English Original
Our vicar is always raising money for one cause or another, but he has never managed to get enough money to have the church clock repaired. The big clock which used to strike the hours day and night was damaged many years ago and has been silent ever since.
One night, however, our vicar woke up with a start: the clock was striking the hours! Looking at his watch, he saw that it was one o'clock, but the bell struck thirteen times before it stopped. Armed with a torch, the vicar went up into the clock tower to see what was going on. In the torchlight, he caught sight of a figure whom he immediately recognized as Bill Wilkins, our local grocer.
"Whatever are you doing up here Bill?" asked the vicar in surprise.
"I'm trying to repair the bell," answered Bill. "I've been coming up here night after night for weeks now. You see, I was hoping to give you a surprise."
"You certainly did give me a surprise!" said the vicar. "You've probably woken up everyone in the village as well. Still, I'm glad the bell is working again."
"That's the trouble, vicar," answered Bill. "It's working all right, but I'm afraid that at one o'clock it will strike thirteen times and there's nothing I can do about it."
"We'll get used to that Bill," said the vicar. "Thirteen is not as good as one but it's better than nothing. Now let's go downstairs and have a cup of tea."
中文翻译
我们的教区牧师总是在为各种事情筹款，但他始终没能筹到足够的钱来修理教堂的大钟。那口曾经日夜报时的大钟多年前就损坏了，从此一直沉默无声。
然而一天晚上，牧师被惊醒了：钟正在报时！他看了看手表，时间是凌晨一点，但钟却敲了十三下才停。牧师拿着手电筒，爬上钟楼想看个究竟。在手电筒的光线下，他看到了一个人影，并立刻认出那是我们本地的食品杂货商比尔·威尔金斯。
“比尔，你究竟在这里做什么？”牧师惊讶地问道。
“我正在试着修钟，”比尔回答。“我已经连续好几个星期每晚都来这里了。你看，我本想给你一个惊喜。”
“你确实给了我一个惊喜！”牧师说。“你可能把全村的人都吵醒了。不过，我还是很高兴钟又能走了。”
“问题就在这儿，牧师，”比尔答道。“钟是能走了，但我恐怕它会在一点钟时敲十三下，对此我无能为力。”
“我们会习惯的，比尔，”牧师说。“十三下是不如一下好，但总比没有强。现在，我们下楼去喝杯茶吧。”