“噢！不错，”所罗门说道，“我把她给忘了。总共两个人。”
“当然，他们什么也没有买，”孩子喊道。
“是的，他们什么也没有买，”所罗门平静地说道。
“他们也不想买什么东西，”孩子喊道。
'No. If they had, they'd gone to another shop,' said Solomon, in the same tone.
'But there were two of 'em, Uncle,' cried the boy, as if that were a great triumph. 'You said only one.'
“是的。如果他们想买的话，那么他们会到别的店铺里去买的，”所罗门用同样的声调说道。
“不过他们是两个人呀，舅舅，”孩子喊道，仿佛那是个很大的胜利似的。“你刚才却说只有一个人。”
'Well, Wally,' resumed the old man, after a short pause: 'not being like the Savages who came on Robinson Crusoe's Island, we can't live on a man who asks for change for a sovereign, and a woman who inquires the way to Mile-End Turnpike. As I said just now, the world has gone past me. I don't blame it; but I no longer understand it. Tradesmen are not the same as they used to be, apprentices are not the same, business is not the same, business commodities are not the same. Seven-eighths of my stock is old-fashioned. I am an old-fashioned man in an old-fashioned shop, in a street that is not the same as I remember it. I have fallen behind the time, and am too old to catch it again. Even the noise it makes a long way ahead, confuses me.'
“唔，沃利，”老人在短时间的沉默之后继续说道，“我们不像到鲁滨孙·克鲁索①荒岛上去的野人那样，不能靠一位请求把一镑换成零钱的男子和一位问到迈尔·恩德收税栅的路怎么走法的女人来生活。我刚才说过，这世界已经从我身边走过去了。我不责怪它；但我不再了解它了。商人和过去的不一样了；徒弟和过去的不一样了；商业和过去的不一样了，商品和过去的不一样了。我的存货八分之七都是老式的。我们这条街和我记得的过去的那一条街已经不一样了；我是这条街上一个老式的店铺中的一位老式的人。我已经落在时间的后面了，我太老了，不能再赶上它了。甚至它在前面很远的地方所发出的声音也把我搞糊涂了。”
注释：apprentice n. 学徒；生手 vt. 使…当学徒 vi. 当学徒
例句：
1. The shop is taking on two new apprentices.
这个商店新收了两个学徒。
2. The new apprentices are doing quite well.
新艺徒们进步很快。
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①鲁滨孙·克鲁索（RobinsonCrusoe）：是英国作家丹尼尔·笛福（DanielDefoe，1660—1731年）所著小说《鲁滨孙漂流记》中的主人翁，他在一个杳无人烟的荒岛上度过了二十八年。