Our vicar is always raising money for one cause or another, but he has never managed to get enough money tohave the church clock repaired. The big clock which used to strike the hours day and night was damaged many yearsago and has been silent ever since.
' One night, however, our vicar woke up with a start: the clock was striking the hours! Looking at his watch, he saw that itwas one o'clock, but the bell struck thirteen times before it stopped. Armed with a torch, the vicar went up into the clocktower to see what was going on. In the torchlight, he caught sight of a figure whom he immediately recognized as Bill
Wilkins, our local grocer. 'Whatever are you doing up here Bill ?' asked the vicar in surprise.' I'm trying to repair the bell,' answered Bill.' I've been coming up here night after night for weeks now. You see, I was hoping to give you a surprise.'
'You certainly did give me a surprise!' said the vicar. 'You've probably woken up everyone in the village as well. Still, I'mglad the bell is working again.''That's the trouble, vicar,' answered Bill. 'It's working all right, but I'm afraid that at one o'clock it will strike thirteen timesand there's nothing I can do about it.'
'We'll get used to that Bill,' said the vicar. 'Thirteen is not as good as one but it's better than nothing. Now let's godownstairs and have a cup of tea.'
我们教区的牧师总是为各种各样的事筹集资金。但始终未能筹足资金把教堂的钟修好。教堂的钟很大，以前不分昼夜打点报时，但很多年前遭到毁坏，从此便无声无息了。
一天夜里，我们的牧师突然被惊醒了，大钟又在“打点”报时了！他一看表，才 1 点钟，可是那钟一边敲了 13 下才停。
牧师拿着一支电筒走上钟楼想去看看究竟发生了什么事情。借着电筒光。他看见一个人，马上认出那是本地杂货店主经比尔.威尔金斯。
“你究竟在这上面干什么，比尔？”牧师惊讶地问。
“我想把这口钟修好，”比尔回答说。“好几个星期了，我天天夜里到钟楼上来。嗯，我是想让你大吃一惊。”
“你确实使我大吃了一惊！”牧师说，“也许同时你把村里所有的人都吵醒了。不过，钟又能报时了，我还是很高兴的。”
“问题就在这里，牧师，”比尔回答说。“不错，钟能报时了，但是，恐怕每到 1 点钟，它总要敲 13 下，对此我已无能为力了。”
“大家慢慢就习惯了，比尔，”牧师说。“13 下是不如 1 下好，但总比 1 下也不敲强。来，咱们下楼去喝杯茶吧。”
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