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Off to a bad start
不好的開端
The new cultural centre was inaugurated with much burning of incese and the delivery of a large number of important speeches. Every foreseeable eventuality had been taken care of, or so the organisers thought. Sadly, however, there were a couple of unfortunate incidents that marred the occasion.
新的文化中心的開幕儀式上點燃了許多熏香，進行了大量重要的演講。任何可能發生的事情都照顧到了，至少組織者是這么認為的，然而，遺憾的是，一些不幸的事件破壞了儀式。
First of all, the incense that wasw being burned was impure. This led to a high incidence of cases of nausea among people attending the ceremony. Secondly, there was the incessant clutter of the new air-conditioning system that had only just been installed.
首先，正在燃燒的熏香是臟的。這導致參加儀式的人惡心的發生率很高。第二，剛裝好的新空調系統連續發生混亂。
Mark brown, a member of the organising committee, felt a sudden impulse to deal with at least some of those problems.”we cannot do much about the impurities in the incense. We shall have to improvise some quick fixes,”he said.
馬克。布朗是組委會的一員，他突然感到一陣沖動，要處理其中一些問題。“我們無法對熏香中的雜質做什么，我們必須臨時做一些快速補救。”他說。
The workman who was called in to inactivate the air conditioning was an impudent fellow.”the mechanism is quite inaccessible.” He said, “ what if I do myself an injury going in there and become incapacitated? I might even become inanimate—dead, in other words, what's the incentive for me to go in there? He demanded to know.
被叫來使空調停止轉動的工人是一個粗魯的家伙。“這個機械裝置比較不易進入，”他說。“如果我到那里受了傷，致殘了，怎么辦？我甚至可能變成無生命的—換句話說，死了。我進入那里的動機是什么？他要求知道答案。
Mark brown was incensed. “your behaviour is highly improper!” he said angrily.” You are being much too impulsive! Don't think you can get away with this with impunity! Just go down there and do your job, my lad, if you don't mind.”
馬克。布朗被激怒了。“你的行為非常不得體！“他生氣地說。”你太容易沖動了！別以為你不受處罰就可以這樣逃脫了！如果你不介意，只管下去干你的活，小伙子。“
Reluctantly, the workman caved in , but not without a final sting:” are you imputing that it's me who is responsible for this situation? I certainly hope not , and, imcidentally, that will be 98 pounds, if I do go down there.”
工人不情愿地鉆進去了，但最后不忘抬竹杠：“你是不是把現在的爛攤子歸咎于我，讓我對此負責？我當然希望你不這樣想，還有，順便提一句，如果我下到那里面，那就要98鎊。”
