人盡其才(Make the best use of)
a little boy bustled into a grocery one day with a memorandum in his hand.
一天，一個小男孩匆匆忙忙地走進了一家雜貨店，手里拿著一張清單。
"hello, mr. smith," he said. "i want thirteen pounds of coffee at 32 cents."
“史密斯先生，你好，”他說道，“三毛二分錢一磅的咖啡，請給我十三磅。”
"very good," said the grocer, and he noted down the sale.
“好的，”雜貨店老板馬上把這筆生意記了下來。
"anything else, charlie?"
“還要別的什么不，查理?”
"yes. twenty-seven pounds of sugar at 9 cents."
“要的。再要二十七磅糖，九分錢一磅的。”
"the loaf, eh? and what else?
“面包要不要?還要什么?”
"seven and a half pounds of bacon at 20 cents."
“七磅半咸肉，二毛錢一磅的。”
"that will be a good brand. go on."
“這肉是名牌子呢。還有呢?”
"five pounds of tea at 90 cents; eleven and a half quarts of molasses at 8 cents a pint; two eight-pound hams at 21 cents, and five dozen jars of pickled walnuts at 24 cents a jar."
“九毛錢一磅的茶葉，給我五磅;八分錢一品脫的糖漿要十一夸脫半;二毛一分錢一磅的大火腿要二只，二毛四分錢一罐的腌核桃要五打。”
the grocer made out the bill.
雜貨店老板把帳單算了出來。
"it‘s a big order," he said. "did your mother tell you to pay for it?"
“你買了很多東西，”他說，“你媽媽叫你現在把錢付清嗎?”
"my mother," said the boy, as he pocketed the neat and accurate bill, "has nothing to do with this business. it is my arithmetic lesson and i had to get it done somehow."
小男孩一面把那清楚準確的帳單放進口袋一面說，“這和我媽沒關系，這是我自己的算術作業，我總得想辦法把它做出來!
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