The whole village soon learnt that a large sum of money had been lost. Sam Benton, the local butcher, had lost his wallet while taking his savings to the post office. Sam was sure that the wallet must have been found by one of the villagers, but it was not returned to him. Three months passed, and then one morning, Sam found his wallet outside his front door. It had been wrapped up in newspaper and it contained half the money he had lost, together with a note which said:‘A thief, yes, but only 50 per cent a thief!’Two months later, some more money was sent to Sam with another note:‘Only 25 per cent a thief now!’In time, all Sam's money was paid back in this way. The last note said:‘I am 100 per cent honest now!’
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New words and expressions 生词和短语
clear (title) /kliə/ adj．无罪的，不亏心的
savings (1.3)/'seiviŋz/ n．存款
conscience (title)/'kɔnʃəns/ n．良心，道德心
villager (1.4)/'vilidʒə/ n．村民
wallet (1.2)/'wɔlit/n．皮夹，钱夹
per cent (1.8)/p'əsent/百分之……
Notes on the text课文注释
1 Sam Benton, the local butcher, had lost his wallet while taking his savings to the post office.当地的屠户萨姆·本顿在把存款送往邮局的途中把钱包丢了。其中的 while taking his savings是现在分词用于连词之后，与表示时间的状语从句 while he was taking his savings作用是一致的。
2 the wallet must have been found by one of the villagers, 钱包肯定是被某个村民捡到了。 must在这里表示推测，由于是对过去的推测，因此must之后的动词要用完成形式。
3 in time, 最后，终于。
参考译文
整个村子很快知道，有一大笔钱丢失了。当地的屠户萨姆·本顿在把存款送往邮局的途中把钱包丢了。萨姆确信那钱包一定是被某个村民捡到了，可是却不见有人来送还给他。3个月过去了，后来在一天早晨，萨姆在自己的大门外发现了他的钱包。钱包是用报纸包着的，里面有他丢失的钱的一半，而且还附着一张纸条，上面写着：“一个小偷，是的，但只是一个50％的小偷！”又过了两个月，又有一些钱送还给了萨姆，又附了一张字条：“这回只是 25％的小偷了！”很快，萨姆全部的钱都用同样的方式还了回来。最后的那张字条上写道：“我现在是一个100％的诚实人了！”