Trishka's Caftan

 Trishka's caftan was out at the elbows. But why should he ponder¹ long over it? He took to his needle, cut a quarter off each sleeve: so mended the elbows.

 

The caftan was all right again, only his arms were bare for a quarter of their length. That is no great matter, but every one is always laughing at Trishka. So Trishka says:

 

"I'm not a fool. I'll set this affair straight also. I'll make the sleeves longer than they were before. They shall see Trishka is no mere² commonplace³ fellow."

 

So he cut off the skirts of his caftan, and used them to lengthen⁴ his sleeves.

 

Then Trishka was happy, though he had a caftan which was as short as a waistcoat.

 

In a similar way I have sometimes seen other embarrassed people set straight their affairs. Take a look at them as they dash away. They have all got on Trishka's caftan.

 

1 ponder   

vt.考虑；vi.沉思

参考例句：

• You should pause and ponder now.你现在应该停下来仔细考虑一下。
• He sits to ponder his misfortune there.他坐在那里沉思着他的不幸。

2 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

3 commonplace   

adj.平凡的，普通的；n.寻常的事物，常见的事

参考例句：

• Soon it will be commonplace for men to travel to the moon.人们去月球旅行很快就会成为常事。
• What he has said is a mere commonplace view.他所说的不过是尘俗之见而已。

4 lengthen   

vt.使伸长，延长

参考例句：

• He asked the tailor to lengthen his coat.他请裁缝把他的外衣放长些。
• The teacher told her to lengthen her paper out.老师让她把论文加长。