迟付款的戒指

张祖平

One day， the boss of a gold shop received a letter. As he was very busy， the letter was on his desk till dinner time. When he opened it， a $1000 note fell out onto the desk. With the note was a short letter：

Dear Sir，

I got married forty years ago. Unfortunately1， at that time there was a lot of unemployment2 and I got no job. I was out of work for about six months before I got another one. Of course I was very short of money.

I came to your shop to buy a wedding ring one day. The assistant brought some rings for me to have a look， later she was called away for a moment， and then I put one of the rings into my pocket. When she came back， I said I did not know the size of my girlfriends finger. So I left the shop with the ring but I didnt pay for it. My wife died a month ago， and the fact that I never paid for her ring has been on my conscience3 all these years. I always feel guilty4 about that. At that time the ring cost $100， and I think that is about ten times at todays price.

Now， I am sending you that amount.

Yours truly，

A customer

After reading the letter， the boss said， “Well， life is always full of surprise！”

一天，一家金店的老板收到一封信。因为他很忙，这封信一直放在桌上，直到吃饭的时候才打开那封信，一张1000美元的支票掉到桌上，除了支票，还有一封短信：

尊敬的先生：

40年前我要结婚的时候，不幸那时失业率很高，我没有了工作。在我找到另一份工作之前，我已经六个月没有工作了。当然，我当时非常缺钱。

一天，我来到你的店里想买结婚戒指。店员拿给我一些戒指让我看，后来她离开了一会儿，然后，我把其中一枚戒指装进了自己的口袋。当她回来时，我说我不知道我女朋友手指的尺寸，于是没有付钱就走出了店。一个月之前，我的妻子去世了，我始终没有付这个戒指的钱，这件事让我的良心这些年一直受到谴责，我常常为此感到愧疚。那时，那枚戒指值100美元，我想现在的价钱是当初的十倍吧。

现在，我把这笔钱送还给你。

你一位忠实的顾客

读完这封信，金店的老板说道：“生活总是充满惊喜啊！”endprint