A Lucky Mother
幸運的媽媽
A young mother believed that it was very wrong to waste any food when there were so many hungry people in the world. One evening, she was giving her little daughter, Lucy, her food before putting her to bed. First she gave her a piece of bread and butter, but the child said that she did not want it like that. She asked for some jam on her bread as well.
一位年輕媽媽堅信在世界上還有那么多挨餓的人的時候,浪費任何食物都是極其錯誤的行為。一天晚上,小女兒露西睡覺前,她在喂她吃東西。她先是給她一塊帶黃油的面包,但是孩子說她不想這樣吃,想再加點果醬到面包上。
Her mother looked at her for a few seconds and then said, “When I was a small girl like you, Lucy, I was always given either bread and butter, or bread and jam, but never bread with butter and jam.” Lucy looked at her mother for a few moments with pity in her eyes and then said to her kindly, “Arent you pleased that youve come to live with us now?”
她媽媽看了她幾秒鐘之后說道:“當我像你這么大的時候,露西,我要么吃面包加黃油,要么面包加果醬,從來沒有吃過面包同時加黃油和果醬。”露西用很憐惜的眼神看了媽媽一會兒,然后很有同情心地問道:“那你現在和我們生活在一起不是很開心嗎?”
Keep the Change
不用找了
Selling secondhand books at a park, I was in trouble with a customer. He was interested in buying a story book but said 35 cents was too expensive. Other sellers were selling for ten or 15 cents each.
我在公園里賣二手書,同一個顧客起了一點糾紛。他有興趣買一本故事書,但是卻說35美分太貴了,其他商家只賣10或15美分一本。
I pointed out that my book was in good condition. The book was very good for kids to read. He said no. At last, I agreed to sell him the book for 15 cents. He paid with a $20 bill happily and said, “Keep the change.”
我指出,我的書保管得很好,而且這本書給孩子們閱讀是很合適的。他不同意。最終,我同意將書15美分賣給他。他很高興地拿出20美元付賬,說道:“不用找了。”