At a Border Station
在边境车站
A train stopped at a French border station. The passengers opened their trunks, and waited for the inspection of their things. One of the passengers in first-class carriage took a lot of boxes of cigarettes out of his trunk and wanted to put all of them into his pockets.
一列火车停在法国边境车站。旅客们都打开自己的皮箱，等待检查。头等车厢的一个乘客从他的皮箱里拿出许多盒香烟，想把它们全部装进自己的口袋。
When his pockets were already full of cigarettes and he could not put any more into them, he said to another man who was at the window:
他的口袋已经装满了香烟，再也装不进去了，他就对坐在窗口的一个人说：
"Will you please take some of these boxes and put them into your pockets?"
“请你拿上几盒烟放到你口袋里好吗？”
"Why don't you leave them in your trunk?" asked the other passenger.
“你为什么不放在皮箱里呢？”那个乘客问道。
"Because I don't want to pay duty on them," answered the first passenger.
“因为我不想交税。”第一个乘客说。
"All right," said the passenger at the window. "Give them to me. But I must tell you now that I shall not return them to you."
“好吧，”窗口的那个乘客说，“把它们给我。可是我现在必须告诉你，我不会还你了。”
"Why?"
“为什么？”
"Because I am a French customs officer."
“因为我是法国海关官员。”