出租物业

鸭绒25（译）

2024年8月28日

一天晚上，看完戏后，两位男士走在大街上。看见一位衣着得体，容貌出众的年轻女士走在他们前面。

其中一位男士转头对另一位说：“我愿意出250美元与那位女士共度一夜。”

令他们惊讶的是，那位年轻女士听到了他们的谈话。

她转过身来回答说：“我接受你的提议。”

她外表整洁，声音动听。所以，在向他的同伴道别之后，那位男士跟着那位年轻女士去了她的公寓。

第二天早上，那位男士准备离开时给了她125美元。

她要求付清250美元，并说：“如果你不付那剩下的125美元，我就起诉你。”

他笑着说：“我倒想看看，你会以什么理由来追讨这125美元。”

几天后，他意外地收到一张法院传票，要求他作为一起诉讼案的被告出庭。

他急忙去找律师，详细解释了案件的来龙去脉。

他的律师说：“她的理由是不成立的。但看她在法庭上会如何陈述，那将很有意思。”

在通常的法庭开场白之后，那位女士的律师向法庭陈述如下：

“法官大人。我的当事人，这位女士，是一块地产的所有者。该产业有一个花园，周围有茂密的灌木丛。她同意以250美元的价格将该地产租给被告一个夜晚。被告在规定时间内占用了该地产，并最大限度地达到了他的租用目的。但在撤离该处时，他只支付了125美元。那只是约定金额的一半。租金的金额并不过分，因为它是有约定在先的。我们请求法庭判决被告支付余款。”

被告律师对控方的陈述内容印象深刻，但也觉得对手很搞笑。因此，他改变了他最初计划的辩护方式。

“法官大人。”他说，“我的当事人同意，这位女士拥有一块很好的地产，他确实租了这块房产一个晚上，并从这笔交易中获得了一定程度的乐趣。然而，我的客户在她的花园里发现了一口井。他在井周围加固了一些石头，竖了一个升降转轴，并安装了一个水泵。所有这些，都是他自己完成的。我们声称，这些对该物业的改造足以抵消未付款项。原告已获得足够的报酬来支付上述房产的租金。因此，我们请求法庭对原告的诉求不予支持。”

年轻女士的律师回答说：“法官大人。我的当事人同意被告确实在她的地产上发现了一口井。但是，如果被告不知道这口井的存在，他就不会租下这处房产。此外，在撤离房屋时，被告搬走了石头，拆除了井轱辘，并带走了水泵。这样做的结果不仅在将设备拖过灌木丛时破坏了绿化，并且，那口井的洞口也被他破坏了。这使得这处房产对其他人来说不再那么有吸引力。因此，我们请求法庭对原告的诉求给予支持。”

在法官的判决中，他提供了两个选择：“支付125美元，或将拆掉的设备交还给原告赔偿损失。”

被告立即开了一张支票。

原文： Space for Rent

One evening，after attending the theater，two gentlemen were walking down the avenue when they observed a rather well dressed and attractive young lady walking ahead of them。

One of them turned to the other and remarked：“I'd give $250.00 to spend the night with that woman。”

Much to their surprise，the young lady overheard the remark，turned around，and replied：“I'll take you up on that offer。”

She had a neat appearance and a pleasant voice，so after bidding his companion good night，the man accompanied the young lady to her apartment。

The following morning the man presented her with $125.00 as he prepared to leave。

She demanded the rest of the money，stating：“If you don't give me the other $125.00，I'll sue you for it。”

He laughed，saying：“I'd like to see you get it on these grounds。”

Within a few days，he was surprised when he received a summons ordering his presence in court as a defendant in a lawsuit。He hurried to his lawyer and explained the details of the case。

His lawyer said：“She can't possibly get a judgment against you on such grounds，but it will be interesting to see how her case will be presented。”

After the usual preliminaries，the lady's lawyer addressed the court as follows：

“Your honor，my client，this lady，is the owner of a piece of property，a garden spot，surrounded by a profuse growth of shrubbery，which property she agreed to rent to the defendant for a specified length of time for the sum of $250.00。The defendant took possession of the property，used it extensively for the purposes for which it was rented，but upon evacuating the premises，he paid only $125.00，one-half of the amount agreed upon。The rent was not excessive，since it is restricted property，and we ask judgment be granted against the defendant to assure payment of the balance。”

The defendant's lawyer was impressed and amused by the way his opponent had presented the case。His defense therefore was somewhat different from the way he originally planned to present it。

“Your honor，”he said，“my client agrees that the lady has a fine piece of property，which he did rent such property for a time，and a degree of pleasure was derived from the transaction。However，my client found a well on the property around which he placed his own stones，sunk a shaft，and erected a pump，all labor performed personally by him。We claim these improvements to the property were sufficient to offset the unpaid amount，and that the plaintiff was adequately compensated for the rental of said property。We，therefore，ask that judgment not be granted。”

The young lady's lawyer answered：“Your honor，my client agrees that the defendant did find a well on her property。However，had the defendant not known that the well existed，he would never have rented the property。Also，upon evacuating the premises，the defendant removed the stones，pulled out the shaft，and took the pump with him。In doing so，he not only dragged the equipment through the shrubbery，but left the hole much larger than it was prior to his occupancy，making the property much less desirable to others。We，therefore，ask that judgment be granted。”

In the Judge's decision，he provided for two options：“Pay the $125.00 or have the equipment detached from its current location and provide it to the plaintiff for damages。”

The defendant immediately wrote a check。