Yet, one admirable characteristic is these people’s determination. What we sometimes fail to recognize is exactly how hard they must work to persuade us, to set a good price, and to encourage customers to look at their sale items. Walking across the street one day, I was headed towards the subway station. Suddenly an old woman came up to me and showed me the plethora of²⁸ fake Lois Vutton wallets in her mysterious black bag. She told me, “Hey, look. I give you 3 for 100 Yuan.” I said no.

“Okay, okay. I give you 4 for 100,” she said as she scurried²⁹ on her little legs beside me.

“No, I don’t want them,” I said without looking at her.

With each step, she repeated the same question but increasing the number of wallets. By the time we entered the subway station, she said, “I give you 11 for 100.”

I looked at her. Her face was glossy³⁰ with sweat and the expression on her longing eyes was too much to bear. I began to walk down the stairs to the train. She paused, but after a second I heard the clap of her sandals coming after me³¹. “Okay, okay! Twelve for 100!”

I stopped, shocked. What I couldn’t realize was how desperate she was to sell something to me. As she increased the number of wallets to persuade me to buy them, the more money she would lose in profit. But that didn’t seem to matter. She needed the money. I gave her the 10 Yuan in my pocket just to appease³² her and continued to walk down the stairs.

She said, “Hey!” and I looked back one last time to see what was wrong. She dug into her big bag and shuffled³³ things around. Now getting rather annoyed, I was about to turn around when she pulled out a pair of socks. She handed me them with the most satisfied smile I’ve ever been blessed to see.

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28. plethora of: 過剩的。

29. scurry:（小步）急跑，急走。

30. glossy: 光滑的，有光澤的。

31. clap: 噼啪聲；sandal: 涼鞋。

32. appease: 使平息，使滿足。

33. shuffle: 挪來挪去，攪亂。

（來源：英語學習雜志 編輯：Zoe）