Not to Be Taken Out

Mark Twain once went to borrow a certain book from a neighbour in Tarry town. "May I borrow a book from you?" he asked politely."Yes,you're more than welcome to it," the neighbour told him. "But I must ask you to read it here. You know I make a rule never to let any book go out of my library." Some days later the neighbour wished to borrow Twain's machine for cutting grass in the garden. "Why,certainly," Twain told him,"You're more than welcome to it. But I must ask you to use it here. You know that I make it a rule never to let it go out of my garden."

 

概不外借

  在特里镇，马克.吐温有一次去一位邻居那儿借本书。“我可以向您借本书吗？”
  他礼貌地问道。“当然，非常乐意，”邻居告诉他，“但我要求你在这儿读。你知道我有一条规定，那就是决不让一本书拿出我的图书室。”几天后，这位邻人想从吐温那儿借台割草机。
  “噢，当然，”吐温告诉他，“非常乐意借给你。但我要你在这儿用。你知道我从来不允许它拿出我的花园。”