our vicar（教区牧师） is always raising money for one cause or another, but he has n*r ma*d to get enough money to have the church clock repaired. the *g clock which used to strike the hours day and night was damaged many years ago and has been silent1 *r since.
one night, how*r, our vicar woke up with a start（一惊地） : the clock was striking2 the hours! looking at his watch, he saw that it was one o'clock, but the bell struck thir* times before it stopped. armed with a torch3, the vicar went up into the clock tower to see what was going on. in the torchlight, he caught sight of a figure whom he immediately recognized as *ll wilkins, our local grocer4.
"what*r are you doing up here *ll?" asked the vicar in surprise.
"i'm trying to repair the bell," answered *ll. "i've been coming up here night after night for weeks now. you see, i was hoping to give you a surprise."
"you certainly did give me a surprise!" said the vicar. "you've probably woken up *ryone in the village as well. still, i'm glad the bell is working again."
"that's the trouble, vicar," answered *ll. "it's working all right, but i'm afraid that at one o'clock it will strike thir* times and there's nothing i can do about it."
"we'll get used to that *ll," said the vicar. "thir* is not as good as one but it's better than nothing. now let's go downstairs and have a cup of tea."
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