LESSON 18 THE WIDOW AND THE MERCHANT 寡婦和商人

1.A merchant, who was very fond of music, was asked by a poor widow to give her some assistance.Her husband, who was a musician, had died, and left her very poor indeed.

2.The merchant saw that the widow and her daughter, who was with her, were in great distress.He looked with pity into their pale faces, and was convinced by their conduct that their sad story was true.

3.“How much do you want, my good woman?” said the merchant.

4.“Five dollars will save us,” said the poor widow, with some hesitation.

5.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,“Take it to the bank you see on the other side of the street.”

6.The grateful widow and her daughter, without stopping to read the note, hastened to the bank.The banker at once counted out fifty dollars instead of fi ve, and passed them to the widow.

7.She was amazed when she saw so much money.“Sir, there is a mistake here,” she said.“You have given me fifty dollars, and I asked for only fi ve.”

8.The banker looked at the note once more, and said, “The check calls for fifty dollars.”

9.“It is a mistake—indeed it is,” said the widow.

10.The banker then asked her to wait a few minutes, while he went to see the merchant who gave her the note.

11.“Yes.” said the merchant, when he had heard the banker’s story, “I did make a mistake.I wrote fi fty instead of fi ve hundred.Give the poor widow five hundred dollars, for such honesty is poorly rewarded with even that sum.”

【中文閱讀】

1.一個(gè)商人，非常喜歡音樂(lè)。一天，一個(gè)貧窮的寡婦尋求他的幫助。她的丈夫是一位音樂(lè)家，可惜英年早逝，沒(méi)有給她留下什么財(cái)產(chǎn)。

2.商人發(fā)現(xiàn)這個(gè)寡婦和跟她在一起生活的女兒極度貧困。他十分同情地看著她們那蒼白的臉，心中已被她們的言行說(shuō)服了，對(duì)她們悲傷的故事深信不疑。

3.“您想要多少錢，夫人？”商人問(wèn)道。

4.“五美元就夠救我們了。”貧窮的寡婦略帶猶疑地說(shuō)。

5.商人坐在桌子旁，拿出一張紙，寫(xiě)了幾行字，然后遞給那個(gè)女人，說(shuō)道：“拿著它，到街道對(duì)面的銀行換錢吧。”

6.感激不盡的女人和她女兒甚至來(lái)不及看支票，就匆匆忙忙地來(lái)到了銀行。銀行職員并沒(méi)有給她五美元，而是立刻數(shù)出了五十美元，遞給了寡婦。

7.看到這么多錢，她驚呆了。“先生，一定是弄錯(cuò)了，”她說(shuō)，“你給了我五十美元，但我只要了五美元。”

8.銀行職員重新看了看支票，說(shuō)道：“支票上寫(xiě)的是五十美元。”

9.“弄錯(cuò)了，一定是弄錯(cuò)了。”寡婦說(shuō)道。

10.銀行職員請(qǐng)她耐心等待幾分鐘，他去找開(kāi)支票的商人。

11.“是的，”商人聽(tīng)完銀行職員的敘述后說(shuō)：“我的確弄錯(cuò)了。我只寫(xiě)了五十美元，而不是五百美元。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)。”