6. Price of life

There was once a person who was very stingy1. One day he tried to cross a river by himself, but he slipped because the current2 was extremely strong. And then the current swept him away, down the middle of the river.So he shouted, "Can anyone help me? I'll give you money!"

There was a person on a boat nearby and he said, "OK. For fifty dollars I'll help you."

But the man in the river replied, "Fifty dollars! That's too expensive. I'll give you twenty." So the person on the boat said, "No, no, that's too cheap."

By now the man in the river was trying very hard to breathe and was even swallowing3 some of the river water.

So he said, "OK, OK, thirty dollars!" But the person on the boat said, "No, no. Forty dollars is my last price."

And the man in the water said, "I - I -I'd rather die!"

Notes:

1. stingy 吝啬，小气

2. current 潮流，浪潮

3. swallow 吞，咽

生命之价

从前有一个人非常吝啬。有一天，他想自己涉水过河，不料因为水流很急而失足滑落河里，被河水冲到河中央。于是他大喊救命：“有谁能救我，我就给他赏金！”

这时附近正好有一艘小船，船上的人说：“好！给我五十元，我就救你。”

溺水的人却说：“五十元太贵了，给你二十元好了。”船上的人说：“不行，不行！太少了！”

这时，河里那个人已经呼吸困难，而且又呛了好几口水，于是他说：“好啦！好啦！那三十元！”

船上的人说：“不行，四十元是底价！”

溺水的人说：“那我……我宁可淹死！”

Useful link:

发生溺水时，不熟悉水性的可采取自救法：除呼救外，取仰卧位，头部向后，使鼻部可露出水面呼吸。呼气要浅，吸气要深。因为深吸气时，人体比重降到0.967，比水略轻，可浮出水面（呼气时人体比重为1.057，比水略重），此时千万不要慌张，不要将手臂上举乱扑动，那样会使身体下沉得更快。