Lesson31 Two Hotels
Mr. Gray often travels to rural areas to sell machines to farmers. One of his problems has always been finding proper lodging for himself, and often when he reached a small village he would be given a cold room with no hot water or good food after a long and tiring day.
Late one evening, Mr. Gray arrived at a small railway station. The journey by train that day had not been at all interesting, and Mr. Gray was cold, tired, and hungry. He was looking forward to a satisfying meal by a burning fire, and then a hot bath and comfortable bed.
While he was leaving the exit of the station, he asked a local man, "Excuse me, I#m a stranger here in this town. Can you help me find a hotel to put me up for a night?" The man looked at him up and down and then replied, "There are altogether two hotels in our town ..." "Which one would you advise me to go to?""Mr. Gray asked hurriedly before he could finish. The local man scratched his head for a few moments and then answered, "Well, it#s like this: whichever one you go to, you will be sorry that you didn#t go to the other."

lodging 住所
put up for 给……安排过夜
scratch 搔, 抓

两家旅店
格雷先生常去偏远地方向农夫出售机器。为自己找一个合适的住所是他经常遇到的一个问题。每当结束漫长而劳累的一天到达一个小村庄时，经常只有既无热水也无美食的冰冷房间。
一天深夜，格雷先生到了一个铁路小站。那天火车上的旅程实在无趣，而且格雷先生浑身发冷，又累又饿，他很想坐在炉火旁美美地吃上一顿，然后洗个热水澡，舒服地进入梦乡。
离开出站口时，他问一个当地人：“打扰一下，我第一次到这里。你能帮我找个住一晚的旅店吗？”那人上下打量他一番回答：“我们镇总共有两家旅店……”“你建议我住哪一家？”格雷先生不等他说完就急忙问道。当地人挠挠头，过了一会儿说：“哎呀，这么说吧。无论你住了哪家，你都会后悔没住另一家。”