I Just Want to Be a Quiet Top Student

Chapter 44 I speak English

London, England, the venue of this International Mathematical Olympiad.

In the past few days, Olympiad teams from more than 100 countries around the world have arrived in London one after another.

There is an eight-hour time difference between Greenwich Mean Time and China’s Capital Time. The Chinese Olympic National Team arrived in London three days in advance and reserved time for the time difference.

The British organizer arranged for the Chinese Olympic Team to stay in a hotel near Waterloo Station, which is not far from London South Bank University and can be reached within a ten-minute walk.

The team leader, deputy team leader, coach, interpreter, logistician and six members of the Chinese Olympic Mathematics Team are satisfied with the accommodation arrangement. The hotel is not luxurious but clean and comfortable. It is also close to the IMO competition venue, London South Bank University.

Shen Qi and Zhou Yuan live in the same room. Both of them persisted to the end and were selected into the official list of the six Chinese Olympic Mathematics Team.

Two lads of the same age are energetic. This is their first time in the UK. They didn’t want to take jet lag. They put their luggage in the hotel, and Shen Qi and Zhou Yuan went out to play together.

Of course, they didn’t dare to go too far. They went around the hotel with a radius of no more than 3 miles.

As soon as he left the hotel door, Shen Qi discovered what shocked him.

“Hey, Zhou Yuan, look at this. I have average English skills, but I know all the English on this brand. If I read it correctly, it is impossible to sell even a box of their strawberries.” Shen Qi was on Waterloo Street. Stop in front of a supermarket.

There is a sign standing at the entrance of this supermarket, which reads in English: “Today’s special offer, strawberries 1 pound/box, 3 pounds/two boxes.”

Zhou Yuan’s English is good. He quickly understood the discount information and thought about it: “Perhaps the British use a mysterious and special number system. 1 is directly followed by 3, and there is no 2.”

“Hehe, Zhou Yuan, you made me laugh. I would rather believe that this is a clerical error, go and take a look at the supermarket.” Shen Qi pulled Zhou Yuan into the supermarket together.

After strolling in the supermarket for a few minutes, Shen Qi keenly discovered that “Strawberries 1 pound/box, 3 pounds/two boxes” did not seem to be caused by a clerical error by the supermarket promotion manager.

There is a shelf with chocolate products. Among them, Hershey Chocolate is on sale. The promotional message of the supermarket is: “HEYSHEY’S-30%-off, GBP 18.5.”

“Hey, Zhou Yuan, look at it, the original price of Hershey’s chocolate is 15 pounds a box, 30%-off means 30% off, so the discount price should be 10.5 pounds a box, and what the **** is this 18.5 pounds?” Shen Qi fell into thought.

Zhou Yuan thought about it a bit and said, “This store wants to close its doors for good, and refuse customers outside?”

Seeing the endless stream of local customers, Shen Qi shook his head: “However, this is not the case. You see, this supermarket has a lot of customers, and business is prosperous. I am also surprised that some customers actually buy strawberries and Hershey, not a lot!”

Zhou Yuan carefully observed a cash register not far away, “1 pound/box, 3 pounds/two boxes” of promotional strawberries. A British eldest sister bought 8 boxes in one go. She was very happy, as if she had picked it up. The sky is big and cheap.

After the British eldest sister had bought the order, a blond guy put 4 boxes of Hershey’s chocolates on the cashier counter, and smiled, the sun was shining brightly.

Shen Qi and Zhou Yuan looked at each other, speechless.

“I’m afraid… the residents of this area are all fools, right?” Shen Qi deduced this hypothesis.

“Obviously, this is a black shop, and the customers are all fools.” Zhou Yuan nodded, agreeing with Shen Qi’s assumption.

“London, the financial capital, the fashion capital, the football capital, the fool capital?” Shen Qi further derived the second hypothesis.

“It is also possible that the people of London are generally wealthy. After all, it is the capital of the empire where the sun never sets. It is understandable that people are stupid and rich.” Zhou Yuan added a supplementary hypothesis on the basis of Shen Qi.

“Olympic mathematics competition, the Olympic Games in mathematics, the intellectual competition of high IQ people, Zhou Yuan, why do you want to arrange it in the capital of fools?”

“Maybe to highlight… the contrast?”

The two Chinese young men paced among a group of whites, blacks, and Indians, feeling that the world is so great, and it is worthwhile to come out and have a long experience.

“Zhou Yu’an, I’ve come here, you can’t go back empty-handed, buy something, after all, it’s made in England.” Shen Qi took a shopping basket, stopped and walked, and took some snacks on the shelf.

Zhou Yuan was more frugal, so he bought a toothpaste and took it directly in his hand: “When I entered the customs, my Chinese toothpaste was confiscated by the British as a dangerous biochemical product. I have to buy a toothpaste for a few days.”

“Give me the toothpaste, I will pay the bill together.” Shen Qi took the toothpaste in Zhou Yuan’s hand and put it in his own basket.

Lined up in front of the cash register, Shen Qi and Zhou Yuan waiting to pay.

A few minutes later, the two came to the cashier, and Shen Qi put his shopping basket on the cashier counter.

“Hello.” The cashier sister said in English that she was a young red-haired white girl.

“Hmm.” Shen Qi nodded and said nothing.

The cashier girl took out a piece of merchandise from the shopping basket and scanned the code. The cashier computer showed the total amount: 33.50 pounds.

“33 pounds and 50 pence.” The cashier girl said to Shen Qi.

“Water?” Shen Qi was puzzled.

“33 pounds…50 pence.” The cashier girl repeated, speaking slowly.

Shen Qi said to Zhou Yuan: “I bought a box of biscuits for £5.8 a muffin for £4.6, three donuts for £5.4, and five packs of potato chips. The unit price of each pack of potato chips is 2 pounds, buy five packs to enjoy a 20% discount, plus Zhou Yu’an your toothpaste at 2.2 pounds, together with the 7% consumption tax here, I should pay 27.82 pounds for our consumption instead of 33.50 pounds, which is nothing to count The result is 33.50.”

“Yes, it is indeed 27 pounds and 82 pence.” Zhou Yuan also calculated the total amount in a short period of time.

“Hey, young gentlemen, do you need these goods?” The cashier girl saw Shen Qi and Zhou Yu’an chattering for a long time, and she didn’t understand Chinese, so she reminded her to be patient enough.

“Sorry.” Shen Qi said sorry to the cashier girl, and then said to Zhou Yuan: “Your spoken English is more than 6, you can tell this red-haired lady the consumption details that I just said and translate it into English.”

“OK.” Zhou Yuan nodded, and said to the cashier girl in English: “Madam, I think you have miscalculated our consumption amount.”

The cashier girl shook her head resolutely: “Impossible, this is the result of computer calculations.”

Zhou Yuan reported the details in one breath. His spoken English is very fluent: “A box of biscuits is 5.8 pounds, a muffin is 4.6 pounds, three donuts are 5.4 pounds, a toothpaste is 2.2 pounds, and five packets of potato chips enjoy a 20% discount A subtotal of £8, including the 7% consumption tax, we have to pay a total of £27 and 82 pence, which we think is a reasonable and correct amount.

The cashier girl was stunned for an instant: “You…what are you talking about?”

Zhou Yuan was also stunned: “I speak English, don’t you understand?”