Merry Christmas

　　It was one of the last days before Christmas, and the as sistants in the large store had their hands full serving eager Christmas shoppers.

　　At one counter an old lady was choosing gloves red ones for her daugher in law, light blue ones for her niece, pink ones for her grand daughter, green ones for her sister and by the time she had found what she wanted, the counter was covered with pairs of all colors and sizes.

　　When the salesgirl had finally written out the bill and was about to turn to the next customer with a tired voice. "Thank you very much, madam," the old lady suddenly cried out, "Oh, I almost forgot..."——"Anything else, madam?" said the girl, "Yes," began the old lady, "I'd like to buy another pair, but I' m not quite sure about what exactly I should cloose. I wonder if you could help me." "Certainly, madam", was the girl's reply. The old lady then went on to explain that what she was looking for was a pair of gloves for a girl of her age. She was not at ail sure what color to choose, and the design was a problem too.

　　The tired girl did her best to help the old lady make up her mind, showing her ail kinds of gloves.

　　At last the chosen pair of gloves were wrapped up and paid for as well, and as the girl was about to turn to the next customer, the old lady handed her a little parcel and said, "These now, dear, these are for you and thank you for being so patient. I do hope you have a merry Christmas !"

　　[點評]

　　這是一篇非常動人的記敘文。時間：圣誕節前夕;地點：一個大商店里;人物：一位老太太和售貨員;事件：買手套。故事安排得非常精巧，尤其是它的結尾讓人感到意外，又令人感動不已。只是篇幅有些長。

　　[參考譯文]

　　圣誕快樂

　　那是圣誕前的一天，在一所大商店里，售貨員都忙著為那些渴望購物的顧客服務。

　　在一個柜臺前，一位老太太在挑選手套：紅色的是買給她兒媳的;淡藍色的是買給她侄女的;粉紅色的是買給她孫女的，綠色的是買給她妹妹的，等她將所有她要買的選好的時候，柜臺上已放滿了各種顏色、大小不一的手套。

　　最后女售貨員開了發票，疲乏地說了聲“非常感謝，太太”，正要轉向下一個顧客時，老太太突然叫了起來，“哦，我差點忘了……”“還要別的什么嗎，太太?”女售貨員問道。“是的，”老太太說了起來，“我想再買一雙，不過我不知道該選什么樣的。不知你能不能幫我選選。”售貨員的回答是“當然可以，太太。”老太太接著解釋說，她要買的是一雙像女售員這樣年輕的姑娘戴的手套。她一點也不知該選什么顏色。再說，選什么式樣也是個問題。

　　疲憊的女售貨員盡力地幫她選好一雙手套。

　　最后選好的手套被包了起來，也付了錢。當女售貨員正要轉向另一顧客時，老太太把一個小包裹遞給她說：“親愛的，這是給你的，謝謝你這么耐心。祝你圣誕快樂。”