[多项选择]听人家背地里谈论．孔乙己原来也读过书．但终于没有进学．又不会营生；于是愈过愈穷，弄到将要讨饭了。幸而写得一笔好字．便替人家抄抄书．换一碗饭吃。可惜他又有一样坏脾气．便是好喝懒做。坐不到几天．便连人和书籍纸张笔砚．一齐失踪。如是几次．叫他抄书的人也没有了。孔乙己没有法．便免不了偶然做些偷窃的事。但他在我们店里，品行却比别人都好，就是从不拖欠，虽然间或没有现钱，暂时记在粉板上，但不出一月，定然还清，从粉板上拭去了孔乙己的名字。

参考答案:From the gossip^① that I heard, it seemed that Kong Yiji had studied the classics but never passed the official examinations^②and, not knowing any way to make a living, he had grown steadily poorer until he was almost reduced to beggary. Luckily he^③ was a good calligrapher and could find enough copying work to fill his rice-bowl. But unfortunately he had his failings too: laziness and a love of tippling^④. So after working for a few days he would disappear, taking with him books, paper, brushes, and inkstone^⑤. And after this had happened several times, people stopped employing him as a copyist. Then all he could do^⑥ was resort to occasional pilfering.
答案解析:[解析]
①此处“谈论”其实是指人们的闲言碎语，故译为gossip较贴切。
②这里“进学”不是指学业上有进步，而是指科举时代童生应岁试、科试而取中入县学成了秀才，即考取了功名，故