Two similar-sounding English words caused trouble for a man who wanted to fly from Los Angeles to Oakland. California. His problems began at the airport in Los Angeles. He thought he heard his flight announced, so he walked to the gate, showed his ticket, and got on the plane. After flying for twenty
minutes, the man began to worry. Oakland was north of Los Angeles, but the plane seemed to be heading west and when he looked out his window all he could see was ocean. "Is this plane going to Oakland?"
he asked the flight attendant (服务员). The flight attendant was shocked. "No," she said. "We"re going to Auckland -- Auckland, New Zealand."
English is not the only language with similar-sounding words. Other languages, too, have words that
can cause mistakes, especially for foreigners.
Auckland and Oakland. When similar-sounding words cause a mistake, probably the best thing to do
is just laugh and learn from it. Of course, sometimes it"s hard to laugh. The man who traveled to Auckland
instead of Oakland didn"t feel like laughing. But even that mistake turned out all right in the end. The airline (航空公司) paid for the man"s hotel room and meals in New Zealand and for his flight back to California. "Oh well," the man later said, "I always wanted to see New Zealand."