This document provides idioms about money in Chinese and English and tells two stories - The Cobbler and the Banker and A Lovable Eccentric. The Cobbler and the Banker story is about a happy cobbler who sings all day and a wealthy banker who complains he cannot sell sleep. The banker gives the cobbler 100 crowns which causes the cobbler to lose his happiness and voice from worry over the money. The A Lovable Eccentric story is about a shrewd businessman named Dickie who is known for his eccentric behavior like refusing to use umbrellas in rain. He plays an elaborate joke on critics by painting pictures himself to pass them off as famous artists' to prove critics don

2. some idioms about money
• blue one's money 乱花钱 , 胡乱挥霍
• come into one's money 继承遗产
• earn good money 赚大钱
• get one's money's worth 钱花得值得 , 没
有吃亏
• have money to burn 钱多得花不完
• put one's money on the wrong horse 把赌
注下在输马上 ; 失算

3. A STORY
The Cobbler and the Banker
• A cobbler passed his time in singing from morning till
night;it was wonderful to see,wonderful to hear him;he
was more contented than anyone else.
• His neighbour,on the contrary,was rolling in
wealth,sung but little and slept less.He was a
banker;when by chance he fell into a doze at day
break,the cobbler awoke him with his song.The banker
complained sadly that Providence had not made sleep a
saleable commodity,like edibles or drinkables.Having at
length sent for the songster,he said to him,"How much a
year do you earn,Master Gregory?"
• "How much a year,sir?"said the merry cobbler
laughing,"I have reckoned in that way,living as I do
from one day to another;somehow I manage to reach
the end of the year;each day brings its meal."
• "Well then!How much a day do you earn,my friend? "
• cobbler
n. 皮匠，补鞋匠
• be rolling with
wealth
财源滚滚，腰缠
万贯
• doze
n. 瞌睡
• day break 黎明
• Providence n. 上帝
• edible n. 可吃的
• at length 最终
• songster n. 歌唱家
• reckon v. 想；认
为

4. The Cobbler and the Banker
• "Sometimes more,sometimes less;but the worst of it
is,--and,without that our earnings would be very
tolerable,--a number of days occur in the year on which
we are forbidden to work."
• The banker,laughing at his simplicity,said,"In the future
I shall place you above want.Take this hundred
crowns,preserve them carefully,and make use of them
in time of need."
• The cobbler fancied he saw all the wealth which the
earth had produced in the past century for the use of
mankind.Returning home,he buried his money and his
happiness at the same time.No more singing;he lost his
voice,the moment he acquired that which is the source
of so much grief.Sleep quitted his dwelling;and
cares,suspicions,and false alarms took its place.All
day,his eye wandered in the direction of his
treasure;and at night,if some stray cat made a noise,he
would thought the cat was robbing him.At length the
poor man ran to the house of his rich neighbour;"Give
me back"he said,"sleep and my voice,and take your
hundred crowns."
• tolerable
adj. 尚好的，过
得去的
• crown n. 克朗
• acquire
v. 获得，学到
• dwelling n. 住处
• stray adj. 迷路的
，离群的

5. A Lovable Eccentric
True eccentrics never deliberately set out
to draw attention to themselves. They
disregard social conventions without being
conscious that they are doing anything
extraordinary. This invariably wins them the
love and respect of others, for they add
colour to the dull routine of everyday life.
Up to the time of his death, Richard
Colson was one of the most notable figures
in our town. He was a shrewd and wealthy
businessman, but most people in the town
hardly knew anything about this side of his
life. He was known to us all as Dickie and
his eccentricity had become legendary long
before he died.
• eccentric
adj. 古怪的；异乎
寻常的
n. 怪人
• invariably
adv. 始终如一地
• shrewd
adj. 精明的；敏锐
的；有眼光的
• eccentricity
n. 古怪行为；反常
；怪癖

6. A Lovable Eccentric
Dickie disliked snobs intensely.
Though he owned a large car, he hardly
ever used it, preferring always to go on
foot. Even when it was raining heavily, he
refused to carry an umbrella. One day, he
walked into an expensive shop after
having been caught in a particularly heavy
shower. He wanted to buy a $300 watch
for his wife, but he was in such a
bedraggled condition that an assistant
refused to serve him. Dickie left the shop
without a word and returned carrying a
large cloth bag. As it was extremely
heavy, he dumped it on the counter. The
assistant asked him to leave, but Dickie
paid no attention to him and requested to
see the manager.
• snob
n. 势利小人；谄上媚
下的人
• intensely
adv. 十分强烈地；极
端地
• shower
n. 阵雨
• bedraggled
adj. （被泥水等）弄
湿的，弄脏的
• dump
v. （随意地）丢下，
放下

7. A Lovable Eccentric
Recognizing who the customer was, the
manager was most apologetic and
reprimanded the assistant severely.
When Dickie was given the watch, he
presented the assistant with the cloth
bag. It contained $300 in pennies. He
insisted on the assistant's counting the
money before he left -- 30,000 pennies
in all! On another occasion, he invited a
number of important critics to see his
private collection of modern paintings.
This exhibition received a great deal of
attention in the press, for though the
pictures were supposed to be the work
of famous artists, they had in fact been
painted by Dickie. It took him four
years to stage this elaborate joke simply
to prove that critics do not always know
what they are talking about.
• reprimand
v. 申诉；训斥；斥
责
• critic
n. 批评家；评论家
• press
n. 报刊杂志