A Happy Discovery

更新：2023-11-22

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[00:01.46]Lesson 34
[00:03.61]A happy discovery
[00:11.91]What was the 'happy discovery' ?
[00:17.05]Antique shops exert a peculiar fascination on a great many people.
[00:22.82]The more expensive kind of antique shop
[00:25.43]where rare objects are beautifully displayed in glass cases
[00:29.67]to keep them free from dust is usually a forbidding place.
[00:34.62]But no one has to muster up courage to enter a less pretentious antique shop.
[00:40.67]There is always hope that in its labyrinth of musty, dark, disordered rooms
[00:46.51]a real rarity will be found amongst the piles of assorted junk that litter the floors.
[00:53.44]No one discovers a rarity by chance.
[00:56.73]A truly dedicated bargain hunter must have patience,
[01:00.96]and above all, the ability to recognize the worth of something when he sees it.
[01:07.03]To do this, he must be at least as knowledgeable as the dealer.
[01:11.92]Like a scientist bent on making a discovery,
[01:15.51]he must cherish the hope that one day he will be amply rewarded.
[01:20.82]My old friend, Frank Halliday, is just such a person.
[01:25.30]He has often described to me how he picked up a masterpiece for a mere ￡50.
[01:31.61]One Saturday morning, Frank visited an antique shop in my neighbourhood.
[01:37.37]As he had never been there before, he found a great deal to interest him.
[01:42.60]The morning passed rapidly and Frank was about to leave
[01:46.26]when he noticed a large packing case lying on the floor.
[01:50.54]The dealer told him that it had just come in,
[01:53.54]but that he could not be bothered to open it.
[01:56.49]Frank begged him to do so and the dealer reluctantly prised it open.
[02:01.79]The contents were disappointing.
[02:04.23]Apart from an interesting-looking carved dagger,
[02:07.21]the box was full of crockery, much of it broken.
[02:10.94]Frank gently lifted the crockery out of the box
[02:14.37]and suddenly noticed a miniature painting at the bottom of the packing case.
[02:19.65]As its composition and line reminded him of an Italian painting he knew well,
[02:24.88]he decided to buy it.
[02:26.94]Glancing at it briefly the dealer told him that it was worth ￡50.
[02:32.54]Frank could hardly conceal his excitement,
[02:35.20]for he knew that he had made a real discovery.
[02:38.98]The tiny painting proved to be an unknown masterpiece by Correggio
[02:44.27]and was worth hundreds and thousands of pounds.