The two old gentlemen were brothers.For several days.they argued about a very strage subject.They decided to end their argument with a bet,as the English usually do.The following was the subject of the bet.
THE Bank of England issued two banknotes of a millon pounds each for a public transaction with a foreign country.England used one banknote and the other remained in the bank.
At this point,Brother A said to Brother B,"If an honest and intelligent stranger arrives in Londonwithout a friend and without money.except for the ￡1,000,000banknote,he will starve to death."
Brother B answered,"No!I don't agree."
Brother A said,"If he goes to the bank or anywhere else to change this big note,the police will put him in prison.Everyone will think he stole it."
They continued arguing for days,until Brother B said ,"I'll bet￡20,000 that the stranger will live for thirty days with the banknote and not go to prison."
Brother A accepted the bet.He went to the bank and bought the ￡1,000,000 banknote. After,he returned home and prepared a letter.Then the two brothers sat by the window and waited for the right man for the bet.
They saw a lot of honest faces go by,but they were not intelligent enough.Several faces wer intelligent,but they were not honest.A lot of faces were honest and intelligent,but they were not poor enough.O ther faces were honest,intelligent and poor ,but they were not strangers.
When they saw me from the window,they thought I was the right man.They asked me questions,and soon they knew my story.Finally,they told me I was the right man for the bet.I asked them to expain the bet.O ne of the gentlemen gave me an envelope.I wanted to open it,but he said,"No ,don't open it now.Wait until you are in your hotel room.Then read it very carefully."
I was confused and I wanted to discuss the subject with them.But they didn't.I felt hurt because Iwas the subject of a joke.
When I left their house,I looked for the pear on the street.It was gone.I was quite angry with those two gentlemen.
Far from their house, I opened the envelope.I saw that there was money inside! I didn't stop to read their letter.
I ran to the nearest eating place.I ate and ate and ate.At last ,I took out the envelope with the money,to pay for my meal.I looked at the banknote and almost fainted.It was a banknote worth five million dollars!
I was speechless.I stared at the banknote.The two gentemen had made a big mistake.
They probably wanted to give me a one-pound banknote.
I saw the owner of the eating place staring at the banknote,too. We were both surprised.I did not know what to do or say.So I simply gave him the note and said,"Give me the change,please."
The owner apologized a thousand times.
"I'm very sorry,but I can't change this banknote,sir."
"I don't have any other money.Please change this note."The owner then said,"You can pay for this food whenever you want,sir.I understand that you are a very rich gentlemanYou like palying jokes on people by dressing like a poor man.You can come here and eat all you want,whenever you want.Y ou can pay me when you want."
一个不寻常的赌约
这两个绅士是兄弟。这几天，他们在争论一个奇怪的话题。他们决定用打赌来解决这个争论，按照英国人常常做的那样。接着是赌约里的受试者。
英国的银行发行两个百万英镑的纸币为了在公共交易和外国的国家。英国人用一张钞票另一张任然留在银行。
在这点上，兄弟A 对兄弟B说，“如果一位诚实又聪明的陌生人到达伦敦没有朋友没有钱，除了一张100万的钞票，他会饿死的。”
兄弟B回答说，“不，我不同意。”
兄弟A 说，“如果他去银行或者任何其他地方对换这张大面额的钞票，警察将会抓他进监狱，每个人都会认为这是他偷的。”
他们持续争论了几天，直到兄弟B说：“我将打赌2万元英镑那个陌生人会用这张张钞票生活30天，并且不会进监狱。”
兄弟A接受了这个赌约。他去银行获得了100万的钞票。然后他回到了家里准备好信。然后这两个兄弟坐在窗前开始等候他们赌约中的那个人。
他们看到了很多诚实的面孔经过，但是他们不够聪明。有几张看起来很聪明但是不够诚实。很多聪明又诚实的面孔，他们又不够贫穷。其他的一些面孔是诚实聪明的穷人，但是他们不是外地人。
当他们从窗户看到我，他们认为我就是那个他们要找的人。他们问了我问题，很快他们知道了我的故事。最后他们告诉我，我就是他们合适他们赌约的那个人。我让他们给我解释了赌约的事情。其中的一个绅士给了我一个信封。我想打开，但是他说：“不行，不要现在打开。等到了你住的宾馆，然后阅读它要小心。”
我觉得他们的这个建议让我很迷惑困扰。但是他们再没说什么，我很受伤，因为我是这个笑话里的受试者。
当我离开那所房子，我在街上寻找那个梨，已经没有了。我对那两个绅士非常生气。
离那所房子很远了，我打开了信封。我看到里面有钱。我不能够停下读那份信。
我跑到最近的吃饭的地方。我吃啊吃啊吃啊吃。最后，我从信封里取出钱来付我的餐费。我看着这张钞票几乎昏厥。这张钞票的面纸是500万的面额。
我说不出话来，我注视着这张钞票。那两个绅士一定犯了一个大错。
他们可能是想给我一英镑的钞票。
我看到餐馆老板也凝视着这张钞票。我们都很惊奇。我不知道要做什么或说什么。所以我仅仅给了他钞票然后说：“麻烦给我兑换一下，谢谢。”
餐馆老板抱歉了一千次。“非常抱歉，但是我不能兑换这张钞票，先生。”
“我再没有其他的钱了，麻烦兑换一下吧。”餐馆老板说：“你想什么时候付这笔餐费就什么时候付吧,先生。我不明白你这么有钱的绅士。你穿的像穷人的样子像在跟人开玩笑。你可以来这里吃你想吃的所有东西，无论何时。你可以在你想付钱的时候付给我钱。”
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