Was the vicar pleased that the clock was striking? Why?新概念英语第二册

Our vicar is always raising money for one cause or another, but he hasnever managed to get enough money to have the church clock repaired. The bigclock which used to strike the hours day and night was damaged many years agoand has been silent ever since. One night, however, our vicar woke up with astart: the clock was striking the hours! Looking at his watch, he saw that itwas one o'clock, but the bell struck 13 times before it stopped. Armed with atorch, the vicar went up into the clock tower to see what was going on. In thetorchlight, he caught sight of a figure whom he immediately recognized as BillWilkins, our local grocer. “Whatever are you doing up here Bill?” asked thevicar in surprise.

“I'm trying to repair the bell,” answered Bill.“I've been coming up herenight after night for weeks now. You see, I was hoping to give you asurprise.”

“You certainly did give me a surprise!” said the vicar. “You've probablywoken up everyone in the village as well. Still, I'm glad the bell is workingagain.”

“That's the trouble, vicar,” answered Bill. “It's working all right, butI'm afraid that at one o'clock it will strike 13 times and there's nothing I cando about it.”

“We'll get used to that Bill,” said the vicar. “13 is not as good as onebut it's better than nothing. Now let's go downstairs and have a cup oftea.”

New words and expressions 生词与短语

equal

v. 等于

vicar

n. 牧师

raise

v. 募集，筹(款)

torchlight

n. 电筒光

本文参考译文

我们教区的牧师总是为各种各样的事筹集资金。但始终未能筹足资金把教堂的钟修好。教堂的钟很大，以前不分昼夜打点报时，但很多年前遭到毁坏，从此便无声无息了。

一天夜里，我们的牧师突然被惊醒了，大钟又在“打点”报时了!他一看表，才1点钟，可是那钟一边敲了13下才停。牧师拿着一支电筒走上钟楼想去看看究竟发生了什么事情。借着电筒光。他看见一个人，马上认出那是本地杂货店主经比尔.威尔金斯。

“你究竟在这上面干什么，比尔?”牧师惊讶地问。

“我想把这口钟修好，”比尔回答说。“好几个星期了，我天天夜里到钟楼上来。嗯，我是想让你大吃一惊。”

“你确实使我大吃了一惊!”牧师说，“也许同时你把村里所有的人都吵醒了。不过，钟又能报时了，我还是很高兴的。”

“问题就在这里，牧师，”比尔回答说。“不错，钟能报时了，但是，恐怕每到1点钟，它总要敲13下，对此我已无能为力了。”

“大家慢慢就习惯了，比尔，”牧师说。“13下是不如1下好，但总比1下也不敲强。来，咱们下楼去喝杯茶吧。”

(兼职编辑：张博)