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Text 3 导语： 爱情，一个玄之又玄的古老命题，一个让人疯魔癫狂的永恒命题。我们对爱情有着太多的渴望：朝朝暮暮、如胶似漆、天长地久……，一切的一切，都美好的足以让我们舍弃所有。因此，当你只需花费1美元，就能拥有爱情所有的美好时，你是否也会如同文章中的Alan Austen一样欢天喜地、欣然成交？爱情唾手可得，长相厮守即刻成真，这瓶1美元的神药满足了你对爱情的所有想象，但问题也接踵而至…… Text The Chaser By John Collier1 [1] Alan Austen, as nervous as a kitten2, went up certain dark and creaky stairs in the neighborhood of Peri Street, and peered about for a long time on the dim hallway before he found the name he wanted written obscurely on one of the doors. [2] He pushed open this door, as he had been told to do, and found himself in a tiny room, which contained no furniture but a plain kitchen table, a rocking-chair, and an ordinary chair. On one of the dirty buff-colored walls were a couple of shelves, containing in all perhaps a dozen bottles and jars. [3] An old man sat in the rocking-chair, reading a newspaper. Alan, without a word, handed him the card he had been given. “Sit down, Mr. Austen,” said the old man very politely. “I am glad to make your acquaintance.” [4] “Is it true,” asked Alan, “that you have a certain mixture that has-er-quite extraordinary effects?” [5] “My dear sir,” replied the old man, “My stock in trade is not very large ?I done’t deal in laxatives and teething mixtures ? but such as it is, it is varied. I think nothing I sell has effects which could be precisely described as ordinary.” [6] “Well, the fact is...” began Alan. [7] “Here, for example,” interrupted the old man, reaching for a bottle from the shelf. “Here is a liquid as colorless as water, quite imperceptible in coffee, wine, or any other beverage. It is also quite imperceptible to any known method of autopsy.” [8] “Do you mean it is a poison?” cried Alan, very much horrified. [9] “Call it a glove-cleaner if you like,” said the old man indifferently. “Maybe it will clean gloves. I have never tried. One might call it a life-cleaner. Lives need cleaning sometimes.” [10] “I want nothing of that sort,” said Alan. [11] “Probably it is just as well,” said the old man.