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One of my regular customers, who was a retired confectioner, told me of another sales factor in bad weather. He said that many people did not buy confectionery in advance. Rain or snow kept them from their usual Sunday afternoon walk or even from a tea-time trip to their nearest shop; if they were unable to fetch chocolate and sweets, ice-cream available righ outside their homes was an admirable and easy substitute.
有位老顾客，一位退休糕点师傅，告诉我恶劣天气里的另一个销售因素。他说很多人没有事先买糖果糕点的习惯。下雨或下雪使他们不能在星期天下午例行散步，甚至没法在喝下午茶时到附近的店里去跑一趟；要是他们没法弄到巧克力和糖果，家门外就有卖的冰淇淋不失为既好又方便的替代品。
What he said was true. Icy winds apart, bad weather in the form of fog, rain or snow, never did reduce sales.
他说得一点没错。除刺骨的寒风而外，多雾、下雨、下雪等恶劣天气确实从来没有使销售量降低过。
One aspect of retail selling was the getting of orders for regular ice-cream deliveries at a set time — usually for use as a sweet at lunch or dinner, or as an extra when viewing television.
零售的一个方面是定时将固定订户的冰淇淋送上门——这种冰淇淋一般用作午餐或晚餐时的一道甜点，或看电视时吃的消闲食品。
On one occasion when I had moved through a road in the morning and got a provisional order for that day from one housewife, I returned doubtfully at one o'clock in the midst of a snowstorm quite expecting her to cancel the order. To my surprise she doubled her provisional order and asked for a regular weekly visit. It was her busy morning and she was grateful for one less thing to do.
有一天上午，我在一条马路上开过时，有位主妇临时向我预订当天的冰淇淋。我顶风冒雪在一点钟时犹豫着回到她那儿，以为她会取消预订。令我惊讶的是，她比临时预订的多买了一份，还让我每星期送一次。她那个上午很忙能少做一件家务事，她感到很庆幸。
Indeed, rarely were these regular orders cancelled, and in bad weather they formed a steady source of income. In the evening they solved an awkward problem, as casual selling, even though I kept to customary arrival times, needed some sort of notice to be given that I wasoutside with the van.
实际上，这些固定订购的冰淇淋很少取消，在恶劣的天气里，它们便成为稳定的收入来源。在晚上，它们则解决了一个令人烦恼的问题，因为即使我做到按惯例准时到达，没有计划的零售总需要我发出某种信号，表明我的车已到了门外。
I tried to keep my chimes reasonable, but I was always too noisy for those who did not require ice-cream and never loud enough for those who did.
我尽量掌握吆喝的分寸，可对于那些不想要冰淇淋的人来说，我的吆喝总嫌太吵，而对于那些需要冰淇淋的人来说，我的吆喝又总是太轻了。
