Lesson 5

Editors of newspapers and magazines often go to extremes to provide their readers with unimportant facts and statistics.
报纸和杂志的编辑常常为了向读者提供一些无关紧要的事实和统计数字而走极端。
Last year a journalist had been instructed by a well-known magazine to write an article on the president's palace in a new African republic.
去年，一名记者接到一家著名杂志的指示，要他写一篇关于一个新成立的非洲共和国总统府的文章。
When the article arrived, the editor read the first sentence and then refused to publish it.
当这篇文章寄到时，编辑读了第一句话，然后拒绝出版。
The article began: 'Hundreds of steps lead to the high wall which surrounds the president's palace.'
文章开头写道：“数百个台阶通向环绕总统府的高墙。”
The editor at once sent the journalist a fax instructing him to find out the exact number of steps and the height of the wall.
编辑立即给记者发了一份传真，指示他去查明台阶的确切数量和墙的高度。
The journalist immediately set out to obtain these important facts, but he took a long time to send them.
这位记者立即出发去获取这些重要的事实，但他花了很长时间才把它们发出来。
Meanwhile, the editor was getting impatient, for the magazine would soon go to press.
与此同时，编辑正变得不耐烦，因为杂志很快就要付印了。
He sent the journalist two more faxes, but received no reply.
他给那位记者又发了两份传真，但没有收到回复。
He sent yet another fax informing the journalist that if he did not reply soon he would be fired.
他发送了又一份传真告知该记者，如果他不尽快回复，他就会被解雇。
When the journalist again failed to reply, the editor reluctantly published the article as it had originally been written.
当那位记者再次未能做出回复时，编辑不情愿地按照原样发表了这篇文章。
A week later, the editor at last received a fax from the journalist.
一周以后，编辑终于收到了来自那位记者的传真。
Not only had the poor man been arrested, but he had been sent to prison as well.
那个可怜的人不仅被逮捕了，而且还被送进了监狱。
However, he had at last been allowed to send a fax in which he informed the editor that he had been arrested while counting the 1,084 steps leading to the fifteen-foot wall which surrounded the president's palace.
然而，他终于被允许发出一份传真，在传真中他告诉编辑，他在数通向环绕总统府的15英尺高围墙的1084级台阶时被逮捕了。