The High Cost of Living

(Originally in English)

There was once a person who was very stingy.

One day he tried to cross a river by himself,

but he slipped because the current was

extremely strong. And then the current swept

him away, down the middle of the river. So

he shouted, "Can anyone help me? I'll give

you money!" There was a person on a boat

nearby and he said, "OK. For fifty dollars I'll

help you." But the man in the river replied, "

Fifty dollars! That's too expensive. I'll give

you twenty." So the person on the boat said,

"No, no, that's too cheap." By now the man

in the river was trying very hard to breathe

and was even swallowing some of the river

water. So he said, "OK, OK, thirty dollars!"

But the person on the boat said, "No, no.

Forty dollars is my last price." And the man

in the water said,
"I - I - I'd rather die!"

昂貴的生命

以前有一個人非常吝嗇。有一天，他想自己涉水過河，

不料因為水流很急，而失足滑落河里，被河水沖到河

中央。于是他大喊救命：「有誰能救我，我就給他

賞金！」 這時附近正好有一艘小船，船上的人說：

「好！給我五十元，我就救你?！鼓莻€溺水的人

卻說：「五十元太貴了，給你二十元好了?！?/P>

船上的人說：「不行、不行！太少了！」這時，

河里那個人已經呼吸困難，而且又嗆了好幾口水，

于是他說：「好啦！好啦！那三十元！」船上的

人說：「不行，四十元是最底價！」那個溺水的

人說：「那我…我寧可淹死！」