1. It was about midday. I'd left work early in the morning to cash (兑现) a cheque. I walked along to the bank and found there were only about ten or eleven customers in there, a pretty unusual number for those central city banks.
    当时大约是中午时分，为了兑现一张支票，上午我提前下了班。我一路走到银行，发现那儿只有十来个顾客，这个数字对市中心的银行来说是相当不寻常的。