Merry Christmas

It was one of the last days before Christmas, and the as sistants in the large store had their hands full serving eager Christmas shoppers.

At one counter an old lady was choosing gloves red ones for her daugher in law, light blue ones for her niece, pink ones for her grand daughter, green ones for her sister and by the time she had found what she wanted, the counter was covered with pairs of all colors and sizes.

When the salesgirl had finally written out the bill and was about to turn to the next customer with a tired voice. "Thank you very much, madam," the old lady suddenly cried out, "Oh, I almost forgot..."——"Anything else, madam?" said the girl, "Yes," began the old lady, "I'd like to buy another pair, but I' m not quite sure about what exactly I should cloose. I wonder if you could help me." "Certainly, madam", was the girl's reply. The old lady then went on to explain that what she was looking for was a pair of gloves for a girl of her age. She was not at ail sure what color to choose, and the design was a problem too.

The tired girl did her best to help the old lady make up her mind, showing her ail kinds of gloves.

At last the chosen pair of gloves were wrapped up and paid for as well, and as the girl was about to turn to the next customer, the old lady handed her a little parcel and said, "These now, dear, these are for you and thank you for being so patient. I do hope you have a merry Christmas !"

[参考译文]

圣诞快乐

那是圣诞前的一天，在一所大商店里，售货员都忙着为那些渴望购物的顾客服务。

在一个柜台前，一位老太太在挑选手套：红色的是买给她儿媳的；淡蓝色的是买给她侄女的；粉红色的是买给她孙女的，绿色的是买给她妹妹的，等她将所有她要买的选好的时候，柜台上已放满了各种颜色、大小不一的手套。

最后女售货员开了发票，疲乏地说了声“非常感谢，太太”，正要转向下一个顾客时，老太太突然叫了起来，“哦，我差点忘了……”“还要别的什么吗，太太?”女售货员问道。“是的，”老太太说了起来，“我想再买一双，不过我不知道该选什么样的。不知你能不能帮我选选。”售货员的回答是“当然可以，太太。”老太太接着解释说，她要买的是一双像女售员这样年轻的姑娘戴的手套。她一点也不知该选什么颜色。再说，选什么式样也是个问题。

疲惫的女售货员尽力地帮她选好一双手套。

最后选好的手套被包了起来，也付了钱。当女售货员正要转向另一顾客时，老太太把一个小包裹递给她说：“亲爱的，这是给你的，谢谢你这么耐心。祝你圣诞快乐。”

[点评]

这是一篇非常动人的记叙文。时间：圣诞节前夕；地点：一个大商店里；人物：一位老太太和售货员；事件：买手套。故事安排得非常精巧，尤其是它的结尾让人感到意外，又令人感动不已。只是篇幅有些长。