Two Brothers

There were two evil brothers. They were rich, and used their money to keep their ways from the public eye. They even attended the same church, and looked to be perfect Christians.

Then, their pastor retired, and a new one was hired. Not only could he see right through the brothers' deception, but he also spoke well and true, and the church started to swell in numbers. A fund-raising campaign was started to build a new assembly.

All of a sudden, one of the brothers died. The remaining brother sought out the new pastor the day before the funeral and handed him a check for the amount needed to finish paying for the new building.

“I have only one condition,“ he said. “At his funeral, you must say my brother was a saint.“ The pastor gave his word, and deposited the check.

The next day, at the funeral, the pastor did not hold back. “He was an evil man,“ he said. “He cheated on his wife and abused his family.“ After going on in this vein for a small time, he concluded with, “But, compared to his brother, he was a sanit.“

1.keep their ways from the public eye 用钱来掩人耳目 2.perfect Christian 虔诚的基督徒 3.deception 欺骗(N) 4.swell 膨胀 and church started to swell in numbers 意思为：前来听他布道的人越来越多 5.assembly 集会，集合（立法，宗教） 6.remaining 活着的 gone 死去的 7.give sb words 答应...的话 8.vein血管, 静脉, 叶脉, 矿脉, 纹理, 性情, 心绪