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城里的修桶匠给一家酒馆的主人修了一些酒桶。他完工的时候来到酒馆，"太阳"酒馆的女主人递给他一杯酒。 “哦,大嫂子，生意如何?”修桶匠问道。 "一点也不好。”女的回答说，“城里的人都去了隔壁那家‘星星’酒馆。我们的酒更好，他们却不喜欢我家，我搞不明白。’’ 修桶匠说："我告诉你原因吧，夫人，你可别不高兴。” “不会的，”妇女回答说，"我认为你提建议是为了我们好。" 修桶匠接着说：“那么，请恕我直言。‘星星'酒馆的酒确实不好，但是他家的杯子晶莹剔透，就像水晶。而‘太阳’酒馆酒比他家的好，但是杯子却脏兮兮的。谁会用脏杯子喝酒啊。以后，细心些，把杯子洗干净，把地板拖得发亮，把窗户擦干净，把桌子收拾整齐。把这些事情做好了，你就会发现，你又有了回头客，到时就会顾客盈门，你想都想不到。" 女老板把这番话记在心里，立即着手把所有的东西都收拾得井井有条。她只用了一会功夫就把盘子、锅子和杯子擦拭一新，一尘不染。城里的人听说店里发生了变化,都纷至沓来，用干净的酒杯喝酒。有时店里人太多了，她招呼都招呼不过来。 她总是对孩子说你们看到了干净整洁有什么作用了吗？我们的确忙了一阵子，但是我们多开心啊!” A Lesson for the Innkeeper The town barre卜maker had repaired some barrels for the innkeeper. When he had finished the work he came to the inn and the lady-innkeeper of "The Sun" brought him a glass of wine. “Well, my good woman,” said the barrel-maker, "how is it going?” "No good at all," answered the woman. "Those people in the town are all going to the inn next to ours, ‘ The Star’，and I can’t see why they do not like my wine which is known to be better!" The barrel-maker said, "I shall tell you the reason, my dear lady, if you won’t be offended." "Not at all, ” answered the woman，" I shall take your advice rather as a sign of friendship. ” ‘Then,” continued the barrel-maker,“I'll tell you plainly. The innkeeper of * The Star，has certainly not good wine, but his glasses are clear and clean as crystal. The la- dy-innkeeper of ‘The Sun', on the other hand, has better wine, but the glasses are filth- y. Nobody will drink from dirty glasses. Be careful, then, and see that the glasses are always kept clean，the floor polished，the window clean and the tables neat and tidy. When you do all these things you will find that all your clients will return and that you will have more customers than you ever dreamed of." The lady-innkeeper took the advice to heart and immediately began to put everything in order. She polished all the pans and pots and cups and in a short while there was not to be seen a speck of dust. When the people of the town heard about the change,they all carpe there to drink her wonderful wine from clean glasses. There was such a crowd at times that she was hardly able to attend on all of them. "Do you see,” she would repeat to her children, "what cleanliness can do? It has given us work and joy. ” |
