Ben Fix used to be a real estate agent． He got rich by selling worthless farmland to people from the city who didn't know what they were buying． He was very good at fooling the public． 本.菲克斯过去是一个房地产经纪人。他通过将无任何价值的农田卖给那些不知实情的城市人而发财。他很善于愚弄大众。
Mr．Fix used the money he got from selling farmland to buy an old apartment building in the city．菲克斯先生用出售农田赚的钱买了一幢城里的旧公寓。
Most of the people who lived in the building had low incomes and were used to paying low rents．住在公寓里的人大都收入很低，而且习惯于交低租金。
Mr．Fix wanted to make a few minor improvements and then charge high rents， but first he had to get rid of the old tenants．菲克斯先生想做些细微的改进，然后收取高租金，但首先他必须赶走旧房客。
He chose to do this by making life miserable for everyone in the building．他决定通过把房客的生活弄的过不下去的办法来达到目的。
He drew up a long list of unnecessary rules and insisted that everyone obey them． Anyone who broke the rules had to move out of the building．他制定了许多不必要的规定，而且坚决要求每个人都要遵守。违反了规定的人必须搬出公寓。
Mr．Fix was capable of doing anything to get money． At times he even cut off the electricity and said he was saving energy． 任何赚钱的事菲克斯先生都会去做。有时他甚至断电，说自己是在节约能源。
The tenants complained but it was no use． Mr． Fix always told the tenants to leave if they weren't happy．房客们的抱怨都无济于事。菲克斯先生告诉他们，如果不高兴就搬走好了。
After a while they got tired of living under these conditions and started moving out． Mr． Fix almost succeeded in driving everyone out of the building，过了一段时间，房客们厌倦了这样的生活，开始搬出。菲克斯先生几乎成功地赶走了公寓里的所有人，
but he didn't count on the opposition he got from one of his tenants， an old lady named Olive Grove． 但他没有预料到他会遭到其中的一位房客，名叫奥利夫.格罗夫的老太太的抵制。
She wouldn't give up without a fight and even went to tell the story to the newspaper．她不想就此束手就擒，于是她就向报纸投诉。
