/keep a record 保持记录。