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A young man finds it very difficult to say no to a woman and as a result he gets into trouble. The restaurant to which he has agreed to take his luncheon date is far too expensive for his small pocketbook. How, then, will he be able to avoid an embarrassing situation?
一个年轻人发觉很难拒绝一位女士，他因此陷入了困境。他同意进行午餐聚会的那家餐厅对他可怜的荷包来说实在太昂贵了。那么怎样他才能避免这种尴尬的处境呢？
The Luncheon
午餐
W.Somerset Maugham
萨默塞特·毛姆
I caught sight of her at the play, and in answer to her beckoning I went over during theinterval and sat down beside her. It was long since I had last seen her, and if someone had not mentioned her name I hardly think I would have recognised her. She addressed me brightly.
我是在看戏的时候见到她的。幕间休息时，我应她的招呼走了过去，在她旁边坐下。我上次见到她已是很久以前的事了，要不是有人提起她的名字，我想我几乎会认不出她来。她兴致勃勃地跟我谈了起来。
"Well, it's many years since we first met. How time does fly! We're none of us getting any younger. Do you remember the first time I saw you? You asked me to luncheon."
"瞧，自从我们初次相见已经好多年了。真是光阴似箭啊！我俩都不年轻啦。你还记得我初次见到你吗？你请我吃的午餐。"
Did I remember?
我能不记得吗？
It was twenty years ago and I was living in Paris. I had a tiny apartment in the Latin Quarter overlooking a cemetery, and I was earning barely enough money to keep body and soultogether. She had read a book of mine and had written to me about it. I answered, thanking her, and presently I received from her another letter saying that she was passing throughParis and would like to have a chat with me; but her time was limited, and the only freemoment she had was on the following Thursday; she was spending the morning at the Luxembourg and would I give her a little luncheon at Foyot's afterwards? Foyot's is a restaurant atwhich the French senators eat, and it was so far beyond my means that I had never even thought of going there. But I was flattered, and I was too young to have learned to say no to a woman. (Few men, I may add, learn this until they are too old to make it of anyconsequence to a woman what they say.) I had eight francs (gold francs) to last me the rest of the month, and a modest luncheon should not cost more than fifteen. If I cut out coffee for the next two weeks I could manage well enough.
那是20年前的事了，当时我住在巴黎。我在拉丁区租了一套小小的公寓，从那里往下看去是一个公墓。我挣的钱只够勉强维持生活。她读过我的一本书，并曾跟我写信谈论该书。我回信向她致谢。随即我又收到她的一封信，说她路过巴黎，想跟我谈谈。但她的时间有限，只有下个星期四有空。那天上午，她要去卢森堡宫，问我是不是愿意中午请她在福伊约餐厅吃顿便饭。福伊约餐厅是法国参议员光顾的地方，去那儿吃饭远远超过我的经济能力，所以以前连想都没有想过。但我当时受宠若惊，况且年纪太轻，还没有学会对一位女士说个"不"字。（附带说一句，没有几个男人学会这一招，而到他们学会时，往往年事已高，他们说什么对女人来讲已无足轻重了。）我当月的生活费还有80法郎（金法郎），一顿便餐花不了15法郎。如果我下两个星期不喝咖啡，还是满可以对付过去的。
