威爾遜任新澤西州州長時，身為家鄉弗吉尼亞州參議員的密友突然去世，他不得不委任接班人。一個過于心急的政客前來拜訪說：“我想接替參議員的位置。”威爾遜非常生氣，尖銳地說：“只要殯儀館的老板同意，我就不反對。”

26 The Wise Manager

A clerk who worked in a small office in a factory discovered that there were so many files in his room that there was not room for any more.Also，each file was so full that it was impossible to add any more papers to it.

"Well，"he thought，"every week I have to find room for several hundred letters，so something will have to be done about this."

He thought and thought，and then decided to send a note to his manager explaining what had happened and asking him for his permission to go through the old files and to take out and destroy all letters which were no longer of any use.

The next day he received a note from the manager in answer to this.It said，"All right，you have permission to do as you suggest，but you must make copies of all letters before destroying them."

聰明的經理

一個職員在一家工廠的小辦公室里工作，他發現他的房間里堆滿了文件夾，再也不能放其他更多的東西了。而且，每個文件夾都裝滿了，再不可能放進更多的文件。

“好吧，”他想，“每周我都要找地方放這幾百封信，所以，一定要想個辦法。”

他想了又想，然后決定給他的經理寫一張紙條說明情況，并請求經理允許他翻閱那些舊檔案，把所有沒用的信都拿來銷毀。

第二天，他接到了經理的回條。紙條上寫著：“好吧，允許你按你的建議去做，不過在把信銷毀前，一定要把它們都復印一份。”

27 It’s an Extra

Cosmo read an advertisement in a newspaper for a beautiful modern bicycle which cost $50，so he went to the shop which had put the advertisement in and asked to see one of their wonderful bicycles.

The shopkeeper was very happy to show one to Cosmo，who examined it carefully and then turned to the shopkeeper，saying，"There isn’t a lamp on this bicycle，but there was one in your advertisement.""Yes sir，"answered the shopkeeper，"but the lamp isn’t included in the price of the bicycle.It’s an extra."

"Not included in the price of the bicycle？"Cosmo said angrily，

"But that’s not honest.If the lamp’s in the advertisement.It should have been included in the price you gave there."

"Well，sir."answered the shopkeeper calmly，"There is also a girl on the bicycle in the advertisement，but we don’t supply one of them with the bicycle either."

另行收費

科茲莫在報上看到一則自行車廣告，廣告上說該車美觀又時尚，價格為50美元。他找到那家刊登廣告的商店，要求看一下他們的自行車。

店主高興地把自行車展示給科茲莫看。科茲莫仔細地查看了一番，然后對店主說：“這輛自行車沒有車燈，但是廣告上有。”“是的。先生，”店主回答，“但車燈并不包括在自行車的價錢里，它要額外付錢。”

“不包括在自行車的價格里？”科茲莫氣憤地說，“太不誠實了。既然廣告里有車燈，它就應該包括在你們給出的價格里。”

“是這樣的，先生，”店主鎮定的回答，“廣告里還有一個女孩，但我們總不能配送一位女孩給你吧。”

28 The Closest Answer

In the year of 2011，the world economy is not going well and an unemployed engineer desperately needing work is nervous about an upcoming accountant job interview.

The interview goes well，but as the engineer stands up to leave the manager says，"Oh，just one more question.How much is six times nine？"

Puzzled，the engineer responds that in all calculations，even simple ones like that，he never relies on his memory.The manager says，"But I just want you to tell me the answer anyway from memory without using your calculator."

"Sure."says the engineer，"six times nine is，uh，fifty‐six."

After saying goodbye and leaving the building，the engineer hurriedly pushes up four times eight into his calculator and curses when he sees the answer.

Nonetheless，he gets the job.Six months later，when he’s doing well and feels confident enough.he walks up to his boss and asks him."Sir，I’m curious.Why is it that out of all those engineering candidates，you hired me when I gave you the wrong answer to fifty‐times‐nine？"

His boss looks up and says，"Your answer was the closest."

最接近正確答案

2011年世界經濟不景氣，一位失業的工程師急需找到一份工作。他申請了會計職位，對于臨近的面試，工程師忐忑不安。

面試進行得很順利。但當工程師站起來準備離開的時候，經理對他說：“噢！還有一個問題。6乘以9等于多少？”

工程師有些不解，他回答說對于所有的計算題，即使像這么簡單的計算題，他也從來不靠自己的記憶。經理說，“但我希望你不用計算器而單憑記憶告訴我。”

“沒問題，”工程師說，“6乘以9等于，啊，56。”告別經理，走出大樓后，工程師立刻在計算器上按6乘以9，看到答案后，不停地責備自己。

然而，他竟然被錄取了。六個月以后，他的工作已經做得很好了，而且也有了足夠的信心，于是走到老板那兒問他：“老板，我有些好奇。為什么在所有那些工程師候選人當中，您偏偏選中了我？要知道‘4乘以8’那道題，我給的答案是錯的。”

老板抬起頭，說：“你的答案是最接近正確答案的。”