Customs Officers are quite tolerant these days,

现在的海关官员往往相当宽容。

It was true that he had just bought a lamb, he explained, but his lamb was black.

不错，他的确刚买了一只羔羊，阿列科解释说，但他的羔羊是黑色的。

An advertisement which begins with the magic word FREE can rarely go wrong.

凡是用“免费”这个神奇的词开头的广告很少会失败的。

In the nineteenth century, a novelist would bring his story to a conclusion by presenting his readers with a series of coincidences -- most of them wildly improbable.

在19世纪，小说家常在小说结尾处给读者准备一系列的巧合——大部分是牵强附会，极不可能的。

It is impossible to give a satisfactory explanation for a pot-holer's motives.

要想对洞穴探险者的动机作出满意的解释是不可能的。

They had little difficulty in finding it,

他们没费多大事儿就找到了盘子。