A great excuse 合適的借口

To make the rush hour easier, our small grocery1 store has a rule for children returning soft-drink bottles:

NO BOTTLES ACCEPTED AFTER FIVE O'CLOCK

One day neat closing time at 6:30, four young children arrived with bottles. Wanting to put a stop to this habit, I sternly2 asked each child if he was aware of the rules. Three shook their heads no, but the youngest said he knew. "Why then." I asked, "have you brought me these bottles?"

"I can't tell time yet." He said.

為了緩解購(gòu)物高峰，我們這個(gè)小水果店為孩子們退飲料瓶做了如下規(guī)定：

五點(diǎn)鐘以后不收瓶子

快到六點(diǎn)半下班的時(shí)候，四個(gè)孩子來(lái)退瓶子。為了制止他們的這個(gè)習(xí)慣，我故意很?chē)?yán)肅的問(wèn)每個(gè)孩子是否知道我們的規(guī)定。其中三個(gè)孩子都搖頭表示不知道。只有那個(gè)最小的說(shuō)他知道。“那你為什么還在這個(gè)時(shí)間來(lái)退瓶子呢?”我問(wèn)他。

“我還不認(rèn)識(shí)表呢!”他說(shuō)。