Jeremy Hampden has a large circle of friends and if very popular at parties. Everybody admires him for his great sense of humour —— everybody， that is， except his six-year-old daughter， Jenny. Recently， one of Jeremy’s closest friends asked him to make a speech at a wedding reception. This is the sort of thing that Jeremy loves. He prepared the speech carefully and went to the wedding with Jenny. he had included a large number of funny stories in the speech and， of course， it was a great success. As soon as he had finished， Jenny told him she wanted to go home. Jeremy was a little disappointed by this but he did as his daughter asked. On the way home， he asked Jenny if she had enjoyed the speech. To his surprise， she said she hadn’t. Jeremy asked her why this was so and she told him that she did not like to see so many people laughing at him！

New words and expressions   生词和短语

circle n. 圈子

admire v. 赞美，钦佩

close adj. 亲密的

wedding n. 婚礼

reception n. 招待会

sort n. 种类

参考译文

杰里米。汉普登交际甚广，是各种聚会上深受大家欢迎的人。人人都钦佩他那绝妙的幽默感 —— 人人，就是说，除他6岁的女儿珍妮之外的每一个人。最近，杰里米的一个最亲密的朋友请他在一个婚礼上祝词。这正是杰里米喜欢做的事情。他认真准备了讲稿，带着珍妮一道去参加了婚礼。他的祝词里面加进了大量逗人的故事，自然大获成功。他刚一讲完，珍妮就对他说她要回家。这不免使杰里米有点扫兴，但他还是按照女儿的要求做了。在回家的路上，他问珍妮是否喜欢他的祝词。使他吃惊的是，她说她不喜欢。杰里米问他为何不喜欢，她说她不愿意看到那么多的人嘲笑他！