一个明朗的下午，我走在第五大街上，忽然想起得买双短袜。至于为什么我只买一双，那是无关紧要的。我看到第一家袜子店，便走了进去，一个年纪不到17岁的少年店员向我迎来。“您要什么，先生？”“我想买双短袜。”他的眼睛闪出光芒，话语里含着激情。“您是否知道您来到的是世上最好的袜店？”这我倒没有意识到，因为我是偶然走进来这家商店的。“请跟我来，”那少年欣喜若狂地说。我随他来到店堂后部，少年从货架上拖下一个又一个盒子，把里面的袜子展示在我面前，让我赏鉴。

　　"Hold on, lad, I am going to buy only one pair!" "I know that," said he, "but I want you to see how marvelously beautiful these are. Aren't they wonderful?" There was on his face an expression of solemn and holy rapture, as if he were revealing to me the mysteries of his religion. I became far more interested in him than in the socks. I looked at him in amazement. "My friend," said I, "if you can keep this up, if this is not merely the enthusiasm that comes from novelty, from having a new job, if you can keep up this zeal and excitement day after day, in ten years you will own every sock in the United States." (To be continued)“等等，小伙子，我只要买一双！”“这我知道，”他说。“不过，我想让您看看这些袜子有多漂亮，真是好看极了！”他脸上洋溢着庄严和神圣的狂喜，像是在向我启示他所信奉的宗教的玄理。我对他的兴趣远远超过了对袜子的兴趣。我诧异地望着他。“我的朋友，”我说，“如果你能一直这样热情，如果这热情不只是因为你感到新奇，或因为得到了一个新的工作——如果你能天天如此，把这种热忱和激情保持下去，不消十年，你会成为全美国的短袜大王。”（待续）