In some Government offices the clerks， upon arrival in themorning， have to sign their names in an“attendance book”．This book provides space for signature， time of arrival， and“remarks”． Ten minutes after the hour an official draws a redline under the last arrival's name， and all those coming subsequently are expected to furnish an explanation of their tardinessin the“remarks” column． When a real“London particular①” occurs the number“below the line” is legion ；the first of them wirtes：“Delayedby fog，” and the rest scribble a“ditto”． One morning—a foggy one—Mr． Jones became a proud father；but even this only caused him to be about eleven minutes late． Proudly he wrote in explanation：“Wife had twins，”which was followed in due course by the usual string of “ditto's”！

在一些政府機(jī)關(guān)里，每天早晨到達(dá)辦公室時職員們都要在一本“簽到簿”上簽上他們的名字。這本簽到簿留出空格簽名，寫簽到時間，還有“備注”。上班時間過后十分鐘，一個官員就在最后一個人的名字下面劃一道紅線。以后來的每一個人都必須在“備注”欄里注明遲到的原因。 當(dāng)真正的“倫敦大霧”出現(xiàn)的時候，“紅線以下”的名字就很多。第一個遲到的人寫上“因大霧延誤時間”，其他的人，在下面草草寫上“丷”（同上）。 一天早上——一個大霧迷漫的早晨——瓊斯先生驕傲地當(dāng)上了父親；但即使是這種事也只讓他遲到了十一分鐘。他自豪地寫上他的原因：“妻子生了一對雙胞胎，”到一定的時候，這個解釋下面照例又跟了一串“丷”。