Some time ago, I discovered that one of my chairs had a broken leg. I didn’t think there would be any difficulty in getting it mended, as there was a lot of antique (古董) shops near my home. So I left home one morning, carrying the chair with me. I went into the first shop, expecting a friendly reception. I was quite wrong. The man didn’t even look at my chair.
The second shop, though slightly more polite, was just the same, and the third and the fourth — so I decided that my approach (way) must be wrong.
I went into the fifth shop with a plan in my mind. I placed the chair on the floor and said to the shopkeeper, “Would you like to buy a chair?” He looked it over carefully and said, “Yes, not a bad chair. How much do you want for it, sir?” “Twenty pounds,” I said. “OK,” he said, “I’ll give you twenty pounds.” “It’s got a slightly broken leg,” I said. “Yes, I saw that. It’s nothing.”
Everything was going according to the plan and I was getting excited. “What will you do with it?” I asked. “Oh, it will be easy to sell once the repair is done.” “I’ll buy it,” I said. “What do you mean? You’ve just sold it to me,” he said. “Yes, I know but I’ve changed my mind. I’m sorry. I’ll give you twenty-seven pounds for it.” “You must be crazy,” he said. Then, suddenly the penny dropped. “I know what you want. You want me to repair your chair.” “You’re right,” I said. “And what would you have done if I had walked in and said, ‘Would you mend this chair for me?’ ” “I wouldn’t have agreed to do it,” he said. “We don’t do repairs, not enough money in it and too much trouble. But I’ll mend this for you, shall we say for a fiver (five dollars)?” He was a very nice man and was greatly amused by the whole thing.
1. The expression “the penny dropped” in the last paragraph means the shopkeeper ______.
A.changed his mind | B.accepted the offer |
C.saw the writer’s purpose | D.decided to help the writer |
2. How much did the writer pay for the repair?
A.£ 5. | B.£ 7. | C.£ 20. | D.£ 27. |
3. From the text, we can learn that the writer was ______.
A.honest | B.careful | C.smart | D.funny |