“You ought to be a countess，”said the shirt collar，“but all I possess consists of a fine gentleman，a bootjack，and a comb.I wish I had an estate(estate n.状态，不动产，时期，阶层，财产)for your sake.”
“你应该做一个伯爵夫人！”衬衫领子说。“我全部的财产是一位漂亮绅士，一个脱靴器和一把梳子。我希望再有一个伯爵的头衔！”
“What！is he going to propose to me？”said the scissors，and she became so angry that she cut too sharply into the shirt collar，and it was obliged(oblige vt.迫使，责成)to be thrown by as useless.
“什么？难道他还打算求婚不成？”剪刀说。她生起气来，结结实实地把他剪了一下，弄得他一直复原不了。
“I shall be obliged to propose to the hairbrush，”thought the shirt collar，so he remarked one day，“It is wonderful what beautiful hair you have，my little lady.Have you never thought of being engaged？”
“我还是向梳子求婚的好！”衬衫领子说。“亲爱的姑娘！你看你把头发保护得多么好，这真了不起。你从来没有想过订婚的问题吗？”
“You might know I should think of it，”answered the hair brush，“I am engaged to the bootjack.”
“当然想到过，你可能知道，”梳子说，“我已经跟脱靴器订婚了！”
“Engaged！”cried the shirt collar，“now there is no one left to propose to！”and then he pretended to despisedespise vt.轻视all lovemaking.
“订婚了！”衬衫领子说。现在他再也没有求婚的对象了。因此鄙视爱情这种东西。
A long time passed，and the shirt collar was taken in a bag to the papermill.Here was a large company of rags，the fine ones lying by themselves，separated from the coarser，as it ought to be.They had all many things to relate，especially the shirt collar，who was a terrible boaster.
很长一段时间过去了。衬衫领子来到一个造纸厂的箱子里。周围是一堆烂布朋友：细致的跟细致的人在一起，粗鲁的跟粗鲁的人在一起，真是物以类聚。他们要讲的事情可真多，但是衬衫领子要讲的事情最多，因为他是一个可怕的牛皮大王。
“I have had an immense number of love affairs，”said the shirt collar，“no one left me any peace.It is true I was a very fine gentleman，quite stuck up.I had a bootjack and a brush that I never used.You should have seen me then，when I was turned down.I shall never forget my first love，she was a girdle，so charming，and fine，and soft，and she threw herself into a washing tub(tub n.浴盆)for my sake.There was a widow too，who was warmly in love with me，but I left her alone，and she became quite black.The next was a firstrate dancer，she gave me the wound from which I still suffer，she was so passionate(passionate adj.充满热情的).Even my own hairbrush was in love with me，and lost all her hair through neglected love.Yes，I have had great experience of this kind，but my greatest grief was for the garter—the girdle I meant to say—that jumped into the washtub.I have a great deal on my conscience，and it is really time I should be turned into white paper.”
“我曾经有过一大堆情人！”衬衫领子说。“没有半点安宁！我的确是一个漂亮绅士，一个上了浆的人。我既有脱靴器，又有梳子，但是我从来不用！你们应该看看我那时的样子，看看我那时不理人的神情！我永远忘不了我的初恋——那是一根腰带。她是那么细嫩，那么温柔，那么迷人！她为了我，自己投到一个水盆里去！后来又有一个寡妇，她因为我而变得火热起来，不过我没有理她，直到她变得满脸青黑为止！接着来了芭蕾舞蹈家。她给了我一个创伤，至今还没有好——她的脾气真不好！我的那把梳子倒是钟情于我，她因为失恋把头发都弄得脱落了。是的，像这类的事儿，我真是经验丰富！不过那根袜带使我感到最难过——我的意思是说那根腰带，她为我跳进水盆里去，我的良心上感到非常不安。我情愿变成一张白纸！”
And the shirt collar came to this at last.All the rags were made into white paper，and the shirt collar became the very identical(identical adj.同一的，同样的)piece of paper which we now see，and on which this story is printed.It happened as a punishment to him，for having boasted so shockingly(shockingly adv.怕人地，非常地)of things which were not true.And this is a warning to us，to be careful how we act，for we may some day find ourselves in the ragbag，to be turned into white paper，on which our whole history may be written，even its most secret actions.And it would not be pleasant to have to run about the world in the form of a piece of paper，telling everything we have done，like the boasting shirt collar.
最终事实也是如此，所有的烂布都变成了白纸，而衬衫领子却成了我们所看到的这张纸——这个故事就是在这张纸上被印出来的。这就是对他的惩罚，因为他总是喜欢把从来没有过的事情瞎吹一通。这一点也是对我们的警示，免得我们干出同样的事情，因为我们不知道，有一天我们也会来到一个烂布箱里，被制成白纸，在这纸上，我们全部的历史，甚至最秘密的事情也会被印出来，结果我们就不得不像这衬衫领子一样，到处讲这个故事。