Matt and his wife lived in the country. Matt was very stingy(吝嗇) and hated spending money. One day a fair(集市) came to the nearby town.
“Let’s go to the fair, Matt,” his wife said, “We haven’t been anywhere for a long time.”
Matt thought about this for a while. He knew he would have to spend money at the fair. At last he said, “All right, but I’m not going to spend much money. We’ll look at things, but we won’t buy anything.”
They went to the fair and looked at all the things to buy. There were many things Matt’s wife wanted to buy ,but he would not let her spend any money.
Then , in a nearby field, they saw a small airplane.
“Fun flight!” the notice said, “$10 for 10 minutes.”
Matt had never been in an airplane and he wanted to go on a fun flight. However, he didn’t want to have to pay for his wife, as well.
“I’ve only got $10,” he told the pilot. ( 飛行員). “Can my wife come with me for free?” The pilot wasn’t selling many tickets, so he said , “I’ll make a bargain with you. If your wife doesn’t scream or shout, she can have a free flight.”
Matt agreed, and got into the small airplane with his wife.
The pilot took off and made his airplane do all kinds of things. At one moment it was flying upside down.
When the plane landed , the pilot said, “O.K. your wife didn’t make a sound . She can have her ride free.”
“Thank you,” Matt said. “it wasn’t easy for her, you know , especi ally (尤其 ) when she fell out.”
賞析：誇張是指借助藝術想象，以現實生活為基礎，抓住描寫對象的某些特征加以誇張，以突出事物本質。誇張的修辭手法往往能造成幽默的效果。這種修辭手法在我國的相聲段子裏面非常普遍，在外國的幽默故事中也隨處可見。
這則幽默就是用誇張的手法諷刺了壹位極其吝嗇的男人。吝嗇鬼在世界文學作品中並不少見，中國古有多點了壹根燈草就不能安然死去的嚴監生，外國有臨死前瞪著發金光的眼睛想奪取金色十字架的葛朗臺。
吝嗇是落後的生活方式、不健康的封建思想在人腦海中的根深蒂固。它不獨存在於哪個制度，哪個社會。即便在享受現代物質文明----乘飛機旅行的今天，我們的主人公麥棟夫婦，為了那可憐的10美元，也會置生命安全於不顧，“寧死不叫”。他們的這種小氣跟他們所享受的現代文明形成了極大的壹個反差。
作者在文章的最後運用了誇張的修辭手法“it wasn’t easy for her , you know ,especially when she fell out”.壹切顯得那樣的不盡情理，壹切又似乎是那樣的合情合理：壹旦壹個社會的精神文明不能趕上他的物質文明時，就有可能會產生壹些變態的東西。
讀之此，我們就不難體會我們國家為何壹再強調兩個文明壹起抓了
或者這個
翅 膀
壹天，我工作的炸雞店在關門前出現了壹陣搶購狂潮，結果除了雞翅外所有的東西都賣完了。當我正準備鎖門時，壹名喝醉了的旅客進來要進餐。我問他翅膀行不行，他從櫃臺上靠過身子來，回答道：“女士，我到這兒來是吃東西的，不是要飛！”
Wings
The fried-chicken restaurant where I was working had a big rush just before closing one day, leaving us with nothing to sell but wings. As I was about to lock the doors, aa quietly intoxicated customer came in and ordered dinner. When I asked if wings would be all right, he leaned over the counter and replied, "Lady, I came in here to eat, not fly."
真的是太多了：
這是保存在我的電腦裏的哦
A Brother Like That
A friend of mine named Paul received an automobile from his brother as a Christmas present. On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a street urchin was walking around the shiny new car, admiring it.
"Is this your car, Mister?" he said.
Paul nodded. "My brother gave it to me for Christmas." The boy was astounded. "You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn’t cost you nothing? Boy, I wish . . ." He hesitated.
Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish for. He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the lad said jarred Paul all the way down to his heels.
"I wish," the boy went on, "That I could be a brother
like that."
Paul looked at the boy in astonishment, then impulsively he added, "Would you like to take a ride in my car?"
"Oh yes, Id love that."
After a short ride, the boy turned with his eyes aglow, said, "Mister, would you mind driving in front of my house?"
Paul smiled a little. He thought he knew what the lad wanted. He wanted to show his neighbors that he could ride home in a big automobile. But Paul was wrong again. "Will you stop where those two steps are?" the boy asked.
He ran up the steps. Then in a little while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast. He was carrying his little crippled brother. He sat him down on the bottom step, then sort of squeezed up against him and pointed to the car.
"There she is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn’t cost him a cent. And some day Im gonna give you one just like it . . . then you can see for yourself all the pretty things in the Christmas windows that Ive been trying to tell you about."
Paul got out and lifted the lad to the front seat of his car. The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began a memorable holiday ride. That Christmas Eve, Paul learned what Jesus meant when he said: "It is more blessed to give . . . "
內容：
哥哥的心願
聖誕節時，保羅的哥哥送他壹輛新車。聖誕節當天，保羅離開辦公室時，壹個男孩繞著那輛閃閃發亮的新車，十分贊嘆地問：
"先生，這是妳的車？"
保羅點點頭："這是我哥哥送給我的聖誕節禮物。"男孩滿臉驚訝，支支吾吾地說："妳是說這是妳哥送的禮物，沒花妳壹分錢？天哪，我真希望也能……"
保羅當然知道男孩他真想希望什麽。他希望能有壹個象那樣的哥哥。但是小男孩接下來說的話卻完全出乎了保羅的意料。
"我希望自己能成為送車給弟弟的哥哥。"男孩繼續說。
保羅驚愕地看著那男孩，沖口而出地說："妳要不要坐我的車去兜風？"
"哦，當然好了，我太想坐了！"
車開了壹小段路後，那孩子轉過頭來，眼睛閃閃發亮，對我說："先生，妳能不能把車子開到我家門前？"
保羅微笑，他知道孩子想幹什麽。那男孩必定是要向鄰居炫耀，讓大家知道他坐了壹部大轎車回家。但是這次保羅又猜錯了。"妳能不能把車子停在那兩個臺階前？"男孩要求道。
男孩跑上了階梯，過了壹會兒保羅聽到他回來了，但動作似乎有些緩慢。原來把他跛腳的弟弟帶出來了，將他安置在第壹個臺階上，緊緊地抱著他，指著那輛新車。
只聽那男孩告訴弟弟："妳看，這就是我剛才在樓上對妳說的那輛新車。這是保羅他哥哥送給他的哦！將來我也會送給妳壹輛像這樣的車，到那時候妳就能自己去看那些在聖誕節時，掛窗口上的漂亮飾品了，就象我告訴過妳的那樣。"
保羅走下車子，把跛腳男孩抱到車子的前座。興奮得滿眼放光的哥哥也爬上車子，坐在弟弟的身旁。就這樣他們三人開始壹次令人難忘的假日兜風。
那個聖誕夜，保羅才真正體會主耶穌所說的"施比受更有福"的道理。