The Eternal Optimist

Frank constantly irritated his friends with his eternal optimism. No matter how horrible the circumstance, he would remark, ``It could have been worse'' To cure him of this annoying habit, his friends decided to invent a situation so bad, so terrible, that even Frank could find no hope in it.

On the golf course one day, a friend said:

``Frank, did you hear about Tom? He came home last night, found his wife in bed with another man, he shot them both, then turned the gun on himself''

``That's horrible,'' Frank said. '`But it could have been worse''

``How could it have been possibly any worse?'' the friend asked

``Well,'' Frank answered, '`if it had happened the night before, I'd be dead now''

Vocabulary Help

• friends: amigos
• remark: observar
• It could have been worse: Poderia ter sido pior
• annoying: irritante
• bad: ruim
• find (find, found, found): encontrar
• hope: esperança
• hear (hear, heard, heard): ouvir
• shoot (shoot, shot, shot): atirar
• both: ambos
• turned the gun on himself: apontou a arma para si mesmo
• dead: morto

Mais histórias como esta podem ser encontradas no livro Read in English: Uma Maneira Divertida de Aprender Inglês, publicado pela Editora Novatec,

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