In many big cities there are people who cannot get a job.
Sometimes they do not want to work, but sometimes there isn’t
any work for them to do.
  Some of these people beg for money. Some of them
sell boxes of matches or cheap pens, and some of them sell
flowers.
  Andrew never gave money to beggars. “People should
work for their money,” he believed. He also believed there was
work for everyone, which was not true.
  One day when he was waiting for a bus, a beggar cameup and asked him for money.

The beggar was an old woman wearing very old and dirty clothes. She had no shoes and she
was selling some sweet-smelling flowers.
  “Give an old woman ten dollars, mister,” she said to
Andrew. “I haven’t had a meal for three days.”
  “I’m not giving you ten dollars,” Andrew said.
  “What about five dollars, then, mister?” the poor old woman
asked. “That’ll buy me a couple of pieces of bread.”
  “No,” Andrew said.
  “Then what about one dollar?” the old woman asked. “I can
buy an orange for one dollar.”
  “I haven’t got one dollar,” Andrew said. “Now go away.”
  The old woman looked at him sadly, and then gave him her
flowers.
  “Here, mister,” she said. “Take these. You need them more
than I do.”

               你比我更需要
  在许多大城市里，有很多人没有工作。有的人不想工作，但有的人是找
不到工作。
  那些找不到工作的人便开始乞讨。有人卖火柴、有人卖便宜的笔、有人
干脆卖花。
  安德鲁从来不施舍钱给乞丐。“人应该靠劳动赚钱，”他一直这样认
为。他同样认为每个人都会有工作，但这种想法是不对的。
  一天，等车时，有个乞丐走过来问他要钱。老太太穿得又脏又破，还没
穿鞋，手里拿着带香味的鲜花叫卖着。
  “先生，给老太太十美元吧。”她对安德鲁说，“我已经三天没有吃饭
了。”
  “我不会给你十美元的。” 安德鲁说。
  “那五美元怎么样？”可怜的老太太问，“用这些钱可以买很多面包。”
  “不行，”安德鲁说。
  “那一美元呢？”老太太问，“我可以买个橙子。”
  “一美元我也没有，”安德鲁说，“你走吧。”
  老太太悲哀地看着他，把手里的鲜花递给了他。
  “先生，拿去吧，”她说，“你比我更需要这些花。”