燃情咖啡
The Gifts (礼物)-英语剧本Mon.:Tomorrow will be Christmas. But Della feels very sad. Because she has no money to buy a present for her husband , Jim . She has only one dollar and eighty-seven cents . They have only 20 dollars a week, it doesn’t leave much for saving.In fact, Della and Jim have two possessions in which they both take very great pride. One is Jim’s gold watch, which has been his father’s and his grandfather’s. The other is Della’s long beautiful hair.D: Life is so hard for me. Though I saved the money for many months , I still have only one dollar and eighty seven cents.D: I---- I---- I have to have my hair cut and sold it . In that way I can get some money and I can buy a beautiful present for Jim.(At the shop—“Madame Sofronie. We Buy Hair Goods of All Kinds”)D: Will you buy my hair?M: Yes, I buy all kinds of hair. Sit down, please. Take your hat off and let me have a look. Oh, very beautiful. Very good! Twenty dollars , OK?D: All right. But please give it to me quickly.M: Here you are. Twenty dollars.D: Thank you. Bye.M: Bye.Mon.:Della spent two hours in the streets. Then she stopped at a Gold Shop and bought a gold watch chain. Now ,Della is at home.D: Oh, what a beautiful gold watch chain. I think it must match Jim's watch. When he sees it he must be very happy .(Suddenly the door opened and in came Jim . )J: You-----?D: Jim. Don’t look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold it because I couldn’t have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. Jim, it will grow quickly. You don’t mind, do you ? I just had to do it. My hair grows very fast, you know. Say “Merry Christmas!” Jim, and let’s be happy.J: You’ve cut off your hair?D: I’ve cut it off and sold it. It’s sold. I tell you -sold and gone, too. It’s Christmas Eve , Jim. Be good to me, for it went for you.J: Well , Della. Don’t make any mistake about me. I don’t think there’s anything about a hair cut that could make me love you any less. I know, it went for me. Look at this package .D: What ?J: Look at it yourself. You 'll see.D:Ah! The combs. They were in the shop windows for many months!J:Yes, the beautiful combs, pure tortoiseshell, with jewelry rims--just the color to wear in your beautiful, hair.D: But , Jim. They are expensive combs. I know, my heart had longed for them without the least hope of possession. Now they are mine. Thank you Jim.J; Now, you will see why I was upset at first.D: Jim, you don’t know what a nice –what a beautiful , nice gift I’ve got for you. Can you guess?J: I'm sorry. I won't guess.D: Look. A gold watch chain. Isn’t it lovely ,Jim? I hunted all over the town to find it. You’ll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it .J: Della, Let’s put our Christmas gifts away and keep them a while. They’re too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money. And I bought the combs. Now, Let’s have our supper.翻译如下:礼 物旁白:明天是圣诞节,但是德拉觉得很难过,因为她无钱为她丈夫吉姆买一圣诞礼物,她只有1.87美元,他们一个月只有20美元的收入,那很难再从中省钱了。事实上,德拉和吉姆有两件让他们引以为豪的宝贝,一件是吉姆的金表,那是从他祖父和父亲那里留传下来的,还有一件是德拉那一头棕发,又长又美丽。德拉:生活对我来说很困难,虽然我很多个月以前就开始存钱了,我仍然只有1.87美元。德拉:我……我……我不得不剪了头发去卖掉,那样我就能得到一些钱去买礼物给吉姆了。(在店门口,写着“夫人:我们买各种各样的头发”)德拉:你买我的头发吗?夫人:是的,我们买各式的头发,把你的帽子脱下来,让我看一下你的头发。哦,很美的头发,很好的发质,20美元,行不行?德拉:好的,但是请你快点把钱给我。夫人:给你,20美元。德拉:谢谢你,再见。夫人:再见。旁白:德拉在街上逛了2个小时,然后她在一家金店止步,进去买了一条金表链。现在德拉正在家里。德拉:哦,多么漂亮的金链子,我想那一定跟吉姆的手表很配,当他看到它的时候,一定会很高兴的。(突然门打开了,吉姆走了进来)吉姆:你……?德拉:吉姆,不要那样看着我,我剪了我的头发并卖了,因为我无法度过一个我不送你圣诞节礼物的圣诞节,吉姆,它会长得很快的,你不会介意的,是不是?我必须这么做,我的头发长得很快的,这你是知道的,说:“圣诞快乐!”,吉姆,让我们高兴起来。吉姆:你剪了你的头发?德拉:我剪了头发并卖了,它被卖掉了,我跟你说它被卖掉了,没有了!现在是圣诞节前夜,对我好一点,吉姆,那都是为了你。吉姆:哦,德拉,别误会我,我想我不会因为你剪了头发而对你的爱就减少了,我知道,那是为了我,看看这个包裹。德拉:什么?吉姆:你自己看吧!你会明白的。德拉:啊,是梳子!它们就是几个月前陈列在橱窗里的那套。吉姆:是的,那套漂亮的梳子,镶珠宝的,那颜色正好配你的发色。德拉:但是,吉姆,那些都是很贵的,我知道,我一直渴望但却没有丝毫的奢望拥有它。现在,它们是我的了,谢谢你,吉姆。吉姆:现在,你知道我为什么一开始就那么悲伤了吧。德拉:吉姆,我给你买了一件又美丽又好的礼物,你能猜出来吗?吉姆:对不起,我不想猜。德拉:看,一条金表链,吉姆,它是不是很可爱?我找遍了整个城才找的,你从现在起可得一天要看一百次时间了。把你的表给我,我想看一下表链装在表上的样子。吉姆:德拉,让我们把圣诞礼物收起来珍藏一段时间,它们太好了,但我们现在用不着,我把表卖了。得到了钱才买了这梳子。现在让我们吃晚饭吧!祝你好运!希望对你有帮助!
04年8月6号
Mrs Brown went to visit one of her friend and carried a small box with holes punched in the top. " What's in your box?" asked the friend. "A cat," answered Mrs Brown. "You see I've been dreaming about mice at night and I'm so scared! This cat is to catch them." "But the mice are only imaginary," said the friend. "So is the cat," whispered Mrs Brown. 猫和老鼠 布朗夫人去拜访一位朋友,她拿着一个顶部扎满了小眼儿的盒子。“盒子里装的是什么?”朋友问道。“一只小猫,”布朗夫人回答说,“你知道我晚上睡觉总梦见老鼠,我非常害怕。这只猫可以抓住那些老鼠。”“可老鼠都是假想的呀。”朋友说。“小猫也是假想的。”布朗夫人小声说道。赞同6| 评论
DIY不锈钢橱柜
你是不是在找英语剧本呢?下面是我给大家整理的6人英语话剧剧本励志,供大家参阅!
6人英语话剧剧本励志:《逃课》
Skipping Class
Cast
Anita: Never understands why students like to skip classes
Kevin: Treats “skipping classes” as the principle of university life
Ken: Eager to skip classes but dares not to do it
Jason: Always commits himself not to skip classes
Steven: Always gives himself a good excuse for skipping class
Rita: A professional class skipper
Scene I
(Anita, Kevin, Ken, Jason, Steven, and Rita are all Tunghai University students. They are good friends. One day, Ken and Jason meet on the way to the classroom.)
Ken: Why are you late? And, you just missed the last class. The teacher gave us the main topics for the mid-term examination.
Jason: Oh, shoot! I just missed it. Would you lend me your notes so I can make a copy?
Ken: Sure if you give me a good reason why you missed the class. You promised me that you would be in class on time today.
Jason: Believe me, I would like to keep my word. The problem is that I have the “Business Management” test today and I was up studying for it till three o’clock this morning. Then I fell asleep and woke up at ten o’clock this morning.
Ken: You studied until three o’clock this morning? Why? What did you do yesterday afternoon? I know you were free from four o’clock on yesterday.
Jason: Well, I met one of my very old friends on line and we just talked too long…
Ken: For God’s sake! Don’t you care about next week’s mid-term examination?
Scene II
(Anita, Steven and Kevin are talking to one another in front of a classroom. And, Anita is trying to prevent Steven and Kevin from cutting the next class.)
Anita: Hey, we’ll have the “Business Management” class in a few minutes. Where are you going? Don’t tell me that you are going to argue with Jason.
Steven: I will do anything for my good friend. Of course I am going to argue with the guy who gave my good friend a hard time.
Anita: You always like to get involved in someone else’s business. You’ll get yourself in trouble. Don’t you know it? ...
Kevin: Anita, don’t be upset with him. He will not listen to you. Just leave him alone. By the way, I am still waiting for your decision. Are you coming with me to the concert tomorrow?
Anita: Oh, I am sorry that I almost forgot it. What time tomorrow?
Kevin: Two o’clock. I cannot wait to see my adorable superstar – Jolin. Oh, how wonderful!
Anita: wait a minute. We have Calculus class tomorrow afternoon. Are you out of your mind?
Kevin: Well, I’m not. Yet I think we can just copy the notes from someone else.
Anita: No, this is a very important class. And you would never understand it without listening to the lecture.
Kevin: To me it makes no difference. Even if I were in the class I would never understand what the teacher is talking about. Besides, who likes to look at the old baldhead?
Scene III
(After Calculus class, Anita is on the way to the ST building. At the same time, Rita is walking to the ST building from the dorm. They meet in front of the laboratory.)
Rita: Here I am. Look, I did what I promised. I am a good girl, not skipping classes.
Anita: What are you talking about? This is the 5th class. You skipped the first four classes this morning. Yesterday you promised that you would not skip any class.
Rita: Did I? We don’t have any class in the morning but we’re packed in the afternoon on Wednesdays.
Anita: I beg your pardon? Today is Thursday and we have classes the whole day. Besides, didn’t you meet us this morning while we were going out to class?
Rita: I thought you were going to the library.
Anita: You are loopy now because you’ve skipped too, too many classes.
Rita: Why did you say so? I know that we will have the Computer Program test tomorrow.
Anita: You are incurable. The test was this morning!
Scene IV
(Ken and Rita are talking to each other. They are talking about how to skip a class. )
Ken: I wonder why your Calculus professor never takes attendance. Yet, every time I skipped class, my professor always knew I was absent. I think I am really unlucky.
Rita: well, you’ll appreciate what I’m going to tell you now, my three very good suggestions.
Ken: What are they?
Rita: Now lend me your ears – First of all, whether you skip the class or not, you’ll never pass the course.
Ken: How do you know that I will not pass?
Rita: Calculus is extremely difficult. I don’t believe you can pass it.
Ken: Maybe you are right. What else?
Rita: Before you skip the class you should treat everyone nicely. And after that, you should try to flatter your professor.
Ken: Why?
Rita: Well if you treat the classmates nicely, they will help you sign your name on the attendance sheet. And if you flatter your professor properly, you may ask the professor to pass you. Lastly – To skip the classes successfully you cannot skip too many classes or too few.
Ken: What do you mean? Not too many and not too few?
Rita: You need good weather for skipping classes so you can go out to fool around. And then you need good timing so you can go to the newly opened internet café that is on discount. Finally you need good relationships with the classmates so they can cover it up for you.
Ken: You are a genius.
Rita: I am just very professional.
Ken: I see now. I will try sometimes. Hah, Hah, Hah!!!
Scene V
(Ken meets Kevin at the parking lot.)
Kevin: It’s time for the English class. Why are you here?
Ken: I don’t want to go to English class. I want to cut the class.
Kevin: Why?
Ken: Because someone told me cutting classes can be fun.
Kevin: That’s right. I will show you how much fun it is to cut classes.
Ken: Ok. Let’s go.
(Kevin and Ken cut the class and go out to have fun with girls. And both of them will fail the English class. Therefore next semester they will see Jean, their English teacher, again.)
6人英语话剧剧本励志:礼物
The Gifts
Mon.:Tomorrow will be Christmas. But Della feels very sad. Because she has no money to buy a present for her husband , Jim . She has only one dollar and eighty-seven cents . They have only 20 dollars a week, it doesn’t leave much for saving.
In fact, Della and Jim have two possessions in which they both take very great pride. One is Jim’s gold watch, which has been his father’s and his grandfather’s. The other is Della’s long beautiful hair.
D: Life is so hard for me. Though I saved the money for many months , I still have only one dollar and eighty seven cents.
D: I---- I---- I have to have my hair cut and sold it . In that way I can get some money and I can buy a beautiful present for Jim.
(At the shop—“Madame Sofronie. We Buy Hair Goods of All Kinds”)
D: Will you buy my hair?
M: Yes, I buy all kinds of hair. Sit down, please. Take your hat off and let me have a look. Oh, very beautiful. Very good! Twenty dollars , OK?
D: All right. But please give it to me quickly.
M: Here you are. Twenty dollars.
D: Thank you. Bye.
M: Bye.
Mon.:Della spent two hours in the streets. Then she stopped at a Gold Shop and bought a gold watch chain. Now ,Della is at home.
D: Oh, what a beautiful gold watch chain. I think it must match Jim's watch. When he sees it he must be very happy .
(Suddenly the door opened and in came Jim . )
J: You-----?
D: Jim. Don’t look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold it because I couldn’t have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. Jim, it will grow quickly. You don’t mind, do you ? I just had to do it. My hair grows very fast, you know. Say “Merry Christmas!” Jim, and let’s be happy.
J: You’ve cut off your hair?
D: I’ve cut it off and sold it. It’s sold. I tell you -sold and gone, too. It’s Christmas Eve , Jim. Be good to me, for it went for you.
J: Well , Della. Don’t make any mistake about me. I don’t think there’s anything about a hair cut that could make me love you any less. I know, it went for me. Look at this package .
D: What ?
J: Look at it yourself. You 'll see.
D:Ah! The combs. They were in the shop windows for many months!
J:Yes, the beautiful combs, pure tortoiseshell, with jewelry rims--just the color to wear in your beautiful, hair.
D: But , Jim. They are expensive combs. I know, my heart had longed for them without the least hope of possession. Now they are mine. Thank you Jim.
J; Now, you will see why I was upset at first.
D: Jim, you don’t know what a nice –what a beautiful , nice gift I’ve got for you. Can you guess?
J: I'm sorry. I won't guess.
D: Look. A gold watch chain. Isn’t it lovely ,Jim? I hunted all over the town to find it. You’ll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it .
J: Della, Let’s put our Christmas gifts away and keep them a while. They’re too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money. And I bought the combs. Now, Let’s have our supper.
6人英语话剧剧本励志:阿甘正传的片断
FORREST (voice-over) That Momma, she sure was right.
It's funny how things work out.
EXT. BAYOU LA BATRE/BUBBA'S MOM'S HOUSE - DAY
Forrest walks up to a shack on the edge of the Bayou. A group of black kids play in the front yard.
FORREST (voice-over)
I didn't stay home for long, because I'd made a
promise to Bubba. And I always try to keep my promise.
So I went on down to Bayou La Batre to meet Bubba's
family and make their introduction.
Bubba's mother named MRS. BLUE and her other children look at Forrest.
MRS. BLUE Are you crazy, or just plain stupid?
FORREST Stupid is as stupid does, Mrs. Blue.
MRS. BLUE I guess.
EXT. BUBBA'S GRAVE - DAY
Forrest steps over to Bubba's tombstone.
FORREST (voice-over)
And of course, I paid my respect to Bubba himself.
FORREST Hey, Bubba, it's me, Forrest Gump. I remember
everything you said, and I got it all figured out.
Forrest pulls out notes from his pocket.
FORREST I'm taking the twenty-four thousand, five hundred
and six-two dollars and forty-seven cents that I got...
EXT. BAYOU - DAY
Forrest walks across a yard where men are cleaning shrimp.
FORREST (voice-over)
... well, that's left after a new hair cut and a
new suit and I took Momma out to real fancy dinner
and I bought a bus ticket and three Doctor Peppers.
Forrest walks along a wooden pier. Forrest pays an old black shrimper a large wad of cash.
OLD SHRIMPER Tell me something. Are you stupid or something?
FORREST Stupid is as stupid does, sir.
EXT. BUBBA'S GRAVE
Forrest stands at the grave.
FORREST Well, that's what's left after me saying, "When I was
in China on the All-America Ping-Pong Team, I just
loved playing ping-pong with my Flex-O-Ping-Pong Paddle."
Which everybody knows it isn't true, but Momma says
it's just a little white lie so it wouldn't hurt nobody.
So, anyway, I'm putting all that on gas, ropes and new
nets and a brand-new shrimpin' boat.
EXT. BAYOU - DAY
Forrest steers his shrimping boat. The boat is old and rusty. Forrest unleashes his nets as his catch of the day drops to the deck. It is a bunch of garbage and shells. Forrest picks up one shrimp.
FORREST (voice-over)
Now, Bubba had told me everything he knows about shrimpin',
but you know what I found out? Shrimpin' is tough.
EXT. DOCKS
Forrest pulls a couple of shrimp out of a bucket.
FORREST I only caught five.
OLD SHRIMPER A couple of more, you can have yourself a cocktail.
The old shrimper begins to walk away, then stops and looks at Forrest.
OLD SHRIMPER Hey, you ever think about namin' this old boat?
FORREST (voice-over) I'd never named a boat before,
but there was only one I could think of.
Forrest paints a name on the side of his boat. The name is "Jenny."
FORREST (voice-over)
The most beautiful name in the wide world.
云里雨里大太阳
《项链》就不错Necklace The girl was one of those pretty and charming young creatures who sometimes are born, as if by a slip of fate, into a family of clerks. She had no dowry, no expectations, no way of being known, understood, loved, married by any rich and distinguished man; so she let herself be married to a little clerk of the Ministry of Public Instruction. She dressed plainly because she could not dress well, but she was unhappy as if she had really fallen from a higher station; since with women there is neither caste nor rank, for beauty, grace and charm take the place of family and birth. Natural ingenuity, instinct for what is elegant, a supple mind are their sole hierarchy, and often make of women of the people the equals of the very greatest ladies. Mathilde suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born to enjoy all delicacies and all luxuries. She was distressed at the poverty of her dwelling, at the bareness of the walls, at the shabby chairs, the ugliness of the curtains. All those things, of which another woman of her rank would never even have been conscious, tortured her and made her angry. The sight of the little Breton peasant who did her humble housework aroused in her despairing regrets and bewildering dreams. She thought of silent antechambers hung with Oriental tapestry, illumined by tall bronze candelabra, and of two great footmen in knee breeches who sleep in the big armchairs, made drowsy by the oppressive heat of the stove. She thought of long reception halls hung with ancient silk, of the dainty cabinets containing priceless curiosities and of the little coquettish perfumed reception rooms made for chatting at five o'clock with intimate friends, with men famous and sought after, whom all women envy and whose attention they all desire. When she sat down to dinner, before the round table covered with a tablecloth in use three days, opposite her husband, who uncovered the soup tureen and declared with a delighted air, "Ah, the good soup! I don't know anything better than that," she thought of dainty dinners, of shining silverware, of tapestry that peopled the walls with ancient personages and with strange birds flying in the midst of a fairy forest; and she thought of delicious dishes served on marvellous plates and of the whispered gallantries to which you listen with a sphinxlike smile while you are eating the pink meat of a trout or the wings of a quail. She had no gowns, no jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing but that. She felt made for that. She would have liked so much to please, to be envied, to be charming, to be sought after. She had a friend, a former schoolmate at the convent, who was rich, and whom she did not like to go to see any more because she felt so sad when she came home. But one evening her husband reached home with a triumphant air and holding a large envelope in his hand. "There," said he, "there is something for you." She tore the paper quickly and drew out a printed card which bore these words: The Minister of Public Instruction and Madame Georges Ramponneau request the honor of M. and Madame Loisel's company at the palace of the Ministry on Monday evening, January 18th. Instead of being delighted, as her husband had hoped, she threw the invitation on the table crossly, muttering: "What do you wish me to do with that?" "Why, my dear, I thought you would be glad. You never go out, and this is such a fine opportunity. I had great trouble to get it. Every one wants to go; it is very select, and they are not giving many invitations to clerks. The whole official world will be there." She looked at him with an irritated glance and said impatiently: "And what do you wish me to put on my back?" He had not thought of that. He stammered: "Why, the gown you go to the theatre in. It looks very well to me." He stopped, distracted, seeing that his wife was weeping. Two great tears ran slowly from the corners of her eyes toward the corners of her mouth. "What's the matter? What's the matter?" he answered. By a violent effort she conquered her grief and replied in a calm voice, while she wiped her wet cheeks: "Nothing. Only I have no gown, and, therefore, I can't go to this ball. Give your card to some colleague whose wife is better equipped than I am." He was in despair. He resumed: "Come, let us see, Mathilde. How much would it cost, a suitable gown, which you could use on other occasions--something very simple?" She reflected several seconds, making her calculations and wondering also what sum she could ask without drawing on herself an immediate refusal and a frightened exclamation from the economical clerk. Finally she replied hesitating: "I don't know exactly, but I think I could manage it with four hundred francs." He grew a little pale, because he was laying aside just that amount to buy a gun and treat himself to a little shooting next summer on the plain of Nanterre, with several friends who went to shoot larks there of a Sunday. But he said: "Very well. I will give you four hundred francs. And try to have a pretty gown." The day of the ball drew near and Madame Loisel seemed sad, uneasy, anxious. Her frock was ready, however. Her husband said to her one evening: "What is the matter? Come, you have seemed very queer these last three days." And she answered: "It annoys me not to have a single piece of jewelry, not a single ornament, nothing to put on. I shall look poverty-stricken. I would almost rather not go at all." "You might wear natural flowers," said her husband. "They're very stylish at this time of year. For ten francs you can get two or three magnificent roses." She was not convinced. "No; there's nothing more humiliating than to look poor among other women who are rich." "How stupid you are!" her husband cried. "Go look up your friend, Madame Forestier, and ask her to lend you some jewels. You're intimate enough with her to do that." She uttered a cry of joy: "True! I never thought of it." The next day she went to her friend and told her of her distress. Madame Forestier went to a wardrobe with a mirror, took out a large jewel box, brought it back, opened it and said to Madame Loisel: "Choose, my dear." She saw first some bracelets, then a pearl necklace, then a Venetian gold cross set with precious stones, of admirable workmanship. She tried on the ornaments before the mirror, hesitated and could not make up her mind to part with them, to give them back. She kept asking: "Haven't you any more?" "Why, yes. Look further; I don't know what you like." Suddenly she discovered, in a black satin box, a superb diamond necklace, and her heart throbbed with an immoderate desire. Her hands trembled as she took it. She fastened it round her throat, outside her high-necked waist, and was lost in ecstasy at her reflection in the mirror. Then she asked, hesitating, filled with anxious doubt: "Will you lend me this, only this?" "Why, yes, certainly." She threw her arms round her friend's neck, kissed her passionately, then fled with her treasure. The night of the ball arrived. Madame Loisel was a great success. She was prettier than any other woman present, elegant, graceful, smiling and wild with joy. All the men looked at her, asked her name, sought to be introduced. All the attaches of the Cabinet wished to waltz with her. She was remarked by the minister himself. She danced with rapture, with passion, intoxicated by pleasure, forgetting all in the triumph of her beauty, in the glory of her success, in a sort of cloud of happiness comprised of all this homage, admiration, these awakened desires and of that sense of triumph which is so sweet to woman's heart. She left the ball about four o'clock in the morning. Her husband had been sleeping since midnight in a little deserted anteroom with three other gentlemen whose wives were enjoying the ball. He threw over her shoulders the wraps he had brought, the modest wraps of common life, the poverty of which contrasted with the elegance of the ball dress. She felt this and wished to escape so as not to be remarked by the other women, who were enveloping themselves in costly furs. Loisel held her back, saying: "Wait a bit. You will catch cold outside. I will call a cab." But she did not listen to him and rapidly descended the stairs. When they reached the street they could not find a carriage and began to look for one, shouting after the cabmen passing at a distance. They went toward the Seine in despair, shivering with cold. At last they found on the quay one of those ancient night cabs which, as though they were ashamed to show their shabbiness during the day, are never seen round Paris until after dark. It took them to their dwelling in the Rue des Martyrs, and sadly they mounted the stairs to their flat. All was ended for her. As to him, he reflected that he must be at the ministry at ten o'clock that morning. She removed her wraps before the glass so as to see herself once more in all her glory. But suddenly she uttered a cry. She no longer had the necklace around her neck! "What is the matter with you?" demanded her husband, already half undressed. She turned distractedly toward him. "I have--I have--I've lost Madame Forestier's necklace," she cried. He stood up, bewildered. "What!--how? Impossible!" They looked among the folds of her skirt, of her cloak, in her pockets, everywhere, but did not find it. "You're sure you had it on when you left the ball?" he asked. "Yes, I felt it in the vestibule of the minister's house." "But if you had lost it in the street we should have heard it fall. It must be in the cab." "Yes, probably. Did you take his number?" "No. And you--didn't you notice it?" "No." They looked, thunderstruck, at each other. At last Loisel put on his clothes. "I shall go back on foot," said he, "over the whole route, to see whether I can find it." He went out. She sat waiting on a chair in her ball dress, without strength to go to bed, overwhelmed, without any fire, without a thought. Her husband returned about seven o'clock. He had found nothing. He went to police headquarters, to the newspaper offices to offer a reward; he went to the cab companies--everywhere, in fact, whither he was urged by the least spark of hope. She waited all day, in the same condition of mad fear before this terrible calamity. Loisel returned at night with a hollow, pale face. He had discovered nothing. "You must write to your friend," said he, "that you have broken the clasp of her necklace and that you are having it mended. That will give us time to turn round." She wrote at his dictation. At the end of a week they had lost all hope. Loisel, who had aged five years, declared: "We must consider how to replace that ornament." The next day they took the box that had contained it and went to the jeweler whose name was found within. He consulted his books. "It was not I, madame, who sold that necklace; I must simply have furnished the case." Then they went from jeweler to jeweler, searching for a necklace like the other, trying to recall it, both sick with chagrin and grief. They found, in a shop at the Palais Royal, a string of diamonds that seemed to them exactly like the one they had lost. It was worth forty thousand francs. They could have it for thirty-six. So they begged the jeweler not to sell it for three days yet. And they made a bargain that he should buy it back for thirty-four thousand francs, in case they should find the lost necklace before the end of February. Loisel possessed eighteen thousand francs which his father had left him. He would borrow the rest. He did borrow, asking a thousand francs of one, five hundred of another, five louis here, three louis there. He gave notes, took up ruinous obligations, dealt with usurers and all the race of lenders. He compromised all the rest of his life, risked signing a note without even knowing whether he could meet it; and, frightened by the trouble yet to come, by the black misery that was about to fall upon him, by the prospect of all the physical privations and moral tortures that he was to suffer, he went to get the new necklace, laying upon the jeweler's counter thirty-six thousand francs. When Madame Loisel took back the necklace Madame Forestier said to her with a chilly manner: "You should have returned it sooner; I might have needed it." She did not open the case, as her friend had so much feared. If she had detected the substitution, what would she have thought, what would she have said? Would she not have taken Madame Loisel for a thief? Thereafter Madame Loisel knew the horrible existence of the needy. She bore her part, however, with sudden heroism. That dreadful debt must be paid. She would pay it. They dismissed their servant; they changed their lodgings; they rented a garret under the roof. She came to know what heavy housework meant and the odious cares of the kitchen. She washed the dishes, using her dainty fingers and rosy nails on greasy pots and pans. She washed the soiled linen, the shirts and the dishcloths, which she dried upon a line; she carried the slops down to the street every morning and carried up the water, stopping for breath at every landing. And dressed like a woman of the people, she went to the fruiterer, the grocer, the butcher, a basket on her arm, bargaining, meeting with impertinence, defending her miserable money, sou by sou. Every month they had to meet some notes, renew others, obtain more time. Her husband worked evenings, making up a tradesman's accounts, and late at night he often copied manuscript for five sous a page. This life lasted ten years. At the end of ten years they had paid everything, everything, with the rates of usury and the accumulations of the compound interest. Madame Loisel looked old now. She had become the woman of impoverished households--strong and hard and rough. With frowsy hair, skirts askew and red hands, she talked loud while washing the floor with great swishes of water. But sometimes, when her husband was at the office, she sat down near the window and she thought of that gay evening of long ago, of that ball where she had been so beautiful and so admired. What would have happened if she had not lost that necklace? Who knows? who knows? How strange and changeful is life! How small a thing is needed to make or ruin us! But one Sunday, having gone to take a walk in the Champs Elysees to refresh herself after the labors of the week, she suddenly perceived a woman who was leading a child. It was Madame Forestier, still young, still beautiful, still charming. Madame Loisel felt moved. Should she speak to her? Yes, certainly. And now that she had paid, she would tell her all about it. Why not? She went up. "Good-day, Jeanne." The other, astonished to be familiarly addressed by this plain good-wife, did not recognize her at all and stammered: "But--madame!--I do not know--You must have mistaken." "No. I am Mathilde Loisel." Her friend uttered a cry. "Oh, my poor Mathilde! How you are changed!" "Yes, I have had a pretty hard life, since I last saw you, and great poverty--and that because of you!" "Of me! How so?" "Do you remember that diamond necklace you lent me to wear at the ministerial ball?" "Yes. Well?" "Well, I lost it." "What do you mean? You brought it back." "I brought you back another exactly like it. And it has taken us ten years to pay for it. You can understand that it was not easy for us, for us who had nothing. At last it is ended, and I am very glad." Madame Forestier had stopped. "You say that you bought a necklace of diamonds to replace mine?" "Yes. You never noticed it, then! They were very similar." And she smiled with a joy that was at once proud and ingenuous. Madame Forestier, deeply moved, took her hands. "Oh, my poor Mathilde! Why, my necklace was paste! It was worth at most only five hundred francs!"