At an exhibition of the world's best swordsman, the third-place fencer took the stage. A fly was released, and with an arc of his sword he cut the fly in half. The crowd cheered. Then the second-place man sliced a fly into quarters. A hush fell in anticipation of the world's greatest swordsman.
His blade came down in a mighty arc - but the insect continued on its way! The crowd was aghast. The greatest swordsman had missed his target completely, yet he continued to smile.
"Why are you so happy?" someone yelled. "You missed!"
"Ah," replied the swordsman, "you weren't watching very carefully. They fly lives, yes - but he will never be a father."
世界上最偉大的擊劍手
在壹場世界最佳擊劍手表演中，排名第三的擊劍手上場了。壹只蒼蠅放了出來，劍劃了壹個弧，他將蒼蠅劈成了兩半。觀眾歡呼起來。緊接著排名第二的人將壹只蒼蠅切成了四半。現場壹陣沈默，人們期盼著世界上最偉大的擊劍手出場。
他的劍鋒以壹個巨大的弧線劃了下來－－然而那只昆蟲還在繼續飛行!觀眾被驚呆了。最偉大的擊劍手完全錯過了他的目標，然而他還在微笑著。
“妳為什麽這麽高興？”有人嚷道，“妳沒擊中!”
“啊，”劍手答道，“妳剛才沒有很仔細地看。蒼蠅還活著，是的－－但他永遠也做不成爸爸了。”
零錢不用找了
在教堂的義賣市上賣舊書時，我與壹名準備買東西的顧客發生了壹場爭論。他對購買袖珍奧金.納什集頗感興趣，但是說它要三十五美分開價過高。其它的平裝書每本才賣十或十五美分。
我指出這本書保存狀況頗好，納什是個有趣的詩人，這個要價是合理的。他說這是個原則問題。最終，我同意以十五美分的價格將這本書賣給他。他得意洋洋，拿出壹張十美元的票子付帳。“零錢不用找了。”他說。
Keep the Change
Selling secondhand books at our church bazaar, I got into an argument with a prospective customer. He was interested in buying The Pocket Book of Ogden Nash but claimed it was overpriced at 35 cents. Other paperbacks were selling for ten or 15 cents each.
I pointed out that the book was in good condition. Nash was a fun poet, and it was for a good cause. He said it was a matter of principle. Ultimately, I agreed to sell him the book for 15 cents. Triumphant, he paid with a $10 bill. "Keep the change," he said.
妳自己選壹個吧