A very dear cat
一條貴重的寶貝貓
Kidnappers are rarely interested in animals, but they recently took considerable interest in Mrs. Eleanor Ramsay's cat. Mrs. Eleanor Ramsay, a very wealthy old lady, has shared a flat with her cat, Rastus, for a great many years. Rastus leads an orderly life. He usually takes a short walk in the evenings and is always home by seven o'clock. One evening, however, he failed to arrive. Mrs. Ramsay got very worried. She looked everywhere for him but could not find him.
There days after Rastus' disappearance, Mrs. Ramsay received an anonymous letter. The writer stated that Rastus was in safe hands and would be returned immediately if Mrs. Ramsay paid a ransom of $1,000. Mrs. Ramsay was instructed to place the money in a cardboard box and to leave it outside her door. At first she decided to go to the police, but fearing that she would never see Rastus again -- the letter had made that quite clear -- she changed her mind. She withdrew $1000 from her bank and followed the kidnapper's instructions. The next morning, the box had disappeared but Mrs. Ramsay was sure that the kidnapper would keep his word. Sure enough, Rastus arrived punctually at seven o'clock that evening. He looked very well though he was rather thirsty, for he drank half a bottle of milk. The police were astounded when Mrs. Ramsay told them what she had done. She explained that Rastus was very dear to her. Considering the amount she paid, he was dear in more ways than one!
綁架者很少對動物感興趣。最近，綁架者卻盯上了埃莉諾.拉姆齊太太的貓。埃莉諾.拉姆齊太太是一個非常富有的老婦人，多年來，一直同她養(yǎng)的貓拉斯一起住在一所公寓里。拉斯特斯生活很有規(guī)律，傍晚常常出去溜達(dá)一會兒，并且總是在7點(diǎn)鐘以前回來�？墒牵幸惶焱砩希鋈ズ笤僖矝]回來。拉姆齊太太急壞了，四處尋找，但沒有找著。
拉斯特斯失蹤3天后，拉姆齊太太收到一封匿名信。寫信人聲稱拉斯特斯安然無恙，只要拉姆齊太太愿意支付1,000 英鎊贖金，可以立即將貓送還。他讓拉姆齊太太把錢放在一個紙盒里，然后將紙盒放在門口。一開始拉姆齊太太打算報(bào)告警察，但又害怕再也見不到拉斯特斯——這點(diǎn)，信上說得十分明白——于是便改變了主意。她從銀行取出1,000 英鎊，并照綁架者的要求做了。第二天早晨，放錢的盒子不見了。但拉姆齊太太確信綁架者是會履行諾言的。果然，當(dāng)天晚上7點(diǎn)正，拉斯特斯準(zhǔn)時回來了。它看上去一切正常，只是口渴得很，喝了半瓶牛奶。拉姆齊太太把她所做的事告訴了警察，警察聽后大為吃驚。拉姆齊太太解釋說她心疼她的貓拉斯特斯。想到她所花的那筆錢，她的心疼就具有雙重意義了。
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