The CIA had an opening for an assassin. After all of the background checks, interviews, and testing were done there were three finalists – two men and one woman. For the final test, the CIA agents took one of the men to a large metal door and handed him a gun.

  “We must know that you will follow your instructions, no matter what the circumstances. Inside this room you will find your wife sitting in a chair. You have to kill her.”

  The first man said, “You can’t be serious. I could never shoot my wife.”

  The agent replies, “Then you’re not the right man for this job.”

  The second man was given the same instructions. He took the gun and went into the room. All was quiet for about five minutes. Then the man came out with tears in his eyes. “I tried, but I couldn’t kill my wife.”

  The agent replies, “You don’t have what it takes. Take your wife and go home.”

  Finally, it was the woman’s turn. Only she was told to kill her husband. She took the gun and went into the room. Shots were heard, one shot after another. They heard screaming, crashing, banging on the walls. After a few minutes, all was quiet. The door opened slowly and there stood the woman. She wiped the sweat from her brow and said, “You guys didn’t tell me the gun was loaded with blanks. So I had to beat him to death with the chair.”



*assassin, 암살자, 자객; instructions, 지시; can’t be serious, 설마 진담은 아니죠; you don’t have what it takes, 당신은 이 자리가 요구하는 자질을 갖추지 못했어; crash, (요란한 소리를 내면서) 산산이 부서지다; loaded with blanks, 공포탄으로 장전된.



*최종 후보로 뽑힌 두 남자와 한 여자의 행위를 비교해보시오.