Our vicar is always raising money for one
cause or another, but he has never
managed to get enough money to have
the church clock repaired. The big clock
which used to strike the hours day and
night was damaged during the war and
has been silent ever since.
' One night, however, our vicar woke up
with a start: the clock was striking the
hours! Looking at his watch, he saw that
it was one o'clock, but the bell struck
thirteen times before it stopped. Armed
with a torch, the vicar went up into the
clock tower to see what was going on. In
the torchlight, he caught sight of a figure
whom he immediately recognized as Bill Wilkins, our local grocer.
'Whatever are you doing up here Bill ?' asked the vicar in surprise.
' I'm trying to repair the bell,' answered Bill.' I've been coming up here night
after night for weeks now. You see, I was hoping to give you a surprise.'
'You certainly did give me a surprise!'said the vicar. 'You've probably
woken up everyone in the village as well. Still, I'm glad the bell is working
again.'
'That's the trouble, vicar,' answered Bill. 'It's working all right, but I'm
afraid that at one o'clock it will strike thirteen times and there's nothing 1 can
do about it.'
'we'll get used to that Bill,' said the vicar. 'Thirteen is not as good as one
but it's better than nothing. Now let's go downstairs and have a cup of tea.'

New words and expressions 生词和短语

equal
v. 等于

vicar
n. 牧师

raise
v. 募集，筹（款）

torchlight
n. 电筒光

参考译文

我们教区的牧师总是为各种各样的事筹集资金。但始终未能筹足资金把教堂的钟修好。教堂的钟很大，以前不分昼夜打点报时，但很多年前遭到毁坏，从此便无声无息了。
一天夜里，我们的牧师突然被惊醒了，大钟又在“打点”报时了！他一看表，才1点钟，可是那钟一边敲了13下才停。牧师拿着一支电筒走上钟楼想去看看究竟发生了什么事情。借着电筒光。他看见一个人，马上认出那是本地杂货店主经比尔.威尔金斯。
“你究竟在这上面干什么，比尔？”牧师惊讶地问。
“我想把这口钟修好，”比尔回答说。“好几个星期了，我天天夜里到钟楼上来。嗯，我是想让你大吃一惊。”
“你确实使我大吃了一惊！”牧师说，“也许同时你把村里所有的人都吵醒了。不过，钟又能报时了，我还是很高兴的。”
“问题就在这里，牧师，”比尔回答说。“不错，钟能报时了，但是，恐怕每到1点钟，它总要敲13下，对此我已无能为力了。”
“大家慢慢就习惯了，比尔，”牧师说。“13下是不如1下好，但总比1下也不敲强。来，咱们下楼去喝杯茶吧。”