Tom walked into a shop. It had a sign out- side. "Second-hand' clothes bought and sold.” He was
carrying an old pair of trousers and asked the owner of the shop, "How much will you give me for these?" The man looked at them and said, “Two dollars.”
"What?" said Tom, "I had guessed they were worth (值) at least five dollars."
"No. " said the man, "They aren't worth a cent(美分) more than two dollars. "
"Well, " said Tom, taking two dollars out of his pocket, " Here's your money. These
trousers were hanging outside your shop. The list price of them was six dollars and a half. But I thought
that was too much money, so I wanted to make sure how much they were really worth. "
Then he walked out of the shop with the pair of trousers and disappeared (消失) before the shop
owner could think of anything to say.