[1]Miss Martha Meacham kept the little bakery on the corner (the one where you go up three steps, and the bell tinkles when you open the door).

[2] Miss Martha was forty, her bankbook showed a credit of two thousand dollars, and she possessed two false teeth and a sympathetic heart. Many people have married whose chances to do so were much inferior to Miss Martha's.

[3] Two or three times a week she received a customer in whom she began to take an interest. He was a middle-aged man wearing spectacles and a brown beard trimmed to a careful point. He spoke English with a strong German accent. His clothes were worn and darned in places, and wrinkled and baggy in others, but he looked neat and had very good manners. He always bought two loaves of stale bread--fresh bread was five cents a loaf and stale ones were two for five. Never did he call for anything but stale bread.

[4] On one occasion, Miss Martha noticed a red and brown stain on his fingers and decided that he was a struggling artist. No doubt he lived in a garret, where he painted pictures and ate stale bread and thought of the good things to eat in Miss Martha's bakery. Her sympathetic heart beat faster at the picture. In order to test her theory as to his occupation, Miss Martha brought from her room one day a painting that she had purchased at a sale and set it conspicuously against the shelves behind the bread counter. It was a Venetian scene, with a perfectly splendid marble palazzo and a lady in a gondola trailing her hand in the water. No artist could fail to notice it.

[5] Two days afterward the customer came in again, and he did notice the picture. "You haf here a fine bicture, madame."

[6]"Yes?" said Miss Martha, reveling in her own cunning white wrapping the stale loaves. "I do so admire art and paintings.., you think it is a good picture?"

[7] "Der balance," said the customer, "is not in good drawing. Der bairspective of it is not true. Goot morning, madame."

[8] He took the stale bread, bowed politely, and hurried out; Miss Martha carried the picture back to her room. How gentle and kindly his eyes shone behind his spectacles! To be able to judge perspective at a glance-- and to live on stale bread! But Miss Martha realized that, unfortunate though it is, genius often has to struggle before it is recognized.

(1)玛莎·米查姆小姐的小饼屋就坐落在街角（就是那间你登上三级台阶，开门时听到一阵悦耳清脆的铃声的小店）。

(2)玛莎小姐40岁了，她的银行存款已有2000美元。她有两颗假牙，为人心地善良。很多结婚机遇远不如玛莎小姐的人都已经结了婚。

(3)有一位顾客每周总来玛莎小姐的小店二、三次，玛莎小姐对此人逐渐产生了好感。他是个中年人，戴副眼镜，下巴上的棕色胡子被仔细地修得尖尖的。这个人的英语夹杂着浓重的德国口音。他的衣服已经很旧，有些地方都打了补丁，还有些地方满是褶子，松松垮垮。但从整体来看，他还算整洁，而且蛮有修养。他总是买两条干面包----新鲜面包是五美分一条，干面包五美分可买两条。这个人除干面包以外从不买任何别的东西。

(4)有一次，玛莎小姐注意到这人的手指上有红棕色的彩渍，由此她断定这人是位尚不出名的艺术家。他肯定住在一间小阁楼里，边画画边啃干面包，同时还想着玛莎小姐饼屋里的种种美味。一想到这番情景，玛莎小姐那颗富于怜悯的心不禁加快了跳动。为了证实她对这人职业的猜测，一天玛莎小姐从自己屋里把她在大减价时买的一幅画拿了出来，挂在面包柜台后面架子上最显眼的地方。那是一幅威尼斯风景画，画面上是金碧辉煌的大理石宫殿，还有一位从平底狭长小船上伸手戏水的贵妇人。哪位艺术家都会注意到它的。 (5)两天后，那位顾客又来了，他确实注意到了那幅画。"小姐，你这幅画很漂亮。"

(6）"是吗？"玛莎小姐答道，手里边包着干面包，心里边因自己的小聪明而感到得意，"我对艺术和绘画太喜欢了......您认为这是幅好画？"

(7)"布局和比例，"那位顾客说，"不很协调。透视效果也不很逼真。再见，小姐。"

(8)他拿了干面包，朝玛莎小姐很礼貌地一鞠躬，便匆匆离开了；玛莎小姐把那幅画又拿回自己的房间。呵，那副眼镜后面的那双眼睛显得多么温柔而和善啊！只随意一瞥就能判断透视效果--而就是这样一个人居然以干面包充饥！但玛莎小姐又想到，尽管这是不幸的，但天才在被承认之前往往都要经过一番艰苦奋斗的。

待续......
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