A cold welcome

原文

On Wednesday evening, we went to the Town Hall. It was the last day of the year and a large crowd of people had gathered under the Town Hall clock. It would strike twelve in twenty minutes's time. Fifteen minutes passed and then, at five to twelve, the clock stopped. The big minute had did not move. We waited and waited, but nothing happened. Suddenly someone shouted, "It's two minutes past twelve! The clock has stopped!" I looked at my watch. It was true. The big clock refused to welcome the New Year. At that moment, everybody began to laugh and sing.

译文

在星期三的晚上，我们去了市政府。那是这一年的最后一天，很多人站在市政府的大钟下。再过20分钟，大钟将敲响12下。15分钟后，在11点55分的时候，这个大钟不走了。那根巨大的分针不动了。我们等呀等呀，它还是没有走。突然有一个人在说， “现在都12点2分了，这个大钟停了” 我看下我的手表，他说的是对的。这个大钟拒绝新年的到来。此时，大家都笑起来，载歌载舞迎接新年的到来。