“Oh， jolly！ oh， thanks！” And Sally jumped up and kissed his wife in gratitudegratitude n.感谢的心情。 “Itll be three thousand—three whole thousand！ How much of it can we spend， Aleck？ Make it liberal！—do， dear， thats a good fellow.”
“哦，那太好了！哦，谢谢你！”萨利跳起来，千恩万谢地吻着妻子。“那就是三千块钱啦——足足三千块呀！这三千块咱们能花多少呢，艾莱柯？大方点儿——说定了，亲爱的，你就行行好吧。”
Aleck was pleased， so pleased that she yieldedyield v.出产， 生长， 生产 vi.（～ to）屈服， 屈从 n.产量， 收益 to the pressure and conceded a sum which her judgment told her was a foolish extravagance—a thousand dollars. Sally kissed her half a dozen times and even in that way could not express all his joy and thankfulness. This new access of gratitude and affection carried Aleck quite beyond the bounds of prudenceprudence n.审慎， and before she could restrain herself she had made her darling another grant—a couple of thousand out of the fifty or sixty which she meant to clear within a year of the twenty which still remained of the bequestbequest n.遗产， 遗赠。 The happy tears sprang to Sallys eyes， and he said：“Oh， I want to hug you！” And he did it. Then he got his notes and sat down and began to check off， for first purchasepurchase vt.买， 购买 n.买， 购买， the luxuries which he should earliest wish to secure.“Horse—buggy—cutter—laprobe—patentleathers—dog—plughat—churchpew—stemwinder—new teeth—SAY， Aleck！”
艾莱柯太高兴了，高兴得经受不住丈夫的压力，答应拿出一千块钱来——其实，理智告诉她花这么多钱简直是瞎胡闹。萨利把妻子一连吻了六七遍，即使如此，也表达不了他的兴奋和感激之情。这一轮感激和爱心攻势把艾莱柯逼得远离了节俭防线，在重新稳住阵脚以前，她又批给了亲爱的一笔钱——两千块。按她的想法，这两千块钱是遗产里还没动用的那两万块一年内可赚的五万或六万块钱的一部分。萨利眼中闪烁着激动的泪花，他说：“哦，我得抱你一下！”于是他就抱了。抱完以后，萨利拿着账本坐下来开始算账，先算第一批他想尽早敲定的大件。“马——马车——雪橇——雪橇障子——漆皮——狗——大礼帽——教堂椅子——上弦的表——镶新牙——嘿，艾莱柯！”
“Well？”
“什么事？”
“Ciphering away， arent you？ Thats right. Have you got the twenty thousand invested yet？”
“还没算完呢，是吗？算吧算吧。那两万块钱投出去了吗？”
“No， theres no hurry about that； I must look around first， and think.”
“没有，那笔钱不着急，我要先四处看看，再拿主意。”
“But you are ciphering； whats it about？”
“那你怎么还没算完呀？算什么呢？”
“Why， I have to find work for the thirty thousand that comes out of the coal， havent I？”
“嗨，我得想想投资煤矿赚的三千块钱该派什么用场啊，对不对？”
“Scott， what a head！ I never thought of that. How are you getting along？ Where have you arrived？”
“老天，你瞧我这脑子！我怎么没想到呢。你是怎么安排的？算到哪一年啦？”
“Not very far—two years or three. Ive turned it over twice； once in oil and once in wheat.”
“不太远——也就是两三年吧。这笔钱我又安排了两次投资：一次投石油，另一次投小麦。”
“Why， Aleck， its splendid！ How does it aggregateaggregate n.合计， 总计， 集合体 adj.合计的， 集合的，聚合的 v.聚集， 集合， 合计？”
“嗨，艾莱柯，真不错！一共能赚多少？”
“I think—well， to be on the safe side， about a hundred and eighty thousand clear， though it will probably be more.”
“我想想——嗯，往少里说，大约能赚十八万，也许还能多赚点儿。”
“My！ Isnt it wonderful？ By gracious！ Luck has come our way at last， after all the hard sledding， Aleck！”
“呵！太棒了！我的天哪！咱们总算是苦尽甜来了。艾莱柯！”
“Well？”
“什么事？”
“Im going to cash in a whole three hundred on the missionaries—what real right have we care for expenses！”
“我想一下子捐给教会三百块——有这么多钱，干吗不花呢！”
“You couldnt do a nobler thing， dear； and its just like your generous nature， you unselfish boy.”
“这再好不过了，亲爱的，这才是像你这样慷慨无私的人应该干的事呢。”
The praisepraise vt.赞扬， 歌颂， 称赞 n.赞扬， 赞美的话， 赞美， 荣耀， 称赞made Sally poignantly happy， but he was fair and just enough to say it was rightfully due to Aleck rather than to himself， since but for her he should never have had the money.
听了这番表扬，萨利心花怒放，不过他很公道，说这件功德还是要给艾莱柯记头功，因为没有艾莱柯，他也拿不到这些钱。
Then they went up to bed， and in their deliriumdelirium n.（暂时的）精神狂乱， 精神错乱， 说谵语状态，狂语， 精神极度兴奋of bliss they forgot and left the candle burning in the parlor. They did not remember until they were undressed， then Sally was for letting it burn， he said they could afford it， if it was a thousand. But Aleck went down and put it out.
然后他们上床去睡觉，由于高兴得丢三落四，连客厅里的蜡烛都忘了吹灭。等脱了衣服，他们才想起这件事来。萨利说，蜡烛即便值一千块钱，他们也用得起，就那么点着吧。可艾莱柯还是下床去把蜡烛熄了。
A good job， too； for on her way back she hit on a scheme that would turn the hundred and eighty thousand into half a million before it had had time to get cold.
艾莱柯的这次熄烛行动可谓一箭双雕，因为就在走回床边的路上，她突然想出了一个主意：趁那十八万块钱还没晾凉，把它翻成五十万块钱。