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All went well for some weeks. Then one Saturday morning my attention was drawn to the odd goings-on of our two youngest sons. They kept carrying carton after carton from various corners of the house out the front door to curbside. I assumed their mother had enlisted them to remove junk for a trash pickup. Then I overheard them discussing finances.
几个星期过去了，一切都很好。后来，一个星期六的上午，我们两个小儿子的奇怪举动引起了我的注意。他们不停地将一个又一个的纸箱从房屋四处的角落里搬出，经过前门，送到人行道边。我以为他们的妈妈在指挥他们清除破烂，好让垃圾车运走呢。正在这时，我听到他们在议论经济问题。
"Geez, we're going to make a lot of money!"
"哟，我们会赚许多钱呢！"
"We're going to be rich!"
"我们要发财啦！"
Investigation revealed that they were offering " for sale or rent" our entire library.
经查问发现，他们正在把我们的全部图书"出售或出租"。
"No! No!" I cried. "You can't sell our books!"
"不成！不成！"我叫道。"不能把我们的书卖了！"
"Geez, Dad, we thought you were done with them!"
"哎唷，爸，我们以为你用不着它们了呢！"
"You're never 'done' with books," I tried to explain.
"书永远不会'用'不着的，"我尽力解释道。
"Sure you are. You read them, and you're done with them. That's it. Then you might as well make a little money from them. We wanted to avoid the indignity of having to ask you for…"
"你肯定用不着了。你都看过了，再也不用了。没有错。既然不用，还不如卖点钱。我们想避免那种有失尊严的事，不再伸手向你要……"
