[21]“It’saremelyp,”saidMr。Sellyer,“infact,masterly。Thecriticsaresayingthatit’sperhapsthemostpowerfulbookoftheseason。Ithasa—,”andhereMr。Sellyerpaused,andsomehowhismannerremindedmeofmyownlainingtoauyethingthatIdon’tkhasa-apower,sotospeak,averyexalpower;infaaysaywithoutexaggerationitisthemostpowerfulbookofthemonth。Indeed,”headded,gettingontround,“it’shavilywonderfulsale。”
[22]“Youseemtohaveagreatmanyofthem,”saidthelady。
[23]“Oh,wehaveto,”ahemahere’saregularrushonthebook。Indeed,youknowit’sabookthatisbouion。Infaquarters,theyaresayingthatit’sabookthatoughtnotto—”AndhereMr。Sellyer’svoicebecamesolowandingratiatingthatI’theartherestofthesentence。
[24]“Oh,really!”saidMrs。Rasselyer。“Well,IthinkI’lltakeittheoseewhatthesetalked-ofthi,any>
[25]Shehadalreadybeguntobuttloves,aherfeatherboa,withwhichshehadbeenknogtheEastercardsofftheter。Thenshesuddenlyrememberedsomething。
[26]“Oh,Iwasf,”shesaid。“WillyouseothehouseforMr。Rasselyeratthesametime?He’sgoingdiniafortheva。Youknowthekindofthinghelikes,doyounot?”
[27]“Oh,perfectly,madam,”saidthemanager。“Mr。Rasselyergenerallyreadsworksof—er—Ithinkhebuysmostlybookson—er—”
[28]“Oh,travelandthatsortofthing,”saidthelady。
[29]“Precisely。Ithinkwehavehere,”aedtothetheleft,“whatMr。Rasselyerwaedarowofhandsomebooks—”SeveheSahara,sevendollars;SixMonthsinaWaggon,six-fiftyernoonsinanOx-es,four-thirty,withtwentyoff。”
[30]“Ithinkhehasreadthose,”saidMrs。Rasselyer。“Atleastthereareagoodmaseemlikethat。”
[31]“Oh,verypossibly。Buthere,now,AmongtheibalsofCorfu—yes,thatIthinkhehashad—Amo,too,Ithink。ButthisIamhewouldlike,justinthism,AmongtheMonkeysofendollars,。”
[32]AndwiththisMr。SellyerlaidhishandonapileofnearentlyashehugepileofGoldenDreams。
Notes
&heexTheReadingPublic:aBookStoreStudybyStephenButlerLeacock,whoisthebestknownhumoristinadaaswellasinEnglish-speakingtries。
2。UniversalKnowledgefromAristotletoArthurBalfour:《通用知识:从亚里士多德到亚瑟·贝尔福》
3。DialoguesofPlato:《柏拉图对话》
&ionsfordis。
1)Whatisthesettiory?
2)Whatisthefirstimpressionofthesalesmahebookstore?
3)Whydidthemanagerreendbookswithlowprices?
4)Whilereadiore,whatdidthenarratornotiaversation?
5)Doyouthinkthesalesmanagerreadhynot?
6)Whatdoyouthinkoftheirreendedbooks?