A well-dressed man came into a famous jewellery¹ shop. He explained that he wished to buy a pearl² for his wife’s birthday and that the price did not matter since business had been very good for him that year. After examining a number of beautiful and valuable pearls³, he chose a nice black one that cost $5000. He paid for that pearl, shook hands with the jeweler and left.

A few days later the man returned and said his wife had liked that pearl so much that she wanted another one just like it. It had to be exactly the same size and quality as she wanted a pair of earrings⁴ made. ”Can you give me any advice on how to get such a pearl?” said the man. The jeweler replied , "I would say it's impossible to find an exact one like that pearl.”

The rich man asked the jeweler to advertise⁵ in the newspaper, and offered $25,000 for that matching pearl. Many people answered that ad, but nobody had a pearl that was just right. Just when the jeweler had given up hope, an old lady came in. To his surprise, she took a wonderful pearl from her handbag. ”I don't like to sell it, ”she said sadly. ”I inherited⁶ it from my mother, and my mother inherited from hers but now I really need money.”

The jeweler was quick to pay her before she changed her mind. Then he called the rich man's hotel to tell the good news to him. The rich man, however, was nowhere to be found. He had fled⁷ with the old woman a few more minutes before.

文章大意：

一个衣着考究的男人走进了一间著名的珠宝店。他解释说他想买一颗珍珠送给他妻子当生日礼物，价钱不是问题，因为他这些年的生意一直很好。看了很多很漂亮很值钱的珍珠后，男人最后选了一颗价值5000美元的黑珍珠。他付了钱，和珠宝商握手后就离开了。

几天后这个男人又来到了珠宝店，说他的妻子很喜欢上次买的那颗珍珠，所以她想再买一颗和上次一样的。必须是相同大小相同材质的，因为她想拿来做耳环。男人说：“你能给我一些建议怎样才能得到这样的一颗珍珠吗？”珠宝商回答说：“不可能可以找到和那颗珍珠一模一样的珍珠的。”

富人让珠宝商在报纸上登广告，并说愿意出25000美元购买那样一颗珍珠。很多人回应了这个广告，但是没有一个人的珍珠符合富人的要求的。当珠宝商准备放弃时，一个老妇人走进了珠宝店。出乎珠宝商的意料，老妇人从她的包里拿出了一颗很美的珍珠。她很伤心地说：“我并不想卖掉它，这是我从我妈妈那里继承来的，我妈妈从她的妈妈那里继承来的，但是我现在真的急需用钱。”

珠宝商趁她还没改变主意，很快地付了钱。之后他就打电话到那个富人住的酒店，想要告诉他这个好消息。但是已经找不到那个富人了，因为几分钟前，他已经跟那个老妇人一起逃走了。