倍立美語 BarryFunEnglish

Lesson 302  Thirteen equals one

Our vicar is always raising money for one cause or another, but he has never managed to get enough money to [1]have the church clock repaired. The big clock which [2]used to strike the hours day and night was damaged many years ago and has been silent ever since.

One night, however, our vicar woke up with a start: the clock was striking the hours! Looking at his watch, he saw that it was one o'clock, but the bell [3]struck thirteen times before it stopped. [4]Armed with a torch, the vicar went up into the clock tower to see what was going on. In the torchlight, he caught sight of a figure whom he immediately [5]recognized as Bill Wilkins, our local grocer.  'Whatever are you doing up here, Bill?' asked the vicar in surprise.

' I'm trying to repair the bell,' answered Bill.' I've been coming up here night after night for weeks now. You see, I was hoping to give you a surprise.'

'You certainly [6]did give me a surprise!' said the vicar. 'You've probably woken up everyone in the village as well. Still, I'm glad the bell is working again.'

'That's the trouble, vicar,' answered Bill. 'It's working all right, but I'm afraid that at one o'clock it will strike thirteen times and there's nothing I can do about it.'

'We'll [7]get used to that, Bill,' said the vicar. 'Thirteen is not as good as one but it's better than nothing. Now [8]let's go downstairs and have a cup of tea.'

十三等於一

    我們教區的牧師總是為各種各樣的事(理由)籌集資金。但始終未能設法籌足資金把教堂的鐘修理好。教堂大鐘以前不分晝夜打點報時，但很多年前遭到毀壞，從此便無聲無息了。

    然而，一天夜裡，我們的牧師突然被驚醒了(嚇一跳)，大鐘又在「打點」報時了！他一看錶，才一點鐘，可是那鐘敲了十三下才停。牧師拿著(配備)一支手電筒走上鐘樓想去看看究竟發生了什麼事情。藉著手電筒的光，他看見一個人影，馬上認出那是本地雜貨店主比爾‧威爾金斯。

    「你究竟在這上面做什麼，比爾？」牧師驚訝地問。

    「我在想辦法要把這鐘修理好，」比爾回答說。「好幾個星期了，我夜夜到鐘樓上來。嗯，我是想讓你大吃一驚。」

    「你確實使我大吃了一驚！」牧師說，「或許你也把村裡的每一個人都吵醒了。不過(儘管如此)，鐘又能報時(運作)了，我還是很高興的。」

    「問題(麻煩/毛病)就在這裡，牧師，」比爾回答說。「不錯，鐘能報時了，但是，恐怕每到一點鐘，它總要敲十三下，對此我已無能為力了。」

    「大家會慢慢習慣，比爾，」牧師說。「十三下是不如一下好，但總比沒有好。那麼，咱們下樓去喝杯茶吧。」