5. A very polite policeman

There was a man who repaired typewriters1, and one day he was called into a building to do a repair. So he went there, but when he looked for a parking space, he couldn't find one. So he parked in a no parking zone and put a note on the windshield2 of his car that said, "I'm Joseph Goldsmith, working inside the building" to let the police know that he had to do some work. So when he finished repairing the typewriter, he came out and saw another note next to his note that said, "I'm Jeremy Flagler, police officer, working outside the building." With the note was a ticket.

Notes:

1. typewriter 打字机

2. windshield 挡风玻璃

谦恭有礼的警察

有一个人从事打字机修理的工作。有一天，有人请他到一栋大楼修理打字机，可是他到了那里，却找不到停车位。他只好把车停在禁止停车的地方，然后在车子的挡风玻璃上夹一张字条，上面写着：“我是约塞夫·哥尔德史密斯，正在大楼里工作。”他想让警察知道他把车子停放于此是工作所需、情非得已的。当他修好打字机，走出大楼，却看到原先的字条旁边有另一张字条，上面写着：“我是警察杰瑞米·弗列格勒，正在大楼外面工作！”字条旁边附着一张罚单。

Useful link:

在美国，有关停车的交通法规不胜枚举，如不准在十字路口附近停车、不准在消防栓旁停车、不准超时停车等。有的路边有计时停车的秒表，因繁华程度不一样不同地段收费不同。有秒表的路段，投入25美分的硬币可停1个小时，10美分的停半小时，5美分的停15分钟，比较便宜。没有秒表的路段虽可免费停车，但情况很复杂：有的规定只许本区住户的车随便停，其他区的车只能停两个小时；有的是无论哪儿的车都只能在某个时段停；还有的则是某一天或半天不能停，因为清洁员要扫街。这些条条框框都写在路牌上，停车之前务必看仔细，否则就要吃罚单或者车被拖走，损失从几十到几百美元不等。