Oscar drove his brand new Mercedes to his favorite sporting goods store. He parked it outside and went in to do a little perusing¹ with Jan, his regular sales woman. Jan was a pretty blonde, and as Oscar walked into the store, she happily greeted him. But he re- quested to look around alone today before he needed her help. She obliged and let him do his thing. Five minutes later, Jan came run- ping up to him yelling², "Oscar! Oscar! I just saw someone driving off with your new Mercedes!”

奥斯卡驾驶着自己崭新的奔驰汽车去他最喜爱的体育用品商店。他把车停在了外面，到店里去找经常为他服务的简小姐看一些资料。简是一位非常漂亮的金发女郎。奥斯卡走进店里受到了她热烈的欢迎。奥斯卡提出想先自己转转，再找简帮忙。简同意了。5分钟后，简跑过来大叫着:“奥斯卡，奥斯卡!我刚才看到一个人把你的新奔驰车开走了!”

"Dear God! Did you try to stop him?"

“我的天啊!你没叫住他吗?”

"No,”she said，"I did better than that! I got the license³ plate number”

“没有，”简说:“我的方法更好，我记下了他的车牌号。”