他把杂货店的柜台弄弯了，那个小个子男人是那么的灰白而整洁;他在泥泞的街道上向我打招呼。“我卖了我的店，”他对我说，把一只手放在耳后。“我的耳聋变得很严重，你看，人们必须大声喊叫才能让我听见。”他叹了口气，伤心地摇了摇头;他伸出的手冰冷如冰。“我卖得太早了，”他说;“今天我可以得到十倍的价钱。但是，一个人怎么知道(战争，生活成本的上升)。我们得省吃俭用才行:这很艰难——我为他妻子感到难过。 "She looks sometimes at me with tears. 'You worked so hard,' I hear her say. 'You had your shop for forty years, And you were honest as the day.' Ah yes, I loved my shop, it's true; My customers I tried to please; But when one's deaf and sixty-two What can one do in times like these? "My savings, that I fondly thought Would keep me snug when we were old, Are melting fast - what once I bought For silver, now is sought with gold. The cost of life goes up each day; I wonder what will be the end?" He sighed, I saw him drift away And thought: Alas for you, my friend! and every day I see him stop And look and look with wistful eye At what was once his little shop, Whose goods he can no longer buy. Then homeward wearily he goes To where his wife bed-ridden lies, A driblet dangling from his nose. . . . But Oh the panic in his eyes!