Each Sunday the minister called the children to the front of the church while he told them a story.
每周日牧师打电话给孩子们到教堂前面，同时他会讲个故事给他们听。

Once he brought a telephone to better illustrate the idea of prayer.
曾经有一次他买了一只电话，为了更好的说明祈祷的理念。

“You talk to people on the telephone and don’t see them on the other end of the line, right?” he began. The children nodded yes.
“你在电话上对人们说话，并没有看到在另一头的他们，是吧？”孩子们点头称是。

“Well, talking to God is like talking on the telephone. He’s on the other end, but you can’t see him. He is listening though.”
“那么，对神说话就像是在电话上讲话，他在另一头，尽管他在听，但是你却看不到他。”

Just then a little boy piped up and asked, “What’s his number?”
然后一位小男孩高声问道：“祂的号码是几号？”

* * *
【David’s Note】

1. minister一般作“部长”解，prime minister就是总理或首相之意。但minister也可以是“牧师、神职人员”。

2. illustrate 的意思是To make clear or intelligible; explain by examples. 就是让人清楚明白，以例子解释，也就是“详述”之意。但详述不一定都得用文字，也可以用插画，所以illustrate也有to make plain by means of pictures也就是图解之意。Adobe公司出版的Illustrator就是很著名、被美工人员广泛使用的插画软体。

3. pipe的意思很多，作名词解时可以是管道、烟斗，当动词时可以是尖叫，所以pipe up就是大声说、高声说之意。

The crowds piped up their disapproval in the huge demonstration.
在大型示威中，群众高声表达反对。
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