英语小达人 176 At a Border Station

 　　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 inspection¹ 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 customs² officer."

　　“因为我是法国海关官员。”

1 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

2 customs   

n.海关，关税

参考例句：

• The customs officials turned the man over to the French police.海关官员把那个人移交给了法国警察。
• They are collecting customs.他们正在收缴关税。