《警察与赞美诗》英文梗概

A New York City hobo named Soapy,who sets out to get arrested so he can avoid sleeping in the cold winter as a guest of the city jail.

Soapy's ploys伎俩include swindling诈骗a restaurant into serving him an expensive meal, breaking the plate-glass window of a luxury shop, repeating his eatery exploit at a humble简陋的diner, sexually harassing a young woman, pretending to be publicly intoxicated喝醉to make troubles, and stealing another man's umbrella.

However, all of these attempts are quickly exposed as failures.Based on these events, Soapy despairs of his goal of getting arrested and imprisoned.

As O. Henry describes events, the small church has a working organ机构and a practicing organist风琴演奏者. As Soapy listens to the church organ play an anthem圣歌, he experiences a spiritual epiphany 神灵显现then he resolves决定to cease停止to be homeless, end his life as a tramp afflicted苦恼

with unemployment, and regain his self-respect.

As Soapy stands on the street and considers the plan for his future, however, a policeman taps him on the shoulder and asks him what he is doing. When Soapy answers “Nothing,” his fate is

sealed未知: he has been arrested for loitering闲荡. In the magistrate’s法官court on the following day, he is convicted定罪of a misdemeanor行为不端and is sentenced to three months

in Blackwell's Island, the New York City jail.