Winston Churchill once said that the Americans and British are two peoples separated by a common language. The more countries I visit， the more this seems to be true all over the globe. For better or worse， English has become the second language of the world.

I will never cease to be amazed by people who speak impeccable English in the mountains of Peru or the jungles of Cambodia. Yet I have found that an accent can make quite a difference.

Recently my wife and I， along with a travel companion， were in the tiny town of Battambang in central Cambodia. We hired a guide to take us up the river to our next destination at Siem Reap. This was to be a six-hour trip followed by crossing the Tonlé Sap， the largest lake in Central Asia.

Battambang is an extremely poor area， and our mode of transport was a very small and battered boat， not much larger than the three of us. With six bags lashed to the bow， four travelers and the boatman， I figured we were overloaded by at least a ton. We frequently had seen four or five people on a single motorbike， so no one but us was concerned about our weight.

We had been on the water only a few minutes when our captain made for shore and hopped from our boat to another. Our guide said not to worry， he would only be a minute. He then added， “We need to pick up live chickens for their legs.”

My wife and I exchanged glances. We are pretty open-minded， but it was obvious there was little room in our tiny vessel for live chickens.

If we had to take them along， we were willing to hold them on our laps—there was no place else to put them. The thought even occurred to me that perhaps the chickens were needed if the boats engine were to stop in the middle of nowhere.

I had a vision of us holding them over the side of the boat while their tiny legs paddled away， guiding us to safety. After all， our guide said we needed them for their legs.

We proceeded to make jokes about live chickens towing us to shore if we capsized or about eating them if we became marooned in the jungle. Meanwhile， our guide just gave us puzzled looks.

Finally， my wife turned to him and asked， “How many chickens are we taking？” At first he seemed totally confused by this question， then a large smile spread over his face. He bent over and began to laugh uncontrollably.

My wife turned to me and said， “Im glad he thinks us holding live chickens on our laps for six hours would be funny.” When he finished laughing， he looked at us and said loudly： “No live chickens！ What I said was， ‘we need life jackets for the lake！”

It took a moment for this to sink in. “Life jackets for the lake” when filtered through a Cambodian accent came to my ears as “l(fā)ive chickens for their legs.”

Suddenly we all found this to be profoundly funny and for the next six hours chicken jokes abounded.

Whenever we made eye contact， our guide would laugh， shake his head and say， “America， so funny.”

Yes， indeed.

溫斯頓·丘吉爾曾經(jīng)說(shuō)過(guò)，美國(guó)人和英國(guó)人是有著共同語(yǔ)言的兩個(gè)民族。我去的國(guó)家越多，似乎越能感受到這句話放在全世界都適用。不管是好是壞，英語(yǔ)已經(jīng)成了世界第二語(yǔ)言。

當(dāng)秘魯山區(qū)或柬埔寨叢林里的人說(shuō)出無(wú)懈可擊的英語(yǔ)時(shí)，我總會(huì)驚訝不已。不過(guò)，我發(fā)現(xiàn)口音真的會(huì)有很大影響。

最近，我和妻子，還有一位旅伴去到位于柬埔寨中部的小鎮(zhèn)馬德望游玩。我們雇了一位導(dǎo)游，帶我們沿河而上到達(dá)位于暹粒的下一個(gè)目的地。這趟旅程估計(jì)耗時(shí)六小時(shí)，橫越中亞最大的湖泊——洞里薩湖。

馬德望地區(qū)非常貧窮，我們的交通工具是一艘陳舊不堪的小船，那船不比我們?nèi)齻€(gè)人大多少。船首拴著六大包東西，四個(gè)旅客加上一個(gè)船夫，我想我們至少超重了一噸。我們經(jīng)?？吹揭惠v摩托車上載著四五個(gè)人，所以只有我們（這些外國(guó)人）才會(huì)擔(dān)心載重。

我們才在水上呆了幾分鐘，船長(zhǎng)就把船駛向岸邊，然后跳到另一艘船上。我們的導(dǎo)游說(shuō)不必?fù)?dān)心，他只要一會(huì)兒工夫。隨后他加了一句：“我們要帶上活雞，雞腳有用。”

妻子和我交換了一下眼色。我們一向很開通，但我們的小船顯然沒地方再放活雞了。

如果真要帶上活雞，我們很樂意把它們抱在膝蓋上——也沒有別的地方可以安置它們了。我甚至想到，萬(wàn)一船的引擎在某個(gè)前不見村后不著店的地方停了，這些活雞說(shuō)不定能派上用場(chǎng)。

我想象著我們抱著雞坐在船邊，它們則用小小的雞腳劃水，把我們帶到安全的地方。畢竟導(dǎo)游說(shuō)它們的腳有用。

我們繼續(xù)以活雞開玩笑——要是我們的船翻了，它們會(huì)拖著我們上岸；或者萬(wàn)一我們?cè)趨擦种忻粤寺?，我們就吃掉它們。與此同時(shí)，導(dǎo)游只是一臉疑惑地看著我們。

最后，我的妻子轉(zhuǎn)向?qū)в螁柕溃骸拔覀円獛字浑u？”起初，他完全被這個(gè)問題搞糊涂了，然后大笑起來(lái)。他彎起腰來(lái)笑個(gè)不停。

太太轉(zhuǎn)向我說(shuō)：“他認(rèn)為我們把活雞抱在膝蓋上六個(gè)小時(shí)很好笑，這真讓我高興?！钡人ν?，他看著我們大聲說(shuō)道：“不是活雞！我說(shuō)的是：‘我們穿越湖泊的時(shí)候需要救生衣！”

我們花了一點(diǎn)時(shí)間才消化了這句話?！按┰胶吹臅r(shí)候需要救生衣”經(jīng)過(guò)柬埔寨口音，到達(dá)我的耳朵就成了“活雞，雞腳有用”。

突然間，我們?nèi)咳硕加X得這個(gè)誤會(huì)太好笑了，在接下來(lái)的六個(gè)小時(shí)里，關(guān)于雞的玩笑此起彼伏。

每當(dāng)我們目光相觸，導(dǎo)游就會(huì)笑起來(lái)，搖著頭說(shuō)：“美國(guó)，真好笑。”

確實(shí)如此。