Five pounds too dear
五磅太亲爱了
Why was even five pounds 'too dear' ?
为什么连五磅都"太亲爱"了？
Small boats loaded with wares sped to the great liner as she was entering the harbour.
当大客轮驶入港口时,满载货物的小船疾速驶向大客轮.
Before she had anchored, the men from the boats had climbed on board
她还没下锚，船上的人就爬上了船
and the decks were soon covered with colourful rugs from Persia,
甲板上很快就铺满了波斯色彩鲜艳的地毯,
silks from India, copper coffee pots, and beautiful handmade silverware.
来自印度的丝绸，铜咖啡壶和美丽的手工银器。
It was difficult not to be tempted.
很难不被诱惑。
Many of the tourists on board had begun bargaining with the tradesmen,
船上的许多游客已经开始与商人讨价还价,
but I decided not to buy anything until I had disembarked.
但我决定在我下船之前不买任何东西。
I had no sooner got off the ship
我刚下船
than I was assailed by a man who wanted to sell me a diamond ring.
比我被一个想卖给我一枚钻戒的人袭击的还要多。
I had no intention of buying one,
我无意买一个,
but I could not conceal the fact that I was impressed by the size of the diamonds.
但我无法掩盖这样一个事实，即钻石的大小给我留下了深刻的印象。
Some of them were as big as marbles.
其中一些像弹珠一样大。
The man went to great lengths to prove that the diamonds were real.
该名男子竭尽全力证明钻石是真实的。
As we were walking past a shop, he held a diamond firmly against the window
当我们走过一家商店时，他紧紧地把一颗钻石靠在窗户上
and made a deep impression in the glass.
并在玻璃中留下了深刻的印象。
It took me over half an hour to get rid of him.
我花了半个多小时才把他赶走.
The next man to approach me was selling expensive pens and watches.
下一个接近我的人是卖昂贵的钢笔和手表。
I examined one of the pens closely. It certainly looked genuine.
我仔细检查了其中一支笔。 它看起来确实是真的.
At the base of the gold cap,
在金帽的底部,
the words 'made in the U.S.A.' had been neatly inscribed.
"made in The U.S.a."这几个字已经被整齐地刻了下来。
The man said that the pen was worth ￡50, but as a special favour,
那人说这支笔值50美元，但作为一个特殊的恩惠,
he would let me have it for ￡30.
他会给我30美元的。
I shook my head and held up five fingers indicating that I was willing to pay ￡5.
我摇摇头，举起五根手指表示我愿意支付￡5。
Gesticulating wildly, the man acted as if he found my offer outrageous,
那个男人疯狂地打着手势，表现得好像他发现我的提议太离谱了,
but he eventually reduced the price to 10 pounds.
但他最终将价格降至10英镑。
Shrugging my shoulders I began to walk away when,
耸耸肩，我开始走开时,
a moment later, he ran after me and thrust the pen into my hands.
过了一会儿，他追着我跑，把笔塞进我的手中。
Though he kept throwing up his arms in despair,
虽然他一直绝望地举起双臂,
he readily accepted the ￡5 I gave him.
他欣然接受了我给他的5美元。
I felt especially pleased with my wonderful bargain--until I got back to the ship.
我对我的精彩交易感到特别高兴-直到我回到船上。
No matter how hard I tried,
不管我怎么努力,
it was impossible to fill this beautiful pen with ink
要把这支漂亮的钢笔装满墨水是不可能的
and to this day it has never written a single word!
直到今天，它从来没有写过一个字！
