英文短篇故事（纽约）159 Can You Add Three Little Numbers?

 　　He was bicycling west on Delancey Street. Traffic was moving fast. It was bumper¹ to bumper. He turned south off Delancey Street. A couple of blocks later, he turned onto Grand Street. Traffic was also bumper to bumper, but it was barely² moving. He came to a Chinese market. Fresh vegetables and fruits were on display outside. He parked his bicycle. He looked at all the different greens. He pointed³ to three different greens. He told the Chinese woman, "Two pounds of each, please." She put the greens into three red, plastic bags. She said, "$9.50." He said, "$9.50!? No, $8.50." The woman frowned. Her voice rose: "$9.50! $3, $3, $3.50—$9.50." He realized that she was right. He shook his head. I can't add three little numbers, he thought. He gave her $10. She offered him his change. He said, "Keep it." She smiled. She sweetly said thank you.

1 bumper   

n.(汽车上的)保险杠；adj.特大的，丰盛的

参考例句：

• The painting represents the scene of a bumper harvest.这幅画描绘了丰收的景象。
• This year we have a bumper harvest in grain.今年我们谷物丰收。

2 barely   

adv.仅仅，几乎没有，几乎不

参考例句：

• The male bird is barely distinguishable from the female.雄鸟和雌鸟几乎无法辨别。
• He took barely enough money to keep the children in bread.他赚很少的钱仅够孩子们勉强糊口。

3 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。