In Harm’s Way

　　《365个英语小故事》:实用简洁的小故事，都是日常生活小故事，在学习英语的同时了解美国文化，循序渐进，轻松掌握。

　　A new invention, called Arm Yourself, is in arcades in Japan. It is a mechanical arm-wrestling machine. In the old days, fairs and carnivals usually had a Test Your Strength contest that required a player to swing a small sledge hammer as hard as he could to ring a bell and get a prize. The Japanese invention also challenges a players strength. Players can set it to four different levels: Baby, Girl, Man, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

　　The mechanical arm operates at half-strength for the first 10 seconds: Baby, for example, would be Half-Baby, or 50-percent full-strength, for 10 seconds initially.

　　This gives the human time to evaluate his mechanical opponent, and usually allows him to win, says the inventor. But after 10 seconds elapse, the mechanical arm instantly achieves full strength, so that weak Baby suddenly becomes strong Baby. That comes as a surprise to the human, said the inventor. If you watch the human compete, you will see a look of surprise come over his face at the machines sudden burst of strength. Its funny to see!

　　Unfortunately for some players, the look of surprise is followed by the look of pain, as the steel and plastic arm breaks their flesh and blood arm! Two players recently went to the hospital. The inventor said that he wouldnt put a warning sign on the machine.

　　Its not the machines fault, he said. Humans often think that theyre smarter, faster, and stronger than they actually are. I think its a good lesson that they are learning. Many refuse to combat the machine at the Baby or Girl level because they think that theyre equal to the Man or Arnold level. They dont know their limitations. Theyre proud and foolish, and some of them have to pay the price for their pride.