|
一位伊朗老人有两件事很骄傲——长长的白胡须垂到胸口；头一沾枕头就能睡着。 一天，三岁的孙子问他睡觉时胡须怎么放的:放在毯子上面还是毯子下面？ 老人从未注意过这个细节,坦白说自己从不记得是放在毯子上面还是下面，答应晚上回去搞清楚。 那晚很冷，老人上床后拉过毛毯盖在身上，这时忽然想起了孙子的问题。 他很敏感，意识到胡须在毯子下面，便把胡须拿到毯子上面，这样又感觉不太对劲，于是又把胡须塞到毯子下面。但一会儿他又觉得放在外面比较好。里里外外，一会儿在毯子下，—会儿毯子上，然后又毯子下，老人一夜未眠。 第二天早晨老人第一件事就是把胡须剪到下巴，女儿见了很高兴，因为几个月以来，女儿—直劝他把胡须剪掉。 Sleepless Night There was an old Iranian who was intensely proud of two things — his long, white beard that reached down to his chest, and his ability to sleep the moment his head touched the pillow. One day, his 3-year-old grandson asked him how he arranged his beard when he slept：did it go under the blanket or did it remain above it? The old man had never paid attention to this detail， and he confessed he didn’t remember whether his beard remained above or went under the blanket. He promised to find out. It was very cold that night. The old man got into bed and pulled the blanket over himself. Then he suddenly remembered his grandson's question. He became acutely conscious that his beard was under the blanket. He lifted it from under the blanket, and placed it above it. This made him feel that something was not quite right. So he tucked the beard under the blanket again. But he soon felt it would be better if it were out. In and out went the beard ； first under the blanket, then above it, then under once again. The old man spent a sleepless night. The next morning the first thing he did was cut his beard to chin level, to the great joy of his daughter who, for several months, had been urging him to do just that. |
