A man once said how useless it was to put advertisements in the newspapers.
一次,一个男人抱怨说把广告放在报纸上简直毫无用处
"Last week," he said,"my umbrella was stolen from a London church.As it was a pressent,I spent twice its worth in advertising,but I didn't get it back."
上周 他说,我的雨伞在教堂里被偷了,因为它是别人送我的礼物,所以我花了2倍的价格登广告寻找,结果毫无结果.
"How did you write your advertisement?" asked one of the listeners,a merchant.
你怎么写的?一个商人问他
"Here it is," said the man,taking out of his pocket a piece cut from a newspaper.
这里,那个男人边说边从口袋里掏出那份报纸
The other man took it and read,"Lost from the City Church last Sunday evening,a black silk umbrella.The gentleman who finds it will receive ten shillings on leaving it at No.10 Rroad Street."
那位商人接过后读了起来,“上星期日傍晚,在城市教堂丢失一把黑色丝绸伞,如果哪位好心人捡到了请帮忙送到10号大街,你会得到10先令的回报”
"Now," said the merchant,"I often advertise,and find that it pays me well.But the way in which an advertisement is expressed is of extreme importance.Let us try for your umbrella again,and if it fails,I'll buy you a new one."
“现在”那位商人说“我经常在做广告,而且发现效果不错.但是写广告的方式是很重要的,让我们重新试着来找你的雨伞吧,如果失败了,我陪你一把新的雨伞!”
The merchant then took a piece of paper out of his pocket and wrote:"If the man who was seen to take an umbrella from the City Church last Sundya evening doesn't want to get into trouble,he will return the umbrella to No.10 Broad Street.He is well known."
那位商人从口袋掏出一张纸写了起来“如果你不想惹上麻烦,就把在上星期日傍晚城市教堂检到一把雨伞送回10号大街,否则我会让你变得臭名昭著!”
This appeared in the paper,and on the following morning,the man astonished when he opened the front door.In the doorway lay at least twelve umbrellas of all sizes and colours that had been thrown in,and his own was among the number.
在这则广告登报后的第二天清晨,那男人打开门,惊讶的发现门口躺了至少十二把黑色丝绸伞,而且他的雨伞正在其中.
Many of them had notes on them saying that had been taken by mistake,and begging the loser not to say anything about the matter.
很多人都留下纸条说抱歉,他们拿错雨伞了,并恳求他什么都别说出去.