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● 西班牙政府当然认为西班牙的国货，决不会比外国货差。他们决不会同意，说是别国人造出来的东西会比西班牙人造的好。（注意本句中 anyone else二字，如改用any other nation，就笨得多了。）
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● a government’s business：business是“责任”或“天责”。这字同前面的anyone else相仿，都是口语习用之字，读之令人起亲切之感。如此处改用responsibility等字，句子又要显得笨了。我们学idiomatic English，主要的是要学这些简单的字的用法。
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● foster faith：培养信心。industrial proficiency：工业技术之（熟练）程度。
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● however：此种态度虽好，但是对人民亦有不便之处。makes it中的it指下面to import (进口)…。foreign resident：外侨。
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● sterling reserves：英镑外汇储存量。low：不足。向英国买东西，就得动用英镑外汇。国际贸易大约有两大集团，即英镑集团（sterling bloc）和美元集团（dollar bloc）是也。美元外汇储存量是dollar reserves.
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Such a person must fill out fifteen forms in quintuplicate, supplying all his own vital statistics, with those of his relations in at least the nearer degrees, and showing a just cause why he should be allowed a British bicycle (despite the hundred-percent Spanish import duty) instead of a much better, locally manufactured machine, which can be bought at half the cost.
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● Such a person：申请购买英制脚踏车的人。fill out fifteen forms：填十五种表。in quintuplicate：每种表填同式五份。同式双份是duplicate，三份是triplicate，四份是quadruplicate。
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● vital statistics：世界书局《四用字典》解作“人口统计”。但此词亦有“履历”之意：包括出生年月日、出生地点、婚姻状况等。those of his relations：those仍是statistics。亲戚有远近，以degrees表示之。relations in the nearer degrees：近亲或家属。at least：虽然不致把“三代”“九族”都填进去，至少父母妻子的“履历”都得要一填的。
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● just cause：正当理由。allowed：请求政府批准。注意：allowed后面不必跟 buy等字样。allow之本身，就含有to have的意思。import duty：进口税。进口税高达百分之一百，你还要去申请外汇买卖英国脚踏车，一定有理由，试于表格上详述之。
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● much better：反语。脚踏车是一种machine。
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● at half the cost：西班牙制脚踏车价钱只需英国的一半，何况它的品质又比英国的好得多（在西班牙政府看来）。
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When he has waited fifteen months for an answer, while sterling reserves continue to fall, the chances are that the answer will be “We lament to inform you that last year’s bicycle import quota has already been satisfied; we therefore advise you to fill out the necessary forms in quintuplicate for the present year’s quota…” this year which, as a matter of fact, ended three months before.
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● 申请表送上去后，如石沉大海。一年零三个月后（同时，西班牙政府外汇更形缺乏，他们更舍不得批准了），批复来了。
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● the chances are that：很可能的。
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● 引号中文字模仿“官样文章”。
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● lament原意是“悲悼”，这里只是“深表遗憾”。此字改用regret亦可；regret亦有“悲悼”、“惋惜”之意。import quota：进口定额。satisfied：满足（额子已满）。
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● the present year’s quota：本年的进口定额。可是回信离开填发日期已有十五个月，换言之，公文里的所谓“本年”，已经过了三个月。西班牙政府的“公文旅行”，把事情一搁，就是一年三个月。
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The most painless way, therefore, to import a British bicycle, as I learned from a friendly clerk at the Town Hall, is to arrive with it at the frontier, prepared to pay the import duty in cash, and insist on entry.
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● painless：作者没有说申请人的痛苦，这里用了个painless，前面那种填表、等候，最后还碰了一鼻子灰的痛苦，都包含在内了。
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● Town Hall：市政府议事厅；或市政府。
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● arrive with it at the frontier：入境的时候，就把车子带来。prepared是过去分词。in cash：用现款付。insist on entry：同海关人员交涉，坚持要把车子带进来。
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现代英文选评注 The Reigning Royalty of Europe欧洲之王室
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Lord David Cecil (1902—1986)
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