A great excuse 合適的借口

To make the rush hour easier, our small grocery1 store has a rule for children returning soft-drink bottles:

NO BOTTLES ACCEPTED AFTER FIVE O'CLOCK

One day neat closing time at 6:30, four young children arrived with bottles. Wanting to put a stop to this habit, I sternly2 asked each child if he was aware of the rules. Three shook their heads no, but the youngest said he knew. "Why then." I asked, "have you brought me these bottles?"

"I can't tell time yet." He said.

為了緩解購物高峰，我們這個小水果店為孩子們退飲料瓶做了如下規(guī)定：

五點鐘以后不收瓶子

快到六點半下班的時候，四個孩子來退瓶子。為了制止他們的這個習慣，我故意很嚴肅的問每個孩子是否知道我們的規(guī)定。其中三個孩子都搖頭表示不知道。只有那個最小的說他知道。“那你為什么還在這個時間來退瓶子呢?”我問他。

“我還不認識表呢!”他說。