once three men bought seventeen oranges.the first man wanted one half; the second one,one third;

once three men bought seventeen oranges.the first man wanted one half; the second one,one third;
once three men bought seventeen oranges.the first man wanted one half; the second one,one third; and the third,one ninth.it was not possible to divide those seventeen oranges as they wanted.just as they were in such a difficulty,a small boy came up with an orange in his hand.the boy said,"don't worry about that.let me divide them for you." first of all,with his own orange added to them,he made the number of oranges eighteen.then he gave nine to the first,six to the second man and two to the third man.hegave away seventeen in all and took his own for himself.these men praised together,"what a clever boy!"
从前三个人买了17个橘子,第一个人想要其中的一半,第二个人要三分之一,第三个人要九分之一.如他们所想要的那样来分这17个橘子是不可能的.正在他们为难时,一个小男孩手里拿着个橘子过来了.小男孩说：“不要担心,让我来为你们分配吧.”首先,他把自己的1个橘子加进去,使橘子的数量为18,然后,他给第一个人9个,第二个人6个,第三个人2个.他共分出去17个,又拿回自己的哪个.这些人一起称赞：“多聪明的孩子啊!”
In fact ,there were_______apples when the small boy was dividing them.
（是In fact ,there were_______oranges when the small boy was dividing them.打错了)