背诵为王 第 三 册 第 60 课

Lesson60 The Dishonest Desk Clerk
About a year ago, I registered¹ at a Detroit hotel. I had just cashed acheck. I didn't want to carry too much money with me, so I asked the deskclerk to put a hundred-dollar bill in the safe for me.
The next morning the clerk denied² any knowledge of my money. I had neither areceipt nor any other proof³ that I had given the man my money. It was hisword against mine. There was nothing I could do but go to the nearestlawyer.
The lawyer advised me to return to the hotel with him and give anotherhundred-dollar bill to the clerk. This we did. An hour later I went back tothe desk and claimed my money. Since I had the lawyer as an eyewitness⁴ tothe second hundred-dollar bill, the clerk could not look innocent⁵ and say heknew nothing about it.
Another hour later, I put the second part of the lawyer"s plan into action.
This time both the lawyer and I went to the hotel. I asked for the hundred-dollar bill, and then the clerk insisted he had already given it to me, Idenied it. The lawyer said, "I saw this man give you a hundred dollars. Ifyou don't hand it over immediately, I'll be forced to call the police." Theclerk realized he had been tricked, but he knew he had to face the music. Hegave me back the first hundred-dollar bill.
"I don't know how to thank you for getting my money back," I said to thelawyer. And what do you suppose he answered?
The lawyer said, "Oh, don"t thank me. That will be a hundred dollarsplease."

不诚实的前台接待员
大约一年前，我住进了底特律的一家旅馆。我刚刚兑现了一张支票，但我不想带太多的现金在身边，所以我让前台接待员帮我把一百美元放在保险箱里。
第二天早上，前台服务员说没帮我保管钱。我既没有收据也没有其他任何凭据可以证明我给了那人钱。我们俩人各说各说的。我没有办法只能去了最近的律师所。
律师建议我和他一起回旅馆，再给接待人员一张一百美元。我们就这样做了。一小时以后，我回到前台，索要我的钱。因为这次我有律师做目击证人，证明我给过那位前台服务员这第二张一百美元，他不能装无辜说不知道这件事。
又过了一个小时，我实行律师的第二步计划。这次律师和我都去了旅馆。我向那个接待员要一百美元的钞票，他坚持说已经还给我了，但是我不承认。律师说，“我看到这个人给了你一百美元。如果你不立刻把钱还给他，我只好报警了。”接待人员意识到自己中了圈套，但他知道他必须面对现实。他把第一张一百美元还给了我。
“我不知道该如何感谢你帮我讨回了钱，”我对律师说。你猜他是怎么回答我的？
律师说，“哦，不用谢我。你需要支付给我的费用是一百美元。”

1 registered   

adj.登记的，注册的

参考例句：

• Ships were registered abroad to circumvent employment and safety regulation. 船只在外国注册以逃避有关雇佣和安全的规定。
• In former times, only property owners could be registered as voters. 从前，只有有财产的人才能登记作选民。

2 Denied   

adj.拒签v.拒绝( deny的过去式和过去分词 )；拒绝承认；拒绝…占有；否认知情

参考例句：

• Government sources denied there had been a deliberate cover-up. 政府方面否认了有故意掩饰的行为。
• When we confronted him, he denied everything. 我们与他当面对质时，他什么都不承认。

3 proof   

adj.防...的，耐...的，能防护；n.校样，证据，证明；vt.检验，给...做防护措施

参考例句：

• He is living proof of the wonders of modern medicine.他是当代医学奇迹的活证明。
• The proof was fished up from some old papers.校样在旧文件中被找到了。

4 eyewitness   

n.目击者，见证人

参考例句：

• The police questioned several eyewitness to the murder.警察询问了谋杀案的几位目击者。
• He was the only eyewitness of the robbery.他是那起抢劫案的唯一目击者。

5 innocent   

adj.无罪的，清白的；无害的；天真的，单纯的

参考例句：

• I'm not quite so innocent as to believe that.我还不至于简单到相信那种事的地步。
• I was very young,and very innocent.我那时非常年轻，幼稚无知。