George was very stingy. He hated spending money.
  Whenever he had to buy something, he always argued
about the price and tried to bargain even for the cheapest
things.
  If he wanted to buy a can of Coke, for example, and the
shopkeeper asked for $2, George would say, “Make it $1.90 and
I’ll buy it.”
  Sometimes the shopkeepers agreed to reduce their prices
a little. “What’s ten cents?” they asked themselves. “If it makes
this man happy, then it won’t hurt me very much.”
  In this way, George saved a few cents here and there, and

by the end of the year he had saved several hundred dollars.
  One day he had a very bad toothache and had to go to the
dentist. The dentist looked at the tooth and said, “This tooth will
have to be pulled out. It’s too damaged to be kept.”
  “How much do you charge to pull out a tooth?” George
asked.
  “Forty dollars,” the dentist said.
  “Forty dollars!” George thought this was much too
expensive.
  “How long will it take you to pull out the tooth?” he asked.
  “About two minutes,” the dentist said.
  George could not believe what he was hearing. “Forty
dollars for two minutes’ work!” he shouted. “That’s robbery.”
  The dentist smiled. “You’re right,” she said. “Thank you for
telling me. I’ll pull your tooth out very slowly. How about half an
hour?”

       物有所值
  乔治很吝啬，讨厌花钱。
  无论买什么，即使是最便宜的东西，他都试图讨价还价。
  如果他想买一罐可乐，售货员要两美元，他会说：“一块九我就买。”
  有时候，售货员会降低价格卖给他。“十美分算什么呢？”他们会想，
“如果那样能使这人高兴，对我又不会造成太大的损失的话。”
  乔治用这种方法这里攒几美分，那里攒几美分，一年下来，已经攒了几
百美元了。
  一天，乔治牙疼得厉害，就去了牙医诊所。牙医检查后说：“这颗牙应
该拔掉，留着病情会更严重。”
  “拔一颗牙要多少钱啊？” 乔治问。
  “四十美元。”牙医说。
  “四十美元！” 乔治认为太贵了。
  “拔一颗牙多长时间？”他问。
  “大约两分钟。”牙医说。
  乔治不敢相信他所听到的。“两分钟就四十美元！”他喊道，“那不是
抢劫嘛！”
  牙医笑了笑，“你说得对，” 她说，“谢谢你的建议，我可以慢点给你
拔，半个小时怎么样啊？”