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LESSON 18
第18課
died
死
woman
女人
convinced
相信
amazed
驚訝
wrote
寫了
pity
遺憾
mistake
錯(cuò)誤
rewarded
獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)
grateful
感激
check
檢查
distress
貧困
hesitation
猶豫
husband
丈夫
musician
音樂(lè)家
widow
寡婦
assistance
幫助
THE WIDOW AND THE MERCHANT
寡婦和商人
A merchant, who was very fond of music, was asked by a poor widow to give her some assistance.
有一個(gè)商人很喜歡音樂(lè)，一個(gè)可憐的窮寡婦曾經(jīng)向他求助。
Her husband, who was a musician, had died, and left her very poor indeed.
她的丈夫是一個(gè)音樂(lè)家，可惜英年早逝，給她留下了少得可憐的財(cái)產(chǎn)。
The merchant saw that the widow and her daughter, who was with her, were in great distress.
商人注意到，這個(gè)寡婦和她身邊的女兒極其貧困。
He looked with pity into their pale faces, and was convinced by their conduct that their sad story was true.
他很同情地看著寡婦那蒼白的臉，心中已被她們的行為說(shuō)服了，對(duì)她們那悲傷的故事信以為真。
"How much do you want, my good woman?" said the merchant.
“你想要多少錢，夫人？”商人說(shuō)。
"Five dollars will save us," said the poor widow, with some hesitation.
“5美元就能救救我們了。”這個(gè)可憐的寡婦略帶猶疑地說(shuō)。
The merchant sat down at his desk, took a piece of paper,wrote a few lines on it, and gave it to the widow with the words,
商人坐在桌前，拿出一張紙，寫下了幾行字，然后遞給寡婦，說(shuō)：
Take it to the bank you see on the other side of the street.
把它拿到街對(duì)面的那家銀行去換錢吧
The grateful widow and her daughter, without stopping to read the note, hastened to the bank.
感激不盡的寡婦和女兒甚至都沒(méi)有認(rèn)真看字條，就急忙趕到了銀行。
The banker at on cecounted out fifty dollars instead of five, and passed them to the widow.
銀行里的職員并沒(méi)有給她五美元，而是立刻數(shù)出了五十美元，遞到這個(gè)寡婦手里。
She was amazed when she saw so much money.
看到這么多錢，她驚呆了。
"Sir,there is a mistake here," she said. "You have given me fifty dollars, and I asked for only five."
“先生，是不是弄錯(cuò)了，”她說(shuō)，“您給了我五十美元，而我只要了五美元。”
The banker looked at the note once more, and said, "The check calls for fifty dollars."
銀行里的職員馬上又看了一下支票，說(shuō)：“這是一張五十美元的支票。”
"It is a mistake—indeed it is," said the widow.
寡婦又說(shuō)：“那一定是弄錯(cuò)了。”
The banker then asked her to wait a few minutes, while he went to see the merchant who gave her the note.
銀行職員讓她耐心等幾分鐘，然后就去找開(kāi)出支票的商人。
"Yes." said the merchant, when he had heard the banker's story,
當(dāng)商人聽(tīng)完銀行職員的敘述后，說(shuō)：“是的，我犯了一個(gè)錯(cuò)誤。”
I did make a mistake. I wrote fifty instead of five hundred.
我只寫下了五十美元，而不是五百美元。
Give the poor widow five hundred dollars, for such honesty is poorly rewarded with even that sum.
給那個(gè)可憐的寡婦五百美元吧，因?yàn)檫@種誠(chéng)實(shí)的美德多少錢也換不來(lái)。
