新概念英語第三冊課堂筆記 第二十八課
 
Lesson 28 Five pounds too dear

Small boats loaded with wares sped to the great liner as(=while) she was entering the harbour. Before she had anchored, the men from the boats had climbed on board and the decks were soon covered with colourful rugs form Persia, silks from India, copper coffee pots, and beautiful handmade silverware. It was difficult not to be tempted. Many of the tourists on board had begun bargaining with the tradesmen, but I decided not to（表否定） buy anything until I had disembarded.
I had no sooner got off the ship than I was assailed by a man who wanted to sell me a diamond ring. I had no intention of buying one, but I could not conceal the fact that I was impressed by the size of the diamonds. Some of them were as big as marbles. The man went to great lengths to prove that the diamonds were real. As we were walking past a shop, he held a diamond firmly against the window and made a deep impression in the glass. It took me over half an hour to get rid of him.
The next man to approach me was selling expensive pens and watches. I examined one of the pens closely. It certainly looked genuine真的. At the base of the gold cap, the words ‘made in the U.S.A.’ had been neatly inscribed. The man said that the pen was worth ￡50, but as a special favour, he would let me have it for ￡30. I shook my head and held up five fingers indicating表明 that I was willing to pay ￡5. Gesticulating wildly, the man acted as if he found my offer outrageous, but he eventually reduced the price to ￡10. shrugging my shoulders聳肩, I began to walk away when, a moment later, he ran after me and thrust the pen into my hands. Though he kept throwing up his arms in despair, he readily accepted the ￡5 I gave him. I felt especially pleased with my wonderful bargain – until I got back to the ship. No matter how hard I tried, it was impossible to fill this beautiful pen with ink and to this day it has never written a single word!

New words and expressions
wares            貨物，商品
anchor            停航下錨
deck            甲板
silverware        銀器
tempt            吸引
bargain            討價還價
disembark        下船上岸
assail            糾纏
marble            玻璃球，大理石
inscribe        雕，刻（文字）
favour            好處，優惠
gesticulate     （說話時）打手勢
outrageous        出人預料的
thrust            硬塞給

Notes on the text
l    wares運輸過程中的貨
├goods（商店中的）貨品
├articles物品
├merchandise商品
├commodity（抽象）商品概念
└cargo貨
l    onboard在船上
├deck甲板
└on the deck
┌silverware銀器
└goldware金器
l    temptation吸引
├seduce唆使
├lure誘餌
├appeal to吸引
└bewitch迷惑
I seduce sb. into doing sth.唆使…做…
tempt（人）誘惑（人）
bargain over仔細考慮
＝think over
l    assail（靜）纏
└pe

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