國立教育廣播電臺

(At a coffee shop.)

Hope:

Joey. Over here. …… Take a sip of water.

Joey:

Thanks.

Hope:

I’ve order you a cup of cappuccino and a piece of blue cheese cake..

Joey:

Thank you. Merry Christmas, Hope.

Hope:

Merry Christmas. Here’s a gift for you.

Joey:

Wow. Thank you. What is it?

Hope:

Take a look.

Joey:

(Unwraps the gift.) Hey, it’s a book—Fun English Riddles. 英語謎語大全?

Hope:

Yes. Take a look at it. It’s a book of popular English riddles.

There are lots of fun riddles inside, plus explanations of the wordplay. You can learn lots of English from it.

Joey:

Really?

Hope:

I hope you’ll like it.

Joey:

I like it very much. Thank you. I can’t wait to read it.

Hope:

Let’s try some.

Joey:

Okay. Here’s the first one: I am tall when I am young and short when I am old. What am I? Hmm…I guess it’s a pencil.

Hope:

Good guess. Pencils get shorter and shorter because you sharpen them.

Joey:

Let’s look at 解答.

Hope:

The solution.

Joey:

Yes. The solution. Oh, it’s a candle. A candle gets shorter as it burns.

Hope:

Hmm… That’s tricky. What about the next one?

Joey:

Alright. What has keys but can’t lock?

Hope:

What do you think?

Joey:

Keys but no locks… Huh? Is it a …door? Now we can open the door without keys.

Hope:

But we need to key in the password or use our fingerprint as the key.

Joey:

That’s true. We can even scan our faces.

Hope:

You are right. Take a look at the solution.

Joey:

Ah-ha. It is a piano! It says—Normally, keys open locks. But here, it’s a pun.

Keys are the parts you press to play notes. 就是琴鍵的意思啦! So, what is a pun?

Hope:

Oh! A pun is like a joke that uses different word meanings.

The pun line is the part that makes the joke work. In this riddle, the pun line is “can’t open locks.”

Joey:

Got it!

Hope:

Let’s try an intermediate one.

Joey:

Intermediate…Intermediate…Okay, here it is. The first one: I speak without a mouth and hear without ears.

I have no body, but I come alive with the wind. What am I?

Hope:

Speak without a mouth…hear without ears…hmm…a ghost?

Joey:

Perhaps. Let me look! Ah~ no. The answer is An echo! 回音. Why didn’t I think of that?! 這個有難度!

Hope:

It’s tricky, isn’t it?

Joey:

Okay, one higher-level riddle for us: Why did the skeleton go to the party alone? Skeleton? What’s that?

Hope:

A skeleton is the frame of bones that support our body.

Joey:

骨架?

Hope:

Exactly.

Joey:

Okay. Skeleton, 骨架…. So, the skeleton went to the party alone……because…. because……he has no body to go out with!

Hope:

Hey… I think you are right! Let’s check the answer!

Joey:

Hooray, we are right! The pun is that “No body” sounds like “nobody,” and skeletons literally have no body.

骨架本來就沒身體。That is hilarious! 這太好笑了。

Hope:

That’s clever. English riddles really play with words.

Joey:

Yes! Every riddle can teach new vocabulary, jokes and creative thinking.

Hope:

And to get the answers, we learn to think outside the box!

Joey:

Wow! I can’t wait to finish this book! This book is going to teach me lots of English!

Hope:

I am glad you like it!