Another true story: The Power of Convincing Comes from a Noble Heart

goingconern(GoingConcern)

One evening, at the close of a lavish state banquette for Commonwealth dignitaries in London, Winston Churchill spots a fellow guest about to steal a priceless silver salt-cellar from the table. The gentleman in question slips the precious artifact inside his dinner jacket, then quietly makes for the door.

What is Churchill to do?

Caught between loyalty to his host and an equal and opposite desire to avoid an undignified contretemps, he suddenly has an idea. With no time to lose, he quickly picks up the matching silver pepper-pot and slips it inside his own jacket pocket. Then, approaching his "partner in crime", he reluctantly produces the condimentary contraband and sets it in front of him.

" I think they've seen us", he whispers, " We'd better put them back...".

From "Split-Second Persuation" by Kevin Dutton

(#8031401@0)
Last Updated: 2013-1-30
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I was bored so I did a little research about it and found out this story was overstated what had been happened in the incident. Here are what I have learned: -dv2011(小肥羊); 2013-1-31 {1725} (#8031496@0)

本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛First of all, this silver salt-cellar isn't priceless at all. Yes, It may be worth something but it is still a piece of tableware, which was among many of its own kind on dinning tables at that event.

Second, about this fellow guest who actually steal the salt cellar. He luckily had a name and his name is Farkouk I, King of Egypt and Sudan, Sovereign of Nubia, of Kordofan, and of Darfur during that time.

This king had many strange habits and stealing from others is the most odd one of his. Anyway, you can Google his name and find out more details about him.

Third, the king was infamous by his action by then so that everyone was in that event knew about what he intends to do. There was no such thing that he attempted to make for the door quietly and Mr. Churchill was not dare to stop him by so called pretending to be the king's "partner in crime" either.

What was really happened was that Mr. Churchill did try to relieve the tension by grabbing the remaining tableware to his pocket and somehow managed to look like a bad joke.

In return, the king gave up his souvenir but to steal Mr. Churchill's pocket watch instead. I believe both of them knew about it whatssoever. :))) After all, this was just a game between two powerful fellows to enjoy each other.

What have we learned from this kind of stories?

If something seems odd, unusual, too little or too much, there must be several unexplained reasons behind it. Learning from reading the blank of the books is an essential skill, which can be used to solve unanswered historical questions. Personally I use it a lot , therefore, I know it from my previous experiences that common sense does work so please use it freely.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net

这个common sense 和十三点不是一回事。priceless 在上下文中意即贵重，没到无价之宝的程度。happen 和 dare 用得不对，纠正你以防混淆别人视听。 -goingconern(GoingConcern); 2013-1-31 {313} (#8031542@0)
Something happens. Something happened. Something had happened. Something will happen. Something happened to happen.

没有＂it was happened" 这样的用法，happen是不及物动词，不能用be动词来倒置作被动态，没有必要被动。

同理，dare (to) do something= 敢于做某事；也不用be动词做被动态，本身是个主动态的情态动词。

肥羊的语法是比较糙。 -winterstorm(打酱油的); 2013-1-31 (#8031634@0)

肥哥的语感很好。 -wincity(红卫兵); 2013-1-31 (#8031841@0)

语感好不等于按自己的感觉随意乱写，而是真正熟悉一种语言之后的游刃有余的境界。 -winterstorm(打酱油的); 2013-1-31 (#8031998@0)

酱油哥几岁开始学英语的？ -thornthorn($oOHoly MolyOo$); 2013-1-31 (#8032151@0)

小三 -winterstorm(打酱油的); 2013-1-31 (#8033015@0)

Lucky you. I am so jealous... -thornthorn($oOHoly MolyOo$); 2013-1-31 {47} (#8033112@0)
I didn't really start until my mid twenties...

自从看了许多英语帖子后，感觉自己更不敢说英语了。因为按照大伙提出的标准，感觉自己一辈子都学不会英语。郁闷。。。 -silentlady(SilentLady); 2013-1-31 (#8032527@0)

木事儿。我E语差的没发在差了，我给你讲个笑话，你就别郁闷啦 -nuanxin(nuanxin); 2013-1-31 {529} (#8032902@0)
话说打工，工乃工夫也，工夫，时间也。逻辑地说，打工就是打发时间。（别跟我们文科将逻辑，因为你讲不过我们.）
Today有东东要老板签字，就写了个note： pls Sign ＆ Date。小秘传话来，＂U made her day＂，我就问了＂Day or Date＂，小秘回，＂what do you expect＂。我回答，"If I were you, I would ask for 'sealed with love'. But I'm not you, I only ask 'sealed with a day off.'" 苦想了一阵，还是不知道，我这个虚拟语气是否正确。小秘只顾笑，无暇纠正我。害的我还得来请Rolia大侠门帮助。"I'm not you", shall I say "I were not you"

I think what U said is correct, for me, anyway..."if I were you" or "if I had been you";instead of "if I was you". Tons of informative examples of subjunctive mood can be found in the following Wikipedia's article...But why She was laughing -redjunk(rolia); 2013-1-31 (#8033235@0)

红弟长足进步, 赞一个. 还要注意介词啊. -thornthorn($oOHoly MolyOo$); 2013-1-31 (#8033256@0)

刺哥真是助人为乐啊。 -wincity(红卫兵); 2013-1-31 (#8033263@0)

心太软. -thornthorn($oOHoly MolyOo$); 2013-1-31 (#8033265@0)

知不知道这个意思？ Produce=bring out for display -wincity(红卫兵); 2013-1-31 (#8033266@0)

字典是这么说的吗. 但是跟ROGER相似的是都不是第一意思. -thornthorn($oOHoly MolyOo$); 2013-1-31 (#8033282@0)

刺哥如果只知道第一意思，那还是要向红弟学习啊。 -wincity(红卫兵); 2013-1-31 (#8033303@0)

那当然, 三人行必有我师. -thornthorn($oOHoly MolyOo$); 2013-1-31 (#8033308@0)

俺英语不太好,大多伦多Maham高中毕业。。。哈哈哈 -redjunk(rolia); 2013-1-31 (#8033317@0)

小留还是随父母移民来的? 很不错. -thornthorn($oOHoly MolyOo$); 2013-1-31 (#8033329@0)

酱油哥是俺小学同学。。。 -redjunk(rolia); 2013-1-31 (#8033342@0)

你也是小三来的? -thornthorn($oOHoly MolyOo$); 2013-1-31 (#8033346@0)

后来中途退学。。。可惜鸟 -redjunk(rolia); 2013-1-31 (#8033356@0)

成功人士多是中途退学的., 比如盖茨. -thornthorn($oOHoly MolyOo$); 2013-1-31 (#8033359@0)

I used "for" here, 'cause it means As far as I know...R U comfortable with it? -redjunk(rolia); 2013-1-31 (#8033332@0)

谢谢, 原来是全句前后呼应啊. 茅塞顿开耶. -thornthorn($oOHoly MolyOo$); 2013-1-31 (#8033340@0)

本人认为你用得很正确，也很聪明幽默。"But I am not you" 没问题。 -winterstorm(打酱油的); 2013-2-1 (#8033837@0)

priceless就是无价之宝的意思，如果想用昂贵，可用的词比如costly, expensive,valuable，甚至precious有很多。这则逸闻partial true, 但是作者出于某种目的，故意manipulate了细节。殊不知细节决定成败，正是细节本身出卖了作者和他的小伎俩。试分析如下： -dv2011(小肥羊); 2013-1-31 {1428} (#8032350@0)
本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛首先，我一看到priceless, 哥就笑了。

You tell me, smarty: 无价之宝的盐瓶是什么样子的？比王冠如何？莫非宴会上只有这一个盐瓶？如果有不止一个，那么又无价何在呢？
况且盐瓶作为餐具，大部分人都伸手可及，其中仆人，厨师，内客外客多了去了，这种环境怎么可能把无价之宝秀出来呢？

还有，作者为了一点小目的，特别不提埃及国王的名字。给读者的感觉是一个小毛贼（估计他也知道如果写出国王的名字，读者即使是感性的，对所有写在纸片上，说在口头上的出自英国人的英文都一概接受的担心姐，也可能会划个问号的）。

作者闲得手欠，怕读者不信，特别加上了埃及国王得手之后，带着“无价盐瓶”慢慢sneak off 的情节。看到这里，哥又开心的笑了。且不说国王就是这种怪癖，他一不缺钱，二不怕任何人发现，三就是发现了，比如后来的Churchill，又能如何呢？他作为国王根本不需要如此跑掉。

就是真是一个小毛贼偷了东西，马上跑掉都是最笨的法子。要么转给接应的同伙，要么假装无事，以后趁乱，甚至制造混乱时再跑掉。不然，座上丢了东西，你是唯一check in以后不在现场，不辞而别的一位，案子不就破了吗？

可见作者不单对上流掌故知之甚少，对三教九流的人情故事也两眼一摸黑。当然，写成标准的英文，忽悠担心姐这样的孩子，效果还是明显的。呵呵。

至于小邱童鞋为啥子后来玩出一手，导致自己的怀表也没了？我实在不知道伟人的脑子都是怎么长的？估计是好玩吧，你想一个大人物，平时和谁玩到一起又不怕跌份？估计也只有和另一个大人物了。何况就门第而言，人家是国王，他一个公爵，带他玩还是看得起他呢？早两千年，埃及文明成那样的时候，小邱的祖先还不知道在哪颗三叶草树下面光着呢。呵呵again

the end.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net

肥兄，you need to talk to a shrink first. -goingconern(GoingConcern); 2013-1-31 (#8032372@0)

LOL, I wrote it in his clinic, are you scared? Oh, Thanks for these grammar correction.:)))))) -dv2011(小肥羊); 2013-1-31 (#8032385@0)

Thank you all for the story and added information. "Priceless", I can't steal it; "tableware", I still can't take it home. Let's not to worry about someone else's money. :) People will write the same story from different angles. No big deal. -nothanks(ciel); 2013-1-31 (#8032555@0)

OML -thornthorn($oOHoly MolyOo$); 2013-1-31 (#8032398@0)

完全同意肥哥的分析。 -wincity(红卫兵); 2013-1-31 (#8033009@0)

+100. “Learning from reading the blank of the books is an essential skill”，你是说 reading between the lines？俺 can't agree more。 -wincity(红卫兵); 2013-1-31 (#8031548@0)

sets it “DOWN“ in front of him。。。 -redjunk(rolia); 2013-1-31 (#8031506@0)

“Then, approaching his "partner in crime", he reluctantly produces the condimentary contraband and sets it DOWN in front of him. ”试译：然后，邱吉尔小心翼翼地走向“同伙”,同时很不情愿地从口袋里掏出胡椒瓶子,放在他的面前。Produce=bring out for display -redjunk(rolia); 2013-1-31 (#8031513@0)

老邱这样做很WS啊。看了这个故事，他的光辉形象在俺的心中顿时黯淡了不少。 -wincity(红卫兵); 2013-1-31 (#8031545@0)

红卫兵的＂光明正大＂做法看来是要当众训斥，分清敌我，说不定还要五花大绑，摁头倒地？ -goingconern(GoingConcern); 2013-1-31 (#8031691@0)

革命不是请客吃饭吗，也不是做文章啊:-) -thornthorn($oOHoly MolyOo$); 2013-1-31 (#8031697@0)
老邱的做法体现了一个政坛伟人的大智慧和幽默感。 -winterstorm(打酱油的); 2013-1-31 (#8031716@0)

一个政坛伟人竟然在乎这种偷鸡摸狗的小事。 -wincity(红卫兵); 2013-1-31 (#8031731@0)

Don't be so sure! What if the "salt silver-cellar" were a PRICELESS antique...given the history associated with it, the salt cellar would be as close to priceless as you can get :)) -redjunk(rolia); 2013-1-31 (#8032432@0)

@USA

Another true story: The Power of Convincing Comes from a Noble Heart

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