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One of my regular customers, who was a retired confectioner, told me of another sales factor in bad weather. He said that many people did not buy confectionery in advance. Rain or snow kept them from their usual Sunday afternoon walk or even from a tea-time trip to their nearest shop; if they were unable to fetch chocolate and sweets, ice-cream available righ outside their homes was an admirable and easy substitute.
有位老顧客，一位退休糕點師傅，告訴我惡劣天氣里的另一個銷售因素。他說很多人沒有事先買糖果糕點的習慣。下雨或下雪使他們不能在星期天下午例行散步，甚至沒法在喝下午茶時到附近的店里去跑一趟；要是他們沒法弄到巧克力和糖果，家門外就有賣的冰淇淋不失為既好又方便的替代品。
What he said was true. Icy winds apart, bad weather in the form of fog, rain or snow, never did reduce sales.
他說得一點沒錯。除刺骨的寒風而外，多霧、下雨、下雪等惡劣天氣確實從來沒有使銷售量降低過。
One aspect of retail selling was the getting of orders for regular ice-cream deliveries at a set time — usually for use as a sweet at lunch or dinner, or as an extra when viewing television.
零售的一個方面是定時將固定訂戶的冰淇淋送上門——這種冰淇淋一般用作午餐或晚餐時的一道甜點，或看電視時吃的消閑食品。
On one occasion when I had moved through a road in the morning and got a provisional order for that day from one housewife, I returned doubtfully at one o'clock in the midst of a snowstorm quite expecting her to cancel the order. To my surprise she doubled her provisional order and asked for a regular weekly visit. It was her busy morning and she was grateful for one less thing to do.
有一天上午，我在一條馬路上開過時，有位主婦臨時向我預訂當天的冰淇淋。我頂風冒雪在一點鐘時猶豫著回到她那兒，以為她會取消預訂。令我驚訝的是，她比臨時預訂的多買了一份，還讓我每星期送一次。她那個上午很忙能少做一件家務事，她感到很慶幸。
Indeed, rarely were these regular orders cancelled, and in bad weather they formed a steady source of income. In the evening they solved an awkward problem, as casual selling, even though I kept to customary arrival times, needed some sort of notice to be given that I wasoutside with the van.
實際上，這些固定訂購的冰淇淋很少取消，在惡劣的天氣里，它們便成為穩定的收入來源。在晚上，它們則解決了一個令人煩惱的問題，因為即使我做到按慣例準時到達，沒有計劃的零售總需要我發出某種信號，表明我的車已到了門外。
I tried to keep my chimes reasonable, but I was always too noisy for those who did not require ice-cream and never loud enough for those who did.
我盡量掌握吆喝的分寸，可對于那些不想要冰淇淋的人來說，我的吆喝總嫌太吵，而對于那些需要冰淇淋的人來說，我的吆喝又總是太輕了。
