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阅读理解
Once a man with the name Grant found a box of old papers in a room at the top of his house, for he didn't like old things very much．But one of these papers was an old letter．At the bottom of the letter was the name of a famous writer．
“When this letter was written,”said Grant,“no one knew about the writer．But now everyone knows him．Some people like to buy letters like this．I may be able to get a lot of money for this letter if I sell it to the right man．”
But there were a lot of dirty marks(痕迹)all over the letter．
“It doesn't look nice,”he thought．“No one wants to buy a letter if it's dirty．I will have to clean it first．”
So he took a piece of cloth and some water and cleaned the letter．He worked hard and took a lot of care．At last the letter looked new and he was very pleased with his work．
“Now it looks very nice,”he said to himself．“I will be able to sell it for a lot of money．”
He took the letter to a shop in London, for he knew that old papers of this kind were bought and sold there．
“I want to sell this letter,”Grant said to the man in the shop．“It was written by a famous writer．You know about these things．How much will you give me for it?”
The man looked at the letter for a long time．“I will give you two pounds for it,”he said at last．
“Only two pounds?”said Grant．“But people pay ten pounds for a letter like this．And just look!I have even cleaned it to make it look nice．”
“I can see that,”said the man．“That's the trouble people who buy old papers like them to be dirty．”
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