Amidst the crowd of happy, prosperous looking Christmas shoppers, the little black figure of the old man seemed pitiful and out of place, and in a burst of一阵 benevolence, I went up to him and said:

"Pardon me, sir, will you do me a favor? Let me purchase you one of these puddings. It would give me such pleasure."

He jumped back as if he had been stung, and the blood rushed into his wrinkled face.

"Excuse me," he said, with more dignity than I would have thought possible considering his appearance, "I do not believe I have the pleasure of knowing you. Undoubtedly you have mistaken me for someone else." And with a quick decision he turned to the shop girl and said in a loud voice, "Kindly pack me up this one here. I will take it with me." He pointed at one of the largest and most expensive of the puddings.

amidst
prep. in the middle of; =among　在...中间
crowd　　　　　　　　
n. 人群
prosperous v. prosper
a. rich; successful　富裕的；成功的；昌盛的
prosperity
n.
figure
n. 外形，伦廓；体形
pitiful
a. making one feel pity 可怜的
benevolence
n. the desire to do good 仁慈
sting
vt. prick or hurt 刺，螫
wrinkle
v. (cause to) form into lines （使）起皱纹
dignity v.dignify 使..有尊严
n. calm and serious manner or style 尊严
appearance
n. that which can be seen; look 外表 出现 disappearance消失