Irish Family Custom

    An Irishman walked into a bar in Dublin. He ordered three pints² of Guinness(英国产强性黑啤酒之一种, 其商标名), sat in the back of the room, and drank a sip³ out of each one in turn. When he finished them, he came back to the bar and ordered three more.
    The bartender asked him, "You know, a pint¹ goes flat(跑气） after I draw it. It would taste better if you bought one at a time."The Irishman replied, "Well, you see, I have two brothers. One is in America, the other in Australia, and I'm here in Dublin. When we all left home, we promised that we'd drink this way to remember the days when we drank together."The bartender admitted that this was a nice custom, and left it there. The Irishman became a regular in the bar, and always drank the same way.
    One day, he came in and ordered two pints. All the other regulars noticed and fell silent. When he came back to the bar for the second round, the bartender said, "I don't want to intrude⁴ on your grief, but I want to offer my condolences （哀悼，慰问）on your great loss."The Irishman looked confused for a moment, then a light dawned in his eye and he laughed. "Oh, no, everyone's fine. I've just quit drinking.".

1 pint   

n.品脱

参考例句：

• I'll have a pint of beer and a packet of crisps, please.我要一品脱啤酒和一袋炸马铃薯片。
• In the old days you could get a pint of beer for a shilling.从前，花一先令就可以买到一品脱啤酒。

2 pints   

n.品脱( pint的名词复数 )；一品脱啤酒

参考例句：

• I drew off three pints of beer from the barrel. 我从酒桶里抽出三品脱啤酒。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Two pints today, please. 今天请来两品脱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 sip   

v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量

参考例句：

• She took a sip of the cocktail.她啜饮一口鸡尾酒。
• Elizabeth took a sip of the hot coffee.伊丽莎白呷了一口热咖啡。

4 intrude   

vi.闯入；侵入；打扰，侵扰

参考例句：

• I do not want to intrude if you are busy.如果你忙我就不打扰你了。
• I don't want to intrude on your meeting.我不想打扰你们的会议。