吃霸王餐吗？用谢谢付账的那种

In Texas, my family of 6 stopped at a small sub shop.
那是在德克萨斯州，我们一家六口人来到地下地铁站台里的一个小商铺前。

The worker struck up a conversation with us
商铺里的店员跟我们攀谈起来

and asked us what we were doing for the day.
问我们这天打算干点啥

We explained that we were thinking about going to a wildlife nature park in which you must remain in your car for a self-guided tour,
我们说，我们正在考虑要不要去野生自然公园玩一玩，在那里，你必须遵照安全游园规章，只能呆在自己的车里

but it was fairly expensive and wondering if it was worth it.
票价还很贵，我们很好奇，那个地方是否物有所值

He said that he had gone there several years ago and it was good,
对方说，他几年前就去过那里，还不错

but it seemed expensive then to pay $25 per car.
不过，每辆车都要付25元门票，似乎有点太贵了

I said that this price seemed cheap now,
我说，现在看来，这个价算是很便宜了

as now they were requiring you to pay roughly $25 per person.
如今那里的票价大概是每人25美元

He could not believe that to be true
他简直不敢相信这是实话

as it would make difference to the company if there were 2 people or 10 people in the car,
因为，无论一辆车里坐得是2个人还是10个人，对于园区来说都没什么差别

as you never leave the car.
反正车上的人不能下车

I agreed with his logic, but the prices are what they are.
我同意他的话有道理，可是票价是别人定好了的

He left us to make the food.
店员暂时离开，去准备出售的食品

When we were done eating, he said that he found a way to get one person in free.
我们吃完了饭，那个店员说，他得知了一种办法，可以让一人免费入园

I thought that since he lived in this town, maybe he knew about how to get a discount ticket.
我想，既然这个人是本地人，说不定他知道怎么弄到一张折扣票

Then he said that he was covering the total cost for our meal!
没想到他却说，他会为我们支付这整顿饭的饭钱！

I tried hard to give him some money, but he insisted that he only wanted a thank you.
我坚持要把饭钱付给他，他却执意不受，只愿意接受一句谢谢。

This experience restored my belief that there are kind strangers out there.
这次经历恢复了我对人性的信任，我相信，世界上还有素不相识，却充满友善的人。