The English poet and satirist， Richard Savage， was once living in London in great poverty. In order to earn money he had written the story of his life， but not many copies of the book had been sold in the shops， and Savage was living from hand to mouth. As a result of his lack of food， he became very ill， but atter a time， owing to the skill of the doctor who had looked after him， he got well again. After a week or two the doctor sent a bill to Savage for his visits， but poor Savage hadn’t any money and couldn’t pay it. The doctor waited for another month and sent the bill again， but still no money came. After several weeks he sent it to him again asking for his money. In the end he came to Savage’s house and asked him for payment， saying to Savage， “You know you owe your life to me and I expected some gratitude from you.”

“I agree，” said Savage， “that I owe my life to you， and to prove to you that I am not ungrateful for your work I will give my life to you.” With these words he handed to him two volumes entitled The life of Richard Savage.

英國(guó)詩(shī)人、諷刺作家理查德·薩維奇一度在倫敦過(guò)著貧困潦倒的生活，為了賺錢，他曾著書(shū)講述有關(guān)他生平的故事，但是這部書(shū)在書(shū)店里沒(méi)賣出幾本，薩維奇過(guò)著朝不保夕的日子。因?yàn)槿狈κ澄铮〉煤軈柡?。后?lái)，由于照看他的醫(yī)生醫(yī)術(shù)高明，他又恢復(fù)了健康。過(guò)了一兩個(gè)星期，醫(yī)生給薩維奇送來(lái)了一張討要診費(fèi)的賬單，但是貧窮的薩維奇沒(méi)有錢來(lái)償付。醫(yī)生等了一個(gè)月后又送來(lái)了賬單，但仍然未索回分文。幾個(gè)星期后，他又送來(lái)賬單要錢。最后，醫(yī)生本人來(lái)到了薩維奇的家中，對(duì)他說(shuō)：“你知道你欠我一條命，而我希望你能有所報(bào)答?！?/p>

“是的，”薩維奇說(shuō)，“我是欠你一條命，為了向你證明我對(duì)你的診治并非不感激，我將把我的生命獻(xiàn)給你?！闭f(shuō)著這番話，薩維奇遞給醫(yī)生兩卷書(shū)，名叫《理查德薩維奇的一生》。